Mimic Monster

"This stinks. What a potent smell."

The moment Lucas stepped into the Fourth Layer, he caught the rotten stench in the air. He had experienced even more disgusting environments during his years of adventuring, but it still made him nauseous.

"Captain, this fog should be poisonous."

Sophia, the assassin, spoke up with a warning. Poison was one of an assassin's signature tools. Even though she had only recently encountered it, Sophia could tell that the dense fog before them contained a considerable amount of toxins. Even Formal Professionals would not be able to endure prolonged exposure.

Without another word, all five of them pulled out gas masks and put them on. Only after confirming they would not inhale the toxic fog did they carefully inspect their surroundings. As far as the eye could see was a sea of constantly churning purple-black mist.

The thick fog was like a layer of clouds, reducing visibility to less than a meter. Every step on the ground produced a squelching sound, while the rotten mud gave off an overpowering stench.

"No wonder Mark's group of knights suffered such heavy losses on this layer. This kind of environment is practically hell for knights."

Lucas glanced down. The mud had already risen past his calves, and the heavy armor on his body had instead become a burden. After some thought, Lucas took off his heavy armor.

"Vic, give me my leather armor and chainmail."

"Right away."

Vic, the middle-aged mage, took a set of leather armor and chainmail from the backpack on his back and handed them to Lucas. He then used Mage Hand to put the heavy armor back into the backpack.

"Huh? Could that be an Alchemy Expansion Bag?"

Lucifer, who had been silently observing this group of adventurers who had entered the Fourth Layer, focused his mental power on the item carried by the middle-aged mage. It looked no bigger than an ordinary backpack, yet it had just stored an entire set of heavy armor.

Having absorbed the souls of a great many adventurers, Lucifer's understanding of this world was no longer limited to the knowledge inherited from the Dungeon.

As far as Lucifer knew, the Dungeon was located in the southern region of the High Rock Kingdom, at the boundary between hills and swamps. This kingdom, founded less than five hundred years ago, revered magic and alchemy.

Although the High Rock Kingdom still followed the medieval system of noble and royal rule, its development of the supernatural knowledge and abilities of magic and alchemy meant it was no less advanced than the age of modern technology. In many respects, it far surpassed it.

The Alchemy Expansion Bag was a very common alchemical item. It could expand the space inside a backpack and came with weight-reduction magic runes.

"I want it. I want it so badly!"

At that moment, Lucifer was like a child who had spotted his favorite toy, filled with the desire to obtain it. He was also deeply curious about and eager for the supernatural knowledge and systems beyond the Dungeon.

If he could obtain this supernatural knowledge and technology too, could he use it to remodel the Dungeon and create new monsters, making the Dungeon even stronger?

I need to find a way to rob them.

With a thought, he opened the panel and looked at the Primordial Power section. A day and a half had passed, and Lucifer had accumulated another 156.4 points of Primordial Power. Of that, 73.4 points came from the amount the Dungeon absorbed from the Void every day.

After reaching level five, Lucifer could absorb energy from the Void every day and convert it into 60 points of Primordial Power. The extra 13.4 points came from the Fungus Lord, as well as the accumulated boosts from magical equipment and treasure.

The remaining Primordial Power came from the contributions of the many dead adventurers.

Looking at the Primordial Power on the panel, Lucifer's thoughts shifted. He took out the materials he had prepared long ago. Now, he was going to create a monster he had been thinking about for a very long time.

Especially after seeing that the adventuring party entering the Fourth Layer included an elven archer, he no longer hesitated in the slightest. She was not some old mage, but she was still a perfect match for a Chest Monster.

Two portions of Mithril + three portions of Refined Demon Iron Ore + one portion of flesh and blood

"Monster Creation!"

His talent activated, and Primordial Power poured in. This time, when creating the monster, Lucifer also added abilities such as Mimicry, Hardening, and Neurotoxin. This was a new ability gained after his talent evolved upon reaching level five.

He could add all kinds of abilities when creating new monsters. As the Dungeon itself, Lucifer possessed the abilities of every monster within it, so he could now fully customize skills when creating new monsters.

This ability was practically an epic-level upgrade for Lucifer. He would no longer have to create monsters as if he were drawing cards. He had now entered the age of customization.

He could customize monsters with all sorts of different abilities according to different adventurers and the ecological environments of different layers.

When the light faded, a massive treasure chest appeared before Lucifer. Gorgeous Mithril patterns covered its black surface. Golden light shone dazzlingly from the slightly opened lid, and its appearance alone made it seem as though it were filled with treasure.

Looking at the chest's appearance, Lucifer was immensely satisfied.

[Name: Mimic Monster]

[Level: lv4]

[Skills: Mimicry lv4, Hardening lv3, Charm lv3, Optical Camouflage lv2, Neurotoxin lv2, Bite lv2]

[Description: A monster that loves to mimic treasure chests. It can mimic different forms of treasure chests according to its surroundings. The light emitted by the chest possesses powerful Charm abilities, capable of stirring a prey's desire for treasure. Its powerful Bite can snap approaching prey in two with a single bite.]

"Not bad, not bad. It perfectly meets my needs."

After reading the Mimic Monster's panel, Lucifer became even more satisfied with it. More and more adventurers from outside were pouring into the Dungeon. Even though it now had five layers, Lucifer still found it somewhat difficult to deal with the endless stream of adventurers.

Only two teams had entered the Fourth Layer so far, and both had been thoroughly bogged down by the environment of the Venomous Swamp. But Lucifer did not feel even the slightest bit smug or proud. Instead, a sense of urgency rose within him.

After all, when Mark and his group entered the Fourth Layer, Lucifer's true body had been on the same layer as them.

By that logic, wasn't it practically the same as adventurers having already stabbed into his deepest depths? He was just a tiny step away from being shaped into an adventurer's form, and his sense of security instantly dropped by more than ten thousand points.

Even though he had now created the Fifth Layer of the Dungeon, Lucifer had learned from the adventurer souls he absorbed that most of the adventurers currently coming to the Dungeon were merely ordinary adventurers from several nearby towns.

Even the adventuring party currently on the Fourth Layer was only a group that could not survive in a major city and had fled to an ordinary town to scrape by.

For that reason, Lucifer had to speed up his growth. With the adventurers' current enthusiasm, along with the lucky-survivor bias Lucifer had deliberately created by continuously stuffing all kinds of equipment dropped by adventurers into treasure chests lately—

Once he released a monster like the Mimic Monster, something no other Dungeon had ever produced, a huge number of adventurers would surely fall for it and become his nourishment.

What Lucifer was doing was essentially spending the safety reputation of other Dungeons. After all, what kind of Dungeon had treasure chests that were man-eating monsters?

But Lucifer did not care. He only wanted the supernatural knowledge and memories within adventurers' souls, their equipment, and the adventurers themselves. As long as something could help the Dungeon grow, he needed it.