Girl in the Box: Please tell me why I was reincarnated as a mimic monster!

It's probably because he was too worried about the three of them that things turned out this way. Xiao is out of the question; she's already started playing with Shuangyue. Li is also out of the question; she's not good at refusing kindness, and if this drags on any longer, it'll be a real headache.

"Xia Ling".

Yes, I am here.

Suddenly called by Ning, Xia Ling straightened up a little nervously.

"I remember we talked to you about this yesterday, right?" Ning asked. "We'll be away from home for a while, so you could have taken a good break and done what you wanted to do. But you're working here now, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry..." Xia Ling lowered her head, because she really had nothing to say in her argument.

"That's enough." Ning gently patted her head. "You should get some rest. I haven't let you rest properly these past few days. We went on this trip to relax, so you don't have to keep pushing yourself like this, okay?"

"……I see."

After being persuaded by Ning, Xia Ling obediently stepped back. She wondered if she had gone too far, and thankfully, Ning's guidance had helped her accept the situation so quickly. Afterward, Ning and Finoer went aside for a private conversation, thus safely resolving the situation.

“It’s all set,” Ning said casually as she walked back. “It’s all taken care of, and you can leave anytime.”

"Ah... thank you for your help." Li said a few words of comfort to her, then turned to Xiao, "Xiao, you're here. We need to get ready to leave."

"Oh."

After putting Shuangyue down, Xiao quickly returned to their side. The three of them greeted the people who came to see them off, said goodbye to everyone, and then Li used spacetime magic to surround them with a silver magic circle. After that, the magic circle closed, and everyone watched as the three of them disappeared in a soft white light before leaving to do their own things.

At this moment, the three of them had already arrived at a small hill on the outskirts of the maze using spacetime magic. This was the closest teleportation point that Li could confirm to the New Kingdom. Any further and Li could not guarantee their safety. At the very least, if Li teleported any further away, they would have nowhere to land.

As expected, it was still the same desolate landscape. Everywhere they looked was a broken terrain made of shattered rocks and boulders, devoid of any life. This was to be expected, as the three of them had already gotten used to the scene. After all, they had come out several times during this period, especially Xiao, who was a member of the guard team and was very familiar with this place.

"I guess I'm still not quite used to this kind of environment."

Li stretched, carrying her light suitcase.

"Xiao is already very familiar with this place!" Xiao said proudly, speaking on a completely different wavelength.

“Yes…” Ning said calmly, “To change this situation, it will take at least a few years, especially in the area around Akihabara.”

Using the electrical box and the exorcism barrier, Akihabara has successfully dispelled the dense magical energy around the labyrinth, and the demonization situation is not so serious anymore. The plants modified by Chuchu are already being planted, but changing the ecology of a place takes time, and it is impossible to achieve any results in the short term. However, if other countries can also join in, the efficiency will be greatly improved, which is one of the purposes of their trip.

"Then, let's go!"

Riku shouted the signal to start, then jumped off the hill in one breath, carrying Akatsuki. After transforming into a half-dragon, he spread his wings and soared into the blue sky where the two moons hung high. Ning shrugged helplessly, spread his wings as well, and followed the two into the air.

Chapter 25 Crystal Forest

"The situation of being transformed into a demonic realm is quite serious."

"Whoa... What is this...?"

After leaving the maze and walking for a while, they arrived at a very strange place. Well, it was strange...

The world is now filled with dense magic. Once this dense magic reaches a certain concentration, it will suddenly solidify, similar to the magic dragonification in Treasure Chest. The magic will materialize, usually in the form of crystallization, turning into a huge magic crystal or something.

These enormous magic crystals can be seen everywhere nowadays. They are extremely hard and have no primary use; they are essentially just decorative items. Their presence indicates that the surrounding magic is very concentrated. If these magic crystals appear in a magical realm, it means that the magical realm is extremely dangerous, the monsters are severely corrupted, and the damage to people is already visible to the naked eye.

Now, what appears before the three sisters is a vast expanse of magical crystals—the Crystal Forest.

"So beautiful~"

Xiao exclaimed in admiration at the beautiful scene she saw. Not only her, but Li and Ning also had the same feeling, but that was not the point.

Because, isn't that just too strange?

Logically, the place with the most magic should be the battlefield where they fought, but according to adventurers who passed by, that battlefield only had some scattered magic crystals, not the large quantity of crystals here that formed a crystal forest.

The towering magical crystals reflected colorful light, which must have been the most dreamlike scenery to earthlings. Both Li and Ning were amazed by this sight. In Li's opinion, this was probably the second most beautiful sight she had ever seen in this world. Under the clear sky with twin moons and stars, there was a dazzling crystal forest. Such a scene could only be seen in another world.

"Should we go take a look?" Ning had doubts about this matter, so she sought Li's opinion.

"Okay, go ahead." Li nodded. "I'm also wondering why there's something like this here. Xiao, let's go."

"Oh!"

The three sisters abandoned flying and slowly descended into the Crystal Forest, where they would not be affected by the extremely dense magic.

First, Rin possesses various resistances, so no matter how concentrated the magic power is, it won't have any effect. As for Ning, her true form is a slime with a large amount of magic power, so the magic power concentration is probably not as high as the magic power within her body. As for Akatsuki, she has a mysteriously appearing hero's blessing, so it doesn't have much effect on her.

To be honest, they still haven't figured out how Akatsuki got the Hero's Blessing. If possible... Ri also hopes to find out Akatsuki's identity and situation through this journey, because her mother has some connection with the kingdom. It would be great if they could find some clues in the documents there.

“Hmm…” Li frowned, “The air here is mixed with a very high concentration of magic…”

How to put it? It seems like most of the oxygen in the air here has been replaced by magic, making it feel like you're suffocating. A blue light swirled around the three of them. This was a wind-attribute spell Ning cast after noticing the situation. She gathered the oxygen from the outside air around them, keeping the air quality around them at a normal level.

“It’s truly spectacular.”

Ning walked at the front, observing the magic crystals. Li and Xiao followed behind her. Li, who had transformed into a dragon, appeared behind the three of them in the shape of a suitcase, remaining vigilant at all times. Given the situation here, anything beyond imagination could appear, so they had to be prepared.

“I’ve never heard of this place before,” Li said, looking around. “But I don’t think these adventurers would come near here... It’s too dangerous.”

Although the entire world has fallen into a very serious state of demonization, it is not to the extent that Ning caused last time, which turned people into demons on the spot. Basically, people with a certain amount of magic power can still move around. But here, it is likely that people will experience quite strong discomfort within a radius of about three thousand meters.

Any adventurer with common sense would never go near such a place; once you're turned into a monster, nothing you say will matter.

The numerous magic crystals standing here are distributed like a forest, and these magic crystals have grown into the shape of trees, just like a real forest. This place not only looks like a forest, but it may also be a reproduction of a certain forest, because there are also paths that people have walked on. Judging from these paths, it is possible that a forest in the past has become like this.

“Li,” Ning asked, “what are your impressions of this forest?”

“No…and it’s very strange.” Li suddenly covered one of his eyes. “The Demon Eye doesn’t seem to be able to discern the situation here…and it looks weird, many of its abilities aren’t functioning properly…”

The vision of the Magic Eye has become quite blurry, like a TV that keeps crackling after losing signal for a while, which is very uncomfortable to watch. It's better to just cover up the Magic Eye's vision to make it normal. It seems that the map function is no longer usable, which means that this has a significant impact on the performance of the Magic Eye.

"Are you alright, Sister Li?" Xiao asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, I'm alright." Li shook her head to indicate that she was alright. "I don't remember this Crystal Forest, and the Demon Eye doesn't seem to have any information about it. What about you?"

“This is my first time here too,” Ning pointed to a clearly visible path, “but don’t you think it’s a bit odd to consider the formation of this place as a coincidence?”

"Indeed it is……"

After the three of them landed here, they could see several distinct paths in the forest, like paths that adventurers had explored many times in the forest. According to their memory, there was no such place when this world was still normal. Moreover, this place overlapped with their previous memories and should have been a plain.

However, a large number of magic crystals suddenly appeared here and formed a forest. This forest even showed signs of human activity. If all of this is classified as Enhancement 1, it would be too unusual.

"Hey? Sis?" Xiao tugged at Li's hand, as if she wanted to say something.

"What's wrong?" Li asked patiently.

"The back... seems to be sealed off." Xiao stared at the back with a serious expression.

"Eh?"

"……when."

If Xiao hadn't reminded them, neither of them would have noticed that the path behind them had been sealed off without their knowledge, as if it had been deliberately waiting for them to enter. The magic crystal had sealed off the path behind them, and even Ning hadn't noticed when it had happened; it had already been sealed off while she and Li were discussing the forest.

"Reason!" Ning immediately gathered her magic power.

"Oh!" Li and she thought of the same thing.

A large amount of magic power gathered in Ning's hands, forming a huge magic circle. Li and Baoxiang Li merged together to become the complete Time-Space Dragon King. The emblem appeared, and the two unleashed their full magic power, preparing to blast open the magic crystal sealing their backs in one go.

"Four-Element Bombardment!"

"——————!"

boom----!

The combined attack unleashed by the two at full magical power did not destroy the magic crystal that blocked their retreat; it merely caused some cracks in it.

"Tsk...so hard..." Li couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

"Even the two of us couldn't break through..." Ning dispersed the magic circle, pondered for a moment, "It's probably intentional..."

It must be admitted that even the combined maximum attack of the two of them under these circumstances couldn't destroy these magic crystals, so it seems like it was intentional. Moreover, Ning had already looked up; after entering this forest, it seemed they were directly dragged into another dimension, making it impossible to fly out from above...

"Li, use your powers to see if you can open a portal directly," Ning confirmed.

"Huh? Authority?" Li paused for a moment, "Now that you mention it... that makes sense. If we used authority directly, there shouldn't be any problems. But why use a portal?"

Authority is the power to directly intervene in things and phenomena. In this world, only the Dragon Kings possess this power. The use of authority is not affected by any conditions; it is solely controlled by the holder of authority. Authority is a supernatural power that is superior to magic. Since magic is ineffective here, one can only rely on authority.

"Stop asking so many questions," Ning urged. "Hurry up and give it a try."

"Oh……"

Although he didn't understand Ning's intentions, Li still did as he was told. The unique emblem of the Time-Space Dragon King directly formed a silver portal, which proved that his powers could be exercised normally.

"Hmm..." Li examined the portal. "It should be fine now. What do you want me to do by using my powers to open the portal?"

"Just checking briefly," Ning said decisively, passing through the portal to test it out before returning. "That's good, we can move on now."

"Huh? Aren't you going to explain?" Li couldn't understand what Ning was doing anymore.

“So,” Ning sighed helplessly, then began to explain, “don’t you think this place looks a lot like one of those common story-driven mazes?”

"A plot maze?" Li showed a look of sudden realization.

A story dungeon, simply put, is a route that often appears in otherworldly games, a route that is mandatory in the main storyline. Theoretically, it should be unavoidable, and players are forced to explore this dungeon until the end. However, for them, even if it is required by the plot, it doesn't matter, because they still have the trump card of "power" that transcends this world.

"You mean? We have to go see this Crystal Forest?" Li voiced her speculation. "You think this place is like a maze we have to navigate through?"

“It’s pretty much like what you said.” Ning nodded. “If I’m not mistaken, there’s probably something here guiding us. Although I’m annoyed by this kind of inexplicable and somewhat mindless development pattern, I think I’ll just let it go. If you’re really bored, you can use your powers to leave here directly.”

"I thought you wanted me to use my power to shatter those crystals directly..." Li said with a wry smile.

"You're overthinking it," Ning said helplessly. "I was just thinking of trying to see if I could open it by brute force, but it doesn't seem like that will work. System protection and stuff like that are really annoying."

"Xiao can try cutting it open!" Xiao's hand was already on the hilt of the sword.

"Wait……"

The two initially wanted to stop her, but by the time they realized what was happening, Li and Ning could already feel the intense intent unleashed, and the lightning-fast sword draw had been executed. As for the outcome…

Crack! Bang!

A line appeared on the surrounding magic crystals, and after the line glowed faintly, the crystals collapsed with a crash. Seeing the surrounding magic crystals being sliced ​​open, both Li and Ning looked somewhat surprised. Even though the two of them had focused their attacks on the same magic crystal together, they hadn't achieved this level of damage; Xiao had only needed one strike.

"It's so hard..." Xiaoli frowned after sheathing the sword, then drew it again to examine it. "Won't the blade chip?"

It seems she doesn't care about these crystals at all; she's more concerned about the condition of her beloved knife. She's really... a bit too much, Xiao.

The two exchanged a smile and shrugged silently. If one was a mage and the other a heavy warrior, then Xiao was the damage dealer—a perfect lineup for exploring unknown realms. Xiao filled in any gaps in their abilities; in a way, they'd always been like this, and Xiao seemed to have helped them in ways they couldn't see.

"Wang! Wang!"

"Wintford...don't shout..."

——————?!

Hearing a sound that shouldn't have been there, the three sisters instinctively went into battle alert. Judging from the sound, it was a dog and a man, but why were they here? The three immediately began looking around, searching for the source of the sound. Finally, they found it…

"that is……"

A young man whose figure had become very strange leaned against the trunk of the crystal tree, trying to leave. A small white dog barked beside him, seemingly barking in the direction of the three women, as if pleading for help...

"...Let's go and take a look."

Li pondered for a moment. If she were to be rational, she shouldn't have acted so rashly, but her conscience wouldn't allow her to leave someone in need here like this.

Interlude is...you guys?

Uh... well... hello everyone, I'm the adventurer Leon, yes, that's right, it's me, Leon who survived the apocalypse.

I have very mixed feelings right now... Yes, how should I put it...

As we all know, a terrible event occurred not long ago: the Kingdom's surprise attack. The Kingdom launched a surprise attack on various parts of the world and quickly suppressed all resistance forces with the terrifying power of the ten holy swords. War was imminent, and in the end, only the Duchy survived. Although we don't know what the Kingdom is trying to do, they have done some very heinous things.

They slaughtered almost everyone, perhaps their egos inflated after obtaining the ten holy swords, leading them to desire world conquest or something. I don't know the specifics of what happened, but in any case, during this period, the duchy began to uphold justice and wage war against kingdoms of vastly different strength. In the end, the crazed kingdom even sent its ghost army to massacre its own citizens.

I was also in the kingdom at that time. I had returned there before the war, intending to reunite with my family in the countryside. However, as I prepared to depart, the kingdom began its madness, and my family had likely been swept up in its frenzy and perished. Some who learned of this attempted to instigate a rebellion within the kingdom, but it was quickly suppressed by the Ghost.

I longed to do what they did, but I couldn't. I've come to acutely realize my own weakness. There's nothing I can do. Faced with this sudden disaster, there's nothing I can do. I'm just an ordinary person, a lowly adventurer. Even the Adventurers' Guild didn't make a move then, so what could I possibly do?

I could only stay in an inn, waiting for my chance. But I never expected that the kingdom would go so far as to kill even its own people. I and a group of people fought desperately until Princess Alice returned. With her support, she successfully quelled the internal strife in the kingdom, and thanks to her, I escaped death.

Later, through the efforts of the duchy and a group of demons, they successfully imposed sanctions on the kingdom, thwarting its conspiracy in one fell swoop. Even after that, the kingdom still faced constant unrest, and I could no longer endure it. I wanted to know what had become of my family and my homeland, so I left the kingdom alone, taking this dog with me on a journey.

However, at this time, it was extremely dangerous no matter where you were. A group of forces that had been hiding in the shadows within the kingdom were attempting to overthrow the new kingdom's regime, and the situation within the country was extremely chaotic. It wouldn't be surprising if anything happened. Moreover, due to the impact of that war, a large number of monsters had appeared outside the kingdom, constantly attacking it, and each of them possessed considerable power.

Under these circumstances, there was nowhere that could be considered safe, so it was all the same no matter where I went. Therefore, I left the kingdom without hesitation, as I had to personally check on the fate of my family.

But... hahaha, I guess I still can't be like an adventurer...

I was relentlessly pursued by these monsters, and I kept running away with my pet. No matter where I went, these damned monsters kept chasing me, as if they were toying with me and trying to make me despair. Finally, they drove me to the vicinity of this Crystal Forest and then used magic to throw me into the forest.

I had learned about the relevant events, so I knew that this place had become a terrifying demonic realm. Having been driven here, I didn't have much time left. The moment I was thrown into this forest, my body began to undergo a terrifying demonic transformation. Thanks to this demonic body, I didn't suffer much damage even when I fell from a great height into the Crystal Forest.

But my consciousness was gradually becoming blurred and destructive, always wanting to destroy something. However, the remaining humanity told me I couldn't do that. I tried my best to stop myself, making a final struggle, because I hadn't confirmed the fate of my family, hadn't seen what my hometown had become. I had to keep going...