Hell Difficulty Tutorial

Chapter 596 – Not a damsel

POV Nathaniel

We reappear on the 7th floor, in the same place we’ve spent these months training, preparing, and relaxing at our “beach.”

And here it sits, entirely destroyed. A crater scars the ground where the lake and the building used to be. The nearby cliff is marred, with a single, enormous, building sized glass projectile piercing through it. There are also bodies of lumorans and mimics scattered all around the place.

Tess and Biscuit are nowhere to be seen, and neither of them has responded in the Community.

Lissandra stands there with Myrra by her side, surveying the damage with eyes that seem to perceive far more than any of us.

Then anger flashes across her face, the kind that only comes from wounded pride and betrayal. The mimics and lumorans had promised no forces would enter her territory, yet everything now lies in ruins.

She rises and flies toward the sky, sending a single pulse of mana from her. It is nearly audible and produces a physical reaction in the area. All the clouds disappear, and the sky turns bright white. All the temporary mana webs covering the area are torn and obliterated, and a wave expands outward with a speed and force that makes it seem as though it could encompass the entire planet.

Her head turns; she looks into the distance for a moment before disappearing in that direction with an audible sonic boom.

Warning! The 13th wave is now in progress.

And the Floor Quest resumes.

Even though I’ve seen it before, I check the number of people in the Community again, confirming that Tess is still there. But she was still there when she first got infected by the mimic inside her. So what the hell has happened?

What have you done, you silly blonde? Damn, I hope you’re safe.

Flashback Tess Hansen

Two days. That’s how long it takes me to encounter a powerful Elder Mimic in the body of a lynthari; either a mercenary who came here to offer their assistance or one of those who was taken over on another planet that had been taken over by a Progenitor Mimic.

It doesn’t seem like it took me very long to find one, and I guess having Biscuit with me helps. I also have a strong suspicion that Lissandra left a mark on me. I know I would do something like that if I were her. Having the mimic inside me likely didn’t hurt my chances either.

Facing the body of the lynthari Champion taken over by the mimic, I say, “I want to make a deal with you.”

He looks at me in the same way while glancing toward Biscuit and then back at me. “Return to your territory, human. I won’t violate the terms of the deal we made with that woman, but do not push it.”

A smile appears on his face, slightly unnatural, as if his true identity were showing despite the mimic’s perfect memory and its ability to copy the body it took over. It almost seems to be hinting at the mimic inside me as if it were telling me to enjoy the time I have left.

“I think I can get you to whatever the lumorans stole from your territory on the 2nd front. I also think I know why the mimic inside me seems so special and can hide from the lumorans’ frameworks.”

I dangle the bait like I’ve rehearsed. The item, the one it hungers for. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I know one thing: it wants it more than it wants me. That gives me leverage.

And that gets his attention.

“I have an offer for you,” I say.

I already know what I’m going to do. I’ll lead it to what it wants, not because I want to help it, but because I refuse to die with this thing inside me. If it’s desperate enough, it will jump to someone else. And I’ll make sure it does.

Days later, back in lumoran territory, I finally get a meeting with Technician Leth, but only after multiple checks, some even performed by a lumoran Champion. They run me through purification arrays that burn through my mana reserves, forcing me to stand still as pulse after pulse of detection magic washes over me. Inscriptions crawl over my skin, searing slightly as they scan for mimic residue. My internal mana flow is disrupted and reset again and again, leaving me dizzy and unbalanced.

By the end, I’m drained and shaking, barely keeping myself upright. I rely entirely on my connection to that silver-haired Absolute, the one who appeared from nowhere. That status is the only reason they let me through in the first place.

“It’s nice to see you, Tess, but where are the others? Everyone is nervous because that human woman disappeared as well. It just shouldn’t be possible after the oath she made,” Leth tells me.

He’s not alone in the room either; Jareth is there too, Champion Owain’s disciple, and even Champion Safie, one of the stronger Champions the lumorans have. It could be said that they are interrogating me.

I pet Biscuit to keep him from trying anything hotheaded. There are still those tiny antlers on his head, but he is quiet.

"She killed Nathaniel and the others, then chose to cooperate with the mimics," I say.

It is something I have practiced saying for days. I repeated the lie so often, with such practiced grief, that it became part of my truth. Even the mimic inside me has begun to echo those feelings back to me, almost as if it couldn’t be sure what was real anymore.

My subclass, my skill, made it happen.

I’ve already cried over the deaths of my friends more times than I can count. There was an hour when I just sat there, sobbing, remembering those perfect days we spent together. They were the kind of friends I had always dreamed of, people who accepted me despite all my flaws. Each of them had their own imperfections, but somehow that only made them more beautiful to me. As if every flaw only made them shine brighter.

And now they’re dead because Lissandra saw them as dead weight, nothing left to gain from keeping them alive. Cooperating with the mimic Absolute will only give her a new chance, a way to improve her odds of escaping the tutorial.

I know these things happened as surely as I know my name.

When I speak to the lumorans, I put my whole self into the words. I say it with unwavering confidence and intent.

And they believe me.

Hidden from them, something inside me shudders in a way that almost feels like a laugh.

POV Nathaniel

Hours have passed, and Lissandra still hasn’t returned.

Warning! The 14th wave is now in progress.

Warning! The 15th wave is now in progress.

Within that short time, two more waves appear and mimics begin flooding in the area, mainly greater mimics, some in lumoran bodies. They attack us without hesitation, and we fight them in the same way, all the while glancing at the sky in

I think I’ve played my part well, no matter how disgusting it felt. I took the fondness he had for Nathaniel and the others and used it. I built the image of a broken, unfortunate girl in his mind.

I tapped into the grief he still carries from losing Champion Feroy, the one he followed, and the friends he fought beside. In his eyes, I’ve suffered the same loss.

But now his mana signature is thin, frayed. I make note of how tired he looks, how little resistance he must have. A weak link, maybe. Just maybe.

He says, “I’m sorry, Tess, I know it’s cruel for them to kill you, but the order came from the Absolute himself. It is to avoid risk and simply remove you, they’re worried about the things that woman could have done with you. I’m truly sorry.”

“It’s fine, Leth, it’s not your fault,” I say with a weak smile, feigning bravery to mask my sorrow.

Slowly, I get to my feet and hold out my hand to Leth for a handshake, saying, “Thank you for everything.”

He hesitates, “They told me not to…”

I pull my hand back with a saddened expression, “Oh, I get it, I’m sorry.” I quickly apologize and take a step, only to let myself fall, seemingly tangled in the chains on my feet and hands.

Leth almost instinctively moves in and grabs my hand to help me stand. “Are you…” His words cut off.

"I’m sorry. Truly," I whisper.

The mimic inside me moves from my body into his and takes over the moment it does so. It destroys the lumoran technician’s mind in a blink, and with it, the oath I made to the mimics disappears, its requirements fulfilled.

The baby progenitor mimic looks at me with Leth's face and expressions, yet somehow it’s different, as it begins settling inside him and trying to hide its presence, which should be much harder, if not impossible, now that it has taken over Leth’s mind. It can likely still jump into another lumoran, but I don’t think it can hide anymore the way it hid inside me, not against serious attempts.

“Useless human,” Leth says. “You couldn't even get me close to the Champion. But as per our deal, no mimic will touch you. The others will be here soon, but I wonder if they’ll arrive quickly enough to save you from your lumoran executioner.”

He doesn’t even smile, but I can see the strange cruelty in Leth's eyes. Then he turns to leave, before the executioner arrives and before its presence triggers any of the defensive arrays.

“A moment,” I call out.

He stops and turns around when I say, “Biscuit, not a friend.”

Then I close my eyes.

That pressure returns, along with that eerie sensation. I hear a scream I never imagined Leth or any mimic could make, followed by a series of loud crunches, and then silence.

When I open my eyes, Biscuit is sitting there, looking at me.

He burps and says in my mind, 

When the lumorans rush in, I pretend to panic and shout about a mimic that had been hidden inside Leth. I warn them about the incoming mimic attack he told me about, and urge them to check the detection arrays.