Chapter 12: Slime

A week has passed since registering at the guild. Ruby and the others have moved up to Rank One Copper Tier. Which means they can now go do monster hunting jobs for the Guild. Monster Hunting paid more, even if it's weaker monsters.

Judieth only had so much spare money to spend without a job for four people. Not to mention how expensive cosmetic potions are. Having to buy two or three potions a week for both Ruby and Yuki isn't doing any favors for their finances.

Ruby had also expressed a desire to go back to her old town, hoping to find clues about the woman who took care of her before. "I need to know if she's okay or not," she explained when asked why.

To get there, they decided they would take a transport guarding job for a merchant. But to do that, they would need to complete more jobs and raise their ranks a little more to prove they were trustworthy.

Which brings us to the present. Currently, Ruby and her companions were in the forest doing a Monster Hunting job. There weren't that many dangerous monsters within this part of the forest. As they continued along, they searched for their target monster, an Elemental Bear, an Earth-Bear to be precise. The same Monster that attacked them when they appeared on the surface.

"Nooo! Please just leave me alone! I didn't do anything."

"Shut up already. You're making this so much more difficult than it needs to be."

Voices could be heard a few yards away from where Ruby stood. 'What was that?' Ruby thought, looking at the rest of her party in confusion, seeing if they heard what she did.

"Should we check it out?" Yuki asked.

"I don't see why not, I'm curious to see what's happening." Morella said.

"... We need to be careful, though. We currently don't have our disguises." Ruby said, looking at the Pink Demon and Blue Nymph. The reason they had their original appearances was because they wanted to look like themselves for a little bit. Ruby wasn't expecting to run into anyone within this vast forest, but if she did, she would just silence them. That was her thought process anyway.

'Though I kinda want to see what's going on as well.'

"We can just stay hidden in the brush." Judieth suggested. "Plus, they sound like they're in trouble. I kinda want to help if I can."

"... I don't know about helping, but let's go and check it out anyway."

With that, Ruby and her party made their way towards the voices. When they got there, they kept themselves hidden and observed the situation. What they saw caught them off guard.

Four Hunters, two male and two female, surrounded what looked like gelatin in the form of a person. There weren't any details on it, and it was purple in color. what they were seeing was a slime morphed to look like a bipedal creature.

Well, almost. the bottom half of the slime was just a blob. and the top half looked like it wasn't going to stay in that shape for long.

"Jeez, you are one annoying catch. But you finally seem to be out of energy." Said the male hunter with a sword on their waist.

"Just let me go. Please." The slime said with weird, but distinctly not human voice.

"Why would we do that? An intelligent slime will sell for so much. Plus, we ran around for way too long, just trying to capture you. No way are we letting you go now." The woman Hunter with the knives said.

"... Intelligent slime?" Ruby whispered to herself.

"They are rare species of slime found within the Enchanted Forest. Weird that one would be here, though. Not even normal slimes can be found around here." Judieth said, hearing Ruby.

"That's so cool~." Yuki said, leaning forward to see the slime better. "Who-"

*Crack*

"Who's there!"

Losing her balance, Yuki stepped on a stick and broke it when she stopped herself from falling. Causing all the Hunters to go on high alert.

No one moved.

"Greg, shoot a spell over there, real quick." The Sword wielding Hunter said.

The guy with the robes and magic staff named Greg started chanting. Realizing staying silent will just get them hurt, Ruby and the others revealed themselves.

"Oh, just another Hunter Party." said the swordsman. "What were you doing there?"

Even though they revealed themselves, they kept themselves partially hidden and, in the shadows, to block as much of their characteristics as they could.

"... We heard voices, and we just came to check it out. After all, one did sound distressed." Ruby said. "We didn't expect to find a group with an intelligent slime."

While she spoke, she noticed that the slime was looking in her direction. Well, that's the feeling she got considering the head on the body didn't have a face.

"Oh, yeah. Pretty cool, right? Well, I guess you wouldn't be able to capture it anyway. Unless you were ready ahead of time, I doubt you have the tool needed to capture this thing alive. You can have a closer look if you want."

"Uhh, we're good here, thanks." Yuki said in response.

"We'll just take our leave. Good day." Morella said.

With that, Ruby's Party turned to leave. No reason to stick around anyway. The Hunters didn't get a good look at them, plus they got to see an intelligent slime, that was cool. All they needed to do was finish up their job and head ba-

"Wait!" The slime called out. "Don't leave me!"

Everyone turned around to look at the slime in both shock and confusion. The slime having everyone in the area suddenly look at it was intimidated and went silent again. But Ruby felt like it was looking at her again.

"Hey, why'd you call out to them like that?"

"Probably just desperate Joe." Greg said to the swordsman.

"Hm, probably."

Ruby, on the other hand, wanted to know why the slime called out to her. But since that would expose everyone, she was a little lost on what to do. 'Maybe I should just leave. It's a little disappointing I won't get any answers, but, oh well.'

"Please, if you help me, I can be useful!" The slime once again called out.

"What are you on about?" Joe asked before turning towards Ruby. "Got any idea why they would call out to you guys for help?"

Ruby ignored the man and addressed the slime by asking it, "... What do you mean by useful?"

"... Uh, well, as an s-slime, I have dimensional magic."

"... Oh? Is that true?" Ruby asked Judieth.

"It can be." She answered, "Plenty of slimes have the ability to store food in a Pocket Dimension to save for later."

"Hm..." Putting her hand underneath her chin, Ruby considered the information she was given. Honestly, having a way to store extra items somewhere hidden could be extremely useful. Plus, it also meant less luggage to carry when traveling.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing there?" Joe asked Ruby cautiously.

"Ella." Ruby whispered.

"On it." Morella whispered back in response.

"... You can store things in a Pocket Dimension, correct?" Ruby asked the slime, once again ignoring the Hunter. "What's your carrying capacity?" Depending on how much this monster can carry will determine whether or not she would save it.

"You're not actually thinking of helping this thing, are you?" Joe asked, pulling sword. "I don't want to fight ya'll, but I will."

Ruby paid no mind to the Hunters growing wariness but instead kept her focus on the slime.

"Um, I can't give you a definitive answer..."

"Then how many bears can you hold?"

"Oh, uh, about ten, maybe a little more."

"Listen Miss. If you continue to ignore me, I will get violent." Getting annoyed that Ruby keeps annoying him, Joe threatened her while pointing his sword in her direction.

Ruby finally looked in his direction. Not wanting her conversation to be cut short she figured she might as well acknowledge his existence again. Even if it's for a brief moment. With a heavy sigh she addressed the Hunter, "... I only have one more question for it, will you let me ask it? I'm sure you'll also want to know the answer as well."

"Just one question? Go ahead but try anything else and you'll regret it."

"... Okay." With that Ruby turned back to the slime. "Now answer me this. Why did you call out to me for help? You do realize I'm a Hunter just like these people, right?"

With that, everyone turned to look at the Slime in question. The Hunter party and Ruby's party all wanted to know why a Monster called for other Hunters to help.

"...uh, well." Hesitating the slime didn't know how to answer, but when it noticed Ruby urging it to answer with their gaze they continued, "Well, I can sense what you are... and that you aren't what you appear to be."

"What does that mean? Greg, you got any ideas?" Joe said looking at his friend.

"Not really. But they might have a clue." Greg answered looking towards the group of four women still keeping themselves partially hidden.

While the Hunter party puzzled over the slime's words, Ruby and the others were a little shocked, to say the least. After all the monster could only mean one thing when it said it could sense what Ruby was. That meant any intelligent monster at the very least could sense what Ruby was.

"What do you guys think? Should we help or not?" Ruby said quietly discussing the matter with her sisters and Judieth. She already had her mind made up, but she wasn't going to take action without checking with the others.

"Let's do it! It should be fun~." Yuki said in a slightly louder whisper.

"I don't mind helping." Morella said.

"Do what you want. I'll help a little, but personally I won't kill them. If you kill them fine, but I don't kill in cold blood." Judieth said making it clear that she would only go so far if the group decided to go the bloody route. She didn't know what they would do in this situation, but she knew none of them held any love for Mankind.

"Alright then." Ruby said stepping out of the brush and shadow. "We'll help you."

Ruby and the others had hoods covering them to help hide more details of their appearance. When Ruby stepped into the light she pulled the hood down, revealing her beautiful Silver hair and her Crimson eyes. The others followed suit revealing their demon heritage and their Blue coloring.

"Demon!?" One of the Hunter women yelled in surprise when they saw Yuki, before charging at them, knives in hand.

"Kip wait!"

"Ella." Ruby called out to her.

"Already doing it." Morella responded.

Water tendrils darted forward intercepting the Hunter female named Kip. Not expecting the sudden attack, the Hunter quickly dodges out of the way. She then retreated back towards her companions.

"Careful. Not only is there a Demon there, but that girl is probably the same one the Church keeps talking about," Joe said calmly, addressing his party. "I don't know what that blue one is or why a human is with them, but we also don't know how strong they are. let's try and retreat and inform the Guild. Tay, grab the slime while you still can."

"Wait! No!" The slime cried out.

"Sorry, not going to happen." Another water tendril came from below the Hunter woman with the bow, wrapping around their leg before throwing them at the Mage knocking them both down.

"Ack!"

"Umph"

Ruby charged towards Joe, channeling Chi through her legs to move faster. When she got within range she threw a punch in his direction, aiming for his face. With quick reflexes, Joe blocked the incoming attack with his sword, sliding back a bit from the impact.

The loud clang from the encounter did surprise the Hunter before he realized Ruby was wearing metal gauntlets with claws on the fingers. making distance between himself and Ruby, Joe observed the person in front of him. Noting that the only other weird thing about her, other than the Silver hair and red eyes, was her lack of footwear. Her long Jacket and pants looked sturdy but weren't exactly Armor. Other than the gauntlets Ruby didn't seem to be wearing any real protection at all.

Ruby once again rushed towards the Hunter, who got into a defensive position. This time, she channeled Chi through her hands, infusing it with the Wind Element. This time, she aimed for the Hunters sword that swung in her direction, and before it made contact with her fist, the sword was knocked off course. The sword was nearly slung out of his hand, making Joe lose his balance. Taking advantage of the opening, Ruby went to stab him in the gut.

"Wha-!?" Before she could hit him, a knife suddenly appeared, making her dodge out of the way and missing her target.

"Sorry! I didn't expect her to attack you!" Yuki said while still fighting Kip, the knife wielding Hunter. "I'm finishing her off now."

Nodding in Yuki's direction, Ruby got back to her own fight. Just in time to barely side stepping a sword thrust. The attack grazed her but did no visible damage. As far as Joe could understand, she wasn't injured. That didn't stop him from following up that attack with another, fully making contact.

"UHG!" Making distance as fast as she could, holding her side in pain. Even though no blood was drawn, the impact of the attack still hurt.

"So, your clothes are enchanted after all." Joe remarked. "Then I just need to hit harder!"

Ruby realized that the Hunter in front of her started channeling Chi into his arms and then into his sword, though the latter part was a little slower. Not waiting for her enemy to power up, she went on the attack again. This time, she circulated Chi through her whole body and imbued it with the Wind Element, increasing her speed significantly.

She continuously attacked him from all sides. To make things harder, she started moving on all fours, her movements animal like. While the hunter put up a decent defense and even nicked her a few times. the sudden increase in speed was too much for him. Eventually, Ruby managed to knock him off balance before stabbing her hand through the abdomen.

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Yuki faced off against the knife wielding Hunter. The Demon was more of a mage than a real close combat fighter. She was still capable of fighting at close range when needed, so she wasn't at a real disadvantage. Plus, after that knife throw Kip did, made this fight personal.

"I'll kill you here and now, Demon. You and your allies won't leave this clearing alive." Kip said. "Your evil deeds will end today."

Kip then charged towards the Demon, knives in both hands. She tossed one at Yuki, making the demon knock it out of the air with her bow staff. At the tip of the staff, a black gem could be seen, and while she and the Hunter collided the gem on Yuki's staff, it started to glow brighter.

Recognizing this from the other few times, they did this Kip jump back before two shadow tentacles appeared in the spot, she was standing just a moment ago. Standing a distance away once again, Kip couldn't help but give her a mocking smile.

"You've done this a few times now. Do you not have any new tricks?"

Yuki, on the other hand, didn't respond. She was whispering under her breath, taking care that her opponent didn't notice or hear her chanting a spell. She held one hand behind her back and the hand holding the staff forward.

"What?" Kip looked confused. She would be worried that the Demon was going to activate another shadow spell with her staff, but the tip of it wasn't glowing.

"Capture."

"Wait, what?!" The Hunter's feet were starting to sink into shadows. It wasn't hurting her, but she couldn't move anymore.

The tip of the staff did glow and a spell activated, much faster than what should be possible from Hunter's point of view. Which is why she was caught in the first place. Yuki, on the other hand, was glad that her plan worked. She didn't really have the ability to fight against her opponent for too long, but the staff made it so she didn't need to chant when activating spells, which she made sure to make abundantly clear.

Having the woman in front of her start using the staff to pinpoint when Yuki used magic made her drop her guard when the stone on her staff didn't glow. Yuki also knew that Kip couldn't attack for the short amount of time the shadow tentacles were active, and making the pose was just to confuse and put her on guard, buying a little more time. She then used that time to chant and activate the spell.

"There we go." Yuki said cheerily. "Now Dark magic isn't really made for fighting, but it sure does have some interesting effect on people. I hope we get to have some fun~."

__________________________

Morella and Judieth worked together to stop the other two Hunters. It wasn't much of a fight considering both are powerful mages in their own right, and one of them didn't even need to chant. With all the Hunters defeated, Morella and Judith used water and earth magic respectively to keep them in place.

"What are you guys going to do with them?" Judieth asked.

"If we decide to kill them, can I kill the one with the knives?" Yuki asked, tilting her head questioningly.

"I don't really care what we do with them. But we also can't really let them go." Morella said, looking at them with disinterest.

Looking at her right hand covered in blood, Ruby couldn't help but realize she didn't feel any real guilt over what she's done. She and her group were technically the instigators of this confrontation and were in the wrong. She then turned her attention to Joe, who was bleeding out but could still be saved if they were quick about it.

"Will you kill them?" The slime was still here, and they made their way to stand next to Ruby. It seemed it manage to form some legs, even if they were unstable.

"Let's kill them. There's no reason to keep them alive. It's just a liability at this point." She said raising her hand to finish off the man bleeding in front of her.

"Wait!" Joe called out, surprisingly still conscious. "Please wait don't kill."

Ruby paused for a second. She figured she could at least answer the dead man in front of her. "... Can't, you could expose us."

"Wait please don't!" Joe then turned his attention to Judieth. "You're human, like us. I don't know why you are with them, but you not going to let them kill people from your own race are you?"

"I won't interfere with any of their decisions. I won't kill any of you, but I can't help you either... sorry." Judieth said.

"... You done now?" Ruby asked raising her hand again.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwai-" Figuring he had nothing more to say Ruby stabbed him through the heart and the neck.

Morella strangled the two unconscious Hunters, Tay and Greg. Yuki on the other hand pulled out a knife before coating it in corrosive shadow magic, before she stabbed Kip. She watched with a smile and cold eyes as the Hunter screamed as the shadows slowly ate away at her heart before killing her.

"... Let's finish what we came out here to do then head back." Ruby said with a sigh. She then turned her attention to the Purple slime standing next to her. "And you. I'm putting you to work immediately. Try to run out on our deal and I will kill you."

"Understood!" The slime said standing up straight.