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

"Huh? Are they human?" Yan sighed helplessly. "Ha... Seriously... This is so troublesome... I really don't understand why we have to fight them."

"There's nothing we can do about it," Nagi said helplessly. "Time is running out, and we don't have much time left. If this continues, the world will collapse."

“Hmm…” Yan nodded, “It seems there really isn’t that much time left to explain to them… and even if I did, they probably wouldn’t believe me.”

This concerns the very foundation of this world, a matter entrusted to them by the goddess afterward—something even the goddess couldn't prevent, a catastrophe powerful enough to destroy the world. Moreover, even if the goddess wanted to intervene, she probably wouldn't know where to begin.

If humans try to interfere with them, they may, depending on the circumstances, turn on humans with swords.

“Anyway,” Nagi waved her hand and turned to leave, “I’ll go arrange for some elves to drive those humans away first.”

"Oh, please~"

Yan watched Nagi's retreating figure disappear into the distance, then looked in the direction Nagi had been looking, lost in thought. Watching the many spirits gradually gather, preparing to drive away the attackers, an idea formed in her mind. She then followed the spirits away, ready to put it into practice.

"Whoa... how can there be so many?"

Kuroba was speechless as he watched the large number of Pokémon approaching from afar. Just how powerful of an attack did Xuanze use to attract so many Pokémon? He must be furious! Such a huge show of force!

By this time, she, Xiao, and Xia Que had already left the highlands and were waiting for the elves on the plains below. They had come here because they couldn't maneuver freely up there, leaving the highlands entirely to Xuanze. Now, the elves advancing towards them were becoming increasingly visible; soon, they would be engaged in battle with them.

"Hmm~? A lot~?"

Xiao responded weakly, then drew the two small katanas from her waist, preparing for battle. Kuroba could tell from her tone that she completely disregarded these Pokémon. Kuroba had to admit, Xiao was strong, but not strong enough to allow her to single-handedly contend with so many Pokémon.

"Ha... I guess I have no choice but to do it."

Xia Que sighed, silently picked up the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow in her hands, her face showing no fear.

"Aren't you two really scared?" Kuroba asked as if he had seen something unbelievable.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Xiao said calmly. "I've been inside before, and there are even more elves there."

"Well... there's only so much I can do, but I'll still do what I can," Xia Que said, gripping the knife.

“…Alright, I understand.” Kuroba nodded. “I’ll just support you from here, okay? Promise me that if you encounter danger, you’ll abandon the Demon King and run away without hesitation, okay?”

Faced with Kuroba's words, the two could only offer wry smiles. She walked directly behind them and used magic to enhance them. First, she used Griffin's Wind Step, a wind magic that could create air platforms, followed by the Ice and Snow Maiden's Garment, which added a light ice armor. She did everything she could to imbue the two with various kinds of magic, greatly increasing their combat power.

Xiao and Xia Que exchanged a glance. Xiao looked away and rushed out in one breath, showing no intention of cooperating with Xia Que. Xia Que couldn't figure it out either, but what she had to do wasn't these things. She didn't have the power that was called magic, nor did she have the superhuman physique of ordinary people in this world. All she had was the long sword in her hand, which was called the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow.

Although she couldn't keep up with Akatsuki, the training she had received in this world had given her physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary Earthlings. What she needed to deal with were the remaining sprites that Akatsuki hadn't managed to catch. Akatsuki, aided by Black Feather's magic, seemed to be walking on air as she headed straight for the elves in the sky. Winsor appeared, transformed into a samurai, wielding two enormous katana, and swung them in sync with Akatsuki's movements.

accelerate--

Xiao vanished in a flash of light, his lightning-fast blade flashing through the elves, each strike felling several before being finished off by Xia Que below, temporarily incapacitating them. Meanwhile, Hei Yu, providing support from the rear, continuously unleashed magic to hinder the elves' advance.

boom----!

This was the fifth arrow. Xuanze released the fifth arrow, which flew swiftly across the sky, eliminating anything that tried to block it. However, the arrow suddenly disappeared halfway through its flight. Xuanze frowned, and then released the sixth, seventh, and eighth arrows in succession, before simultaneously firing the ninth and tenth arrows.

However… all ten arrows were deflected by something, flying off in different directions. Xuanze then realized he had finally caught the big fish. In the direction his five arrows had been fired, he saw a fiery figure—a member of the high elves. Xuanze's attacks had all been deflected by that high elf.

However, Xuanze had no intention of stopping.

"Xiao! There she is!"

Whoosh!

Upon hearing Xuanze's voice, Xiao immediately changed direction and quickly approached the high-ranking elf from behind. Xuanze also activated the full power of the Divine Weapon Catalogue, instantly combining and recombining the divine weapons planted all over the mountain into part of the Divine Weapon Catalogue Gauntlet Mode. After discovering the presence of the high-ranking elf, Heiyu and Xiaque both turned their attention to it.

"Waaaaah!! Wait, wait, wait!!"

The high-ranking elf shouted these words, frantically trying to say something. But Xiao and Xuanze wouldn't give him that chance; the two of them charged at the high-ranking elf simultaneously. No matter how powerful the high-ranking elf was, he couldn't ignore the simultaneous attack of the two. He had no choice but to immediately abandon communication and parry their attacks.

The three clashed, the high-ranking elf simultaneously taking the attacks of the other two. As the smoke cleared, they finally saw who the high-ranking elf was: Yan, a high-ranking fire elf. Having taken both attacks head-on, Yan wasn't entirely unscathed; at least, her two hands wouldn't be able to recover for the time being.

"So, what I'm saying is, I'm on the verge of tears. Why can't you guys just listen to me properly? I didn't come here to fight you."

"...???"

A question mark appeared above Xiao's head. She thought she might have misheard something, so she looked at Xuanze, who also looked bewildered. No one had expected this turn of events. Moreover, at the same time, the group of elves began to leave like the receding tide. Could it be that they really weren't here to fight? He and Xiao exchanged glances and decided to listen to her explanation for now. If things didn't work out, they could retreat immediately.

Xia Que and Hei Yu, who were about to attack Yan, also noticed something strange, so they abandoned their attack and waited for the two to explain. Xuan Ze didn't care about anything else and rushed forward to subdue Yan. Before Yan could react, Xuan Ze grabbed him and slammed him to the ground.

Xia Que and Hei Yu rushed over immediately and, after assessing the situation, determined that the person Xuan Ze had subdued appeared to be a high-ranking elf.

"Uh..." Yan gave an awkward smile, "Um... hello?"

Black Feather and Summer Sparrow exchanged a glance. Neither of them had ever seen a high-ranking elf, but based on Xiao's information, it seemed to be true... But what was with this silly attitude? Something felt off.

Then, Xiao and Xuanze descended from the sky to the two of them. Facing the gazes of the four, Yan appeared somewhat timid and shrank back, showing no signs of being a high-ranking elf.

“Akatsuki,” Kuroba asked, “who is this?”

"A high-ranking elf, huh?" Xiaoli replied matter-of-factly.

"Really...?" Kuroba felt a certain image of high elves in his mind crumbling. "Is this really... a high elf?"

"Really! Little Book Spirit! What's standing in front of you right now is a genuine high-ranking fire spirit!"

"Eh~ Is that so..." Kuroba's voice sounded weak.

Even though she was the one being subdued, she seemed completely unfazed. Kuroba no longer cared about what would happen next, as nothing that had transpired that day had been within her expectations. She glanced at the pensive Genze, hoping he could resolve the situation smoothly.

In Chapter 11, while the Demon King was causing trouble, the Mimic encountered a bug.

"Huh... what's going on here..."

Li stared in disbelief at the scene before her. The world around her seemed to have inexplicably turned into a negative, as if time had stood still. The one experiencing this was Treasure Chest Li, who was urgently re-entering world map information. While checking how many usable portals were left, she re-recorded the maps, allowing her spacetime powers and magic to once again apply to these locations.

It was traveling in the opposite direction from Dragon King Li. Dragon King Li was currently rushing towards the Duchy at full speed, so she was left to re-record that direction, while it was left to travel in the opposite direction. No matter what it encountered along the way, Li would eliminate it without hesitation. It was in a hurry, and the sooner the spacetime magic could be used, the more initiative they would have, which would be much more convenient for future development.

However, she accidentally stumbled upon a very awkward situation. Li was now thinking about what words to use to describe this abnormal phenomenon, but with all the words in her mind, she couldn't possibly describe the situation she was in very vividly. However, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of the most appropriate analogy: the game had a bug.

A bug, simply put, is an error that occurs during game operation. This error can be benign or malicious. Benign bugs are those that improve the player's gaming experience or are harmless mistakes, while malicious bugs are those that ruin the gaming experience or even crash the entire game. Li encountered such a bug today, but as of now, she can't determine what kind of bug it is.

So far, the only impact of this bug on her is that the world is frequently and suddenly paused.

Of course, that's the literal meaning; it's like a game being paused. She initially thought she had accidentally used the Time-Space Dragon King's power or time-space magic, but when she tried to use her own skills and powers to lift the pause, there was absolutely no response. She now couldn't figure out if there was something wrong with her or with the world.

How is this going……

In short, Treasure Chest Li first relayed the situation here to Dragon King Li over there. Both shared the same idea: to explore the area first. After asking Ning, although Ning was somewhat worried, her advice was also to check what was happening around there, and if things got too complicated, to immediately use spacetime magic to teleport back.

Treasure Chest Rin released her magic, entering a magical dragon form, and then activated her Mystic Eyes to prevent any accidents. Treasure Chest Rin and Dragon King Rin are two separate entities; if any part were to be damaged, Rin's soul would suffer a severe impact. After completing her dragon form, Rin cautiously began to explore the area.

The Magic Eyes were mostly functioning normally, but the minimap seemed to be malfunctioning. After entering this unusual area, the Magic Eyes could no longer retrieve any map information, which was one of her concerns. She didn't know what would happen in such a place. Could the power of time and space be effective in a place where the Magic Eyes couldn't retrieve any information?

With these concerns in mind, Li began to look around at the surroundings.

Like other wastelands, this place is barren and empty. Because the magic here is relatively thin, there are not many monsters, not even demons. Their strength would be greatly weakened in such an environment with extremely thin magic, so powerful demons or monsters generally do not move in this environment unless they possess a large amount of magic.

If it were Rin, Ning, or Akatsuki, this environment wouldn't have much of an impact on them, because they are the ones who influence the surrounding environment. If they release their excess magic power, the surrounding area will quickly be filled with magic power. That's the kind of existence they are.

Incidentally, given this highly primitive ecological state, these three are already at the top of the food chain pyramid, and very few things can threaten them.

Click, click, click, click, click...

Each time this sound rang out, the surrounding environment would suddenly blur, then turn into negative colors, and time would stand still. This was a situation that reason couldn't intervene in, and it couldn't affect her either. She didn't understand why; she just kept moving forward. But the deeper she went, the more unstable the Demon Eye's functions became.

What's going on here...?

The panel displayed by the Demon Eye was trembling incessantly, and the text within it was gradually turning into gibberish, giving the impression that something was slowly collapsing. What on earth was happening...?

Warning: Always! xx value @% of normal value...

Suddenly, these words popped up in her field of vision. The meaning of the following sentences was no longer clear, but the word "warning" was enough for her to understand a lot. She also roughly knew what the Demon Eye was warning her about, because her magic power was dropping rapidly; her magic power, which had exceeded six figures, had decreased by 50% in such a short period of time.

This is truly astonishing, because Li rarely suffers from a lack of magic power. Normally, no matter how much magic power she wastes, it will quickly recover. But this time is different; the rate at which magic power is being depleted is too fast, which is precisely why it is so terrifying.

But this also illustrates one thing: she has gotten close to the root of the problem, but the issues she faces now are also quite obvious.

Should we continue?

As Li pondered, because the rate of magic loss accelerated and her magic dragon transformation was also dispelled, for some reason, she was unable to properly input magic into this skill. In addition, the function of her magic eye became unstable, and most of her skills began to lose their effectiveness. Li began to worry that continuing to delve deeper might lead her into trouble.

Click, click, click, click! Click! Click!! Click!! Click—!!

"!?!?!"

Even without the Demon Eye's reminder, she could hear the ever-growing shattering sound, and the surrounding environment was constantly changing with the sound. The sound was undoubtedly getting louder and louder, and it was very close to her. Then, she saw an extremely terrifying scene.

The world is breaking apart.

Yes, it means exactly what it says; the world is breaking apart. With each "crack," a piece of the world shatters. Rin witnessed a section of the world suddenly break apart. After the sky and earth turned negative, they exploded with a loud crack and disappeared into nothingness. At that moment, Rin turned and ran. She knew this was definitely not a joke.

Click, click, click! Click!! Click!!

Waaaaaaahh ...

Perhaps because of the distance, the sound of shattering reached her after a long delay, but the actual speed was much faster than expected. Almost the instant she ran out, the spot she had just been standing on shattered and merged into the void. Li had never seen such a scene before. She didn't know about other things, but she knew that if she were caught by this sound, it wouldn't be pleasant.

Skill! Skill! Skill!

Li desperately tried all her skills that seemed capable of displacement, but none of them responded. Forced to activate her powers, she forcibly tore open a spacetime rift and rushed in. Then, the shattered world, along with the spacetime rift, was crushed and swept into the void.

Fortunately, Li had successfully escaped the spacetime rift and rolled to another location. This large amount of information naturally also reached Dragon King Li through his soul, and the impact also affected Li there.

"Ugh!?"

"reason!?!"

While still airborne, Ri suddenly felt an impact as if her entire body was being crushed. After a moment of disorientation, she let gravity pull her towards the ground. Ning noticed in time, caught Ri as she fell, channeled magic to check her body, and then gently brought her to the ground.

Because it happened so suddenly, even Ning was taken aback. Li, who was traveling with her, suddenly became abnormal and fell down. The only possibility she could think of was that Li had encountered trouble while exploring the treasure chest in the unknown area on the other side. She also began to regret suggesting that Li do such a dangerous thing. She didn't even know what was on Li's body now.

"Haa!! Cough cough cough cough..."

"Are you okay?!"

"No, cough cough cough, I'm fine, cough, let me catch my breath first..."

"Okay, sit down next to me. If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me right away, okay?"

"You're just like my mom..."

"I can't believe you still have the nerve to joke with me. I was so worried!"

Ning helped Li sit down against her chest, drawing several protective and offensive barriers to shield them both. She channeled her magic through Li's entire body before returning to herself, using this method to check on Li's condition. The answer was that Li was fine, which she found hard to believe, given Li's strong reaction earlier.

After resting for a while, Riho finally recovered from the shock, but she was still panting heavily because it had been so terrifying; she truly thought she was going to die. However, she had indeed escaped that shattered world, and she could still sense that her other self was alive, only that the other self was temporarily unable to move due to the greater impact.

"Ah...ah...much better..." Li pulled Ning's hand across her chest, "Don't take advantage of me like this..."

"Who took advantage of you?" Ning said irritably. "If you keep doing this, I'm not going to take care of you anymore."

"Hehe, it's so soft." Li said smugly as she lay down.

The soft, cool touch of Ning's chest gave Li a very comfortable feeling, probably like the sensation of an ice pillow. It was so comfortable that Li didn't want to leave for the time being. Because of what had just happened, Ning wouldn't do anything excessive to her, so the two remained in this state for the time being.

"So, what happened just now?" Ning asked. "You suddenly screamed and fell down. What happened?"

"Hmm~ it's what I was telling you about earlier." Li thought for a moment and said, "The situation seems pretty serious... to put it simply... the world is probably going to end again..."

"Huh?" Even Ning was stunned.

“Uh…you didn’t see it, so you don’t quite understand…” Li explained, “My other self just went deeper into that area, and the situation was pretty bad. The deeper I went, the more I felt like I wasn’t myself anymore. My magic was constantly draining away, and most of my skills had turned into gibberish and were unusable for some reason. Then I saw something amazing…the world was shattering.”

"...The literal meaning?" Ning hesitated.

“Yes, literally.” Li nodded, certain. “I saw it with my own eyes, the world slowly crumbling and disappearing. This is no joke…”

“…Sigh, I never expected there would be such a troublesome thing…” Ning sighed and looked up at the sky. “I thought that once I got rid of that old bald guy, there wouldn’t be any problems.”

Ning initially thought Li was just joking, but now it seemed to be true. She never doubted Li's words because she could easily see through his lies. Since Li had said so, it was probably true.

“In short,” Ning said, “once your other self recovers, don’t go near that area for now. It’s too dangerous, understand?”

“I know without you telling me~” Li lay on her chest, feeling a little smug. “Besides, I don’t want to go through this again... I don’t plan to go near there until I figure out what’s going on.”

"Well, we don't have time to worry about that right now." Ning helped her tidy her wind-blown hair. "How far are we from the duchy now?"

"I don't know." Li looked into her eyes. "If you mean it's about ten kilometers from the original duchy, then..."

Although they had visited Akihabara's original address before, the principality had moved quite a distance due to geological changes, so the original coordinates could not be used as a reference. After traveling for a day and a night, they were almost at their destination. Now it was up to them to find the location of the principality.

This little matter was a piece of cake for the two of them. With the help of the magic eye, and with her own methods, it wouldn't take long to find the duchy.

"Aren't you going to get up yet?" Ning playfully pinched her nose. "Let's stop here for today and rest here."

"Ah."

Chapter 12 Want you

The two used magic to temporarily create a small hut on the spot, furnished it simply, lit a fire, and watched night fall. Because they had recently discovered that the treasure chest's space could stop the time of items, they would occasionally cook some food and put it in, so they could take it out and enjoy it when they were too lazy to cook.

"Hmm... Ning, what would you like to eat?"