The Dungeon's Worst Little Mistake

In the morning Bug wakes up to find Mimmie sleeping in her arms. She's a little surprised to find her there, but gets over it quickly and tightens her hold to give a hug. Bug doesn't know how the little girl had managed to get there without waking her. She is pretty sure that she is a light enough sleeper that being touched should have woke her up, but maybe she didn't react because it was her daughter? Yeah, that seems like a reasonable enough explanation. Regardless, Bug is just happy to get to cuddle with Mimmie.

"Surprised I still have my hands though."

After all, that is why she typically doesn't bother trying to cuddle with the cute little Mimic. She might get hungry and want a midnight snack, something that had happened a few times back when she was a brick. Bricks aren't good for cuddles. Especially not ones that bite… Maybe Mimmie is finally learning to have some more self-control? That would be nice; then they could sleep together more!

Bug smiles down at the sleeping girl and gives her a kiss on top of her head. Though Bug does grimace a little when she finally notices all the drool soaking her shirt. Trying to wipe it away obviously doesn't accomplish much more than wetting her fingers, so she just sighs and gives up on worrying about it.

"Have a good sleep?" Susan asks from the other side of the room.

"Hmm?" Bug looks up to find the Ghoul still awake and watching, her red eyes slightly glowing in the dark room. She hadn't bothered to light another torch since everyone here can see in the dark anyways.

"Thanks for staying on watch. How long was I out?"

"A few hours. You and Elaine slept through the mana wave. It should be early morning by now." Susan answers.

"The restock happened? How did you fare with getting hit with the wave?"

"I'm fine. I've been able to withstand it without getting knocked out before, though I would normally avoid it if I could. Now that I'm a Ghoul, it seems to affect me even less now. Still, watching it just roll right over you two like it is nothing is a bit shocking to see."

"Well, we are technically both Dungeon monsters." Bug says with a shrug. Finally checking the time on her System, Bug blinks. "Six hours? I really overslept. Uhg… Thanks again for staying up."

"Is fine… So, again, have a good sleep?" Susan asks again, her red eyes never leaving Bug and Elaine.

"Mmm, was good, yeah? Why?" Bug asks curiously. Why would Susan even care?

"Any dreams?" Susan asks further, ignoring Bugs own question.

"… Uh? I don't know, maybe? I can't remember. Why do you care?"

Susan finally looks away. "Doesn't matter. Come on, we should hurry up and get ready to go. Eat breakfast. You said you wanted to kill more monsters and make Elaine stronger, right?"

"Right…"

Bug considers trying to push Susan on this and ask what is up with her but decides not to bother for now. Besides, breakfast does sound good right about now, and if Mimmie wakes up to no food, Bug's hands might end up on the menu.

Carefully dislodging herself from Mimmie's hold, her thin little arms being deceptively strong, Bug gingerly sets the little girl off to the side to keep sleeping and then gets to work on digging out some food from her Inventory. Luckily, Bug still has some leftovers from past meals stored away, so she doesn't need to try and make a fire to cook. One of the many disadvantages of not resting in a Safe Room is not having easy access to fire.

Maybe I should buy a portable cooking stove from the Points Store. They're a bit expensive, but they just use mana to heat up, so I can cook anywhere. Ha, more things to spend points on. I'm never going to get that bed I want, am I?

Luckily, all the leftover food in Bug's Inventory is still just as warm and fresh as it was when it was put in, so Bug quickly gets a meal set up of soup and bread, with some grilled meat on the side. Bug makes sure to leave most of the meat for Mimmie.

The girl hasn't shown any signs of being picky about her food and will seemingly eat anything put in front of her. Including things that aren't technically food… But Mimmie obviously has a preference for meat. Susan and Bug will be just fine on soup for now, and Susan can always just eat a monster later if she wants.

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Smelling the food, Mimmie eventually wakes up on her own as Bug is finishing making the plates. The little girl happily accepts hers with a sleepy smile on her face and starts munching through meat and bone both. And then with her eyes half-closed like she is about to fall back to sleep, the wooden plate as well like it is a piece of buttered toast.

"Ah, nonono! Not my plates! Spit that out!"

Bug sighs as she looks over a half-eaten plate before throwing it away. Meanwhile, the culprit responsible for its destruction is just happily yawning and stretching as she finishes waking up.

"Thank you for the food~"

"You're welcome. If you guys are ready, we should get going and do some hunting."

"Mhm." Susan nods as she hands over her empty bowl.

"Yay, hunting!" Mimmie cheers as she finishes wiping the sleep out of her eye. "Oh, wait."

Mimmie looks around like she had nearly forgotten something and then notices them on the ground. Rushing over as fast as she can move, the girl scoops up the pair of dolls off the floor and gives them a hug.

Bug blinks when she notices them.

Weren't those?

The last time she had seen them, all the dolls had been burned and blackened. But now they are as good as new, looking almost as if freshly made. Actually, scratch that, last time she saw them, Mimmie had eaten them.

"How… Mimmie, didn't you-"

Her question goes unfinished as the girl them promptly drops them both into her treasure chest half and swallows them.

"Ready to go!" Mimmie chirps as Bug and Susan are just staring at her.

Bug wants to ask questions, but for the life her life, she just can't seem to bring out the words. What would she even ask? Would Mimmie even be able to answer if she asks? Just what exactly is going on inside of her body?

Resolving herself to try and learn more about Mimics, Bug shakes her head and decides to lave this for later.

With Susan and Mimmie getting ready to go, Bug moves over to the door and presses her ear against it, listening for anything outside.

"Sounds clear."

Susan nods. "Remember the plan?"

Bug wants to role her eyes, but she schools herself and gives a nod. It's important that I take this seriously. I'm a part of a team now, and Susan is the one with experience here. I'm not always going to be able to get through every problem by just powering through with brute force and numbers.

Once everyone is at the door and ready to go, Bug scoops up Mimmie with her extra arms and then follows Susan outside. Once out of the small room, Bug takes her bone scorpion mount out of her inventory and sets Mimmie on it.

"Remember to keep your voice down, ok? Were going to be sneaking around. Gotta be sneaky beaky like."

"Sneaky beaky!"

"Quieter."

"Sneaky beaky!" The girl repeats in an excited whisper.

"Good. Everyone stick behind me and keep it quiet. I need to focus on hearing, try and find some good prey." After a bit, she adds. "Also, so I can listen for roaches. Not again, never again…"

Bug can hear Susan's clothes rustling from how vigorously she is nodding behind her.

Heading out, the three of them move slower than they had the day before, checking corners and patiently waiting as Bug listens to the sounds of the Dungeon. The ambient noises the Dungeon makes in order to appear more spooky are quite annoying.

It doesn't take long to find some monsters. When Bug looks around the corner, she finds a pack of mangy dogs hanging out in a hallway.

Is it the same ones from yesterday? I doubt they would have been able to get away from all those roaches. Those things are relentless…

Bug has to hold down the urge to just rush out and start fighting. In previous layers, especially after her jump in power, she wouldn't have even hesitated. But now that she is taking it slow and careful, she takes the time to plan things out. With a whisper, she tells Susan what she sees and how many there are. Easily over a dozen dogs. Next, she uses Inspect and scans over all the dogs. She finds herself quiet happy that she did.

'Plague Hound Lvl31. A disease ridden mutt of a monster, its bite holds a nasty cocktail of sickness and rot. These monsters can often be found in the wake of large battles, eating the corpses of the fallen and dragging away the wounded. If they are seen, it is safe to assume that a plague will soon fall upon any nearby villages.'

They are all the same as or higher leveled than Bug, and while that hasn't stopped her in the past, they also outnumber her by a lot. But besides that, Bug finds something new and interesting. She can see how much health they have. Floating above all the dogs heads are now floating blue boxes with three fields. Health, Stamina, Mana. Right now, only health is displayed, with the two other fields all being nothing but '???.'

They have less health than I do, but that just means that their stats have probably been put more into other places.

Now, just need to see how strong they are.

Watching the dogs for a bit as they chew on some bones and wrestle on the floor. Spotting the nearest one that is just laying around and looking bored, Bug lets out a whistle to try and get its attention. It takes a couple of tries, but eventually it perks up and looks at the corner curiously and then back at the pack like it is looking to see if anyone else noticed.

It fails to notice Bug, and after a bit, decides to quench its curiosity while everyone else is playing. Tail wagging, claws clicking against stone, tongue lolling out the side of its mouth as it pants, the dog rounds the corner curiously as it sniffs about for anything interesting. Maybe it will find something tasty to eat?

…

It turns the corner, and as the dog raises its nose from the ground, all it can see is a giant gaping maw full of drool coated teeth with a little smiling girl haloed within that gaping maw. She giddily lunges out with open arms for a hug and grabs the mangy dog with an inescapable grip, her tiny little hands being like vices as she wraps her arms around its thin neck.

"Doggy!"

All it can do is let out a surprised whimper with its tail between its legs as it gets pulled into a crushing hug, the dog's vision going dark as its world gets swallowed into a bottomless pit full of teeth.

*Crunch!*