From Mimic to World's strongest daughter

Chapter 34

Y/n's POV

The next day we made it to the Great Tree. It looked the same as it had a few months ago. "I guess we're here." Shizuku commented. 

"My God," Kouki added.

"The Great Tree," Ryutarou said.

"It's frickin enormous." Suzu added. We headed to the stone and used the rings to prove that we could enter the labyrinth. "Cam, anything can happen here. Pull back to a safe distance." Papa ordered.

"You got it, boss. Best of luck, we'll see you soon," Cam said, saluting Papa before leaving with the other Rabbitmen. They left as Papa put the first ring in place, lighting up the stone like he did before. Mama read the message out loud for everyone before Papa started placing the rings into their spots on the stone. The stone glowed before hearing something happen on the tree. We turned to see the same symbol that was on the stone now on the tree. "I guess restoration magic is next." Mama suggested. She stepped towards the tree before using the magic on it. The ground shook as the symbol on the tree glowed before the tree started growing new leaves. "Look, leaves are growing." Shea pointed out. The tree opened up, revealing a doorway into it before we all headed inside. Light blinded us for a moment before fading. "And I'm in." Papa said.

"Everyone, are you alright? Nagumo, we're inside the Great Labyrinth now, yeah? Which way are we supposed to go?" Kouki asked. Papa looked back towards Kouki before saying that it was a maze and we just needed to look around. "Copy that. I'll take the lead position. Give me a shout if you notice anything." Kouki ordered. Everyone started following him, but as Mama, Ryutarou, and Tio walked past us, my monster sense went wild. Shea stopped and looked back at us. "Hajime? Y/n? What are you..." Shea started. Papa used some ropes to bind Tio, Mama, and Ryutarou away from us. "What is this, Master?" Tio asked.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ryutarou asked. I walked over, aiming my gun at his head. "Quiet." I ordered. Papa aimed his gun at Mama. "Hajime, don't do this," Mama asked.

"Just answer the questions you're asked; you shoddy fake." Papa ordered.

"Stop, that's Yue," Kaori begged.

"Please don't do something you'll regret." Shizuku added.

"What are you? What have you done with the real Yue?" Papa asked. The copy didn't answer before Papa shot the copy, putting a hole in its shoulder. "Don't want to answer me, huh? Or rather, you weren't even created with the ability to. Whatever the reason, just die." Papa said, blowing the copy's head off. I pulled the trigger, killing the copy of Ryutarou, as Papa killed the copy of Tio as well. Papa growled as he looked at the puddles that the copycats had formed. "Typical labyrinth grade BS. What a way to open the show." Papa swore. 

"Wait, Hajime, if that's not Yue and Tio..." Shea started.

"They're here somewhere. They probably got dumped at another location." Papa explained.

"How could you two tell that wasn't them?" Shizuku asked.

"I know, right? Did you notice something that gave them away?" Suzu asked.

"I can't explain it. I just knew. The moment I saw her, something inside me screamed, 'Whatever this thing in front of me is, it's clearly not my Yue.'" Papa explained.

"My own monster detection was going off. Though that's probably only because I am a monster and can sense them differently." I added. We continued into the dungeon before my monster sense went off again. "We've got monsters incoming. We can handle this, Nagumo. You hang back, alright?" Kouki asked. Shea gave them some advice before the fight, while Kaori wished Shizuku and Suzu luck. They waited for the monsters to attack, but it was a swarm of insect monsters that scared Suzu. Kouki and Shizuku both killed one before they flew towards Suzu. She used a Holy Shield to protect herself, but the insects flew around the shield. Kouki tried to use a magic skill to attack them, but the monsters just dodged before firing the attacks at Suzu. "Damn it. These monsters are every bit as strong as the ones that the demons were controlling." Kouki complained.

"More like the other way around. Those monsters were most likely produced with these vermin in mind." Papa said. We joined the fight, killing a few of the insects ourselves. It was getting tricky to use my big gun, so I was just cutting them up with a knife that Papa made for me. "Amanogawa." Papa said, getting his attention.

"Yeah? What?" Kouki asked.

"Just stay focused on finding your childhood friend and try not to get too overwhelmed." Papa reminded.

"You think you have to remind me of that? Trust me, I am," Kouki said, charging into the monsters. After the fight, everyone was recovering when we heard a bush near us moving. Kouki complained about what it could be before a weird monster stepped out, but something was off about it. It felt familiar, and my monster sense wasn't going off. "Get dead, monster!" Kouki shouted. He charged towards it before Papa kicked him away from it. "Jeez, what the heck, Nagumo. Kouki was only trying to take down that goblin thing." Shizuku complained.

"Nagumo, want to explain yourself? Why did you..." Kouki started.

"Cause that's not a monster." Papa said.

"It's Mama." I added, looking at it.

"What!" Shea and Kaori screamed. She started talking, and while I could understand her, I wasn't sure how to talk back to her. Papa started talking to her with ease, which I was happy about. "Well, that's one down. Hey, Kaori. Can you try to use your restoration magic on her just to see?" Papa asked.

"Woah, woah, hold up here, dude." Kouki said.

"None of this makes sense." Suzu added.

"How are you even communicating?" Shizuku asked.

"Seriously? Isn't it obvious? Just look at how expressive those big beautiful eyes are," Papa explained.

"It's not the same for me, but her aura feels like normal compared to whatever tried to copy her." I said. Kaori tried her restoration magic on Mama, but it did nothing. Papa handed her a telepathy stone so she could communicate with us. Papa and Mama were getting weird, but we continued on our way before finding another goblin who was getting beat up by other goblins. It was Tio before moving on to finding Ryutarou. We made it to another spot where we were going to get teleported. Something was wrong, though. I didn't get teleported with them, but I ended up in a weird room where there were coffins or something. "What's going on? Where am I?" I asked, walking around trying to figure out where I was. I could sense everyone's magic coming from the coffins, but I couldn't open them or anything. After a few minutes, I sat down, waiting for someone to wake up from whatever spell was cast on them. Papa's magic powered from one of the coffins as I smiled, knowing he was going to wake up soon. One of the lids vanished as I saw Papa get up. "Papa!" I cheered. He looked over as I jumped towards him. Catching me in a hug. "There you are. I was wondering what else was missing from that dream. Actually, wait a second, didn't you have one of these things?" Papa asked.

"No, when we teleported, I just ended up in this room. Maybe it's because I'm a monster?" I suggested.

"Yeah, probably. Let's see if we can't wake up the others." Papa said. I nodded as he set me down.