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Having had their fill of frivolous activity for the moment, Boxxy and its demonic entourage finally set foot into Ambrosia’s trunk. The hole in the root was oddly enough left open, which the Mimic could only assume was done on purpose. After all, if the dryad willed it, she could easily patch something like that in an instant, even without the dungeon core’s assistance. The only reason she had left it open in the first place was because her body was so huge that it was easy to overlook a few holes here and there.

You have entered the Dryad’s Domain.

Your body begins to feed off the ambient mana. Automatic HP and MP recovery increased by 100%.

Boxxy had passed through the invisible border of its former dungeon as it and its posse progressed through the tight, winding cavity of Ambrosia’s roots. Its Hylt Metabolism Skill kicked in almost immediately, signifying the abnormally high concentration of mana maintained by the crystal core. It was the Mimic’s first time quite literally eating the ambient mystical energy around it. Oddly enough, while the feeling flooding into every pore of its skin leaned towards the positive end of the tastiness scale, it wasn’t quite as tasty as it had expected. Then again, the surprisingly tasty ‘flavor’ of sunlight had somewhat skewed its expectations.

The Mimic quickly abandoned such idle thoughts when it realized the small passageway had begun to change. Initially it was so tight that Arms could not physically fit through it, which was why she was left outside at first. But after entering the dungeon’s territory, it had been growing wider and wider. It was currently at the stage where Snack could stand upright rather than have to crawl on all fours in front of Boxxy. She still kept doing it, but that was mostly because she wasn’t right in the head.

It wasn’t just the size of it, either. What was once a random cave tunnel carved out of hungry termites had rapidly become a proper hallway. It was still made of wood, but had right angles, flat surfaces and magical glowing crystals adorning the walls. It eventually led to what appeared to be a grand circular staircase going straight up. It was grown entirely out of wood and bark, with a few errant branches and leaves poking out of the central column it was coiled around.

This was most definitely not a natural occurrence, nor was it here the last time it checked. Granted, it had been a while since it had used the sewer entrance, but it was certain it would remember something like this.

“Did any of you three remodel this part of the dungeon at some point?”

Boxxy’s inquiry was met with a triple unanimous ‘No, Master,’ although it suspected as much. It wasn’t like those frivolous slackers would try and do anything that seemed like work unless ordered to. Fizzy, on the other hand, never had the authority to use Terrain Sculpting, which meant that Ambrosia was the only one who could have done this. However, the real question on its mind wasn’t ‘who,’ but ‘why.’ Why had the dryad gone out of her way to make her innards slightly more accessible?

Proficiency level increased. Hylt Metabolism is now Level 3. END +5. INT +3.

Automatic HP and MP recovery increased by an additional 50%.

Well, the Mimic wasn’t going to complain about it. Rather, since it was convenient, it took advantage of the extra space and summoned Arms back to its new position. Its MP recovery was through the roof, so it would only be a few minutes before it recouped the cost of her summoning. Once the monstrous quartet was back together - and after Boxxy took the time to prepare some extra Spell Crystals - they began ascending the staircase.

“Master?” spoke up Snack after a while. “Forgive this worthless slut, but isn’t this part oddly familiar?”

“Come to think of it, yeah,” agreed Arms. “It’s a lot like when we were in that black place with whatsherface. Vagisil or something?”

“Oh! The raid on the Spire of the Jade King with the lich, Valeria!” exclaimed Claws. “That was a pretty fun episode!”

Indeed, this spiral staircase was oddly reminiscent of Boxxy’s second dungeon conquest. It was too similar for it to be a simple coincidence.

*Shreeektktktktktktktktktkt*

And judging from the endless chittering that began approaching from both behind and in front, the Mimic was right. Much like that time, this too was an ambush, only rather than crystal scarabs, the swarm that descended upon Boxxy and its group was that of giant termites the size of large dogs. Extremely toxic dungeon born variants by the look of things, as they were putrid green in color, and the venom dripping from their mandibles was potent enough to eat away at the timber steps when it fell to the floor.

But even if they were a particularly dangerous type of termite, they were termites nonetheless. Meaning that when they actually tried to descend upon Boxxy, the insects found themselves suddenly paralyzed by fear and unable to move. Despite the dungeon core’s influence, they couldn’t help but question exactly what they were trying to do with their lives. The spider-legged chest in front of them had a certain air about it that made their instincts scream for them to run away with all their might.

And the reason for that, was because on her first visit here, Xera had killed a generous number of these things. At least 20,000 of them, to be a bit more accurate. And since she was her master’s familiar, that feat ended up conferring a little something onto Boxxy.

Natural Enemy of Termites

Description: Repetition is the mother of learning. Especially when it comes to extermination.

Requirements: Kill more than 20,000 termites.

Effects: Increases all damage dealt to termite monster species by 10%.

Killing a termite invigorates you, restoring 2% of max HP and MP.

Faced with what they perceived to be the annihilator of their very species, there was no way these basic, mindless insects would not be influenced by it. As for Boxxy, it decided to take advantage of this opportunity to develop a Job it had been neglecting for a while. The chest’s lid opened up, and a jeweled mithril rapier rose into the air out of it. By the time the weapon came down, Boxxy had already assumed Keira’s form and nimbly grabbed hold of it.

“Winterlich Waltz!”

It sliced through six of the dumbfounded insects with a single slash of its ice-imbued weapon, turning them into a dozen abstract ice sculptures. Having been dealt the initial blow, the vermin finally snapped out of their trance as the dungeon core urged them to repel the invaders. What followed was a one-sided massacre that saw them all either diced up and turned to ice by Boxxy’s swordplay as it rampaged up the stairs. Those behind got crushed by Kora’s fists and heels, gobbled up by Drea’s gluttonous maw, or turned to ash by Xera’s flames.

All things said and done, the ‘ambush’ was stomped with minimal difficulty, letting the Mimic reach Level 27 of its Blade Dancer Job. It also gained a tiny bit of Warlock XP, but that was so negligible that it barely passed 1% of the way to the next Level. Afterward, Boxxy and the demonic trio regrouped at the top of the stairs, where a massive wooden door with glowing golden letters on it blocked their way.

A goblin, a squirrel and a bird are racing up a pine tree. Which one of them will reach the apple first?

“… Is this a joke?” asked Xera in an indignant manner after reading the words.

“No, it’s a riddle,” replied Boxxy. “Looks like a Puzzle Door.”

“Why would she put one of those up though?” inquired Drea absentmindedly.

“We can ask her after we get through it. Stand aside! … Scorching-!”

*SLAM*

The djinn was about to unleash her magic on it, but Boxxy kicked her in the back of the head, smashing her face against the Puzzle Door.

“Don’t do unnecessary things, you pathetic idiot,” it snarled. “These things are impossible to breach with brute force.”

The Mimic vaguely remembered the specifications of it in the dungeon core’s Trap Construction menu. It was an obstacle that would only open up after giving the right answer or password. Giving the wrong one or trying to break it down the hard way, on the other hand, would normally spring some sort of nasty surprise or trap. Boxxy’s MLG didn’t pick anything up in its surroundings, but things were often not as they appeared in a full fledged dungeon.

“We just have to answer the riddle, right?” confirmed Kora. “Then it’s easy! The answer is obviously the goblin!”

“Squirrels are faster and more nimble than goblins, though,” pointed out Drea.

“Nonsense,” declared Xera after that brief but enjoyable bout of punishment. “A bird can fly. It doesn’t have to climb at all.”

“Maybe, but goblins are nasty little buggers,” argued Kora. “It would just kill both of them right at the start!”

The three of them argued back and forth for a while. Thankfully they were using the mental link between them and their master, so their bickering didn’t cause any sort of reaction. As for Boxxy, it quickly determined they were all idiots and stood in front of the door while still posing as a nude Keira, and uttered three simple words.

“None of them.”

The golden lettering on the double doors glowed intensely for a brief moment. They then began to slowly open outward while the three demons looked on in confusion. Boxxy didn’t even need to be a mind reader to tell they were all wondering how that made any sense.

“Apples don’t grow on pine trees.”

After pointing out this rather obvious fact it calmly crossed through the doors while the trio of girls followed in various states of dissatisfaction. Xera was, as was to be expected of her, getting off on being shown to be inferior to her Master. Kora, on the other hand, was pissed she got one-upped by someone and Drea was just plain ashamed she fell for that trick question.

They didn’t have much time to lament on the event, however, as the large chamber beyond that Puzzle Door was filled with dozens of treants. Bearing the appearance of four-to-five-meter-tall tree-people, these monsters were known for their high durability and slow, but devastating attacks. They were also covered by some type of parasitic purple flowers that had encroached on their bodies. These things spat out poisonous spores that had a severe numbing and muscle-relaxant effect. Anyone that breathed those in would suddenly find themselves less capable of dodging the treants’ massive attacks and end up as nothing but a bloody smear on the ground.

At least that was what might happen to an unprepared group of adventurers.

Boxxy and Xera instantly annihilated the lumbering targets with their combined magic, leaving them as flaming splinters. Xera’s Purge Spell came in particularly useful in this encounter. With it, she was able to literally burn away all poisons, toxins and diseases from herself and her allies while also cauterizing their wounds. The purifying flames inflicted a bit of damage on her, but it was well worth the payoff.

From then on, the Mimic’s party was faced with a series of chambers, each with its own challenge. Some of them were full of monsters with a distinctly plant-like and/or poisonous nature. A few of them were Puzzle Doors, all but one of which Boxxy was able to solve instantly. That one wasn’t so much a riddle as it was a history question regarding the Elven Dominion which the Mimic didn’t know the answer to. Drea was surprisingly enough able to step in and solve it, as she and one of her former masters had taken part in the ancient war campaign the Puzzle Door was asking about.

The most frustrating of these places, however, were the trap chambers. Giant moving sawblades and guillotines, spike floors, dart traps, teleportation traps, pitfalls and other nasty things had to be traversed. They really were incredibly annoying to get past, at least from the demons’ perspective. All Boxxy had to do was throw the three of them at these booby-trapped corridors over and over until they were beaten either by Xera’s Mist Form, Kora’s pigheadedness, or Drea’s agility and speed. Most commonly the last one. After a demon had made it through to the other side, Boxxy just needed to Transfamiliar to the exit and move on.

Overall, the revamped Dryad’s Domain wasn’t any more difficult than the Spire of the Jade King in terms of monster strength, but it was quite a bit more annoying. Traps and inane Puzzle Doors aside, the very layout of the dungeon was an incomprehensible three-dimensional maze. One whose connecting doors and passages seemed to shift around at set intervals of about 40 minutes, making a mess of Boxxy’s mental map of the place in the process.

It wasn’t that big a deal, though. With Hylt Metabolism reaching Level 4, Boxxy was enjoying an overall boost of 250% to its MP recovery rate when combined with Meditation, drastically shortening the downtime needed between demonic summons. It also didn’t need to worry about sustenance despite the hours-long dungeon expedition, proving that this Skill was exactly what Boxxy imagined it would be when it picked it up. Namely an invaluable tool for conquering dungeons and plundering all the loot left behind by the gods.

And indeed, based on the volumes upon volumes of books it read during its short hiatus, it was able to grasp exactly why dungeons existed. Simply put, they were places to allow adventurers to get both stronger and richer. They were a sort of divine proving ground where challengers hoped to show themselves worthy of being granted obscene amounts of gold and outrageous magic items. It was even rumored that Axel, the God of War, and Zephyra, the Goddess of Rain, used their personal dungeons as a means of picking their next Hero.