17 Skeletons Aren't That Fast

An utter feeling of boredom washed over Kai as he kept standing still. His only move was to "play dead", he thought. He thought Naamah could be killed rather easy, she didn't seem all that tough. Then again, he couldn't tell for sure until he appraised her.

Furthermore, considering the fact that even Lloyd was polite to her and seemed almost subservient, Kai was terrified. He didn't think he had a chance of beating Lloyd in a million years, and if he was afraid of this demon, the situation spelt his doom. But he didn't want to live as a pet, either. He decided he would escape at the first chance he got.

In the desolate underground tunnels there were undead and various monsters all around, but even the weakest of the demon soldiers were strong enough to kill each of them in a single move. The moment he found an opening, he used his appraise on one of the demon soldiers, he was shocked by what he saw. No wonder demons were treated like royalty.

*A mid-tier demon has been appraised*

*The stats are as follows*

STR : 4

DEX : 4

INT : 1

CON : 8

FATE : 1

Kai then checked his own stats in comparison, he had to know if he could take on some of the demons if it came down to it.

Name : Kai Litt

Race : Skeleton Level 3

Job : Necromancer Level 2

STR : 5

DEX : 2

INT : 1

CON : 6

FATE : 8

*Available stat points: 0*

"God damn it," Kai mumbled to himself, almost heard by one of the soldiers who watched him more keenly from then on. It didn't seem it would be easy for Kai to defeat even one of these soldiers. Had he not invested in FATE, he could have run away. It was what he did whenever he played games, he always tried out the stats that seemed useless. It usually worked out for him, as well, but not this time.

Kai didn't even know how many hours it had been since they left the see. Some locations in the tunnels were illuminated by glowing stones, but there were places filled with darkness and no end on sight. He didn't even feel like moving his head to look around to not look suspicious. However, he remembered he had a sure-fire way of keeping the time.

*24:48:12*

Kai felt like screaming in fright. He already had only a day left and even if he knew the way back, it would take him the same amount of time at least. And his cage wasn't moving all that slow, either. He would sometimes hear a giggle from Naamah from inside her carriage. It seemed she didn't care if the journey took a long time.

"One more day, and I'll be dead. Truly," Kai thought to himself, feeling approaching dread.

The only thing he could do was to keep track of the time while standing still in the cage. After another half an hour, however, he noticed that they entered a lush forest. There even seemed to be sunlight, although Kai wasn't certain where it came from. They saw animals frolicking around and birds singing.

"Are we outside?" Kai thought to himself again, slightly moving his head to confirm his whereabouts. "No, we are still underground. How could this be?"

After entering the forest, the carriage slowed down and finally stopped after a while. It seemed this place was chosen for camping. In mere moments, the demons managed to set up a tent of immense size that looked as luxurious as Lloyd's mansion. Naamah left her carriage, followed by two other alluring beauties, other succubi. They seemed to be her handmaidens.

Naamah glanced at Kai as their eyes met for the fraction of a second. She smiled at him and entered her tent. After she was settled, the soldiers started establishing a perimeter around the camp. They left Kai in his cage right at the edge of the perimeter. It seemed no one actually thought Kai was worth anything. He was offended, if he were to be honest.

As he mulled over how to escape for another hour, he saw a movement in the bushes. It looked to be a small child around the age of 9. It was the kid from before. How could he have followed them all this way? Sure, the journey was perilous, but Kai figured the demons had removed all possible threats on their path as they moved along.

"Hey, kid!" Kai whispered, waving at the kid. "Get here."

There were demon soldiers patrolling the area, but they weren't much interested in Kai at this point. The kid rushed at Kai, with eyes still gleaming. Kai thought the kid was extremely weird with this level of obsession. But he had to escape, now. Kai looked around to find the keys to his cage. Where had he even last seen them? He didn't know.

However, the kid suddenly pulled the keys out of his own pocket to release him. Albeit shocked, Kai started thinking perhaps this was part of Lloyd's plan. He was an eccentric for sure. Was this even a kid in front of him? Knowing Lloyd, this guy could very well be some puppet creature.

The kid threw the keys at Kai who quickly opened the lock. As soon as he did, the patrol passed over again, seeing Kai with his hand on the lock. Kai froze again, hoping they wouldn't notice.

"Hey," the demon ushered another soldier over. "Did it always stand like that?" This was the demon who almost caught Kai moving his head earlier.

"What, the skeleton?" the other soldier asked, adding, "Who cares?"

The first demon moved closer to the cage, standing right next to the tree the kid hid behind.

"See," the demon said, "He definitely stood in a different way."

Before the other demon could interject, the first demon saw the key to the cage hanging off Kai's ribcage. Kai didn't have much time to hide them, nor could he throw them away without making noise.

"Hey, this bastard is moving! Call Lady Naamah to-"

Before the demon soldier finished his words, Kai sucker-punched him right on his weirdly large nose. He followed up by kicking the door down and darting out with all his might. Even without a body, Kai could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

"Gentlemen, you'll always remember this day as the day you almost cau-" Kai yelled as he ran, but was cut short when he looked back to see the demon he punched was a breath away from him.

To make the matters worse, he had a terrifyingly angry face. Kai's mind churned at great speed to find a way out. Making a quick decision, he stopped and turned to face the demon.