Cass and Salos stalked the fleeing paladin through the halls, their combined stealth skills hiding them in plain sight as the man ran through the complex. Even if they hadn’t, all eyes were on the paladin as he shouted about his urgent news for the captain. Who would have stopped to look at the shadow creeping after him?

  In minutes, they were in the Copper Crescent’s center of operations. It was a busier section of hallway, the doors to either side open and filled with men and women at work.

  Paladins went in and out continuously. Out patrolling for her. Coming back with reports that they had seen nothing from her. Performing other duties which had nothing to do with Cass, presumably.

  All of them were leveled like the two she’d fought earlier.

  Order of the Copper Crescent Paladin (Lvl 31) x 8

  Order of the Copper Crescent Paladin (Lvl 32) x 14

  Order of the Copper Crescent Paladin (Lvl 33) x 9

  These were just the ones around their command center. How many were there if she included the ones patrolling or performing other tasks? Forty? Fifty? More?

  Never mind, the captain, she couldn’t handle this many. Not on her own, not with Salos, not even if she had the help of Alyx or Marco.

  Cass set that thought aside. Alyx wasn’t here. Alyx might not help her even if she was. Cass shook that thought aside. That kind of speculation did nothing for her.

  Instead, Cass focused on Stealthing through the increasingly busy hall.

  Stealth was not invisibility. But in some ways, it was even better. Anyone not actively looking for her—assuming their perception wasn’t too high—would simply disregard her presence, finding her as unremarkable as the tiling of the floor or the bricks of the wall.

  The issue was the ‘actively looking’ part. And the ‘perception wasn’t too high’ part.

  They were looking for her, but not in the center of their base. So far, Stealth encouraged her to walk tall and with purpose. Like she was supposed to be right where she was. It was ridiculous that this would work.

  Especially since, as Fortitude specialists, they should have complimentary Perception. Not necessarily the highest Perception, but it should be in their top three or four stats, according to Salos.

  That being said, if 29 and 32 were any indication, Perception was not a priority in their growth. Then again, they might have just been the worst among their ranks.

  29 had bought her lie completely after all.

  He ran into one of many rooms along the main hall.

  “Sir! You may be in danger, sir!” he yelled.

  “What!” the captain snapped. His voice was deep and rolling like a beast’s.

  There was a murmured answer that didn’t quite carry down the hall. Cass slipped up to the door in question to peer within.

  The captain stood in the center of a well-furnished room. A map hung from the wall behind him, marked up in red, purple, and green ink. Before him, 29 quivered before his boss alongside a line of other paladins and a priest.

  The captain was a huge man. Easily a head taller than any of the others, and broad enough at the shoulders to fill the doorway on his own. And he was horned, like a bull. They started from his bony forehead and curved up in spiral ridged horns.

  He wore a long sword on his back and a shorter one at his hip, but even the shorter one looked too long to be easily swung in the halls. A long rectangular shield leaned against the desk behind him. It was so big, Cass wasn’t sure she’d be able to lift it even with her System granted Strength.

  Order of the Copper Crescent Captain (Lvl 40)

  He was no less intimidating looking now than he had been when she’d been captured.

  I don’t see how we can kill him, Cass said.

  I don’t like our odds, no. Salos said.

  How bad is it? Cass asked, though even without a breakdown, level 40 seemed far outside her ability to handle at her level 24.

  Well, he isn’t human, he’s a Tauran. If I remember right, they get 2 points of Fortitude for every level. I think they get a few other free points or something too, but I don’t remember now. By itself, that means he has 80 points of Fortitude.

  Cass blanched. What do you think the two we dealt with earlier had?

  100? 150? Hard to say. Been a long time since I fought Fortitude specialists with my current amount of Strength.

  Then 80 isn’t that bad? Cass said, though even as she said it she could feel Salos wasn’t done.

  If it was just the base level up stats we needed to worry about, then yes. But, not only may he have placed Free Points into Fortitude, we need to consider where he put his Extension—that is, which stat he chose to increase every level at the First Step. Were I in his shoes, I would have placed mine in Perception to balance the 2 Fortitude a level. However, a devout of Fortitude? I think it would not be unreasonable to assume he sprang for Fortitude again. That is another 31 points of Fortitude, bringing us up to 111.

  Next, assume he has, oh, I don’t know, 20 skills? At level 40, I would be embarrassed if less than two-thirds of them weren’t past the Gate. Call that 13 Gate leveled skills? I don’t know the exact breakdown on the bonus for Tauran skills thresholds, but I think it would be underestimating to assume they get 2 to a skill’s primary stat at the First Step and another 3 at the Gate.

  Again, estimating half his skills are Fortitude based, that brings us to about… a little over 30? Maybe 35? Again, this is an underestimate, I think. And it doesn’t account for other skills which might consider Fortitude a secondary or tertiary stat. This brings us up to 146 Fortitude.

  Cass nodded. Which is in line with your guess about the other two.

  Sure, except those were humans, 10 levels under this one.

  Cass sighed. Implying there are some other buffs or bonuses? Probably bonuses from their Goddess of Fortitude?

  Salos nodded. Exactly. I think it would be safe for us to assume their Fortitude stats are being doubled at least.

  Putting him at nearly 300? Cass groaned.

  With a healthy, if not exceptional, Strength and Perception, unless I miss my guess, Salos added.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  That was obscene. Her highest stat was her Will at 86. All her stats added together were only 449.

  Can I even scratch him? Cass asked, thinking of how little her Tempest Blade had done against the previous group of Paladins.

  “You mean to tell me you got in a fight with the demon and you lost?” the captain growled, his conversation continuing, unaware of the murderous sidebar Cass and Salos were having.

  “She killed Genson, sir,” the paladin said. “She’s a demon. Her level is highly misleading. Even you might be in danger, sir.”

  “Preposterous,” the captain snarled. “All of it.”

  “She, um, claimed to have stopped the extraction team too, sir.”

  The captain threw his hands in the air. “How would she have done that? She’s trapped here!”

  “She claimed she could come and go as she pleased.”

  The captain sneered. “Just because we don’t understand how she got out of her containment field doesn’t mean she’s a ghost. No one can leave or enter our Lady’s Sacred Ground.” He snapped at the priests standing at the edge of the line. “Have we figured out how she got out yet?”

  The priest shook his head. “We’re still investigating, lord.”

  “They’ve been investigating for hours!” he roared.

  All of his subordinates flinched away from him.

  I think even I will have difficulties piercing his defenses even with precision strikes, Salos admitted.

  Cass shook her head. This isn’t going to work. We can’t kill something we can’t cut.

  “Nothing appears to be wrong with the array, sir,” the priest explained. “The evidence suggests the demon either broke it and then reengaged it after or somehow slipped through without destroying it. Neither of which—“

  “That is ridiculous!” the captain snapped. “A demon ‘slipped through’ a containment field? Those things have fractions of souls. The edges decaying. A healthy person can’t get through that field. You think a demon could?”

  “No, sir,” the woman responded. “That is why the priests are still investigating. They are certain they will find signs of tampering if they look.”

  We need to find a way out of here, Salos reminded her. Through him is the only way.

  “Tell them to hurry up,” the captain yelled, pacing across the room and back. “The demonlings are on their way. If something is wrong with the field, I want it fixed before they get here.”

  “Of course, sir,” the woman said.

  We just need him to drop his skill, Cass said. Granted, convincing him she wasn’t a demon and that he should let her and any dragons he had kicking around go seemed no easier a feat.

  Could she slip out as they brought the dragonlings in? It would mean leaving them here longer while she went for help, but that was a more reasonable plan than trying to sneak them out with her.

  And either way, she would need to return for the feral dragon.

  “Find the girl. The sealed space isn’t that big. She’s not even at the Gate. Have there been any other casualties?” the captain barked.

  The second man shook his head. “Not yet.”

  “Yet, he says,” the captain muttered. “Fine. New orders: kill the demon girl on sight. The dragonlings are too important to risk with a rogue element in our halls.”

  Cass’s stomach sank. She had no illusions about how alive she would be if those had been the orders from the beginning.

  “Sir!” the paladins saluted.

  “Get a move on!” the captain yelled, sending his subordinates scattering. “And tell whoever’s lurking outside to just come in and give me their report!”

  Cass’s eyes shot wide.

  RUN! Salos yelled. Unnecessary, because Cass was already Sprinting away, pulling Wind out of her way and pressing herself forward with it.

  Behind her, she could hear excited shouts and a single enraged word: “WHAT!”

  There was a bang. A huge body burst from the command room and barreled down the hallway.

  She was fast. There was no arguing about that. She had all the speed of a 61 Dex runner, aided by a Concept that screamed speed and freedom and a skill with the single desire to run faster. Cass was fast. And with her 47 End, she could be fast for a long time.

  The captain was an entirely different beast.

  Every footfall on the glass floor propelled him yards with his considerable Strength. He gobbled up the distance between them, bursting forward like a bullet from a rifle barrel. His whole body radiated mana, strong enough she could feel it with Mana Sense without looking at it directly.

  Worse, he wasn’t alone.

  “Stop her!” The captain’s order rang through the air. Every body in the hall stopped what they were doing.

  With barely a pause, the nearest paladin—papers falling from his hands as they flew to his sword—stepped in front of her.

  Order of the Copper Crescent Paladin (Lvl 34)

  She didn’t have the strength to bowl him over, even with all her speed and the added gust from Stormstride.

  I’ve got him, Salos said as he leapt from her shoulder and onto the man’s face. Cass ducked right while Salos’s claws raked into the man’s eyes.

  It wasn’t enough to stop him, but it startled him enough that Cass could slip around him before his sword could find her guts. She flew past him, darting around the many other paladins in the hall before her.

  Paladins filled the surrounding corridors. Men looking for her when the captain had thrown up the alarm. Men running to surround her on his orders.

  Behind her, their captain pounded down the hall, his huge body blowing through any of his subordinates that were not fast enough to chase after her or get out of his way.

  Even with those road hazards, he would catch her in a straight sprint. She couldn’t let it stay that kind of contest.

  She darted right, turning down another corridor, barely slowing. But slowing.

  He skidded past the turn. One of his hands grabbed the corner, yanking him back. His eyes burned into the back of her head as he chased.

  He’s catching up again! Salos yelled, his voice emanating from her necklace. He must have demanifested as soon as she was past his victim.

  Suggestions? Cass demanded, her thoughts flying in every direction to find an escape.

  Another turn.

  She channeled Elemental Manipulation through her feet, willing a sheet of ice to materialize behind her over the intersection.

  She darted left as the ice took hold. The captain’s hands snapped behind her, barely out of reach.

  She didn’t stop to watch him fall.

  Focus: 286/549

  Running will not be enough, Salos said.

  We just finished talking about how his Fortitude is too high for us to do anything about! Cass yelled.

  That was before he started chasing you! Now we need to find an answer, anyway.

  The captain wasn’t on the ground long. Cass had barely turned the next corner and he was up again. Would the trick with the ice work again or would he be prepared for it this time? How long could she keep this up?

  Stamina: 97/141

  Her heart pounded in her chest.

  Would he kill her when he caught her like he’d ordered his men?

  Not if. When.

  Would he kill her on the spot, or would he drag her back to the ritual table in the cathedral and cut her heart out for his dark goddess? Would he lock her up in a small room and slice her soul to ribbons?

  She could outrun them for now, but how long could she keep it up?

  As long as she needed to, whispered the Wind.

  But that wasn’t a long-term plan.

  True escape meant breaking the captain’s skill. And that seemed just as impossible as hurting him.

  Maybe she could freeze him to death with astraum against his heart. But that required her to pierce his armor and Fortitude with her dagger, all the while standing in range of his sword. And would he stand still and take it like his lower-level subordinate had?

  No. She was trapped down here with him.

  Trapped as long as he was alive.

  Trapped as long as he wished to hold her.

  He charged behind her, his body and shield exploding with mana as he burst down the hall. The air screamed to get out of his way.

  Cass Stepped onto it, letting his mad rush gust her forward and around a corner.

  He careened on into the far wall at the end of the hall, his shield crashing into the glass and leaving an impact crater before him.

  He turned and growled, his eyes flashing with frustration.

  Perhaps he was trapped with her as much as the reverse.

  Cass cocked her head at the thought. What if being trapped in here became a problem for him?

  I have an idea, Cass said.

  How concerned should I be? Salos asked.

  It’s a plan you’re already familiar with, Cass said.

  Very concerned, got it.

  Oh, shush, Cass said, explaining the outline she had in mind.