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

Chapter 31 Tactical Retreat

"Did they escape...?"

Miao walked to the spot struck by the seven-colored torrent to check on the four people's fate. Logically, all four should have perished in the devastating flood, but their figures had vanished without a trace, not even their bodies. She had a premonition that the four were still alive, although there was no evidence to prove her hypothesis, she just had a vague feeling about it.

"Wow... Her Majesty the Queen really doesn't hold back..."

On the other side, Yan, who had been rescued from the three girls by the four of them after much effort, was sitting to the side, sobbing and complaining.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Miao said with a wry smile. "Her Majesty the Queen has to consider the bigger picture; she can't attend to so many things. Besides, didn't we already save you?"

"Hey, Yan, what on earth has possessed you?" Bing asked, tapping her head. "It's just a box stuck on you, what's there to be afraid of? Just smash it and leave, right? How did you get possessed by such a stupid thing?"

"How would I know?!" Yanhuo Dadi slapped his hand away. "I don't know why either! After that box was opened, I couldn't help but want to see what was inside. By the time I came to my senses, they had already grabbed me, and I could feel the box biting me tightly. I couldn't break free from the box at all."

"Hey, you're just stupid."

"You're the stupid one! Who had their weapon snatched from their hand by a human who looks so weak?!"

"You two, stop arguing."

The pale-faced male protagonist, who rarely spoke, suddenly pulled down his scarf and spoke up to stop the two from arguing. His voice sounded unexpectedly deep and magnetic, making people mistake him for a male bel canto singer.

"That... is it a mimic?" The burly man with the tanned skin approached the group. "That briefcase is so powerful, it must be a very high-level mimic. Even Yan, our strongest attacker here, couldn't destroy it..."

“And that little girl…” Miao lowered her eyes, “she was actually able to fight Feng to a standstill…”

“No, in terms of skill, that little girl is superior to me,” Feng said in a deep voice. “If it weren’t for the magic here supporting me, the situation would probably be worse than I imagined.”

"...Even Feng thinks so?" Yan was also somewhat disappointed. "Indeed...these three people are quite a threat..."

All four began to reflect on the problems they had discovered during that brief stop, but one person failed to see the situation clearly: Bing.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Bing looked at them in confusion, “What’s wrong with you all? Aren’t they just three little girls? Do you think they’re stronger than even a toe of us elves who were born at the beginning of time? Did you see those spells just now? I destroyed them all with just one strike, so…”

"Just shut up." Miao glared at him fiercely. "You're the only one here who hasn't seen reality. Those three are very strong. Even the four of us together couldn't do anything to that little girl... It was just a coincidence that you took her weapon."

"……whispering sound."

Bing didn't want to admit that he was weaker than those three little girls. As a high-ranking elf born from ancient times, his pride wouldn't allow him to do so. It went against his will. Just as he was about to refute, that person descended.

Seven-colored light shone down from the sky, and the five people knelt on one knee, respectfully welcoming the arrival of that person.

With seven-colored wings, a pure white dress, and long, flowing hair that changed color with the light, the Elf Queen descended upon the crystal forest as if reigning supreme. She was a young girl who still looked somewhat childlike, her delicate, porcelain-like face revealing no emotion as she looked down upon the five people.

"Miao," the Elf Queen said softly, "how are the other three?"

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty…” Miao said sadly, “They have disappeared. Although there is no evidence, I think they are probably not dead yet.”

The Elf Queen remained silent, and this silence became an invisible pressure on the five of them, especially Yan, who was sweating profusely with tension. She had clearly held everyone back in the battle just now, which was a dereliction of duty on her part as a high-ranking elf.

"Is that so..." The Elf Queen nodded gently. "This time it's not your fault, it's that the invaders are too powerful."

"Her Royal Highness the Queen..."

“If I had acted in time, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.” The Elf Queen nodded slightly. “This time, I misjudged the situation. You did very well, so there’s no need to blame yourselves. These three are undoubtedly formidable enemies. None of them are simply human; they are demons with the ability to humanize, just like us.”

"What... how could this be..."

The five were all taken aback by the news. It had taken them at least a thousand years to fully become human, and during that time they had never heard of any of these three. Yet they had achieved humanization in less than a hundred years...

Miao lowered her head and muttered to herself, "Just who...who are they...?"

Miao's mutterings reflected the thoughts of everyone else. No elf had ever heard of the three of them, and even Her Majesty the Queen had said so, which greatly increased their credibility. They were definitely enough to attract the Elf Queen's attention.

"Now, don't think too much," the Elf Queen said calmly. "No matter what happens to these three girls, it won't affect what we need to do. We don't have much time... You should all go and make your final preparations..."

"Yes."

------

Om-!

A silver magic circle unfolded in the deserted wasteland. After the four people fell out of the magic circle, it quickly contracted and disappeared.

"reason!"

"I see!"

Before they could even catch their breath, Ning immediately grabbed Leon and called out to Li. Without needing any further explanation, Li promptly retrieved the necessary items from the treasure chest within Li's body. After casually placing the first-aid kit in front of Ning, Li used magic to separate the space around them from the rest of the world to ensure their safety.

“Ahhhhh——!”

Leon's screams nearly shattered the eardrums of the three men. The violent electric currents coiling around him were ravaging his body, causing large wounds to burst open all over. The copious amounts of blood oozing from the wounds were burned by the violent currents. If it were an ordinary person, this guy would have been dead long ago.

"Tch—really!"

Enraged by this, Ning roughly diverted the electric current from his body and then quickly used magic to forcibly repair his body. Li then used bandages and medicine to give final emergency treatment to the areas that Ning had repaired. Forcibly repairing a broken body like this was a very risky act, but it was necessary to do so if he was on the verge of death.

This method of forcibly using magic to promote body reconstruction is like undergoing demonization in a demonic realm; one wrong step could cause this guy to directly become a demon, but Ning will definitely be fine. Xiao, who couldn't help much with the details, could only lend a hand and watch silently from the sidelines.

After working intensely for a while, they finally managed to pull Leon back from the brink of death, and the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"Haa... how did this idiot even get out of here?" Ning looked at Leon, who was still unconscious, with considerable displeasure. "Luckily, we strengthened his body beforehand. If he had suffered cardiac arrest, there would have been no hope of saving him."

"Ugh... I really don't understand why this guy didn't leave through the teleportation point." Even the usually easygoing Lian Li started to get a headache over this. "What was he thinking... I should have just used my power to throw him out instead of asking him. I didn't expect him to cause us so much trouble..."

"Well..." Xiao smiled wryly as she tried to help the unconscious Leon out of the predicament, "At least big brother helped me get the knife back... Sister Li and Sister Ning, please don't be angry."

In that situation, it wouldn't have been a big problem for the three of them. That kind of magic didn't even have half the power of the old bald man's full-force attack, so they could easily withstand it. But who knew that Leon's sudden intrusion would completely disrupt their plans? Leon, who had touched the deadly lightning, was practically a madman.

In order to save him, the three of them had no choice but to retreat to a safe place and give him emergency first aid.

It took a lot of effort to pull him back from the brink of death, and the three of them were too exhausted to go back. Not to mention Li and Xiao, who were exhausted by the unchanging Crystal Forest, Ning, who had just received emergency treatment, was also too tired to go back and continue because she had used up a lot of magic power and energy in the battle.

"Hmph... whatever." Ning snorted. "Anyway, I'm already tired. There's no point in continuing to waste time with those elves. Anyway, we've already found the source of the elves. We'll deal with them when we have time, although those five high-ranking elves aren't much of a threat to us..."

“But there’s an even stronger boss out there…” Li said.

Yes, although the Mystic Eyes weren't functioning properly at the time, Rin still managed to see the big boss deep in the Crystal Forest through the blurry map they provided. The boss hadn't made any special moves initially, but it eventually attacked. Perhaps, she was the one who stole Ning's magic.

"They actually managed to wrest control of magic from Sister Ning's hands..."

Even Xiao, who doesn't know much about magic, can understand how difficult this is. In terms of magical skill, there is probably no one stronger than Ning. It's simply impossible to take control of magic from her.

“Hmm, oh, that magic.” Ning smiled. “That magic was just a facade. I only constructed the appearance. In essence, it was all magical light. I only constructed the outline of the magic circle. I didn’t control that magic at all. Rather, someone borrowed it to construct another magic.”

"Huh?" Li asked in surprise, "So you were back then..."

"It was just a random spell," Ning said, opening her arms. "The real magic is actually here."

What appeared in Ning's palm was a highly compressed magic circle. The magic light had dissipated and it was no longer in operation, but it was clear that it was a very powerful spell. He never expected that the real magic was hidden in his hand.

"I mean..." Li pointed at the magic circle with some fear, "This... won't suddenly activate, will it?"

"Don't worry, it won't." Ning smiled and closed her hands. "It won't start working unless I inject enough magic power. Quickly release your control over the space. Let's rest here today."

"Uh... um."

Once they understood that they had control over the space, the space they were in returned to the larger whole of the world, and everything returned to normal.

"Well?"

A tiny raindrop landed on Xiao's nose.

"It's raining." Li looked up at the dark clouds filling the sky.

"Although I did think about what kind of worse weather might come," Ning silently used magic to construct a temporary mud hut. "Let's go, take that guy with us, and hurry inside to take shelter from the rain."

Bao Xiangli silently used pliers to pick up Leon, placed him on her back, and carried him into the earthen house. Xiao picked up the little white dog that had come with them and followed them into the earthen house to take shelter from the rain. After watching the rain outside for a while, the three sisters began to prepare to start a fire.

They took some dried wood from Risa's treasure chest, put it together, and lit it with magic. Ning and Xiao began to decorate the earthen house with the things they got from Risa's treasure chest to make it more comfortable, while Risa started preparing dinner for the day, keeping it simple because of the limited tools.

After dinner was prepared, the three sisters began to enjoy their meal around the fire. Although they had just escaped from a dangerous situation, this was simply their style of doing things; doing whatever they wanted suited them best.

"Ah! Xiao's barbecue!!"

"Wang!"

"Hey, I don't think I considered the dog's portion..."

"Haa... why don't you check if there's any dog ​​food?"

Oh... dog food? We have some here.

"Ugh... my whole body hurts! What happened? Waaah! I'm covered in bandages!!"

The three people and the dog enjoyed a pleasant dinner. As dinner was nearing its end, Leon woke up, and the group concluded their day's activities.

……

“Hey… Ning,” Li said wistfully, looking at the heavy rain outside the door, “the rain just hasn’t stopped…”

"Hmm...that's how it is...but it's a good omen." Ning smiled.

"Why do you say that?"

"Now that it's raining, how far away is the restoration of the normal ecosystem? Water is the source of all things."

"When you put it that way...it does seem true..."

Chapter 32 Night Talk

"Instead of leaving immediately, you chased us around the Crystal Forest..." Ning rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. "I really don't know whether to call you brave or reckless... No matter how you look at it, you should have left as soon as possible, right?"

"So...that's why that situation happened...?"

Xiao sighed helplessly, holding the puppy.

"No matter how I think about it... I just think this person is incredibly lucky to be alive..."

Li couldn't help but wonder if this person's luck rating was mislabeled... No, maybe it really was as stated in the status bar, but he was just lucky to run into them. As for such a messy thing, she frankly said she really wouldn't be interested.

Meanwhile, Leon, who was at the center of the conversation, was innocently munching on the jerky he had brought. Since they had almost finished their dinner when he woke up, he hadn't gotten any advantage. So he could only gnaw on the few pieces of jerky that had survived in his luggage. These pieces of jerky had been cooked by the electric current, so they tasted pretty good. It would have been even better if they hadn't been stained with his own blood.

Because of the rain, night fell early, and there was no light outside the earthen house. The rain kept falling, and the sound of the rain came from outside, mixed with a chill. It was much colder than usual tonight, so the three sisters huddled around the fire to keep warm.

"It's a little..." Li rubbed his hands together, "...it's a bit cold...how about we get a door...that way it'll be safer at night..."

"Yeah, that's what I think too... but I need to think about ventilation more carefully..."

Ning stroked his chin and thought for a while, then reached out and touched the wall of the earthen house. A magical earth-colored light shone in his palm as he carefully altered the structure of the earthen house, transforming it into a structure that could both shelter from the wind and rain and effectively retain indoor heat. This made things much better.

"How extravagant..." Leon munched on jerky, staring blankly at the reconstructed earthen house. "They actually used magic to do something like this..."

"This is a piece of cake for Sister Ning!" Xiao said proudly. "Sister Ning is an expert in magic!"

"But...no matter what..."

I've never seen such an extravagant adventure before...

Using precious magic to directly build a dwelling, and taking out a whole bunch of things from who-knows-where in this dwelling: a bed, pillows, a low table, cushions, and all sorts of other things. It looks like they brought the inn's room out on an adventure. And what's with this earthen wall? Why is it so smooth? And what's with this pit specially left for the campfire?

Even the smallest details are impeccable; it's an earthen house built entirely for comfort. Anyone who does this during an adventure is either a bit dim-witted or a spoiled young master or lady who doesn't know the ways of the world—both are taboo in adventures. But…

The three girls in front of me didn't seem like that kind of people at all. On the contrary, everything they did was reasonable and rational, without a single flaw. Although they looked like noble ladies, they were doing incredibly impressive things as if nothing was wrong... In short, they were very capable and not lacking in common sense...

Leon was so confused that he couldn't process any useful information, because the three people in front of him were not people who could be compared to using common sense as a standard.

“Compared to that,” Ning sat down again, then stared at Leon, “don’t you have anything to say?”

That gaze was unforgiving, allowing no room for ambiguity. Leon silently munched on his jerky, utterly embarrassed. But even more terrifying than that was the oppressive aura emanating from the blue-haired girl. Even the seemingly gentle cherry-haired girl was looking at him with that kind of gaze. This time, it really was his fault…

Leon put down the dried meat in his hand, then bowed his head to the two of them apologetically: "I'm so sorry! I've caused you all trouble again!"

"Hmm," Ning nodded slightly, "And then? Where did you go wrong?"

“…Uh,” he said cautiously, “should we plan ahead before taking action?”

zizi...

"You really are..." Ning revealed an extremely "kind" smile, revealing the electric current in his hand, "Can't you see the situation?"

"Wait?! Did I do something wrong?!" Leon hurriedly backed away. "I really can't figure out what I did wrong."

“Ha…” Li sighed, “Your mistake was that you forced your way into a battle of gods.”

"Gods fighting?? What the hell???" Three black question marks had already appeared above Leon's head.

To vent his anger, Ning simply threw the electric current at Leon, taking it out on him without stopping him. This time it really was Leon's own fault, and besides, compared to the electric current wrapped around Bing's body, this was not enough to kill him. At most, he would be paralyzed for half a day, but he wouldn't die.

The puppy's attention was completely focused on Xiao, ignoring its suffering owner entirely, and it kept trying to snuggle into Xiao's arms. Xiao, in turn, welcomed it with open arms. However, to Li and Ning standing nearby, something about this puppy seemed a little strange…

Ning continued speaking only after the effects of the electric current had almost subsided.

"Your biggest problem is that you're incompetent yet meddlesome," Ning said mercilessly. "You're clearly so weak, yet you still rush in to interfere in our battle. Isn't that just courting death? Anyone with a modicum of self-awareness wouldn't have come here, would they?"

“But… I just want to… take responsibility for my actions…” Leon said weakly.