Chapter: 862
“…?”
It confused Jay, hearing the quiet, innocent sound of glass and stone, yet it was relieving at the same time.
“It… placed the jar down?” he smiled, slowly taking a silent breath through his nose.
The sound of a knight marched away, kicking some broken pieces of the wooden chair at it went.
Jay wanted to chuckle as he took in a steady, deep breath. Only now did he realise how tightly he was gripping his sword.
“I guess I didn’t make any mistakes.”
While waiting for his breathing to return to normal, he simply sat there, leaning against the altar and staring at the softly glowing light on the wall.
The marching continued behind him, and by the sounds of it, many knights were heading up the stairs.
Jay built up some nerve and peeked around the side of the altar, keeping his head in the shadows.
An unending line of knights appeared from below and disappeared up the stairs. Other than the ones passing by, there were no knights in the room. The intelligent one had left, along with the jar-carrier.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Jay hid back behind the altar.
“Looks like I have some time to kill.” he thought, and took out his rolled-up swag, using it as a pillow.
Propping himself up comfortably, he rested his eyes.
(Red, wake me up when the marching stops.)
Jay had only rested once since coming to this dungeon, during his brief time in the cannibal village. A nap was long overdue, and the sleeplessness had not been helping his nerves, while the darkness of the castle had just added to his craving for sleep.
[Your skeleton has been slain.]
“Enough already, I get it… I’ll bring them back soon.” Jay waved his hand, stifling a yawn.
In the gatehouse, two skeletons are still alive after one died. Instead of fighting any longer, they enacted out the last part of the plan their master had created for them.
The plan? Run into the opposite passage through the walls - opposite to the one Jay took when leaving the gatehouse, then keep running in random directions, leading the slow knights in a chaotic scramble throughout the castle.
It was unlikely that the skeletons would get kills during the fleeing, but it would help to cover Jay’s tracks. If the knights find the dead bodies of their comrades, they may falsely attribute their deaths to the two gatehouse skeletons who ran free inside the castle complex.
Their job had changed, but the goal was still the same. Ultimately, they were a distraction.
Red tapped its bony fingers on Jay’s shoulder, tenderly nudging him awake.
“Mm?” Jay grunted bitterly and cracked his eyes open, quickly remembering where he was.
“… thanks.” He nodded, stashing his pillow away. The first thing he saw was his skeleton, staring at him with its glowing, beady, dark-green eyes - yet he felt a warm familiarity rather than an icy fear.