Re:Mimic [MONSTER MC LITRPG]

Back in the dark slime's cave…

Five humanoid figures walked to the entrance of the dark cave in a tight formation. Their physiques were robust and powerful and colored with a striking, deep green. They looked like walking trees. Their bright green eyes and flowing branch-like hair, the only things detracting from that fact.

<Life trail ends here.>

Boomed the rough and deep voice of the apparent leader. Its form was different from the rest. Apart from its vine-like hair being more elaborate, it had a taller and more well defined physique. It also carried a very distinct aura from the rest.

The five stood at the mouth of the cave before marching in, spears raised. After walking into the cave, the leader immediately saw something that grabbed its attention. It even caused its bright eyes to flicker for a moment before returning to its usual luminosity.

It could see three simple wood spears impaled almost half way into the solid rock. Pitch black ichor that smelt of rot and decay clung to each spear. Without a word, the group's pace picked up as they moved forward.

It didn't take long for them to come across the corpses of two other tree humanoids and one barely hanging on. The corpses looked shriveled and decayed. Their originally vibrant, green eyes now a dull black.

The five silently stomped over to the only surviving member. They methodically formed a circle around its dark brown form and held their hands together with their heads facing down. Their limbs sprouted and grew like vines, fusing all five of them together by linking their arms.

Suddenly, bright white runes appeared in the eyes of each humanoid. Each one of them shared the same shape and structure. With the appearance of the runes, beautiful green Spirit energy pulsed out of them.

The Spirit energy circled across the five in complex and seemingly chaotic patterns. With each circle, the energy grew more and more intense. Glowing brighter and brighter until the entire cave was lit by a piercing green light.

The energy reached its apex in just a few seconds before shooting to the injured tree humanoid on the ground in a concentrated beam. Its physical condition began to rapidly improve as more and more energy was fed to it.

Less than a minute later, it seemed perfectly healthy. The five retracted the energy at that point. The runes in their eyes disappeared as their eyes dimmed slightly as well. The process had taken quite a lot out of them.

The humanoid on the ground slowly stood up, seeming somewhat out of it. Its faces was as expressionless as its comrades around it. It eventually stood to its feet and immediately looked towards the simple spears in the wall. Its gaze flickered then it turned towards the leader and said.

<The Thraxxar escape. Its… different from the others. Craftier. More dangerous.>

The leader let out a deep and gruff sound in affirmation. It then asked in an audibly softer tone.

<Where Vekarn? >

The saved humanoid's gaze flickered intensely. The leader got all he needed to know from its gaze. It turned to the rest and said.

<We take back Pax and Khax. I have to consult the Lord. >

With those two simple statements, it walked back to the entrance of the cavern. Its stomps were notably heavier. Two of the humanoids he came with lugged the two corpses on their shoulders as they followed behind the leader.

The leader made a stop at the three spears. It reached out at the spears and retrieved them one by one, placing them on its back. Holding the last spear in his hand, it sent a pulse of Spirit energy through it.

Two dark red runes pulsed in its gaze before vanishing. It immediately snapped its head towards the specific direction Lucas went. It then retracted its gaze as it led its crew away in eerie silence…

———

Back to Lucas, our favorite mimic swung above the heads of five crimson rats like a superhero. The rats let out a shrill squeal and rushed away in terror.

Lucas ignored them as his focus was captured by something else–his body. Using his body to its limits had always given him a liberating feeling. Now that he felt human again, that feeling ramped up. His dulled emotions shining through his mimic exterior as a slight smile hung on his lips.

His four tendrils pierced, hooked, and released from rock to rock like grappling hooks every two seconds or so as he zipped across the colorful and rich cavern walls with flair. Mid-flip, his fun was disrupted by the low hums of Crash.

Hum hum?

"I haven't forgotten why we are out here. There simply aren't any creatures to fight. Anything noteworthy is too sensitive and runs away before I can do anything while the weaker ones are not worth the effort."

That seemed to satiate his imaginary buddy as it fell back into silence. Lucas kept swinging and maneuvering around the cavern. With each powerful swing and transition, he kept trying to push his limits. How far could he swing? How fast could he do so? With each question that rose, the harder he pushed to improve the result.

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With his current Physique and Mind, whenever he figured out what to do, he could easily apply it. To his surprise, he felt the influence of the Mind attribute here in the air more than ever.

Movements he would normally leave to his instincts or would fix with hours of trial and error were corrected mid motion. His mind just processed information much faster than it did before. And with how amazing his body already was, it was like giving the proper software to his hardware. In short, he was much better at utilizing his body now.

'I should have expected this. My attributes don't exist in a vacuum. The only way to display my full potential is to have the right combination of attributes. Now that I have Wiki, I will probably have a deeper understanding of my attributes soon. So for now, let's hold off from spending the point I have left.'

Comprehending these insights, Lucas kept swinging and testing out his body. After a few minutes of swinging and covering quite a bit of ground, he felt his stamina dropping.

'Hmm… even though I'm more powerful now I'm also much heavier. But given the distance I have covered, it's definitely worth it. I should have covered over 5 kilometers in less than three minutes!'

Lucas slowly lowered speed before going back down to the cavern floor. He then took off with a calm jog. Since nothing was happening, boredom eventually set in. Thoughts he hadn't had time to really consider began popping up in his mind.

'How is the cavern so big? I have been traveling in one direction for 5 kilometers now and nothing is changing? No… the tunnels are getting larger and the creatures are getting more powerful as well. Is the sound attracting the creatures like it did for me?'

As he theorized, he heard a sharp scraping sound ahead of him. The sound was familiar so he honed in on it. What he sensed surprised him.

'A beetle? Good! I know it will definitely be looking for a fight!'

Hum! Humm!

Lucas rushed ahead with Crash cheering him on. As he got closer, he felt the beetle's aura more clearly. It was powerful, almost like—

"It has a core."

Lucas' eyes widened slightly before narrowing. This is what he needed, a strong opponent. His strides became more forceful as his speed increased.

In a few seconds, he was face to face with the grey colored beetle. It was much bigger than the first one he met. It was as wide as he was tall. Standing at shoulder height with him, its massive mandibles drawn apart ready to cleave him apart with a simple snap.

Looking at this creature, Lucas tensed. Its powerful aura made him second guess his decision. He became hesitant and unsure for a moment as it noticed him and began closing the distance.

'Can I beat it? I can't keep taking unnecessary risks. What if I'm very injured after the fight and an opportunist strikes—'

HUMM!

With a reassuring hum, Lucas felt his Spirit energy course through his veins for the first time in this form. This was Crash's doing. Lucas' distracting thoughts cleared up but his Will was strong enough to not fall into hubris as well.

'Yes, I have to be cautious but if I don't allow myself to take risks that's simply suicide. I just have to do my best. And right now, all I have to do is fight!'

With his thoughts cleared up, he shot at the beetle as well, leaving two craters in his wake. He closed the distance immediately and unleashed a fierce punch.

Boom.

The blow stunned the monstrous bug for just a moment but that gave Lucas the opening to unleash two slashes with his scythe-tendrils. Unfortunately, the bug's carapace was too tough, it easily shrugged off the hits and snapped its mandibles at Lucas.

Lucas stepped back to avoid the cleaving bite and countered with a slash from one of his lower scythe-tendrils. The beetle barely flinched from the attack as it rammed into Lucas with a sudden burst of speed.

'What??'

Bang.

Lucas was smashed a solid ten meters away before he even touched the ground. Rolling to a stop, he hastily stood up and was surprised he wasn't injured. His elation was cut short when he felt a surge of Spirit energy coming from the armored beetle. The pulse of power kicked up dust and debris as the air shook.

Its light grey color now a shade lighter making it appear almost white. Activating his [Spirit Sense], Lucas could see its Spirit energy revolving around it extremely fast. Its energy seemed to be tracing out Runes but Lucas didn't have time for them as he could see the beetle rapidly expanding in his vision. With a fierce howl, the wind roared as the beetle flew at Lucas. Its wings flared out as it came at him looking for blood.

With his reflexes and skills as guides, Lucas shot his tendril at the wall to his left and dove in that direction. He dodged the beetle's crushing charge by mere centimeters, the sharp wind of the charge grazing him. Smashing into the wall like a battering ram, Lucas left a sizable crater but only one thing was on his mind.

'How is it moving so fast?'

Boom.

He heard the beetle crash into the far wall. Dust and debris shot out from the large crater made by the beetle. The beetle used its wings to deftly turn around and face its foe once more.

Before Lucas could even come up with a valid strategy, the beetle rushed at him once more. It's formerly subtle grey color now a piercing white. Its speed rose to a ludicrous degree.

Contrary to logic, Lucas instead rushed towards the biological locomotive. His right arm changed into a pitch black pike which he leveled against the beetle. Transforming that single arm almost took half of his Spirit energy but he didn't care and dumped more into it. A series of red glowing runes covered the surface of the simple pike in a neat line.

As the white and black streaks raced toward each other, Crash let out a deep hum as it gave Lucas its all.

HUM!

'That's right. I'm not a human, so I shouldn't fight like one!'

BANG!

Lucas mentally roared as they collided with a loud bang. Lucas felt his weaponized arm pierce into the beetle's carapace with minimal resistance and immediately activated [Leech]. However, the skill couldn't take full effect before the beetle's overwhelming momentum smashed both of them into the wall with a thunderous boom.

When the dust settled, Lucas pushed off the lifeless corpse of the beetle from himself and pulled out his arm. A gaping wound could be found in the beetle's head as he retracted his limb.

Apart from some deep lacerations on his skin and some bone fracture, Lucas looked relatively fine. He sat down in the crater and looked at the corpse feeling a swirl of emotions. Expelling a deep breath, he plotted out his next actions while replying the fight in his mind.

"I should remove the core and head in deeper—"

Drip drip drip.

Hearing the sound of dripping water his mind snapped away from his thoughts as he tried to sniff out the origin. He searched around confused before he felt something wet on his face. This caused him to freeze in place as he asked rhetorically.

'I'm crying?'

His confusion grew as the tears continued to stream. He couldn't stop them, even as his mind grappled with why they were there. They were a reminder—a crack in the muted mask his mimic body wore. For a moment, Lucas felt a little less alien, a little more human.