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

But I was afraid I couldn't hold on any longer. Just as my consciousness was fading, I heard the barking of the dog I had been carrying with me. I saw it indistinctly in my blurry vision, and I regained some clarity. Oh... it's alright. It hasn't become demonized.

It ran to my side and licked my hand with its tongue. At that moment, a miracle happened. The demonization phenomenon that was happening to me was suppressed, and my consciousness gradually began to clear. However, the strong destructive impulse was still hard to suppress, and I was not out of danger yet. To make myself feel better, I leaned against a crystal.

I started thinking about what to do next. The dog was still by my side, as if it were protecting me. It's true, it seems that after spending so much time with it, I've developed feelings for it... As time went by, I couldn't come up with any solutions. I wanted to chase it away because it was too dangerous here, but it didn't leave.

Soon after, a deafening roar came from not far away, and the ground began to shake. Seeing that it hadn't left, I became more and more anxious, because such a loud noise meant that a very powerful monster was probably roaming around. If this continued, both of us would be in danger. I tried desperately to make it leave, but it stubbornly stayed by my side.

Finally, the surrounding crystal trees collapsed suddenly, and we were exposed to the monster. I tried to stop it by yelling at the guy, but it wouldn't listen to me.

I could feel the monster getting closer and closer to us. Its cries had attracted it. I didn't want to blame it, but I just hoped it could escape. Since it hadn't had any problems in this demonic realm, letting it escape on its own was definitely fine, at least it wouldn't have to die with me.

But it was too late, too late. I thought I should at least see what the monster that killed me was...

However, what I saw was not a monster, but three people, three different girls, and I seemed to have seen them before... a girl with cherry blossom hair and two crystals in her hair, a little girl with fox ears, and a blue-haired girl who looked very aloof... I remember now...

I've met them, and I've even had contact with them...

"Yes...you guys?"

Chapter 26 Adventurers in the Crystal Forest

"Yes...you guys?"

The young man leaning against half a crystal tree trunk murmured these words, seemingly surprised that the three sisters were there. Beside him, a small white dog barked incessantly, as if pleading for help. The young man was already showing clear signs of demonic transformation, but Ning was puzzled as to why he hadn't directly turned into a demon.

Ning looked at the young man, then at the dog. The dog hadn't shown any strange changes; on the contrary, it was still lively and energetic. Perhaps the reason lay with the dog.

"Do you...know me?" Li asked instinctively.

"...No, I don't know them! Get away from me, get out!!!"

The young man screamed hysterically, desperately trying to leave. He attempted to crawl away, terrified, but his physical condition had deteriorated to the point where he couldn't even leave properly. The three men couldn't understand what he was doing, so they each explained their intentions.

“Don’t panic,” Li tried to calm him down. “I know it’s very abrupt for us to appear here and in front of you, but you have to believe that we won’t hurt you.”

"Get out of here!"

The young man frantically tried to shoo the three away. And rightly so; seeing three people in this environment, anyone would immediately think of monsters. In a demonic realm like this, anything could happen. He naturally assumed they were monsters and was probably trying to escape from them.

"Woof woof!!"

The little white dog ran back to him, whimpering sadly. The situation was clear: the young man's life was in danger. However, the young man refused to cooperate and desperately tried to leave.

"Ah, this is the older brother who helped us enter the main city of the duchy, right?" Xiao remembered the young man.

"Huh? Is it that person?" Li suddenly realized.

She also remembered the person who helped them enter the duchy after they left the labyrinth, and even delivered them to the Borg Merchant Guild. If it weren't for him, things would have been much more troublesome; he could be considered their benefactor. Li remembered that his name was something like Leon… If Xiao hadn't mentioned it, Li wouldn't have been able to connect the person in front of her with Leon.

He looked so haggard that he was nothing like the lively and energetic guy they had met before.

"I didn't! I didn't! Get out of my way!!"

Leon's voice sounded trembling and more threatening than anything else could be understood.

"You're so noisy."

Ning walked over impatiently and stepped on Leon, preventing him from leaving.

"Ning! What are you doing?" Li walked over in a panic.

"Don't you understand?" Ning glanced at her. "He's telling us to get lost because he feels he's starting to turn into a demon and can't control himself. He's afraid he'll attack us later. Hey, do you even understand the situation?"

Ning withdrew her foot from Leon and looked at him coldly. Only then did Li understand Ning's words: Leon wasn't afraid of the three of them, but worried about their safety. Having been hit where it hurt, Leon didn't say anything more, only awkwardly looking away.

"So, do you understand now?" Leon suddenly said arrogantly, "I don't care how you got here or why you're alright, but I'm telling you three, do you see this hand? This is a sign that I'm about to become a demon. If you want to live, get the hell away from me, understand?"

"Hey? Sister Ning? Can we cut off this hand?"

"No, and even if I cut it off, it wouldn't make a difference."

"Whoa, what are you two discussing so seriously?!"

Xiao and Ning suddenly started seriously discussing whether or not to cut off Leon's hand. Li was startled by the two of them, and Leon was also dumbfounded. Neither of them had expected things to develop this way.

“…Come on, kill me.” Leon said as if he had realized something. “As long as you kill me, you will be safe.”

"Huh? What are you thinking?" Ning retorted. "Kill you? Are you kidding me? What are you thinking? Even if you were here, you wouldn't be in much danger, would you? Your life or death wouldn't affect the situation here at all."

"Then why are you discussing whether or not to cut off my hand?"

"Because that hand doesn't look right, brother."

"What terrifying things are you saying with such an innocent look on your face?!"

"Wait, wait, wait? Aren't you going to explain what's going on?"

Li could no longer understand the abrupt shifts in their conversation, as the transitions were too sudden. Her thought process simply couldn't keep up with Xiao and Ning's dialogue. However, it seemed that Xiao was speaking based on her feelings, while Ning was thinking rationally. But the problem was that the issues they were discussing were quite terrifying.

"Because that hand is really strange." Xiao pointed to Leon's outstretched hand. "Sister Li, look here, it's this hand, isn't it weird?"

“…Now that you mention it, it seems so.” Rin was drawn into their rhythm. “This hand looks a bit different from the rest of the body.”

The hand appeared to be more severely corrupted than the other parts, and it was constantly emitting large amounts of magical power.

"Xiao means that she wants to cut off the problematic part directly," Ning explained. "Like performing surgery, to avoid harming other areas, she would remove the problematic part. But physical removal is useless. Xiao's idea is good, but it's not practical. If she had a sword like the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow, then that would be a different story. It's a pity that Zhou Dong's sword was inherited by Xia Sparrow."

It seemed like there was hope, but Ning denied it again. Leon's expression flickered, as if he had burned out.

"In short, it's not entirely hopeless," Ning said, beginning the spell. "However, it will hurt a little."

"Huh?? Wait a minute?! What?!"

Without giving anyone a chance to think, Ning immediately attacked, fully unleashing the spell and converging it on Leon's body. Leon's entire body felt as if it were being squeezed, forcing out the turbid magic power. Miraculously, his body gradually returned to normal. Although his entire body was still enduring this intense pressure, it was wonderful that he was recovering.

"I... am healed?" Leon looked at his hand in disbelief.

Chapter 27 Crystal Forest Maze

"I...I'm all better!!!"

Leon excitedly picked up the puppy, which responded to his joy by barking happily. But after a short while, he frowned and painfully put the puppy down. His entire body was groaning in agony, a pain unimaginable to most. He didn't know if this was the most painful feeling in the world, but he knew it was the most agonizing experience he had ever had.

"Are you... trying to kill me?" Leon collapsed to the ground in agony, questioning them.

"Oh," Ning gave him a cold look, "So, do you want to die, or do you want to live on with your limbs severed?"

"Of course I don't want to! Are you a demon?!" Leon roared as he stood up again, only to collapse once more from the pain.

"Eh... so this is how it's solved..." Rin looked like she'd just learned something new. "The excess magic power in my body has indeed been expelled."

"Really?! What are you guys talking about?!"

"Big brother is so noisy."

"Could you please shut up and listen properly, adventurer?"

After being disliked by the two of them for being too noisy, Leon fell into a deep slump. Li suddenly had a feeling that this person was very troublesome and slightly regretted helping him. However, because he was in a slump, they were able to listen to Ning's explanation properly.

Ning cleared his throat and began to explain: "You can think of the human body as a container of magic, like a sponge from another world that can generate its own magic. Magic floating in the air is like water. What happens when you throw a sponge that isn't full of water into the sea? It becomes what this guy just looked like."

Ning pointed to Leon, who was groaning in pain over there, and continued.

"The phenomenon of demonization is actually a demonic reaction caused by an excess of magic power in the body. Because it is already full, some changes occur. Demonization is such a phenomenon. In order to accommodate more magic power, the body will be forced to change to adapt to the changes in the surrounding environment. So at this time, you just need to take out or consume this magic power."

“I see,” Li nodded, understanding Ning’s words. “So, if we compare a person to a sponge, as long as we squeeze out the excess water, it will return to its original state, right? No wonder you did that…”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying at all… Anyway, I’m fine for now, right?” Leon questioned.

“You can think of it that way.” Ning squatted down in front of Leon, revealing a somewhat creepy smile. “But after hearing what you said just now, I’m starting to want to undo the spell. Since you find it so painful, I think I’d better undo it.”

As he said this, Ning raised one hand as if to snap his fingers. Because the smile didn't look like he was joking at all, Leon's mind raced for a moment before he came to a conclusion.

"No, no! Grandma, I beg you, please don't do this!!"

Driven by an intense will to survive, he immediately rolled over and knelt before Ning. At this moment, survival was paramount. Ning didn't reply, but instead glanced at Li. Noticing her gaze, Li met her eyes, then shook his head slightly. Ning then lowered her hand.

"Ha... I'll let you off the hook." Ning stood up and looked down at him. "We just need a cannon fodder right now, so you'll be the perfect one. Alright, get up, we should go."

"Huh?!" Leon cried out in pain.

"What's wrong?" Ning turned around and glanced at him. "Aren't you happy about it?"

"No, wait, um," Leon explained in a flustered manner, "it's not that I don't want to leave, it's just, how am I supposed to leave in this state?"

"Oh, that's troublesome." Ning looked troubled. "This place looks too dangerous, and we can't stay here for too long. If we just leave you like this and leave, the magic will wear off if we go too far... But the three of us girls can't move you... What should we do..."

"This pain is nothing to me!!! I, Leon, will not be stopped by something like this!!!"

Leon quickly rolled to his feet and started moving around on the spot. Judging from the cold sweat on his face, he was just putting on a brave face. Ning probably had a bit of a sadistic streak because of this. Li looked up at the sky helplessly, hoping that she could control her willfulness and not go too far... Well, she couldn't really say anything to her about this, because it was Li who wanted to rescue Leon. It was just that Ning was the one who had to solve the problem.

"Then, I'll leave the vanguard role to you," Ning said with a smile. "We need to head that way."

"Okay, okay." Leon's expression twitched slightly. "Um... isn't this direction a little wrong?"

"No, we're heading that way anyway," Ning said matter-of-factly. "Isn't that how it always is when exploring a dungeon? You're an adventurer, right? You should know more about this than we do, so I'm asking you for help."

"A maze?" Leon exclaimed in surprise. "You're saying this is a maze???"

"Hmm, could it be an underground city? I think most of the underground cities in this world have already been destroyed. Hurry up, stop talking to me."

Finally, urged on by Ning, Leon reluctantly stood in front of the three and continued forward, with the puppy following along. Along the way, Li and Ning communicated telepathically, while Xiao played with the puppy as they walked, leaving Leon nervously walking ahead.

Of course, Li had asked Ning what he was doing, and Ning replied that he was just playing around, and taking the opportunity to get to know this person before deciding how to deal with him. Regarding his assessment, Ning believed he was just an ordinary person, a little clever, incapable of great things, with no special talents or skills—a completely ordinary person.

However, as an ordinary person, Leon has something that sets him apart: his exceptionally high luck. While this number isn't considered high by human standards, it's exceptionally high compared to the average level of all humans. So, we can just treat him as an exceptionally lucky ordinary person.

Since this ordinary person was able to meet them twice through so many coincidences, Ning decided to play along with him for a while and then send him back to his ordinary life.

Because there were some things they didn't want outsiders to know, Li and Ning kept communicating by telepathy along the way. In addition, Xiao kept playing with the dog, so Leon, who was walking at the front of the group and maintained a high degree of tension, had an indescribable feeling.

After hearing Ning's words, he was very nervous. As an adventurer, he knew very well how dangerous the labyrinth was. The last time he went to the labyrinth, he even ran into the Flame Dragon King Salid and almost didn't come back alive. Therefore, after hearing from Ning that this was a labyrinth, he became extremely vigilant and carefully observed everything around him.

While it might sound a bit neurotic, once Leon calmed down, he realized he was the only male in the group. And regardless of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the three girls, they were still his saviors, and his earlier behavior had been extremely rude. Therefore, as an adventurer, and as a man, he had to protect them.

But for him as a person, this strange silence was quite painful, because it was really creepy. Although he usually acted alone, his dog would always be there for him. But now this fickle guy had gone off to play with the fox-eared girl. Damn it, I really wanted to play with cute girls too...

No, that's not right. In short, the only person he can rely on right now is himself, but because it's so quiet, he can't stand this creepy feeling anymore, so he's almost at his limit.

"Hey, um, I mean," he started, trying to find a topic of conversation, "is this really a maze? Why doesn't it look like one?"

"Why would you doubt such a thing?" Ning replied, "Haven't you noticed that the scenery around us hasn't changed at all since we left that place?"

"Eh?"

After Ning's reminder, Leon began to notice this. He looked around and tried to recall all the changes that had occurred since he left. Indeed, the scenery around him seemed to have remained unchanged since then.

"Wait? Are we in danger now?" Leon's tone began to sound flustered.

"That's about right," Ning said calmly. "Because these crystal trees all look basically the same, if you're not paying attention, no one might even realize we're lost."

"Finally, this feels a bit like being in another world." Rin looked around at the identical scenery with great amazement. "The usual maze-like route for getting lost."

"Why are you guys so calm..." Leon almost couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Huh? You're very calm?" Li tilted his head. "We're used to this feeling."

"You guys have already gotten used to it... Are you guys directionally challenged?" Leon's feelings became complicated.

“No, that’s not it,” Li said helplessly. “We just often go through mazes. It’s become a regular occurrence for us. By the way, Ning, have you made any discoveries?”

"Have you found anything..." Ning thought for a moment and said, "Not yet, because not a single monster has spawned. If we're talking about finding anything, then it's probably this guy."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but please don't compare me to monsters." Leon suddenly felt no tension.

“Speaking of which,” Ning then turned the conversation to Leon, “aren’t you in pain anymore?”

"It hurts, of course it hurts! It's killing me!" Leon complained. "Could you be a little gentler? I'm in so much pain I feel like I'm dying!"

"I'm not dead yet, am I? Let's hold on a little longer."

Ning smiled and walked past him with Li. Leon watched in bewilderment as the two walked in front of him and quickly caught up.

"Hey?! What are you doing?" Leon asked in a panic. "Don't go ahead! What if you encounter some monster and something happens? It's very dangerous!"

"Is it dangerous?" Ning smiled. "Let's assume it is. Then, thank you for your kindness, please continue playing as the striker."

"Uh, okay, but you three better not do anything dangerous."

Leon seemed to have resigned himself to his fate and stopped struggling. He was completely pinned down by Ning and had no way to resist. He had almost gotten used to the unimaginable pain, so he was fine with it. He drew the dagger from his waist and once again walked at the front of the group. Of course, he didn't notice the two people moving behind him.

"Hey Ning, didn't you go a bit too far?" Although she didn't get along well with this kind of person, Li still felt a little sorry for him.

“No, that’s not true,” Ning shrugged. “It’s just a little preparation before giving him a small gift. Even if I don’t do this, you will, right?”

"Maybe..." she thought for a moment, "Anyway, he seems like a pretty good person. We haven't properly thanked him for helping us last time..."

"Good deeds will be rewarded, right?" Xiao suddenly appeared out of nowhere.