From Mimic to World's strongest daughter

Chapter 20

Y/n's POV

After resting for a little while, we headed back to the port before setting off to sea again. As we were traveling, I checked a mirror again, seeing my bangs now had everyone's hair color in different sections. Papa and I were sitting on top of the ship looking at the sunset. "The Sunken Ruins of Melusine. They're supposed to be around here somewhere." Papa said.

"I know we'll find them, papa. Oh, also I noticed something." I said.

"Oh yeah? What did you notice?" Papa asked.

"I think I have more or fewer powers depending on who I'm around. Look at my bangs." I said, showing the different colors I had. Papa looked at my bangs a little confused before nodding. "Guess we're going to have to test that sometime." Papa said. I nodded before I heard someone walking up behind us. I looked up seeing Kaori standing by us before papa looked at her, then back at the sea. "Nature looks the same in this world as it does in ours." Papa said. I was curious about papa's world as he mentioned that. "This is just like ocean sunsets I've seen in Japan. Feels like another lifetime, but it wasn't so long ago. It hasn't even been six months yet." Kaori mentioned. 

"Probably because our time here has been so insane." Papa said, looking at Kaori. She nodded as she turned back to the sunset. Mama showed up by papa and me before looking at Kaori. Tio and Shea walked up behind her before Kaori sighed in defeat. We stayed there as the sunset before the moon eventually rose into the sky. "The moon." Mama pointed out. We all looked at it before papa gasped and stood up. He held the charm out towards the moon. "Hajime, what are you doing?" Shea asked.

"I recognize that thing. Isn't it the proof of conquest from Gruen?" Tio asked.

"It is." Papa answered. As he held it towards the moon, the center part of the amulet started glowing. Shea and Kaori both commented that the light was pretty before a beam of light came from it. We headed back into the ship heading into the sea, following the beam of light that the amulet was giving off. We stopped in front of a solid stone wall before it opened. "Okay then, no wonder I couldn't find the entrance the normal way. F me for thinking I'd just stumble upon it. Have I learned nothing from this world?" Papa said. The ship started shaking as Tio mentioned the current being strong. We were pulled into the cave as papa started driving forward. Papa mentioned that there were some monsters coming from behind us as we found a glowing circle with a star in it. We continued on the path, finding a fifth one which papa opened with the amulet before the light from it finally faded. He drove into the new cave opening before we fell from the roof of a cave landing in a giant underground cave. We climbed out of the ship as papa put it in storage. "Now this feels like an actual starting point. I mean, it's more of just a regular cave than a sunken ruin, but still." He said. 

"I'm glad it's not entirely under water." Mama commented. Something from above was preparing an attack before papa called for mama to do something. Mama put up a barrier, stopping the attack from hitting us. Kaori tried to do the same, but didn't activate her spell fast enough. "Yue can handle it." Papa said. Kaori seemed disappointed that she couldn't do anything. She let out a sigh as she looked at mama. "What's wrong?" Papa asked, looking at her. 

"Nothing. I just zoned out." Kaori said.

"Okay." Papa said. Tio hit something that came down from the cave above us before Shea started attacking them. As we headed into the cave, the water started moving up before papa put her on his shoulders. Mama was complaining about it before papa made sure she enjoyed being held by him. "Yue, you look so adorable up there." Shea teased.

"Yes, you're sitting little Myu's favorite spot." Tio added.

"Does this mean we can officially call you little Yue from now on?" Kaori started.

"If you wanna die." Mama threatened. Kaori gasped as she looked at mama. "Oh, so only I get threatened? Cool." Kaori complained. We continued into the cave, getting attacked by monsters one after another, but each was easily killed. "Hey, don't these seem a little weak?" Papa asked.

"What do you mean?" Kaori asked.

"The monsters, I thought they'd be stronger since we're in a Great Labyrinth and all." Papa said.

"Yeah. There have been no good ones to mimic." I complained. We eventually entered a cave before a purple slime monster appeared behind us and blocked the doorway. "What the..." Papa started.

"I'll take care of this one." Shea said. She jumped into the air and slammed her hammer against, but a little splashed on her. Shea complained about it before Tio used her fire to remove it. Mama put up a barrier around us as the monster started attacking more. Shea asked for papa to rub some healing ointment on her burn before Kaori took care of it with a spell. "Hajime, it looks like this jelly melts magic." Mama said. The barrier she had up was being melted away by the monster. "I see. I was wondering why my flames were losing their strength so quickly. It would appear my magic is vulnerable to this substance." Tio mentioned. She hit another portion of the monster with her magic, but it didn't vanish like before. "Hajime look." Kaori said, pointing to the stuff forming into a giant monster. 

"What is that icky thing?" Shea asked.

"Now this is what I call a Great Labyrinth." Papa said, looking at the newly formed monster. Papa pointed his gun at it and started shooting it as it fired itself at us. "Yue, take the offensive. I'll handle defense."  Kaori said, setting up another magic barrier. I stepped forward and started using flame magic with Tio to attack the monster. After being hit by our spells, it exploded. We relaxed as the monster fell to the ground. "Don't let up. What is this? I'm getting monster readings from all over the room." Papa said. The exploded monster reshaped itself as it looked at us. "Okay, not your normal monster." Kaori said.

"Master, this is futile. It's only going to keep on regenerating. Where's the mana crystal?" Tio asked, looking at papa.

"Now that you mention it. It's transparent, but I don't see a mana crystal." Shea added.

"Hajime?" Mama asked.

"There isn't one. That thing doesn't have a mana crystal." Papa said.

"No mana crystal? What does that mean? Are you saying that thing's not a monster?" Shea asked.

"To my demon eye, the whole thing shows up reddish-black. The entire room does too. It's like its whole body is one giant mana crystal." Papa said.

"The whole body?" Kaori asked.

"It's more like the entire room." I corrected.

"I think we're trapped in the literal belly of the beast." Papa said. The monster attacked again, destroying the barrier that Kaori had put up. Mama quickly set up another one before papa summoned a flamethrower. He started melting the monster's body away while Tio and I followed his lead. "It's never ending." Papa said. We continued fighting off the parts it was sending to attack us. "It sure is persistent, I'll give it that." Shea said. 

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Tio asked.

"Let's retreat and regroup. There's an open cavern below us. I have no clue where it leads. Brace yourselves." Papa ordered. He opened the floor beneath us as we were pulled into the cavern below. Kaori got separated from us before papa followed her to save her. Mama, Shea, Tio, and I headed into a different section of the cavern. We landed in a weird shipyard that had a bunch of old ships on the ground. We made our way through the shipyard, being shown what happened when the demons, beastmen, and humans were going to make peace only for the humans to betray them and kill everyone other than humans.