The other imps didn't care for me getting close to the barrier and just ignored me. The students behind the barrier weren't the same, however. Looking at myself, I noticed I was still wearing my school uniform. Well, that must have been a fun surprise for them, especially when they saw I was a monster.

The realization hit them like a truck and it was so fun to see their hopeful faces turn into ones full of horror. I couldn't help but burst out laughing, not caring about the imps next to me, or how that would make me look.

"Ah, that was fun. Anyway, how are you guys doing?" Was I a villain? Why did I speak like that...

"I happened to be passing by, saw the school, and decided to come in and pay it a visit. I was with Konstantine originally, but that guy couldn't make it inside." I spoke before they started yelling, only for one girl to shout immediately after, "How's my brother, is he alive?" she asked.

Looking at the speaker, I didn't seem to recognize her, but she definitely was popular in school with how beatiful she was, "Yeah, he's alive. Might have broken a bone or two, but he should be alive."

The girl visibly relaxed after that, and the other guys found their chance to ask me questions, none of which I was going to answer.

Cutting them off I spoke, "Before you all get too excited, no I can't order the monsters around, no I can't teleport you out of here, yes I would have loved to, yes we'll have to do this the hard way."

Seeing them all go silent, I continued, "Those that want to remain inside the barrier, be my guest. Dunno for how much longer it's going to last, nor am I sure you have enough supplies to last that long." I commented, looking at the exhausted look in their faces.

Well, the brief glimmer of hope they had at the beginning was all gone now, despair replacing it again.

"What happened to my brother?" The girl asked, seeing none of the other guys rushing in to speak.

"We were attacked by a few dozen Mage Imps and escaped with various degrees of injuries. I threw him out of the dungeon pretty hard, so there was also that. He wouldn't have survived if I hadn't and it's a miracle I survived myself, if anything." I explained in detail the few minutes we spent together inside the dungeon, minus me getting smashed into pieces and making it back in one piece.

The other guys acted like they hadn't even heard me speaking. Seems like they didn't take the news of my inability to just... save them, that well.

"Well, everyone has to fight for themselves, and I saw Konstantine gaining ten entire levels from killing one stupid imp, so there's that." I said, trying to bring back that glimmer of hope.

I was partially successful and that was due to me not adding any of my thoughts into that piece of information. His level gain was most definitely abnormal, and he should have gotten a bonus for killing the first Rare Monster. Rare Monsters were supposed to be Rare after all, and I doubted other people would be able to find a dungeon full of them in this short of time.

Unless the Rare was just to express the strength of the race, not rarity... which seemed more likely to be the case. Even then, he should have been amongst the first, I think...

Back on topic, the imps didn't seem to like that I was discussing with them. That, or the fact they most likely couldn't understand me. Either way, they needed to die.

"So, we can't be bothering these three idiots behind me for too long, I still want to get them by a surprise attack. That said, it would be great if one of you guys got the kill because I have a small... problem with my status."

They didn't ask, and I wouldn't have answered.

Rare Named Monster - Level 1

The Imps gave me the stink eye but otherwise paid me no heed as I left. When I was fully behind their backs, I raised my sword.

It wasn't that they were completely oblivious to my attack, but that I had targeted the weakest among them in physical stature. Cutting off cleanly the head of the Mage Imp, I suppressed a smile that was threatening to show on my face, but I knew I wasn't doing a very good job at it.

The two Warrior Imps had already reacted and their swords were heading for my head, but I wasn't going to underestimate them this time.

Barely ducking to avoid the blow from the first imp, I let the strike of the second imp strike me as I went for the kill. Not expecting me to just take the hit from his fellow guard, it didn't manage to react to my prepared attack.

I shoved the blade at the imp's throat the same time the other imp's sword sliced towards my torso, splitting my arm in two but not cutting it off.

The pain was muted, and I wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline's effect, or the Pain Resistance finally doing its job. Still, I was thankful for it, not breaking my focus even with such an injury.

Blocking a second strike with my useless hand, I got in close.

The strike cleanly cut off my arm this time, the sword continuing on to cut halfway through my torso. But I didn't receive that injury for nothing. Before the imp actually bisected me, I drove the sword through its throat, pushing it towards the glowing barrier.

The imp slammed into the barrier, feebly trying to lodge the sword out of its throat, but not managing much. Still, it wasn't dead. Tough bastards, really.

I felt like I was on the verge of going back to that state where everything was red and hazy, but I held on.

The others were clearly surprised by the sudden turn of events, not expecting me to act so fast, nor that decisively. Well, it hadn't been long, but I hadn't gotten to where I was by just sitting around.

I was pretty sure I would recover, but the looks they were giving me seemed to suggest they thought the opposite.

The imp was still struggling to get the sword off its throat, but not managing to muster enough strength to do so, slowly dying. That said, I really didn't like how they continued to stare at me and the imp. Like, what were they waiting for? A special invitation?

I coughed once, trying to get some of the blood off my throat, "How... long. How long are you... going... to continue staring." I said with difficulty.

After that it didn't take long for a woman in the back to rush ahead, jumping out of the white barrier, grabbing my sword and driving it up the imp's skull.

Nice kill steal, I thought.

Oh yeah, my notifications,

Essence Taken

Rare+ Monster: Imp, Level 1

Experience: 1310(+20%)(-66.6%)

Total Experience: 437

Essence Taken

Rare+ Monster: Imp, Level 3

Experience: 3220(+30%)(-66.6%)

Total Experience: 1398

I didn't look at my status screen, I knew I didn't have 2220 experience from these kills by simple addition.

On the other hand, the girl that had rushed in to get the free kill was still looking at her notifications, not noticing the strange glares the other students were giving her, but even more so not bothering about them.

Taking a look at her, I found it difficult to pull up as much information as I did before,

Human - Level 25

I missed the time when it wrote Monster's Pray, but that wasn't the issue. I'm not sure what the system for humans is, but level twenty-five should signify a milestone. That said, her status looked completely normal... for a level one human.

That said, I wasn't about to bother asking. If she had to say something, she would; else she would just get up and leave... which might have jinxed it just a little bit because that's exactly what she did.

Taking off in a sprint, she rushed out of the safety of the cavern, into the madness of the cavern outside.

Well, I don't suppose the imps would react kindly to a human just rushing outside to greet them. No, they would swarm this place and we were all going to die. Perhaps I would survive if they thought I was dead and had nothing to do with the humans, but it wasn't a certainty, and there were creatures in this place that were even a match for the crazy me.

Stolen novel; please report.

For all the downsides of Insanity, it certainly was powerful. Pity I couldn't exactly rely on it.

Speaking of which, seconds after Lissandra left the cave, the barrier shattered. More importantly, however, there was a commotion outside, loud enough that it shook the walls and we could more than easily hear it. We weren't escaping this easily, this was a given. As for her, I couldn't say without knowing what she got for killing such a strong imp, but because she had the element of surprise, she might be to make it out.

The students were panicking, and for a good reason too. If just one percent of the imps in the cavern decided to pay us a visit, we were done for, and for some reason, I didn't believe these were all the imps this place had to offer. There was a second and third floor, after all.

Well, there was no better time than now to start eating.

Not caring what the other students thought, I crawled towards the imp next to me, reaching for its flesh. Being partially bisected didn't make this easy, but I've had worse... multiple times.

In this whole madness, few kids noticed me, and even fewer paid any attention to me. Those that did notice chose to gag in silence, or ignore me the best they could manage.

One of those that paid attention to what I was doing and did neither of those was the sister of Konstantine, "Do you need any help?" She asked me, grabbing her trembling hand in an effort to calm herself.

I looked at her for a tense second, gulping down the meat in my throat and licking my the blood off my teeth, "Sure, just bring the meat closer to me." I said, my wounds already healing at a noticeable speed. Was this the benefit of having a higher leveled skill?

I took a look at my broken body; I really wanted to reject it at first, but perhaps I was insane even before the skill. No other reason I agreed to a suicidal plan to try to save the sister of the guy that was bullying me.

Right now as Konstantine's sister was 'helping' me, I was contemplating various different things. The system had granted me the ability to join in with the monsters, and even made me one of them. I had the choice of facing this danger together with them or pretending I didn't know them...

"Hey... I'm sorry about what my brother has done." She said all of a sudden, "If I don't survive today, you're free to beat the shit out of him for being an asshole." She said with tears in her eyes, not minding the slightly gruesome sight in front of her.

Seeing me just stare at her in response, I just gestured at the blood and gore. This wasn't a time a normal person would try to strike up a conversation.

With a nervous laugh, she replied, "Honestly, not the worst thing I've seen today, and I don't want to die without having said that. I can see your injuries healing, so I imagine that is the reason you're doing this."

But perhaps it was seeing her vulnerable, or her choice of final words, but I might have fallen for her a little. Besides, she was pretty, and I was still a guy that had almost zero interactions with girls.

Shaking my head, I nodded and gestured at the students, whom by now had calmed down a little, shaking off the panic and hushed yelling and replacing it with the acceptance of death.

Meanwhile, my arm was mostly done regenerating, even though I hadn't finished eating even one imp, the skill drawing and using the energy more efficiently due to its higher level. And I could actually sort of feel the energy flowing inside my body. Whether it was an effect of Insanity or another skill, I did not know.

"I can't guarantee you will all survive, but I will do my best to help you. As for the reason? Don't know for myself actually, perhaps the annoyance of giving up at the last moment, or that skill called Insanity; but I am not planning on giving up without a fight, so don't you guys dare to." I said, addressing everyone with my last sentence. Honestly, I wanted to speak just to Konstantine's sister but seeing everyone turn to look at me I couldn't continue ignoring them.

Honestly, though, I was halfway about to give up on them, the situation was just that bad.

If rushing out in style and hope they get a random kill and do something doesn't work out, I don't have a lot of options left. Perhaps if Insanity did its work, but it wasn't a skill I could rely on unfortunately, nor was it a safe skill to use, nor did I know exactly how it was activated or to activate it. It said it was a passive skill, but it certainly didn't feel that way and honestly, I swear that if I checked up on the skill now, its description will have changed from the previous one, alongside with my other skills.

No, the only thing I was able to do here, after that bitch had left like that, was damage control and self preservation. It didn't look like the others were convinced just yet, but it wasn't like our odds were zero... just slightly less likely to happen than having a lighting strike eliminate half of the imps for us and incapacitate the other half.

"Our best shot at this would be to gain power as fast as we can," I said, glancing at my regenerated arm for a second, "We are going to fight, and we're going to bet our lives. No, I don't suggest you try and do what Lissandra did after she got the kill, I doubt it would work after they've been alerted once, and we don't even actually know if she managed to escape with her life." I finished speaking and glanced at them.

Their eyes were much better now, hopeful, albeit scared shitless. That was good; if they weren't shaking right now, I would've suspected they had a weird skill like Insanity right about now. If anything, this was one of the best scenarios in this tragedy. They were hopeful, which meant they were willing to try.

Grabbing my sword and holding it tightly, I moved towards the front, "We don't have much time. I'm going to be the vanguard, so you all try your best to incapacitate the first Imp you see and use that other sword there," I pointed with my sword to where Lissandra had thrown the other sword after killing the Imp. It was a bit heavy for them to use comfortably, but hopefully one of them would have the required strength to weild this without falling on their ass.

A senior upper-classman took the sword at my guestur, and I continued, "you kill the imp, steal its weapon and strengthen ourselves one by one. We don't have enough time to organize this, so just do your best to not die and I think we're going to be just fine."

My words didn't inspire confidence, that was for sure, but I wasn't lying to them either, this was the best chance we had at success, however small it was.

The cave was far smaller than the large Cavern outside, with the exception of the room behind where the barrier stood. There was enough room only for four Warrior Imps to move comfortably, which was both a blessing and a curse. It meant that they couldn't use their numerical advantage to surround us and kill us all in one go, but it also meant that we wouldn't be able to touch their Mages.

Honestly, this was all just a gamble. If they decided to send an army towards us from the get-go, we were screwed no matter how I spun it.

Mere moments after I finished speaking, a group of three Warrior Imps with a single Mage behind them made itself visible. It was then I realized... I couldn't find any differences between their genders. Did they even have genders?

Those were the last stray thoughts I had, as I sharpened my mind and focused on the upcoming fight. The Mage Imp had to go as fast as humanly possible- or in this case, undead.

I separated myself from the students, acting as if I wasn't a part of them- which I wasn't exactly a lie, and moving as if receiving help from them. The sorry state of my clothes and the blood on it helped me look as if I was fighting them only moments ago, despite my aparent lack of injuries.

I got a curious look from them, but I didn't hear any grunts - or whatever they did to communicate, so I counted this as a success. It was at this moment, seeing the students panick all of a sudden, that I realized I hadn't explained my plan to them.

Oh well, it only made it more believable. Besides, they seemed to get ready a lot faster like this, so it wasn't too bad. I also noticed that not all of them seemed surprised, or feel betrayed by what I did; whether that was from believing in me all along, or the opposite.

I walked from the back of the group of Imps, alongside the mage, letting them get closer as I prepped myself for what was about to come.

I saw the Imps getting ready to charge and the Mage starting to perform the usual flick of his hand it needed to to cast a fireball. Not giving them the chance to act first, I gripped my sword tightly and in a swift movement decapitated the mage.

All of the Imps had an amazing reaction time to be honest, and I wasn't aware of how annoying it was till I started backstabbing these sons of bitches.

I only managed to cut deeply, but not entirely, the leg of one of the Warriors, before running for my life towards the other students. That seemed to wake up both parties and soon a chaotic battle begun. Thankfully, the Imp that I had injured wasn't able to join the fight, struggling to get up on its feet after my attempt to lower its body weight by using a sword had failed. Perhaps it hadn't failed too badly, after all.

With how fast I'd killed the other Imp warriors, I'd forgotten just how strong they were. Within only a few short seconds, I was afraid I was going to die... again, before the student that had picked up the sword previously, rushed in and stabbed the fallen imp through the throat, earning a quick kill.

This whole event was incredibly lucky, seeing where he striked, how the fallen imp had missed its attack, and how even though he striked the Imp through what was probably the weakest part of an Imp, he still had trouble pushing the sword in past the skin. Or was it the bone that gave him trouble?

Still, the Imps weren't expecting that- not that I did either, but I was able to capitalize on their inattention.

Trading my left arm... again, I sliced at the imp's throat, not being able to kill it as the hit was shallower than I wanted, but it would die soon enough on its own from lack of oxygen and blood.

Of course, the remaining imp wasn't standing still while this was happening, and I found myself impaled by its sword. I was unable to remove the sword, or kill the imp facing me right now. I felt strength slip away from me, and that made me struggle all the more fiercly.

Fortunately, the absurdly lucky guy with the sword appeared just in time, swinging the sword at the Imp's head. The imp unfortunately noticed in time and blocked the sword with its arm, as its sword was still busy piercing my heart and lungs, resulting in the imp now missing an arm.

But from the experience I had with them, missing an arm or a sword didn't make them unable to fight, and the imp swiftly retaliated with a block to its opponents stomach, followed by another one at his head.

It was then, where the imp was definitely at its weakest that I couldn't bear it any longer, "The fuck are you guys doing? That little shit has one arm, which is busy beating that guy up and no sword."

Didn't take long for them to wake up after that. Then they started getting all beat up from the imp, but at least they wouldn't let it run away. It wasn't until when Konstantine's sister picked up the fallen imp's sword and joined the fight that things settled down.

She got the kill in the end, the rest of the guys grudgingly left her alone after the kill went to her, after all, there was one more imp half dead just next to them.

Not wanting to see a stupid scene of them fighting for the kill, I dislodged the sword from my chest and walked up, "If you haven't decided who to give the kill now, or who takes what, this is going to be random. Since we don't have the time to be playing games, knock yourselves out hitting his wounded throat till one of you gets the kill."

I knew that they would still take a while to kill it, even though it was at the edge of death, vitality and strength made for a fearsome constitution. I had a theory that those two statistics together had the effect of toughness, or endurance, which could only make me wonder what else were we missing that was just in front of us.

Still, we couldn't spend too much time with things like this. If they noticed the imps not returning, they might really send the entire army for us... or do absolutely nothing, I figured after an entire five minutes had passed and a random kid got the kill and no more imps were sent inside.

Still, we couldn't hole up in here till the rest of our lives... could we? I mean, we are trapped inside in a sense, but if they come for us they won't be able to use their numbers to their advantage.

Yeah, everything was going to be fine.

I didn't start relaxing, but it was a small victory I had no intention of not enjoying.

Then the kids started coughing.

I noticed the smoke only after that, and it didn't take a genius to see what they were doing, they are smoking us out.

Everyone started panicing and for a good reason too. We weren't prepared to face them. Everyone knew that, but we had no other choice but to leave this place.

Although I was unaffected by the smoke mostly, I still wanted to help them. Perhaps all those hits in the head made me stupid, because helping them out was definitely the wrong thing to do... but alas, everyone wants to try being a hero once in a while and I'm not one to give up halfway.

The smoke was filling the room quickly, and so we had no other choice but to obediently fall into their trap.