Mimic Awakening

Chapter 21: That Golem Again

In the darkness, a big chunk of solid ice is slowly sliding against the black floor of the dungeon. After a few seconds of several meters of travel, the solid ice, which is going towards the dragon, ultimately hit one of its nails on its left front limb, putting the ice to a stop.

Clink.

(Good job, Claire. He turned ice in an instant. He might still be alive if we thawed the ice.)

After taking care of the humans, Azrael appreciates Claire’s work internally. It turns out that Claire is the one who casts those magic spells to take down the party of awakeners, assisting Azrael as he is fighting them physically.

(I just helped a little.) Claire replies. (Even without my help, you could easily defeat them on your own.)

(That’s because I would destroy them if I did so. That’s why I instructed you to only immobilize them or kill them without damaging their bodies.)

(But why would you do that?) She asks. (Is there any particular reason?)

(...) Azrael stays silent for a few seconds as he is looking at the large piece of ice beneath him. (I am not sure yet if it works. But anyways, I saw earlier that you took your stuff out of thin air. Is that some sort of spell that creates a space to store your stuff?)

Azrael does not answer her question and responds by derailing the topic instead. Claire feels ignored, but she has no power to complain at the moment.

(Something like that. It’s a spell called Dimensional Storage, but it can only store items within the weight limit. The limit is based on the user’s mana. The limit of my Dimensional Storage is around four adult humans.)

(I see. So you can’t put all of them there.)

(There’s another way, Azrael. Rather than an imaginary space, I can just open a passageway to a place where I safely store my things.)

(So like a portal, huh? But can you put them into that?)

(There is probably enough space for all of them.)

(Great. Freeze the rest first so that they would maintain their condition pristine.)

(If you say so...)

Amidst the darkness, cold air grazes Azrael’s dragonic scales as Claire is freezing the rest of the human party solid.

◆◇◆

A little later after freezing and storing the bodies of the awakened humans, Azrael in his griffin form is flying through the spacious hallways of the dungeon. Every time he flaps his wings every few seconds to stay midair, the air pressure generated blows up the unsuspecting monsters beneath, unsure of the insanely fast thing flying over them.

The griffin flies fast in the maze, taking sharp turns without slowing down. With his radar, he can navigate the shortest route to his destination. In a matter of minutes and kilometers of travel distance covered, the griffin ultimately lands his paws and claws before a certain place.

Unlike Azrael, Claire is wondering why they are here. Although she is not sure about it, she can guess where they are. fгeewebnovёl.com

(Isn’t this the stairs leading to the ninth floor?) She asks. (Are you going down there?)

(Yeah, we are going to descend.) Azrael responds. (But did you just say ninth floor? I actually don’t know where I am right now. Can you tell me more about this place?)

(...)

Claire thinks of it for a second as she grows suspicious of him, uncertain of his origin. She ultimately decides to trust her guts and begins breaking down any information he wants to know as Azrael has transformed into an assassin theraphosid to comfortably descend to the lower floor in absolute darkness.

(It seems like you have no prior knowledge of everything around you. We are actually in a dungeon.)

(That makes sense since countless monsters spawn here. That also explains why there are so many floors.)

Skitter. Skitter.

The dampen sounds of running spider limbs resonate within the spiral staircase. With his pace, they can reach the next floor within a minute.

(Yes. There are many types of dungeons like a cave-like one, an underground structure like this, or even a tall tower emerging from the surface. Depending on the type, dungeons are composed of levels or floors. The farther from the entrance, the more powerful the monsters to face.)

(I see. I assume that this dungeon becomes more challenging the deeper you go.)

(Verily. So far, we are currently heading to the ninth floor, which is the deepest floor I have ever heard of all the dungeons discovered. Even the known large dungeons on the continent are not even this big.)

(This is the biggest dungeon ever discovered?)

(That’s right. Even the largest known dungeon only has six floors. In addition, the lowest floor of that dungeon is the same size as the first floor of this one. In conclusion, this dungeon has not only the most floors, but with the largest size as well.)

(Is that so?)

Just as they finish their conversation, the enormous arachnid has set its hairy limbs on the ninth floor of the dungeon. The lower they go, the higher the temperature in the air as well as on the floor itself. It is scorchingly hot there that being on this floor for quite a time can boil water.

Luckily, the exoskeleton of the assassin theraphosid Azrael mimicked is designed to withstand a harsh environment with high pressure and temperature. Though the air pressure in these depths are no different than the surface since this dungeon is actually an open cavity.

Once reaching the ninth floor, Azrael morphs back to his griffin form. The transformation emits steam due to the heat generated from rearranging his bones, flesh, and cells. He then flaps his wing and launches himself midway before flapping his wings again to propel forward.

(So what are we actually doing here?) Claire asks.

(To the floor beneath. I have an unfinished business to settle there.)

(The floor below? You meant the tenth floor...?)

Azrael can feel that she is taken aback by his sudden revelation. After a sharp turn on the corner, he flaps his wings to maintain his pace.

(Don’t worry. There are no more floors beyond that if that’s your concern.) He reassures her.

(I see. So why are we here again?)

(You’ll see.)

The mighty griffin continues to soar through the vast hallways in an insane flight speed that surpasses sound several times, which results in blasting away the monsters below due to the extreme air pressure generated.

A few kilometers of traveling on the tenth floor of the dungeon, Azrael senses something big within his radar. With how vast his detection range is, Claire is seconds late to perceive that massive entity within her own radar.

(Hm? What is that?)

(Oh, you sensed that too? I almost forgot that it exists. It looks like I have another business to finish.)

Hundreds of meters later and the monster is near enough for Claire’s radar to generate a visual of it. As soon as she gets a clear vision of it, she eyes in Azrael’s mindscape widens in shock as if she just saw something unbelievable.

Kilometer ahead of them, there is a large monster walking along the hallway at a slow pace. Although Claire feels too little mana in relation to its size from it, she can tell that it is full of pure physical power, an embodiment of destruction.

(Wait...! That’s...! Is that the colossus golem? A monster of a legend?)

(A legendary monster, huh? Well, it’s the only one I have encountered so far.)

(It was supposed to be only appearing in the legends since no one actually proves its existence. According to the legends dated back centuries ago, there was once a behemoth of a golem that was said to have flattened an entire city by just passing. I actually doubted its existence until now.)

(I see. That’s why I was so terrified the last time I encountered it. Hearing that makes me more excited to test how powerful I have become.)

(Don’t tell me you are going to fight it?)

(Of course. I’ll take that sentient piles of boulder my stepping stones before facing the final boss.)

After covering kilometers of flight distance, the winged monster eventually slows down its speed until he stops half a kilometer from the golem. While hovering midair, the griffin transforms itself into a greater dragon.

Azrael opens his dragonic mouth wide and starts concentrating his mana in his mouth in the form of a bright sphere. The energy of the enlarging energy ball is overwhelming enough for the colossus golem to turn its back to look at it.

Once he reaches the maximum charge, Azrael expands his chest before unleashing the greater dragon blast.

Boom!

The area is lightened up by the blinding lights of the attack accompanied by a loud explosive sound. The greater dragon blast’s linear projection is focusing its full power at the target: the colossus golem. Traveling dozens of times the speed of sound, the blast easily reached the target in a blink of an eye and the golem cannot do anything to stop or even avoid it.

CRACK!

Azrael attack successfully hits the right side of the golem’s lower torso, severely damaging it and chipping a large portion of rocks out of it. Even though the greater dragon blast has served its purpose, the powerful beam of light continues to fire until it is stopped by the wall a few hundred meters away, which results in a large explosion.

BOOM!

(That was quite a tremendous amount of power.)

Claire is amused looking at the bright explosion before its shockwave reaches Azrael.

(I think that’s a problem.) Azrael responds. (The attack is so fast and powerful that it doesn’t explode upon making contact with the golem until it hits the wall. I should have used the spherical ones.)

After that, Azrael flaps his wings and approaches the golem. Upon closer look, he can see that the golem is still standing despite losing a large part of its torso. He opens his mouth wide and fires a sphere of highly concentrated energy to finish the golem off.

Whoosh.

The sphere of energy, or the greater dragon fireball, flies at the sonic speed and eventually hits the golem shortly after. This time, instead of passing through, the fireball instantly explodes in contact.

Boom!

Although the explosion is not as powerful as the one the greater dragon blast created, it inflicts massive damages to the golem. Once the blinding lights and dust subside, the figure of the golem reveals itself before the eyes of the greater dragon.

But in reality, there is no golem to see there since it is pulverized by Azrael’s attack. The spot it should be standing is now filled with crushed rocks and boulders.

(Hm. It was a lot easier than I thought.)

Azrael then transforms into a griffin and approaches the lifeless golem, if it has life to begin with. Using his talons, he rummages through the scattered debris in search of something until he eventually finds the thing he is looking for.

It is a magic crystal with an amber hue, which is surprisingly intact after all the things the golem has been through. Without wasting any second, Azrael sticks out his long tongue and grabs the magic crystal before swallowing it whole in one gulp.

(Is this how you gain more powers?) Sensing a sudden insignificant power up on his body, Claire voices her question.

(Yeah. I have been repeatedly doing this countless times for a while. I have become so powerful that I defeated this golem with such ease. I am certain that this is enough to face that thing...)

With confidence in his mind, Azrael flaps his wings and continues his way to that powerful monster.