[Status: Iron Maiden Mimic – Level 20]
[Current HP: 710/750]
[Hunger: 100/100 (MANA OVERFLOW)]
The staging area was no longer a sanctuary; it was a slaughterhouse.
Inside my iron gut, Seraphina—the High Priestess—was still alive, though not for long. I could feel her desperate holy light flickering against my internal spikes, a futile attempt to ward off the darkness. But the *Grand Mana Restoratives* I'd just downed were working like a turbo-charger. My *Internal Execution* wasn't just physical anymore; it was backed by a pressurized surge of raw mana that suppressed her light like a tidal wave extinguishing a candle.
[Internal Execution: -110 HP/sec]
[Target: High Priestess Seraphina has perished.]
A surge of sweet, refined mana washed through my frame.
[Experience Gained: 1,800 XP]
"You... you're that thing," Thorne, the Rogue, stammered. He backpedaled, his daggers shaking. "The monster from the first floor. The one that took out Alistair."
He was smart. Smarter than the Warrior, Valerius, who lay crumpled beneath my iron base, his chest plate flattened like a discarded tin can. Valerius wasn't dead yet—his high Constitution was keeping him in a state of agonizing consciousness—but he was effectively a decorative rug.
*SCREEEEE—*
The sound of grinding gears and hissing steam erupted from the open Boss Gate. The Gear-Grinder Ogre, standing ten feet tall and dripping with hydraulic fluid and blood, stepped out of the chamber. He had 10% health remaining. He was missing one tusk, and his saw-blade arm was sparking, but he was in a state of pure, unadulterated *Primal Rage*.
The Ogre didn't care about the politics of mimics and men. He saw a room full of things that had poked him, and he intended to turn them all into paste.
"Kaelen! Do something!" Thorne screamed, looking at the Arcane Scholar.
Kaelen, the mage, finally snapped out of his shock. He raised his staff, the crystal at the top glowing with a frantic, unstable violet light. "Void Bolt! GET BACK!"
He didn't aim at the Ogre. He aimed at *me*.
The bolt of dark energy slammed into my front doors.
[HP: 620/750]
[Status: Magic Resistance (Minor) – Triggered]
The impact sent a jarring vibration through my iron plates, but I didn't stumble. I was a seven-foot sarcophagus of reinforced metal; I had the mass of a small carriage. I used the momentum of the blast to tilt forward, my *Humanoid Morph* arms digging into the stone floor for stability.
"My turn," I vibrated.
[Skill Activated: Magnetic Pull (Mana-Overcharged)]
I didn't just pull at their armor. I targeted the Mage's staff.
Kaelen shrieked as his mahogany staff, tipped with mana-conductive silver, was yanked toward me with the force of an industrial magnet. He refused to let go, and he was dragged across the floor, his robes fluttering behind him.
At that exact moment, the Gear-Grinder Ogre decided to join the party.
The Ogre swung his sparking saw-blade in a wide, horizontal arc. It was a move designed to clear a room.
Thorne, the Rogue, used *Evasion* to flip over the blade, but Kaelen, still being pulled toward my open doors, was caught in the middle. The saw-blade didn't hit him, but the sheer wind pressure and the heat of the steam sent him tumbling.
I released the pull. I didn't want the Mage yet. I wanted the Ogre to do the heavy lifting.
[Skill Activated: Mimicry – Object Morph (Transition: Scrap Metal Pile)]
I collapsed. It wasn't a slow transformation. I literally let my hinges give way, my iron plates folding over each other in a chaotic heap. To the Ogre's dim, rage-filled eyes, I was no longer a threat. I was just a pile of rusted junk in the corner.
The Ogre turned his full attention to the survivors of the Gilded Aegis.
"RAAAAAGH!"
The giant lunged at the Rogue. Thorne was fast, but the room was small, and the steam was blinding. He threw a smoke bomb, but the Ogre's saw-blade whipped through the air, clearing the smoke and catching Thorne's leg.
"MY LEG! AGH!"
The Ogre didn't stop. He raised his massive, cybernetic fist and brought it down on Thorne.
*CRUNCH.*
[Experience Gained: 1,200 XP (Shared Kill)]
That left the Mage. Kaelen was scrambling toward the exit, his staff broken, his mana exhausted. He looked at the pile of "scrap metal" that was me, then at the Ogre, then at the door.
He reached the door handle.
"I made it..." he whispered.
I didn't let him finish. I didn't even shift back into my full form. I just launched my *Tongue Lash* from the pile of scrap.
The purple, muscle-bound whip caught Kaelen's ankle and yanked him backward. He hit the floor face-first, and I dragged him across the grates toward the Ogre.
"No! Please! Not the giant! NOT THE GIANT!"
The Ogre saw the Mage being delivered to him like a snack on a string. He grinned, revealing rows of jagged, yellow teeth, and reached down with his good hand.
I let go of the Mage.
As the Ogre picked up the screaming Scholar, I finally stood up.
[Status: Iron Maiden Mimic – Form Restored]
I was directly behind the Ogre now. The giant was busy snapping the Mage's spine like a dry twig. His back was exposed. And specifically, his *Power Core*—the glowing steam-regulator between his shoulder blades—was wide open.
"Krieeeeeeeet."
I didn't use a skill. I used *everything*.
[Skill Activated: Ambush Leap + Internal Execution + Holy Essence Infusion]
I launched myself onto the Ogre's back. I didn't try to bite him; I opened my doors and wrapped my entire frame around his upper torso. My internal spikes, now glowing with the holy light I'd stolen from the Priestess, drove deep into the Ogre's mechanical lungs and his power core.
*SPARK. FIZZLE. BOOM.*
The Ogre let out a sound that wasn't a roar, but a mechanical scream of failing systems. Steam hissed from every joint. The giant staggered, trying to reach behind him to pull me off, but my *Iron Lock* was at 300% strength. I was a parasite made of steel.
[Internal Execution: -200 HP/sec (Critical Weak Point Hit)]
The Ogre's health bar hit zero.
The massive creature fell forward, crashing into the staging area with a force that shook the entire floor. I stayed clamped to his back for a full minute, making sure every last drop of Boss Essence was drained into my wood and iron.
[Level Boss Defeated: The Gear-Grinder Ogre (Lvl 35)]
[Massive Achievement! Solo-Saboteur Bonus Applied!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Iron Maiden Mimic -> Lvl 24]
[Devour Complete. Extracting Core Attributes...]
1. [Hydraulic Strength: Permanent Strength +20]
2. [Skill Gained: Steam Vent (AoE Knockback)]
3. [Material Gained: Reinforced Ogre-Steel (Armor Upgrade)]
I detached myself from the Ogre's carcass. I felt... incredible. My iron plates were glowing with a dull orange heat, and my new humanoid arms felt stronger, more precise.
I looked around the room. The Gilded Aegis was gone. The Boss was dead.
I walked over to the Captain, Valerius. He was still breathing, his eyes glazed with shock. He looked up at me—a seven-foot iron coffin standing over him with the grace of a knight.
"Wh... what are you?" he wheezed.
I used my *Humanoid Morph* to reach down. I didn't use my tongue. I used my iron-clad fingers to gently lift the golden shield from his broken arm.
I held the shield up, looking at my reflection in its polished surface. I didn't look like a monster anymore. I looked like a piece of the dungeon itself.
"I'm the upgrade," I vibrated.
I opened my doors one last time.
*SNAP.*
[Hunger: 100/100 (SATIATED)]
[Status: Second Floor Cleared.]
I turned toward the massive gears of the exit gate. Beyond it lay the Third Floor—The Sunken Archive. I had heard there were Wizards there. People who spent their lives studying the very System that created me.
I couldn't wait to see what they tasted like.
[Evolution Milestone 25: Approaching...]
[Current Path: The Sentient Fortress / The Eldritch Armory]
I stepped through the gate, my heavy iron boots clanking against the stone, leaving behind a room full of ghosts and empty armor. The dungeon was getting harder, but I was growing faster.
And I still had plenty of room in my stomach for the rest of the world.