"Group hugs are always the best way to refill your spirit." I cheered. Ronald nodded while Rona was poking the spiritless Isaac. The spiritless Isaac kept mumbling. 'Blood... Sticky...Disgusting...' I ignored Isaac and stared at them. "Hmm... There's something wrong... They look tired, their fingers are dirty. I wonder why." 'All of us are here, right? There are 4 of us.' "Ah! There's 4 of us! What happened to Dan?" I looked at the spiritless Isaac and slapped his cheek. "Stop sleeping!"
"OW!!!" Isaac screamed. "What was that for, you coo coo bird?!"
"Where's Dan, midget?"
Isaac clenched his fist. "M-Mi...No, wait. That's not important here." Isaac glared at Ronald and pulled me to a corner.
I stared at Isaac as he pulled me to a corner. "If that slap made you think this is the right mood to confess, then you are sooooo wrong."
He whispered to me. "Shut up and listen. Dan isn't Dan. He is a Devo named Alma, one of Scorpion's underlings. I just found out after he tried to kill me with the sword. If I hadn't dodged, I'll be sliced in half."
"And who gave him the weapon?"
"How am I supposed to know he was going to kill me? Anyways, each of us is paired with a Devo before the start of the maze. So..." We looked at Ronald, who was playing with Rona.
"Ronald can't be a psycho killer. He's so nice to Rona."
"Dan was too. Until he cut himself in half and declared himself a Devo."
"Oui... He cut himself in half?"
"Can you focus for a minute?"
"Alright. Alright. So what do we do about Ronald?"
"We have to confront him but be extremely subtle, or else he might go crazy and harm Rona."
"Alright. You do it."
Isaac nodded and started screaming. "You murderer! Stay away from Rona!"
I was flabbergasted. 'Oui... I forgot this bozo is overprotective of Rona.' "Way to be subtle. Now you are going to get us all killed." Isaac ignored me and glared at Ronald.
Ronald looked at Isaac in confusion. "Murderer?"
Isaac walked up to him. "All of us got partnered up with a murderer. Who says you aren't one, huh?" I tried to pull Isaac back, seeing how he was utterly defeated the last time they met. Isaac pushed my hand away and continued. "Well? What are you going to do now? Kill us?"
I sobbed. 'Why did I let him ask? Since when was I such a fool? Ever since I met Isaac? I want a time machine to rewind time!'
Ronald stared at Isaac silently. Isaac trembled and grabbed my arm. He whispered. "Why didn't you stop me?"
I pinched his hand to let go of my arm, but he wouldn't let go. I whispered back. "I tried, and why did you run your mouth like that?"
Ronald smiled and said. "Oh... Then, luckily, I pulled the boy away from Rona."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Both of us asked.
"Actually, my partner was another girl, but I wanted to talk to Rona... So, I swapped places with the boy who was supposed to partner with Rona." Ronald blushed.
"We can swap?" Isaac stared at him suspiciously.
"I guess so. You won't know until you have tried." Ronald replied.
"He's a genius!" I cheered, and Ronald smiled shyly. However, Isaac wasn't convinced. "How do we know if he's telling the truth?"
I proudly stated. "I know a lie when I see one, so let's continue on."
Isaac stared at me. "That's not reassuring."
I smacked Isaac's back. "Suck it up."
Rona intruded into the conversation. "Ronald can't fight female."
"Why?" I looked at Ronald.
"I just can't. It's rude." Ronald replied.
I scratched my head. "Oui! If she stabs you, you don't stab her back?"
"No." Ronald immediately replied.
I got angry and scolded Ronald. "Oui... What are u? An idiot? Stab her! Stab her back!"
Ronald was startled and stuttered. "B-but..."
Before Ronald could say a word, I shushed him. "Hush! You stab whoever stabbed you. No matter who they are, he, she, or it, and you stab them with interest, got it?! That's why there's a term called gender equality."
Isaac mumbled to himself. "For the first time, she said something sane. Is the story going to end? No, wait... That's not how you use the term, gender equality, right? Or is it? Ah... Being with her for too long messes up my brain beyond recovery."
Ronald was confused. "Interest? Are you a loan shark?"
"No," I grumbled.
"Then how do you know about interest and stuff? With your pea brain, I doubt you would know such a simple word, moreover, apply it." Isaac mocked.
I ignored Isaac's mockery and said. "My teacher taught me that when you sell something to someone, remember to add interest or else you won't profit anything."
"Ok... How does that apply here?" Ronald was still confused.
I crossed my arm. "Revenge with interest, bruh." Ronald looked even more confused than before. Ronald looked at Isaac for help, but Isaac shook his head and whispered. "No one can understand what's going inside a head filled with nothing."
I screamed. "I heard that!" Rona patted my shoulder, and I looked over at Rona. "Don't be mad, Llyne. Rona understands." I looked at Isaac, and he said. "Let's stop wasting time here and move on."
I smirked. "He just can't insult Rona." Rona looked at me and said. "Hmm? What did you say? Rona couldn't hear." I patted Rona's head. "Oh, it's nothing important."
I reached my back and gave them a weapon each. Isaac took the gun and asked. "I've been meaning to ask, where you get these weapons? From chests? But I don't remember seeing chests in the 4th level."
I equipped the twin sword. "Nah. I took the monsters' weapons after slaying them. It reminded me of those RPGs where I keep getting items after grinding with monsters."
Isaac, Rona, and Ronald looked at the mountain of weapons on my body and backed away. I looked at them. "What's with that look? Why do you all look like you guys are so afraid of me?" They shook their head and proceeded forward. I glared and followed them from behind.
Soon, we reached the centre of the maze. Isaac, Rona, and Ronald were filled with monsters' blood as well. "How does this jinx attract so many monsters?" Isaac mumbled and sat on the ground to take a quick breather.
"Oh! That was fast. Good boy." I patted Isaac's head, and he smacked my head away. "Don't treat me like a dog."
I rubbed my injured hand. "You're more like a fickle cat than a dog."
Rona pointed at the centre of the maze. "Lookey, a pretty building." We looked at where Rona pointed and saw a weird man holding a huge sword that looks like Dan's, drinking on a small little patio.
Isaac stood up and said. "That's Alma. Be careful. He claims himself as the strongest Devo."
"Pfft... Claims himself? He can be weakest for all we know." I laughed, and tiny slime agreed with me. "Blu!"
"Just be careful. We don't know what he is capable of." We nodded and approached the patio. We stood in front of the patio, and I smelled a nice scent coming from the tea he was drinking. "Earl Grey tea! My favourite." Isaac hit my arm. "Focus, dumbo!"
Alma placed his cup of tea down. "That's right, it's Earl Grey. Would you like some?" Alma poured the tea into another cup. He pushed the cup towards us. "Here. I hope you like it." Rona rushed to the patio. "Rona would like to try." Rona picked up the tea, and we screamed. "Rona, wait!" But she drank it without any fear. Rona took a sip and spat the tea out. "Blergh! I don't like Err Grey." I corrected Rona. "It's Earl. E-A-R-L." Rona nodded and hopped back to us. Ronald held onto Rona so she won't run away like that.
Alma stood up and walked down the patio. The way he smiled with his eyes closed and the way he moved was extremely unpleasant. He stood in front of us and opened his arms wide and said. "I'm happy that we are all together again. I miss you all every second. The thought of being separated from you all tears my heart into a million pieces."
Ronald stood in front of Rona as she hissed at Alma while I shrugged. The person most affected by Alma's word was Isaac. Isaac felt disgusted with the way Alma talked and said. "Hypocrite. We know your real identity, so why don't you just get on with it?"
Alma sighed. "Oh, I'm so disappointed in you, Isaac. How could you leave me to defend against a monster all by myself, hmm?"
"You clearly could handle it all on your own."
"Still, it broke my heart. I thought maybe after I defeated the monster, we could have some quality time together."
"I don't want to waste my time on someone like you."
I began to feel frustrated by their love spat. "Oui... Seriously, a love quarrel? Get your own space."
Ronald looked at me and said. "Love spat? But they're both men."
Alma smiled. "Oh... Not to worry. I can change my form to whatever gender or form you desire. In fact, I have many experiences with different life forms, so you don't need to worry about anything."
Ronald's face turned pale, and Rona said. "You're a slime!"
Tiny slime jumped. "Blu?" I shook my head. "Nope. He's not your mother."
Alma's eye twitched. "Slime?" Suddenly, I felt a dangerous presence coming from Alma. I tried to warn the others. "Watch o-"
Whoosh.