Lucian straightened up and walked out of the room where the Nox Mirrorhelm had been stored.
But barely two seconds later, he suddenly turned back and re-entered the same room.
A thin arc of wind burst from his fingertips—wind bolt, and the little imp that had been clinging motionless to the wall all this time was instantly blasted down to the floor.
"I was so focused on opening the chest earlier that I forgot to give you a beating."
Leaving the room again, Lucian turned left and continued moving upward along the stone steps.
Up ahead was a narrow passage leading to some unknown corner of the tomb, with two small imps lurking inside and a pressure plate set into the floor.
This time, Lucian cleared out the imps from a distance before they could even twitch, and he made sure not to trigger the trap.
Going straight ahead, he entered a room where two Ghost Glovewort flowers were growing. He plucked them casually, storing them away, and then took a right turn into the next winding corridor.
More twists and turns followed—left, then right again.
Inside one of the rooms, Lucian found a weapon: a large scythe simply called 'Grave Scythe'.
But in this real world? A weapon like that was far too mediocre. Any random blacksmith could hammer out dozens of them without effort.
So Lucian didn't bother taking it.
This thing had neither real combat use nor any particular value as a collectible. Better just leave it where it lay.
But when he reached the end of the corridor, Lucian realized he had somehow looped all the way back to the earlier multi-layered gallery.
Now he stood at the very top level of that structure.
Looking down, he could see the statue that had been facing away from him earlier.
Which meant this spot was directly above the place he had first reached after leaving the Erdtree Burial Watchdog's chamber.
Lucian rubbed his chin. He hadn't expected that, after wandering in circles, he would end up right back here. The layout of this tomb was genuinely impressive.
Some faint memories of this place resurfaced in his mind.
In a way, this actually made things more convenient—he could continue exploring downward from here.
Besides the floor he had descended to earlier using the stairs, it seemed there was yet another level below.
Lucian stepped off the ledge and dropped straight down to the very bottom layer of the tomb.
Only, upon landing, he seemed to have accidentally stepped on something.
He looked down to find an Omenkiller lying sprawled beneath his boot, stunned by the impact. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Lucian lifted a hand and released a single lightning strike, sending the creature away.
Lucian surveyed his surroundings. This area had long been overtaken by wild growth—thick weeds and overgrown grass everywhere.
Aside from a single doorway leading to some other chamber, the place seemed entirely barren. All four sides were sealed walls, with nothing much to explore.
Lucian was already heading toward the doorway when he suddenly noticed a gap in one section of the wall.
He immediately changed course and approached it—only to discover an entirely hidden passageway behind it.
It turned out the outer wall had been a false facade. Inside was another inner corridor, forming a nested, rectangular loop between the two layers of stonework.
Following the inner passage all the way around, he encountered another Omenkiller and dispatched it effortlessly.
Next to the slain creature lay a corpse, and on that corpse Lucian found a bizarre and ugly stone head.
He picked it up and slowly fed a thread of magic into it.
A muffled, sluggish voice emerged from within the stone:
"Wonderous…"
Lucian nodded. So it was the Prattling Pate.
This thing appeared often in PvP. Chivalrous Tarnished would use it before a duel to commend their opponent. After a match, they would use it again—sometimes even tossing a small snack afterward as a friendly gesture.
Collecting these Mud Head trinkets was weirdly satisfying.
Lucian kept the item, then walked another full loop through the passage.
After confirming there was nothing else hidden here, he returned to the main path leading elsewhere.
In the next chamber, he defeated yet another Omenkiller. Beyond that room was a ladder leading upward.
Without hesitation,Lucian climbed it.
At the top was a room much like those found in many other catacombs—almost like a small chapel.
Selyra had also hidden herself in a similar room before.
And here, too, an Omenkiller was present—this one kneeling before a statue, as though in prayer.
At the base of the statue lay the corpse of a servant, laid flat on the platform beneath it for reasons unknown.
Lucian dispatched the praying Omenkiller with a casual gesture, then approached the corpse.
Judging from its clothing, this servant must have accompanied the noble and the Kaidan Mercenaries down here in their attempt to plunder the tomb.
Looking at all the corpses scattered throughout the place, it was obvious their expedition had been disastrously unlucky. They had gained virtually nothing, and the entire group was wiped out.
Even the noble who led them had not escaped.
They must have explored the tomb first, only to run into Omenkillers, imps, and all kinds of traps—losing most of their manpower.
Choosing such a high-difficulty tomb was already misfortune enough.
In the end, they had decided to steal the gems and Glintstones embedded in the Burial Watchdog instead.
According to the Watchdog's Greatsword, many Watchdogs had decayed over the centuries, allowing tomb robbers to pry treasures off them with ease.
Unfortunately for them, this Watchdog was still fully functional—alive and well, and it killed them all.
The noble had fled the guardian's chamber, only to be ambushed and stabbed in the back by one of the imps they had failed to clear earlier.
This whole affair teaches a very simple lesson:
If you don't clear a room completely, then you haven't cleared it at all.
Lucian glanced at the corpse of the servant, and unexpectedly noticed that it too had left behind a Spirit Ash.
And beneath the body, that 'platform' didn't actually seem like a platform at all. It looked more like… a wooden chest covered by a cloth?
Lucian stored the Spirit Ash away, then moved the corpse aside and laid it carefully to one side.
After that, he lifted the cloth covering the supposed platform.
Sure enough, it wasn't a platform—beneath it was an actual chest. It looked a little too simple, almost shabby, just a plain wooden box.
Lucian didn't overthink it. Better to open it first and see.
There might be some kind of unexpected treasure inside.
But the moment Lucian opened the wooden chest, he froze.
Why were there two rows of sharp teeth inside the box? Why was there a huge tongue?
Before he could react, two long arms shot out of the chest, grabbing him and shoving him toward its gaping maw.
Melina nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden movement.
"Eek—!?"
She had been leaning beside Lucian just a moment ago, curious about what might be inside the box. Instead, it had turned out to be some sort of monster?
Lucian's upper body was forced inside the mimic's mouth. The creature was chewing rhythmically.
Lucian's expression remained blank, though he did feel mildly doubtful about the meaning of his life at this moment.
The mimic's chewing wasn't actually hurting him much. Even if he let it gnaw on him the whole time, Lucian wouldn't take any significant damage.
The real issue was: Why on the lands between was there a Mimic in this world?
Silently, Lucian ignited the Sun's Flame inside the mimic's body.
The mimic shrieked and immediately opened its mouth wide, spitting him back out.
Once free, Lucian didn't rush to kill it. Instead, he wanted to study the thing.
After all, it didn't seem like a normal living creature at all.
The mimic pushed itself up from the ground, coughing out the charred half of its tongue that had been burned to a crisp.
Its limbs were extremely long and thin. With exaggerated strides, it sprinted toward Lucian, lifting a long leg and kicking down at him with shocking force.
Lucian grabbed its leg and gave a hard yank backward, causing the mimic to fall into a full split on the floor.
Its legs had been stretched so far that it couldn't stand up right away.
Lucian kicked the mimic across the room, and then slowly walked toward the creature where it had slammed into the wall.
The mimic's wooden chest body now had a large crack running down the middle from the impact. It was severely damaged.
But even so, once it stood up, it mindlessly stumbled toward Lucian again.
It seemed the mimic had no real consciousness.
Lucian ran a few tests on it and confirmed that the mimic was more of a mechanism or construct than a living being.
Having reached his conclusion, he destroyed the creature.
The silver-white limbs extending from its chest confirmed his suspicion.
This mimic was likely another experimental creation of the Nox dynasty.
But unlike the Silver Tears, it imitated a plain wooden chest, and even after death, it didn't revert into a teardrop form.
It appeared to remain in this state permanently.
In truth, the mimic felt more like an offshoot of the "Children of the Crucible" experiments.
Thinking of it that way, its presence here wasn't all that strange.
After all, the Nox Mirrorhelm—one of the Nox's greatest creations, was also found in this very underground tomb.
The tombs across the Lands Between were ancient structures. The Golden Order likely only renovated or repurposed them. This tomb might originally have belonged to the Nox.
Still, there was one thing Lucian didn't quite understand: Why had the mimic not attacked the Omenkiller earlier?
Was it that the mimic only activated when someone opened it?
And there was something even stranger—the sheer number of Omenkillers in this tomb was unnatural.
During the age of the Erdtree, Omen children were discriminated against.
They were manifestations of atavism—signs of the Crucible's blessing.
At birth, their hardened horns often killed their mothers during delivery.
Those born in the Royal Capital were essentially sentenced to death the moment they came into the world, their horns cut off before they were thrown into the sewers.
Even for Omen born into the Golden Lineage, the situation was only marginally better.
They were allowed to keep their horns and not bleed to death—but beyond that, their fate hardly improved.
It seemed that in other regions too, Omen children would have their horns removed and be exiled.
Where they were exiled probably varied depending on the region.
Perhaps in Liurnia's case, the exiles were thrown into underground tombs—repurposed as disposable caretakers and guardians?
That might be the only reasonable explanation for why so many Omenkillers were present here.
Lucian stepped outside the small chapel-like room, and immediately realized he had returned to the statue where the mechanism was located.
So this underground tomb was fully explored. Nothing had been overlooked.
Following the path back, Lucian soon exited the tomb entirely.
Bathed in the bright, refreshed air outside, he took a long breath and used a Site of Grace to teleport once more.
—
[T/N: Fun facts about the Mimics ]
Mimics are unique enemies in the Dark Souls series, disguised as treasure chests to lure and ambush greedy adventurers. They remain passive and non-hostile until provoked, either by opening them, which triggers a powerful grab attack, or by attacking them, which causes them to rise and reveal their true form. Once activated, they are fast, tough, and deal high damage, often attempting to bite and chew the player. They do not respawn after being killed, and each has a fixed location and guaranteed drop, such as the Lightning Spear, Crystal Halberd, or Occult Club, with the Symbol of Avarice being a rare drop that is guaranteed from the final mimic in the main game.
Mimics can be identified by subtle visual cues: their chest has a straight chain on the right side (as opposed to a curled chain on normal chests), a paler color, and slight breathing movements when observed closely. Some players use a Lloyd's Talisman to safely open them without triggering the grab, which is useful for farming rare items. In Dark Souls 3, Mimics are found in locations such as the High Wall of Lothric, Cathedral of the Deep, and The Ringed City, and they drop items like the Symbol of Avarice (5% chance), Deep Braille Divine Tome, and Sunlight Straight Sword. The design of the Dark Souls mimic, featuring a humanoid body with arms and a long, veiny tongue emerging from a chest has become iconic and has inspired fan art, cosplay, and collectible statues.