A chilling, sinister voice cut through the air like a blade, heavy with scorn and mockery. "Haha, can you believe it? A human just popped out of thin air! Remember when I heard that human cry from this direction? Seems I was spot on, wasn't I? HAHA!"
The figure's appearance matched the eerie timbre of his voice. He was short and stout, his upper body bare save for the wolf skin draped crudely across his collarbone.
This peculiar attire exposed his plump belly, which jiggled grotesquely with every wicked laugh that erupted from his lips.
Karna comprehended the meaning of the unknown entity's words and the fact that these beings might belong to the various other races mentioned by t Rebecca earlier.
The demons she spoke of were now embodied before him, casting an ominous pall over the situation.
A thin, sinewy demon accompanied the stout one. His gaunt features held a hungry glint, and his lips curled into a sinister smile.
"Hehe, Leader, looks like you were right. Just look at its weak frame. I bet its flesh would be chewy and oh so delicious."
His words dripped with anticipation, his tongue darting out to wet his lips in a disturbing display.
The stout demon chuckled in agreement with his companion's assessment, their perverse amusement amplifying the palpable dread that hung in the air.
As the thin demon's hungry gaze bore into Karna, an icy tremor coursed through him. The sheer malice emanating from those eyes seemed to freeze his very soul, filling him with a paralyzing fear of becoming their gruesome feast.
In the midst of this dire situation, a realization dawned on Karna: Rebecca had, in her own way, thrown him straight into the lands of demon territory.
The frustration and anger at his predicament surged within him, momentarily overshadowing even the looming threat of his captors.
'Focus, damn it. Two demons stand before you, thirsting for your flesh,' Karna reminded himself, his internal monologue a stern anchor amid the swirling tempest of emotions.
Every person on earth would have heard or read about demons once in a while in their lives from movies, novels, and ancient books, but seeing one in reality was a different thing.
Seeing the two beings belonging to the demon race in front of him in reality, he felt this feeling of weakness rise up inside him. He didn't like that feeling even a little and even tried to ignore it, but all of it was useless.
"Don't be in so rush; We can't kill and eat this human just yet, from what I can sense this human is a mere simple human with no strength backing his existence.
There is no way he could have climbed over the mountains, which can only mean that he came through the mountains; he must have come upon a cave or a tunnel that connects the two territories."
"We have to bring him to Turukhan alive for him to be questioned." said the fat looking demon with a serious face.
His voice was loud and clear making Karna tense up hearing their conversation. Karna was also happy that they wouldn't kill him just yet.
At first the thin looking demon made annoyed expression hearing his leader words but when the name Turukhan was mentioned, his expression changed to one of understanding.
"Yes, Leader you are right." he said hurriedly with a smile. The fat looking demon seeing this looked happy and nodded head.
Karna's seemingly motionless stance belied his frantic mental activity. From the moment the two demons materialized, he had been engaged in a relentless mental struggle to devise an escape plan.
However, despite his efforts, every scenario he envisioned seemed to culminate in his demise. Various options had surged through his mind, each promptly countered by a daunting obstacle.
The prospect of sprinting into the nearby woods to evade his pursuers held some initial appeal, but it swiftly crumbled when he realized the demons were stationed squarely between him and that refuge.
Circumventing them was an option in theory, yet it hinged on his ability to outpace the fiendish duo – a feat that appeared less and less achievable as anxiety gnawed at him.
The notion of veering towards the mountain briefly flickered through his thoughts, only to be extinguished by the formidable incline that lay ahead.
His mind was a maelstrom of calculations and discarded ideas, each pursued and abandoned in rapid succession as desperation tightened its grip on him.
Making Karna halt his thoughts, with sudden action. The fat-looking demon raised his right arm and pointed his index finger toward him. His fingers had these long nails whose sharpness Karna didn't want to know.
"Hmm, Human, why don't you make it easier for both of us? You can tell us the location of the place through which you have mistakenly set foot in our territory, and I promise you that I will try to give you a nice and easy death."
"Or you can make it harder by keeping quiet; but then we would have to take you back to our clan leader Turukhan, who I have to say is a horrifying being; even as a fellow demon, he makes me shiver in fear.
If we were to take you to him, he would first plant a slave seal on you, and then he would make you answer all his questions.
After that, when you would have become useless to him, he would feed on you slowly. He would sometimes ask you to cut off your own fingers or other parts of your body then cook that part for him while you bled.
Or even he may order you to cook a body part like your arms or legs while they were attached to your body. Hehe, he is a really nasty demon."
The thin looking demons licked his lips hearing these words. His glance fixed on Karna showing a sinister smile.
"Hehe, so what's it going to be human: a quick death or..." The fat demon didn't spoke after saying that. He only smiled creepily.
Karna cursed inside his mind after hearing the words spoken by the fat demon. He thought in his mind.
'Fuck! I can see that if one looked at it from a logical angle, then the first choice would be the best. But I know that this fucker is definitely lying about giving me a peaceful death. And there is no way I am dying without a fight.'
Karna's mind was in full throttle. He made an expression of deep thought, like he was seriously considering the demon's offer.
In the end, he could only sigh in his mind. He needed more time and a better opportunity to escape. He could only curse his luck and blame the bitch Rebecca for all of this.
"Ok, I will tell you the location, or better yet, I will show you the location myself." Karna gritted his teeth and spoke.
Of course he was lying and would just randomly point in any direction toward the mountain range until he found an opportunity to escape.
Both the fat and the thin looking demon looked amused by his answer. They looked at each other and then nodded their heads. Then the fat demon sneered and spoke.
"You have made a good choice, human, and by good choice..." the next moment the fat demon disappeared from the place he had stood at and appeared right in front of him at a speed so fast that Karan could not follow.
The fat demon that had suddenly appeared in front of him held him by his neck in his sharp claw-like right hand and spoke in a voice that sent chills down Karna's spine: "I mean, a really good choice."
Karna's eyes widened in surprise; a look of disbelief covered his face, and he thought to himself, 'How could a fat being like him move so fast?!'