Living as an Unemployed in Another World

17 – 1. Footsteps of the Mule (17)

17.

“Keee!”

“Come!”

Right after Gerald shouted and swung the bastard sword head-on, the giant serpent’s head collided violently with the blade. Kagagagagagagang!! With a noise that made it hard to believe that the skin and the sharp steel were in contact, Hilda fell back and Mr. Monk ran out to the front in an instant.

“Get out of the way.”

A low-pitched voice. Gerald, who was pushed back by the giant serpent’s monstrous power, pressed his sword and momentarily reversed the direction of the force to retrieve his blade. Right after that, Monk’s fist shone brightly, and the heavy fist he swung at the height of his stomach hit the snake’s nostrils. Fain!

“Kihei!”

“Gerald, mister, bow your head!”

It is unbelievably powerful for a single blow struck by a naked human. As the serpent hit the vital point staggered its long neck in pain, instead of Janice chanting magic, Hilda jumped out of the gap in an instant and pushed them forward.

“Greater magic missile [Arrow, arrow, arrow].”

A sharp blue ray of light rushes through the interior of the cave already lit by light magic. I was used to seeing Zenith using small magic closely related to defense and daily life, so I couldn’t help but admire her skill. There are already two attack magics, the double on/off of light on the mental barrier, and no matter how high quality her wand is, it is not easy to switch between different types of magic in such a short time. I don’t know, but her magic book must also boast a considerable thickness.

The arrows flew over the heads of the two as they rolled and fell, and pierced the Giant Serpent’s neck. If you look at Zenith’s pale complexion, it seems that it is probably the most powerful attack magic she can use. However…… The damned snake, attacked in succession, still smacked its lips with dark blood.

“Damn it. Back off everyone!”

Gerald raised his bastard sword vertically and took a stance. Normal attacks can’t handle the strength of that gigantic snake. He roared and ran, holding the sword with both hands, and as the snake confidently charged in the same way as before, it slithered toward the floor with the blade lifted upwards, slicing Zenith’s neck from bottom to top. Chew!

“Enough!?”

It was Hilda’s cry. No matter how hard the scales are, it seems that even the part where the floor is covered cannot hide its weakness. As Gerald’s powerful sword strike hit the gaping wound, the Giant Serpent shook its long neck up and down and screamed.

“Keee!!”

I covered my ears in pain that seemed like my eardrums would burst. Originally, the screams of monsters of that level would have side effects, but thanks to Zenith’s mental barrier, there was no significant effect other than the size of the noise itself.

You must fall. You just have to step back! While everyone is examining the appearance of the serpent with such aspiration…… Suddenly, thanks to the flashing light source, I noticed that the two forked roads diverged behind the giant serpent.

Come to think of it…… Snakes are bound to form coils, but even monsters, even giant serpents, just insist on a frontal attack. Its attack radius covered a narrow area at most, and it never showed a strategy of running away or charging in the dark.

“Hilda.”

“Jin?”

“Where is that guy’s tail attached now?”

“Stuck? The giant serpent is a large snake…… What?”

Yeah, something is strange.

One-sided attack. Simple ignorance. Isn’t that like a Servant (minion) who was artificially attached and raised rather than the owner of this dungeon?

And it is also significant that a large pupil is visible behind it, and that the road is divided into two. The ratio of length and distance is completely different, but if the mouth is the entrance of the dungeon we entered, the giant serpent has a tongue protruding from the inside. Then…… The ceiling is the roof of the mouth, and the view over there is the inside of the throat. I whispered a request to Hilda, who was the fastest among them.

“Sobbing!?”

“Hilda, can you keep his gaze? To be exact, one person just needs to be able to escape inside.”

“Suddenly, my ears…… Huh? Earthquake. What now?”

“Just enough to keep you from moving sideways for a while while Gerald and the old man fight. Because Janice has to keep his mental barrier up, he can’t continue to consume his magic slots. The only person I can ask for is you.”

“Jin, I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but then, setting aside anything else, you’ll be out of range of Zenith’s magic. I still don’t know what lurks in this dungeon…….”

“… ….”

“…… Are you okay?”

“Sure.”

Hilda hesitated and repeated her words, but then she put everything down and asked quietly. Her eyes meet her eyes. I didn’t swallow my heart this time. He nodded her head and said confidently.

“It will be fine. Will you do that?”

I believe in you. When I said that, Hilda nodded and drew her dagger. Hilda’s figure disappears and reappears to the point that it’s hard to follow with my moving eyesight. She quickly outpaced Gerald and the two monks, and Hilda slammed her into the wall of her cave, then went back behind the serpent who was confronting them. She then climbed up with her legs wrapped around her thick neck, grabbed her dagger with her reverse hand, grabbed it with both hands, and swung it down with all her might.

“Now!”

Pu-wook!! As Hilda’s poisoned dagger pierced the serpent’s crown, I kicked myself to the ground in an instant. Gerald, Monk, and Zenith, who were maintaining their magic, couldn’t react and looked at my back. However, I did not stop the battle, perhaps feeling a connection between Hilda’s surprise attack and my actions.

“Jin! Request!”

“Come back alive!”

The voices of Gerald and Mr. Monk pierce behind my back. Don’t worry, that’s what I’m here for. I threw myself into the nearest pupil without worrying about which one of the two forks in front of me. As expected, just as a creature’s throat is slippery with moisture flowing down its esophagus, I surrendered myself to the slippery stream that flowed down my inner wall. The voice goes away…….

This is what the water smells like. I dragged my wet, messy body out of the wet slide. Compared to the depth of the caves we’ve been through so far, the place I’ve reached is narrow, at most two or three rooms of my own. And, what I see in front of me are the unconscious adventurers and…… A treasure chest large enough for one person to enter.

It is a Mimic.

“… ….”

Mimic was silent. He probably wants to mimic a treasure chest until the very end. I stared at it in a space where no one could disturb me, then I sat down comfortably with my legs folded and put my hand into the bag slung over my shoulder.

“Let’s see…….”

When I first heard the story of the adventurers, the part I suspected was that the adventurers who came out of the dungeon lost their memories. As I pointed out to Gerald, if it is a wide range of magic that simply interferes with the target’s mind, it will only be effective in dungeons in the first place. However, the fact that they gradually lost their memories even after leaving the dungeon, even outside the range of effect, proves that the loss of memories experienced by adventurers is not simply caused by magic.

And I searched for the source of the strangely permanent phenomenon from the witch’s infinite magical talent, but when I entered the dungeon, I realized that the possibility was slim. Because witches never do meaningless things. The effect of the dungeon was too long to test his magic against adventurers. Even if you collect a sample, it’s too much.

So…… Noticed other possibilities. A very simple, yet infinitely close to the truth, reasoning. And when I saw that big snake, I was sure.

The answer is simple.

Because this dungeon itself is just a fiction.

To be precise, the place called the mine itself exists, but everything you experience in this dungeon takes place in a gap in another dimension. That is why, no matter how long the adventurers who visit this place spend a long time here, no matter how fiercely they engage in battle, they gradually lose their memories because it is something that did not exist in this dimension.

Then who dared to open the dimensional rift? The secret lies in Mimic. After passing through the serpent, which serves as a tongue to filter out weak adventurers, it is sucked into the esophagus and throat, and finally reaches this place. And the adventurer will open that treasure chest under the illusion that he has conquered this dungeon. I wouldn’t be too wary of a mimic that’s much weaker than a serpent or something.

And…… Get eaten. Instead of being physically eaten, they are forever trapped in a fictional space.

It is no coincidence that no one has been hurt so far. Halfway adventurers who noticed the hesitancy of this space or, ironically, could not pass the Servant would have been sent back as if they were spit out. Strong adventurers who attacked the serpent or ran away from it and reached the depths of the cave were trapped here.

This is not a dungeon.

In a place where mysterious powers gather, it is not a mechanism for powerful monsters to protect treasure.

The very cave itself is a mimic. It eats only strong adventurers and grows itself.

When I noticed that fact, I thought about hurting it by breaking the cave wall before confronting the giant serpent, which acts as a ‘tongue’, which corresponds to the reproductive organ. I couldn’t do that because I felt like I was going to be swallowed inside. But right now it’s just the Mimic and me. No one is watching, so you can use it freely.

I hooked my arm into my bag and stumbled inside. Did you judge that it was tasteless food? I wandered for a long time with the motionless Mimic in front of me, and finally took out a small ring.

“… ….”

On the night I became an adult, when I decided to run away from there, I sneaked into the witch’s room, which no one but me had ever entered, and ran away with random items worth money.

Among them, there are expensive magic items that could yield huge amounts of gold coins if they were released on the market, but among the things witches cherished, there were truly ‘cursed’ items that matched the effects of artifacts. They have been sleeping in my bag until now without even thinking about selling them.

The flask that was opened against Dylan was, in a way, part of that concept. Even a slight abyss is enough to be called a curse to humans. And…… I projected my eyes on the old ring with the crystal in it.

Of the numerous items I stole, it was the only one she gave me first. Since this item was created with the assumption that I would only use it, the moment I put it on, I could probably see the message she was conveying to me.

“Hey, can you see?”

I deliberately waved the ring at the mimic, took a deep breath, and put the ring on my finger.

Ring of Destruction (Ring of Spell Destruction).

If the wearer is a wizard, it is a truly cursed item that blocks all spells of the wearer, but for me, who has no magical talent, it is a secret weapon that has the effect of reflecting all magic directed at me. But to be effective, I have to say the start words she has stored with her mouth. Because I have no bad taste.

“…… 【Help me, witch.】.”

I paused before the end of the last one, then muttered quietly.

“【Without me, you still can’t do anything, poor piglet】”

After hearing the witch’s voice for the first time in four years, the ring began to take effect on her. From the finger wearing the ring to my hand, arm, torso, body, and beyond, the area of the mimic that gradually spread throughout the dungeon is sucked through the ring.

Mimic screamed and opened her tightly closed mouth. It charged at me, baring what might have been a hundred teeth, a wet tongue and an ugly palate…… However, that shiny, long tongue melted in an instant, as if it had met strong acid before it even touched my body. I approached the box, avoiding the Mimic’s melted flesh following her tongue, and finally found a shiny precious metal inside.

“Ha, Gerald guy.”

I laughed as I looked at the earrings studded with brilliant amethysts. That’s what i said

“If you show it, you will be very excited. I can’t have it anyway.”

Perhaps, the reason why the mere monster Mimic has expanded its territory to this extent is purely the efficacy of this artifact. Thanks to this artifact, the large mimic has become an interdimensional subspecies that uses dungeons as its own body. When I carefully wrapped the earrings in cloth and put them in my bag, the enchanting effects of the enchanting cave were finally gone.

There is no such thing as a cave collapsing. After all, it’s as if the Mimic stole the inside of this mine as its own body. However, the place where I am standing right now is a magical space created by the characteristics of the mimic. The size of the room instantly shrunk to a handful, and I closed my eyes intoxicated with the feeling of floating as I felt my body lift up in an instant.

“Master.”

While everything was going back to its place, I took the old ring off my finger and muttered softly.

“Let’s not meet again, if possible.”

That was the only greeting I could give to my teacher as a former disciple.