Chapter 22 - Trouble

"Hey Ruby. Where'd you get that sword? I didn't hear about it in your story. It looks really cool."

David asked me about Blood Bane while I was creating a prosthetic mud leg for Jeff.

"Oh I completely forgot! Let me introduce you all to someone real quick."

I controlled my mud to bring William here. When he passed through the entrance everyone was shocked. Jeff immediately got in front of Danae while. David put his sword up and Fran backed up to a corner.

"Chill guys. This is William Hall. I ran into him while I was searching for something to help Jeff. I took this sword and the potion from him."

"Jesus, what the hell did you do to him?!" Jeff asked me while the others looked like they wanted to do the same. It's understandable considering that I just showed them a human caterpillar covered in bloody mud.

"I only wanted to trade with him for the potion but he suddenly attacked and tried to kill me. So I cut off his limbs, stabbed him in the gut, blindfolded and gagged him… Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Everyone had backed away from me and had a worried look on their face.

"Ruby. Did I mention how sorry I was about pushing you and leaving you behind back then?"

"Yes, you did Fran. And I said to just drop it didn't I?"

Fran shuddered after hearing what I said. I then proceeded to tell everyone about my encounter with William and the information I got from him.

"If there are only seven that were brought here, then that means we are all here." David said while pushing up his glasses. Me, Danae, Fran, Jeff, David, Renz, and Jaimar. Out of the seven only five of us are left.

"Does that mean that there might be others like him, coming to kill us?" Danae asked me before we could start feeling sad that two of our classmates are dead.

"Let's try asking him." I ungagged William and started to speak to him with mana in my voice. I told everyone about how it works as a form of universal translator and they decided to try to get mana as soon as possible.

"So William. It's about time you answered my question."

"… Why don't you just kill me already? I'd rather die than feed you information." He said feigning bravery. Looks like he has accepted his fate and no longer wishes to provide us information. Can't have that now, can we?

"AAAAHHHH!"

William screamed as I activated Dissolve and used it on his stumps.

"Since you wanted to die, I'll happily grant your wish. Nice and slowly. Feel free to tell me if you change your mind."

William continued screaming while I tortu- tried to convince him to change his mind. But he didn't even though it's already been a few minutes since I started. All the screaming made my classmates unsettled.

"Ruby, maybe you should just… take him out quickly? All the screaming and the dark atmosphere is starting to scare me…" Danae spoke to me, so I stopped.

"No, Danae. What Ruby is doing right now is correct. What we need the most right now is information and he's our only source as of this moment. Although maybe she could be a bit gentler…" David tried to stand up for me. As a novel reader like me, he understands the importance of information in our current situation.

"Hey Mr. Hall. Look what you did." I pulled the knife out from William's gut. "You're starting to scare my friends. Now trust me when I say I know exactly what you are feeling right now. But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna let up. This is your last chance."

William was breathing haggardly and was covered in sweat.

"K… Kill me…" were the only words that he could let out. I sighed outwardly.

"What did he say?" Jeff asked me while he was practicing walking with his new prosthetic leg that I made for him.

"He said he'd rather die." After I said this I completely covered up William with my mud and started to use Dissolve and Assimilate on him.

Fran saw this and started to frown as if the sight made her remember what happened to Renz.

[Skill Appraisal acquired through Assimilation.]

[Skills Analysis + Appraisal combined into Appraisal Analysis.]

I know that William had multiple skills but it seems that Assimilation only gets one skill from each target. Shame. I tried out my new skill and it showed me a few changes.

Name: Ruby Sen Lv. 13

Age: 17

Race: Half-Human?

Class: Half-Magical Creature

Job: - Lv. 13 <+1>

HP: 10 [25%]

MP: 15 [95%]

STR: 10 (+5)

DEF: 10 (+25)

INT: 17

WILL: 15

SPD: 10 <+2>

<>

Appraisal Analysis

-Rest Omitted-

The first thing I noticed was that I had a level now. It didn't match the levels of my stats so maybe it's my overall strength level. It matched my job level but…

'How come my job is empty?!'

Unlike my classmates who have the Commoner job, mine is just blank with a level. I also now have a class like all the monsters I've seen. Does that mean I'm a monster? My race is Half-Human and my class is Half-Magical Creature. Put them together and you get a whole Ruby.

*Sigh* I definitely can't let my classmates see my status. Thankfully, they don't seem to have the Appraisal skill and I'm of a completely different system than them. My Appraisal Analysis skill lets me display my own preferences and I have my Shapeshift skill to help fool them. Hopefully it's enough.

As I was thinking this, all my classmates looked at me as if I had just murdered someone… Oh wait I just did.

"Don't look at me like that. We are in a completely different world. For all we know, murder is legal here. And let me remind you that he was sent here to kill us. Don't be naïve little kids. Grow up, because right now, it's survival of the fittest."

I'm not good at making speeches. I was never a literary type of girl. I only liked to read stuff, not write them. Danae probably would have done a better job than me.

"She's right guys. We have to prepare ourselves and be ready for anything. I always hated reading novels with protagonists who didn't finish the job because of their morals or whatever reason. It only bit them back harder later in the story." David said.

I feel like I could get along great with David. I wonder why I haven't noticed him before… Huh? I just lost connection with some of my mud I left behind where I captured William. I can't share my senses with my mud but I have a connection with them that lets me know of their location as long as they aren't too far away from me. And one of these offshoots of mine just disappeared.

"Um guys. We have a problem." I got everyone's attention while they were debating about morals or something.

"Are you talking about the boss respawning in a few minutes?"

"No. Although I am interested in having a rematch with the Cockroach Queen, I'm talking about something else. I think William's buddies have entered the dungeon and are heading our way."

My classmates were shocked after hearing what I said.

"How can you tell?" Danae asked me.

I used Spawn to create some mud and I then used Shapeshift to make it look like a small cockroach like back on our world. I found it easier to make my mud look like thing's I have Assimilated with.

"I left some of these guys that I can create with my magic around the dungeon. Some of them have just been destroyed. I figured that it might be those guys that William was so reluctant to tell me about."

"W- What do we do?" Fran asked. I was about to say something but suddenly, all my classmates looked around as if someone just called out to them.

I bet they just received some sort of announcement.

"Shit. To think the dungeon boss would respawn at this time." David said with a bitter look on his face.

"Ruby. Can you kill the boss again? We have to get out of here before those guys arrive." Jeff asked me while he started to head towards the entrance.

Hmm. So the Cockroach Queen is back. But she should still be in her egg like what Danae said in her story. I started to analyze the situation and form a plan. Right now, I'm basically the only fighting force we have.

"Ruby, please hurry! There's no time to waste!" Fran said to me. It kinda annoyed me how they were bossing me around, especially Fran. Here I am, trying to think of a solution, while they are pushing all the work on me to help us escape. Is this really the best way to go about this?

"Guys, calm down. Panicking won't solve anything. Think about it. If those guys out there are coming to kill us, then they surely have some people guarding the entrance. Even if we were to kill the boss, avoid the bad guys, and miraculously find the exit, what happens next?"

At my words, everyone got more worried. Looks like they aren't in the right state of mind.

"We can't just sit around and do nothing while waiting for our death!" Jeff started yelling.

"Then start thinking of a solution, idiot! If their goal is to kill us, then they won't leave until they do! You all saw how stubborn William was."

Although I have already come up with a plan, I want to see how these guys will handle this.

CHAPTER END.

Name: Ruby Sen Lv. 13

Age: 17

Race: Half-Human?

Class: Half-Magical Creature

Job: - Lv. 13 <+1>

HP: 10 [25%]

MP: 15 [95%]

STR: 10 (+5)

DEF: 10 (+25)

INT: 17

WILL: 15

SPD: 10 <+2>

<>

Assimilate

Mana Manipulation

Physical Resistance

Weaponized Limbs

Foresight

Shapeshift

<>

Dissolve

Body Enhancement

Mind Enhancement

Mana Release

Sensing

Camouflage

Sculpting

Detonate

Spawn

Appraisal Analysis

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Tongue Enhancement