The mimic panicked and started punching it. It shapeshifted to many people and tried many tricks but none would work on the barrier.

  Bel approached it, knocking on the barrier, “Hehe, like a fish in a bowl.”

  All she had to do was be patient and wait for reinforcements. The crowd was looking at the scene with mild surprise, they continued on their day as if it wasn't that big of a deal. Were mimics common in this area?

  She played with it, making it reproduce her every movement. It was like a mirror, except creepy. The mimic could do anything, from a simple smile to a choreography. Its movements were a bit stiff but with every passing moment, it became more and more convincing. How much could it learn and retain?

  Astor and Cayn soon joined her.

  “What is this?” Cayn asked.

  “The mimic.”

  “I know, but why is it doing a handstand?”

  “Because I’m doing it too.”

  “I am surprised you find time to joke around in this situation.”

  “Why? Am I missing something?”

  Cayn pointed at the monster. “It is a World Boss, a dungeon core cannot go out of its own domain, it is an indisputable rule.”

  “Wait,” Bel got back on feet, “really?” She stared at it, it stared back. “Ok, well, I’ve got it locked up anyways.”

  Bel asked about the dungeon. The boss was resisting fiercely. They could destroy the dungeon core right now and make the fight easier but she forgot how to do that. “How do we break a dungeon core?” she asked Astor.

  “By disrupting the mana flow inside of it.”

  “Ok, how do we do that?”

  Cayn spoke, “Do you really plan to do that with just the three of us?”

  “Depends on how hard it is,” she replied, glancing at the mimic, who was immobile. “So, how do we do that?”

  “With a skill that uses a lot of mana, overwhelming the dungeon core’s inside with it,” Astor answered.

  [Warrior] was out of the picture. [Priest] only had [Protection] for attack and it didn’t use all that much mana all things considered. It left the [Mage]’s skills able to use as much mana as needed to create things. But also the [Monk] class she just got, it was her father’s class and she studied it a lot.

  “Should we do it?” she asked.

  Cayn pointed at the mimic. “Bel.”

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  It took the form of Cayn and it had a chain made out of barriers in its hands. No way, not even Astor could make them. It continued to make various shapes with it and eventually settled with a sharp tool. The mimic brandished the tool and smacked it into Bel’s barrier, destroying it. And before she could even react, it turned into the [Archmage] and threw explosive spells at them.

  Bel covered her eyes and coughed. Cayn had protected them from the blasts but the smoke made it difficult to see where the mimic went. How was the crowd doing, too?

  People around were confused, but most were unscathed, the mimic wasn’t strong enough to do much.

  She concentrated on her ears to detect any kind of familiar footsteps far away. One, two, three. The mimic was right there, running away with Cayn’s footsteps. She tracked it, with Astor and Cayn following behind.

  This time, it went up. Probably going back to the dungeon. They had to catch up fast, as it could join reinforcements from the dungeon’s monsters, it could still control them after all.

  Outside again, it was dusk and Astor unleashed a pocket-version of his tortoise killer attack. It went right through the mimic. “Nice shot blue-eyes.”

  Bel followed up, rushing to its location and at the same time, she switched to [Mage]. She sat everything on fire.

  Cayn picked up the dungeon core, laid around, nice catch. Now all they had to do was break it.

  “I used too much mana,” Astor said.

  Bel added, “Same.”

  Cayn was up to the task, “Fine.” He held the dungeon core tight. “[Switch: Mage].” And without anyone disturbing him, he used [Element] to conjure water inside of the thin fissure the core had. The fissure grew bigger with each passing second. It worked. They took turns, one by one, and with the few they had.

  It broke into pieces. Finally.

  “Take the pieces Astor, it’s worth a lot,” Bel said. And as she told so, a figure loomed behind her. A minotaur. She quickly turned around and blocked the incoming attack with her two arms. They broke and she got blasted away along Astor and Cayn.

  Barely conscious, nested into a wall. Astor wasn’t looking good; his cloak was covered in red. As for Cayn, he barely managed to pop up a barrier for himself, it probably broke too because he was unconscious. Fuck. Is it the dungeon boss or the mimic?

  She could barely speak a word but managed to activate two skills. “[Switch: Monk], [Regeneration].” That skill wasn’t worth a [Heal] but it could heal her over time with little mana consumed, her father used that a lot whenever she got hurt.

  She started to recover motions, one finger at a time. The beast picked up dungeon core’s pieces then ate them. Why? It lifted its hands, like an [Archmage] would and spell circles spawned above them. Damn mimic, it managed to survive the attacks. Bel had to stop it from casting, and quick. It probably ate the dungeon core to accumulate enough mana for a big explosive spell. Considering the size of the spell circles, it was enough to destroy the mountain and everyone inside. She had to stop it.

  Given that it was a mimic, she supposed that it was akin to mana cores, as they both were fabric of mana convergence. She needed to reenact what she did with the dungeon core.

  She could feel her legs, she could move her arms. Focusing on her right hand, she imitated the movement her father repeated multiple times during training: a simple palm strike. All she had to do was concentrate her mana into the next palm with the [Monk] skill [Martial art], so that it caused a destructive wave of mana. From what she knew, it was like a [Warrior] skill but with mana infused.

  The mimic seemed unaware of her presence. She dashed toward it, palm upfront and striked the abdomen’s side. Her mana transcended through the mimic in a blue flash making it stop the spell. Her strike wasn’t going to blow up right away, for she had to make a “fissure” so that mana infiltrates the inside of the mimic.

  She knew the risk. She calculated what would happen next: the mimic, glowing blue, retaliated by cutting her in half with its sharp claws. The monster blew up, right after. A beautiful ocean blue mist remained in the air, just like the day her father saved her.

  World Boss vanquished: 2/9.

  She contemplated the aftermath one last time: Astor was bloodier than before but Cayn just woke up, they’re gonna be fine.

  She closed her eyes with a smirk. “Worth it.” Her heartbeat faded.