I closely watched the man's every move. I was prepared to put up a mud wall in case he tried to attack me all of a sudden.
But he only pulled out what seems to be some sort of card from his pocket.
"My name is William Hall."
He flung the card at me which I adeptly caught.
"I'm an adventurer based in Lam City nearby. My party and I got a request to clear out any high leveled monsters or dangerous elements in the area. The Adventurer's Guild is planning a training session for newbie adventurers in this dungeon."
'Ooooh. So Adventurers exist here. Since dungeons exist I had expected as much. It seems like this guy is not that bad. But just to be safe…'
I took the card and looked at it. I couldn't understand a single thing on it. I tried using mana and Analysis on it but nothing happened. It seems that I am able to communicate with the locals with mana but not read or write.
'Ugh learning a new language is a pain.'
After I looked at the card, I widened my eyes feigned being shocked. I wanted to see if I could get a reaction from William if I did so. I looked back at him to see that he was smiling and he puffed out his chest as if to boast about something. Looks like he bought my acting.
"Wow. I didn't think that someone of your caliber would appear." I said vaguely.
"Heh heh. It's not a big deal. I was once a newbie adventurer myself. I owe it to my seniors for helping me back then and getting to how strong I am now. It's only right that I follow in their footsteps." William said while rubbing his nose.
'It seems like he isn't lying. Is he really a good guy? I'm not gonna let my guard down. It seems that his sensitivity to mana isn't that high so...'
I threw the card back at him while I lowered my knife and acted like I stopped being cautious.
"My name is Krim Son. I'm also the scout for my party. We currently have an injured member and no healer. Our supplies ran out while fighting so I was sent to find some help. You wouldn't happen to have any potions on you, on you?"
I continued to lie and used some gaming knowledge to see if the terms would translate.
"Oh. Well I do have a medium recovery potion on me but it's quite expensive for newbies… You know what just take it."
William took out a small bottle filled with red liquid from a pack on his belt.
"I'm not the type of girl who likes to take advantage of someone else's charity. Maybe I could trade for it with something in here."
I took my mud backpack off and opened it towards William to show him the contents. His eyes gleamed for a bit and I saw a flow of mana enter them. It seemed like he used some sort of skill.
"So many magic crystals. There's even some uncommon grade ones. Just two of those or 20 common ones should be enough to cover the potion."
'So these crystals are called magic crystals and there's even a grading for them. 10 common magic crystals are equivalent to 1 uncommon magic crystal.'
"It's a trade then."
I took out 20 common magic crystals and put them inside a small pouch which was made of my mud. I tossed it towards his feet. He looked at it and then looked back at me with a slightly disappointed look.
"Still don't trust me?"
"It doesn't hurt to be too careful. I've had my fair share of being betrayed and ambushed."
I was referring to Fran of course.
"Fair enough. I'll toss this over to you then. Just make sure to catch it. It's the only one I have."
After he said so, he threw the bottle towards me. I reached out to catch it. But just as I was about to do so, William quickly threw something at me. I was able to notice it with Sensing but I wasn't fast enough to dodge. So I leaned forward a bit and let it hit my left arm.
"Urg!"
The force of the hit pushed my back a little but I managed to catch the potion. Taking a look at my arm, I saw a small throwing knife stuck inside. There was a dark purplish layer of mana that coated the blade. Blood spilled out where it hit and my arm started to feel numb.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
I screamed at William who now had a smirk on his face.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to kill you. I got orders to kill you and your little friends. That knife in your arm has my Poison Enchantment skill on it. Only I can create the antidote so unless you know someone who knows Dispel or Cure, you will die within 30 minutes. So I got a proposal for you. I was first surprised when I saw you. You are my type after all and I thought it would be a waste to just kill you. If you lead me to where your other friends are, I'll give you the antidote. I'll even let you live. Oh but you'll have to be my slave."
William said all this with a lustful look on his face.
'Why do all bad guys like to talk on and on the moment they have the upper hand? Oh well. It works in my favor.'
"Why would you want to kill us? We've done nothing to you!"
"Haha. How am I supposed to know how my superiors think? All they told me was to head over here and kill seven kids who are out of place. And based on what you're wearing, you fit the bill. No armor in a dungeon? Come on. Though I will admit, I almost believed your acting earlier. So what will your answer to my proposal be?"
'Of course my clothes gave me away. I haven't seen the fashion of this world yet. But seven of us huh. That probably means that only seven of my classmates, including me, were summoned to this cave.'
"I…Alright… I'll take you to them. But first-"
"Nope. I'm not going to give you the antidote just yet. I'm not stupid. Take me to where they are first, then I'll give it to you."
"*Sigh* That's not what I was going to say. What I wanted to say was… Detonate."
"What? What are y-"
*BOOM!*
I stopped using mana to speak just before I finished talking. As I suspected, William didn't understand what I said. While he was confused, I blew up the mud pouch which dissolved all the crystals inside in order to increase the power of the detonation.
I sensed William on the ground with both his legs heavily injured. I started to control the mud that I had secretly scattered all around us while we were talking. Turning them to blades, I sliced off all four of Williams limbs that weren't protected with armor. I then encased the wounds in mud to prevent blood loss. I needed him for questioning. Lastly, I blindfolded him with mud.
"Oh yeah let me return this to you."
William started to do something with mana. With Sensing, I saw that he was gathering his mana around his lower abdomen so I took out the knife that was stuck in my arm. I threw it to that spot. It stuck into his armor but didn't pierce through. I frowned seeing this. I had Body Enhancement and Mind Enhancement activated even before I came out from hiding. But despite my buffed STR, my knife-throw still failed to go all the way.
I turned the nearby mud into a hammer and whacked the handle of the knife with it. It went through and stabbed him. The mana that was gathering stopped flowing right afterwards. With this, I had completely incapacitated William Hall. It took a while to explain but all this happened in around 10 seconds after the detonation.
"Well, well, well. Oh how the tables have turned. You know, I really wanted to believe that you were a good guy with a few secrets but..."
Name: William Hall
Race: Human
Job: Assassin
I had discreetly used Analysis on him right after I saw him face-to-face. His job or class was Assassin and not Elite Scout like he said. This made me suspicious of him from the start.
"ARRGGGHHH!" William screamed and struggled as I locked down his body and encased him entirely in mud from the neck down.
"Calm down now. Don't worry. I'll humor you. Ask me anything and I will answer to the best of my ability."
Unlike a certain stupid idiot who was now a quadriplegic, I made sure that the enemy couldn't resist before speaking to them.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"Ah. You're so loud. Tone it down please. I'm just a normal high school girl with some special circumstances."
"..."
"Why'd you go all quiet? Oh no! You didn't die of blood loss did you? I was sure I stopped the bleeding…"
"WHO THE HELL WOULD BELIEVE WHAT YOU JUST SAID?!"
CHAPTER END.
Name: Ruby Sen
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
HP: 10 [25%]
MP: 15 [58%] (+5)
STR: 10 (+15)
DEF: 10 (+35)
INT: 17 (+10)
WILL: 15 (+10)
SPD: 8 (+5)
<
Assimilate
Mana Manipulation
Physical Resistance
Weaponized Limbs
Foresight
Shapeshift
<
Dissolve
Body Enhancement (Active)
Mind Enhancement (Active)
Mana Release
Sensing
Analysis
Camouflage
Sculpting
Detonate
Spawn
<
Tongue Enhancement