12 Raising an Army of Undead-II

Kai's newly-raised undead were vicious and fought with vigour, unexpected from undead creatures. He could also feel himself weakening as more time passed, so he had to make quick work of them.

"All right, then, attack me!" Kai commanded, causing the high number of undead in the large basement to flock to him with unbelievable hunger for his bones. "Turns out these fuckers do listen to me once in a while."

Kai swiped with his claws and drew an arc in the air that completely destroyed the head of one of the zombies. Albeit the lack of nerve endings and skin, he could still feel everything as he severed the rotten flesh off of his own creations. As undead creatures, the death of a comrade brought them no grief, nor did they even stop to think what had happened. Even though he killed one, there was still 399 left, it seemed.

After destroying around 20-30 of his undead, he started feeling extreme fatigue. It almost seemed as if the more he destroyed, the more his mana was sucked out by the remaining undead.

"Open the damn door!" Kai ran to the metal door. Even if this was the only way for him to survive, he'd rather live his remaining 38 hours than die here, constantly gnawed on by feral undead of his own making until there was nothing left of him. He'd be a laughingstock in his death if nothing else. Not that he'd care about that.

The door wouldn't budge, even with his strength. It was almost as if someone was holding the door on the other side.

"Fight or die, you skeleton bastard!" yelled Gort, assuring Kai that there was no escape.

"I'm losing consciousness!" Kai screamed to the door as he was beaten by his own undead. "I can't even think properly!" Kai truly hadn't the mind to make a proper case for himself in his current circumstances.

They weren't able to damage him much yet, but it was the accumulated damage that could be the end of him. After all, Kai knew after a certain point, the damage he took would reduce his lifespan directly by affecting his time counter.

Kai could hear Alexandra yelling at Gort who, soon after, sounded like she has left to find her father. He didn't know, he wasn't sure. He could only hear the various noises made by the undead. He felt like his vision started getting blurry as the last thing he could see was his undead gathering around his head, doing all they could to finish him off.

Kai felt an indescribable rage boiling inside. How dare they try to kill the one who gave them life? Even if it was his order, he felt angry. After all, he was only trying to survive here. Why was he even cast into this hellish place when he hadn't even bothered people in his past life?

…

"Father, quickly, help!" Alexandra entered the hall. Her father seemed to be reading some documents as he kept drinking. The sharp smell of alcohol wafted through the room. It looked like nothing could stop Lloyd from working.

"What happened?" Lloyd asked in concern. If someone were to trouble his precious daughter to the point of her asking help from him directly, there would be hell to pay.

"Kai raised all the undead, but they are too much for him, he is not even responding anymore!"

Lloyd followed his daughter as she quickly walked him through what had happened in the last half-an-hour. Lloyd contemplated as he hid his grin. If Kai truly had such vast mana reserves, it would indeed be better to save him now. The basement was still inside the mansion, so for Alexandra to bring her father back would only take around 5-6 minutes in total. Surely, that skeleton was tough enough to endure as much.

As they got closer, a peal of sinister laughter was heard in the corridors. Soon reaching the room, Alexandra saw Gort was no longer holding the door. From outside the room, the sounds of flesh being ripped apart and bones being crushed into paste were heard clearly by the two.

"City Lord," Gort bowed to Lloyd as he explained how brilliant of a man he was, that his plan was immaculate.

"Open the door when the sounds cease, or if the skeleton asks for help yet again," Lloyd commanded. The order coming from the City Lord, Gort had no qualms about it. The trio listened to the door for another few minutes when the sounds stopped. The only sound they could hear all this time was an occasional laugh that chilled even Gort to his bones.

"This doesn't sound like Kai, at all," Alexandra commented with worry visible in her eyes.

She didn't understand why her father chose such a cruel method to help Kai. They surely could access a multitude of treasures; couldn't he eat more of those and be fine? Of course, she also knew it was not always that easy when it came to magical creations like Kai. One had to be careful, meaning that a mild treatment could have a worse result than what her father was putting Kai through. This didn't mean Lloyd cared about Kai, but he also bore no malice against him.

"This won't particularly help his circumstance," Lloyd suddenly confessed.

He had taken even Gort by surprise. The City Lord may have been an eccentric, but he never harmed someone for fun. Gort listened to the City Lord's next words intently. There was bound to be a reason.

Alexandra knew her father could be cruel, but not to that extent. So, instead of interjecting, she also chose to listen to him further.

"It's so that he can achieve the mental maturity needed for the next step. Kai cannot simply take a life when he is told to. So, I chose to break his mind. Even if his mind were to completely break, I can still use him as a berserker on the battlefield." Lloyd then turned to open the metal door before glancing at Alexandra and added, "I will do everything for the safety of this city and you, even if I need to become a demon myself."

Lloyd slowly opened the door, revealing the skeleton covered in rotten blood and innards of his victims. Kai seemed to be looking at his bloodied hands in a daze. As his eyes fell upon the trio, he immediately spoke up, stuttering like a kid who was caught doing something bad.

"It wasn't me! I didn't do this! I swear!"