While there weren’t any lizards inside the room, Sixth Sense did warn him of one of the kidree roaming the halls nearby. Silent in his advance, Alex approached from the creature’s blind spot. With Stealth nearing the E-Grade and his considerable amount of practice using it, surprising the beast should have been easy. But just like every other time, the moment he neared striking distance it turned his way, confirming Alex’s suspicions their species had some method of detecting him.
The kidree’s defense allowed it to fend off his first strike, along with the following two, but it was quickly proving not to be enough. Alex avoided the majority of his more flagrant skill combinations as to not further increase an already high mana expenditure, and instead focused on increasing the speed of his attacks. Unable to contend with the rising rapidity of his strikes for long, the creature was dead in minutes, and he was on to completing his actual goal.
The door to the lone beast’s room was both larger and sturdier than those used on the smaller cells, with thin rusted sheets of metal reinforcing thick wooden planks. He could only imagine how difficult it would be to enter, let alone exit, the space using force. Luckily, those were problems for a future Alex, since he had two abilities that could ignore the barrier entirely; as long as he didn’t need to take anyone with him. A bit hopeful that the small creature would turn out to be some rabid beast he couldn’t help, Alex relocated himself inside.
The stench hit him first. To say any of the underground chambers he’d been in lately had smelled pleasant would have been a blatant lie, but none had reeked of as much death and decay as this one. Doing his best to disregard the obvious plague developing in the space, Alex dispersed a bit of the surface air he’d stored in his inventory before taking another breath. It did little to help with the stench, but he hoped between the air and his physical attributes it would be enough to fend off a quick death.
Ignoring the odor’s attempts to maim his sense of smell, he made his way over to the section he’d spotted movement in earlier. It astounded him that a creature, let alone one so small, could survive in such an environment for any extended period of time, but that thought faded as he failed to spot anything in the cage. The room was mostly dark so Alex hadn’t been relying on his eyes, but even Sixth Sense failed to pick anything up as it scanned the confinement. A tense moment passed as he sped up to reach the cage, it had only been a few minutes since he’d first spotted the creature. Had it escaped during his battle with the lone kidree? If so, where had it gone?
Darker thoughts followed, leaving Alex to wonder if he’d failed to save yet another captive, but he didn’t focus on them. Even if it was dead, the creature couldn’t have just vanished. Scouring the room with as much effort as he could muster, Alex was in the middle of wishing he’d put the conversation with Jason off earlier, when a sudden movement made him pause. It was in the same cage he’d initially assumed the beast to be, which was also the same cage that that had been empty when he’d checked. Not sure what to make of that conundrum, he could only walk back over as the silent ball of fur raised its head to look in his direction. Letting out a small sigh of relief then regretting it for the deeper breath that followed, he crouched so that he was eye level with the beast.
It laid partially curled up in a ball, a beacon of light piercing through the somber setting. Alex wondered how long it must have been here to sleep so peacefully in such an environment, but his thoughts shifted to how he could free the beast as he got a look at the cage’s lock.
“Hey, little guy.” Alex whispered; voice soft as he mentally scanned his inventory for anything useful. Although lockpicking had been one of the offered skills after picking his assassin class, he’d not taken it then, and had yet to unlock the ability through other means. Alex hadn’t even managed to get a hold of a proper set of tools, though it wasn’t like he’d know how to make proper use of them anyway. In the end he settled on using a miniature letter opener, stylized like a rapier, that had once belonged to the healer, and a pen he’d picked up at some point.
While he’d been doing his search, the beast hadn’t been still. Alex had expected his presence to garner fear, or maybe even excitement if the creature could recognize what was happening, but he hadn’t been prepared for such blatant hostility. Its vertically slit pupils had narrowed, and the black fur that covered its body rapidly expanded and contracted as it hissed at him.
Hesitating, he slowly lowered a finger into the cage while continuing his attempt at soothing words. “Hey, I’m not here to hurt you, it’s gonna- Shit!” Alex screeched, all kindness vanishing from his tone. The tiny feline had tried to bite him. Looking at the beast with a bit of betrayal, he wondered if any of his abilities gave him better understanding of the cat’s facial features. Because he was pretty sure it was delighting in the panic it had caused him.
Deciding to keep his hands at a safer distance, Alex dropped the babying tone as he tried to convince the creature he was friend, not foe.
“Look, I’m trying to help you. You see what happened to everyone else right, you don’t want to end up like that do you?” Alex didn’t know if it was due to Comprehend or a consequence of the beast’s innate intelligence, but it did actually look around when he motioned to do so. However, instead of the understanding he’d hoped to cultivate, the sight only further radicalized the beast against him, as it immediately backed further away while hissing even louder.
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Giving up for the moment, as he was reminded of the stench by another sigh, Alex decided to focus on the lock. With the beast so far away, it couldn’t reach his fingers faster than he could withdraw them, though it no longer looked as dead set on attacking after its first failure. Watching as he worked, it soon stopped hissing, leaving Alex to think his actions had gotten through to the creature, only to be disappointed when he finally managed to crack the lock a few minutes later.
The bolt hadn’t been anything special, rusted and chipped with obvious signs of age, but as the final pin clicked, he still let out a small cry of success at his accomplishment. Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived as the second the cage door sprung outward, so too did the kitten inside.
Reaction delayed as he thought he’d won the creature over, Alex failed to relocate before it connected with his clothing. Unable to activate his most prominent escape skill, sure to the presence of another being, stumbled in his panic as the beast tried to tear into his arms. Falling back as he raised his hands to protect his face, Alex was about to burn another second of Planar Phase when he realized the strikes were causing him no pain. Not only that, they were actually entirely ineffective, the cat’s attacks unable to pierce his defenses. Chuckling at the unnecessary panic, then a bit incensed as he considered what could have happened, Alex grabbed the creature by the scruff of its neck and got back to his feet.
Holding the feline at arm’s distance as it swiped and swayed, since Alex was pretty sure its small claws could still puncture an eye, he bragged over the creature's fussing.
“Guess your master plan didn’t work out so well. Holy shit though,” he continued seriously, “you could have really messed me up with that. I already said I wasn’t trying to hurt you, just stop trying to score me for a goddamn minute.” A couple seconds passed and the beast stopped fighting, making him hope he’d finally gotten through to the creature, but as another round of flailing started, he knew that wasn’t the case.
Deciding he’d had enough, Alex put the creature on the floor while watching for sudden movements. He felt a bit bad lowering it into the sewage like substance that covered the floor, but it vanished as he realized that same sludge now covered the back of his clothing. While his self-cleaning cloak would rid itself of the grime soon enough, the rest of his outfit wouldn’t be so lucky. Once he was sure the creature was done flinging itself at him, instead only glaring in a staring match Alex couldn’t have imagined taking part in a month ago, he gave his final offer.
“Listen, I’m not trying to hurt you, you stupid fur ball. Me and a few others are doing a bit of a jailbreak, I’m not saying you have to come with, but you can. What you can’t do, is attack any of us. I have an ability that allows me to get through stuff like that door, but I can’t take you with, so stay back and give me a moment to get it open.”
Unsure if the creature understood any of that, as it only continued to scowl at him, Alex walked backwards until he was against the exit and relocated outside. Wiping a bit of sweat from his brow, and almost marking his face with the biochemical mud in the process, he headed back down the hall to verify both of the others were still in their rooms. The unknown man was still unconscious, but Jason looked clearly impatient as he waited for his savior to return. Figuring he could keep waiting since Alex had already given him the option to come earlier, the assassin turned thief got to work on opening the reinforced door.
While a few attempts at brute force showed it to be as sturdy as he’d assumed, the lock once more turned out to be the main weak point of the Kidree’s structures. Sure it took more effort than the cage’s lock had, and a couple broken pens, but he’d still managed to get it open in under ten minutes, if barely. Backing slowly as he pulled the door open, Alex was glad to not be attacked this time. Instead, the cat slowly poked its head out as if to check the coast was clear, before it looked up to him. No words were exchanged, but when he turned to leave, the cat hastily followed.
Walking back over to Jason’s door as he kept an eye on his tentative feline ally through Sixth Sense, Alex began to fiddle with the lock. It took less time than the beast’s room had to get open, and he felt a bit of pride at his skill with the makeshift pick set. Of course a higher dexterity was a great help when he needed to do such precise work, but Alex had gained each of those points through hard work, and a bit of happenstance. He still had a ways to go, but it was good to remember how far he’d already come. Done patting himself on the back, Alex announced himself before entering. Jason had walked over to the door with his sword raised once began fiddling with the lock, so tipping the man off before he could swing was for the best. Watching through his sensory skill, the red haired man hesitated on lowering the weapon, before deciding to in the end. Oddly, the indecision made Alex trust him more, though he would still be keeping a very close eye on the noble.
“What took you so long?” Jason hissed, head peeking out slightly to verify Alex hadn’t brought an ambush. Before he could respond, the noble caught sight of the tiny cat peaking out from behind his leg, and some of the man’s nervousness turned into exasperation. “And what the hell is that doing here?”
Unsure whether this was a beast discrimination moment, part of his earlier indifference to saving the others, or if the man just really hated cats, Alex avoided giving an answer. “Come on, the last member of our little group just woke up.” The groan the man let out at the revelation completely lacked decorum, which made Alex smile, but he fell in line with only minor further grumbling.
Twenty minutes later, after they, mainly Alex, finished explaining to the last prisoner the situation and his choice of whether to come with them or go at it alone, the newly formed party were off. The silence of the dimly lit tunnels slightly offset by the echoing footfalls of three men, and one cat.