Mimic Awakening

Chapter 45: Mysterious Entity

A week has passed since Azrael visited the imperial capital; the house on the floating island is gradually becoming complete. The foundations, walls, sewer system, and individual rooms have been laid. Claire only needs to finish the modifications of the house.

The house’s design is almost identical to that of Claire’s secret villa in the kingdom. The only difference is that Azrael instructed her to make it more spacious and contain more, as well as a few things he wants to install in the house.

In these past days, Azrael has been studying more things that he should know about this world. Currently, he has a grasp of this world’s geopolitics and the political relationships between nations.

Of course, he learns a bit of the historical timelines of several nations. From what he reads, this world has existed for at least tens of thousands of years, with the oldest recorded history taking place around twenty thousand years ago, the time when gods still roamed the world.

Expectedly, Azrael has yet to learn the basics of this world’s common language. Since he is a fast learner, Claire has vouched for him that he would be able to properly construct a sentence within a month and even master the language to a certain degree in a year at the latest.

On the other topic, Azrael once looked at the night and noticed some things different from Earth’s. The entirely different star formations in the sky are understandable, but Azrael was not expecting to see two moons in the sky: a big one and a smaller one farther behind.

From what he learns, the bigger moon is called Dravel. It seems to be the same apparent size as the Earth’s moon and illuminates as brightly as well. The other satellite is called Limoule, which looks similar but smaller and reflects less light from the sun.

The bigger moon revolves around the planet exactly eight times a year, or thirty-eight days per revolution. Following the natural clock above, this world has a total of eight months a year, namely, in order, Early and Late Bloom, Early and Late Ember, Early and Late Decidance, and Early and Late Gloam.

Conveniently, the smaller moon revolves four times a year, with each of its new moons marking the start of a new season. By the way, it is currently summer in this world. Although Azrael and the others cannot feel the heat since the floating island is positioned in the subtropical region in addition to the ten-kilometer height difference between the sea and the island’s surface.

Speaking of time, this world follows the elven calendar, the most precise calendar system to exist. Currently, this world is in the year 8664.

Curious about something, Azrael once asked Claire when exactly the dungeon emerged, and she said it was on the 29th day of Early Ember. Feeling that he was around at that time, Azrael officially declares that date his birthday in this world.

Of course, he sets his age a year younger than the hero, though it is not that he can control the age of his forms, anyway. In the end, it is decided that his birthday in this world on paper is on the 29th of Early Ember, year 8641.

Outside of the academics, Azrael trains to improve his magic skills with Claire whenever she is free of work. He can say that he improves a lot due to her guidance. Although he still needs to recite the names of the spells, he is satisfied with his broader magical arsenal; he can now cast up to B-tier or high-level magic spells and a few low-complexity ultimate magic spells.

At the same time, Azrael frequently goes to the dungeon to farm and consume archdragon magic cores. It actually surprises him that the dungeon still spawns monsters after uprooting it from the ground.

Claire theorizes that dungeons might not need physical connection to the ground to create monsters as long as the dungeon itself is intact to a certain point. Dungeons have a common thing: they have the same black slabs or bricks in them, either fully or partially.

She thinks that the black slabs that build this dungeon serve as the receiver for whatever the energy needed to create those monsters. She, like anyone, has no idea where the energy or mana to create the dungeon and its monsters comes from.

Regardless, Azrael does not think about it deeply right now. The time is afternoon, roughly equivalent to 2 o’clock; he has been on the tenth floor of the dungeon since morning. He is in front of the boss room, waiting for it to reopen after an hour.

Rumble.

The ground shakes weakly, and the massive double doors slowly open. Azrael steps forward without hesitation, as he has repeated this thing more than a hundred times already. The Illumination Dome he casts follows him inside, revealing the massive dragon anticipating the challenger’s arrival.

Holding his mithrill longsword, which he bought in the imperial capital, in his hands, Azrael lunges forward as the doors behind him slowly close. Naturally, the archdragon quickly raises its claw before swinging it to the spot where Azrael would stop.

Clink!

Azrael powerfully swings his sword, and with his superhuman strength, he successfully parries the dragon’s claw. Utilizing his size, Azrael increases his speed and slips between its front legs, putting himself under the archdragon. Before the dragon can react, Azrael quickly raises his sword upwards and plunges its blade into its chest.

"GRRAAWW!!"

The dragon cries in agony, but Azrael does not care. He then proceeds to channel his mana into the blade, and a second later, a pillar of blueish-white light comes out of the archdragon’s back. After executing his new power, Azrael turns it off and quickly steps back before the boss’s dead body falls into him.

Crash.

As usual, Azrael uses his sword to open this archdragon’s chest to take out its magic core before putting it inside his own Dimensional Storage. He is only after its magic core, so Azrael usually leaves the corpse behind.

After finishing his quick business, Azrael stands before the door waiting for them to open. But for some reason, the doors do not show any signs of moving.

What’s wrong with this?

He gives the doors a few seconds to open, but it won’t. Thinking that this dungeon is malfunctioning, Azrael tries to get out by sending a telepathic message to Claire to pick him up, but mysteriously, he cannot open a conversation.

This is not normal. What’s happening?

His mind starts to feel that something is definitely off. Suddenly, he senses a powerful surge of mana building up behind him. The moment he turns around, his eyes widen upon seeing a mysterious figure sitting on the archdragon’s corpse.

"Ti od uoy woh si siht os?" A male voice echoes in the silent chamber. "Uoy ot gnihton tsomla si noitaerc tseb ym..."

An unknown language?! God’s Tongue!

All his senses, alarms, instincts, intuition, and whatever are telling him that this guy is bad news. After his first encounter with the archdragon, Azrael has experienced true fear once again, and he is petrified on the spot for a moment.

On the archdragon, there is a lean young man, who appears to be the same age as him, with black hair. He has a very dark and mysterious aura around him, which sends chills to Azrael’s spine.

He seems to be petting the dead dragon with sorrow in his voice as he speaks. It is like he is genuinely grieving the archdragon’s death. Everything about him screams uncanny to Azrael. His mind is filled with nothing but questions.

After waiting for a while, the God’s Tongue ultimately recognizes the man’s language and installs it into Azrael’s mind. He can understand what he is saying.

"...I have been wondering why my power continuously dwindles bit by bit, so I have come to check."

After expressing his monologue, the man stands up and locks his crimson gaze with Azrael’s.

"Upon checking on this detached dungeon, I then found you."

"Who...who are you...?" Shaking, Azrael speaks with trepidation in his voice.

"I don’t remember the last time I had a conversation with someone, so I kind of forgot to introduce myself. I think you might have heard of me under different names, but I’ll tell you my name right away. Does the name Vordoth ring a bell to you?"