D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 2046: Chapter 2046 Back to Poisons

— Kat —

Kat and Lily got a little lost in working on the new spell. They went through dozens of new iterations to minor success. Lily did manage a few that were excellent at tracking… and nothing else. Which was just a worse version of the original spell that at least had some bite when making contact with something. Still, they were actively working with each other and having a good time with it. Hedera had ducked outside with food at some point but they’d just eaten it quickly and gotten back to testing.

All that’s to say, they were quite invested and didn’t notice any problems immediately… except, there was something tickling at the back of Kat’s mind. When the next plane was launched Kat let it hit her simply because she was too focused on trying to work out what was going wrong. “Kat?” asked Lily, uncertain. Her girlfriend was clearly focused on something… but what that was, Lily couldn’t quite tell.

“There’s something wrong. I don’t know what but I feel uneasy…” mumbled Kat.

Lily nodded along. “Yeah… now that you mention it…” Lily looked around and the backyard seemed fine. A bit scarred from the testing but mostly fine even with that. Lily sniffed a few times and nothing seemed to smell all that odd. Not even the smell of someone burning something nearby that might have tipped off their senses. Except… when Lily tried her hearing out there was… something.

At the edge of her hearing there was the sound of… cheering? [No…] “Screams…” Lily vocalised in a daze. Kat launched up into the air upon hearing Lily’s shocked gasp. Up in the air, Kat looked around and found what had to be the source of the noise off in the distance. A deep fog had taken over a part of the city and with some demonic energy pumping through her ears, Kat was sure she could hear it as well.

“Quick! Go alert Hedera and then catch up with me. You’re faster so you should still arrive at the same time as me, I’m going on ahead!” Kat shouted as she dashed off towards the commotion. Lily didn’t argue with Kat and sprinted off into the house, cracking the pathway a bit under her feet because of her speed. The door was flung open with a shadow and Lily quickly sought out Hedera.

Kat flew through the air as quickly as she could manage with the damned bangle holding her back and still managed to make fairly good time. What she could see from a distance wasn’t encouraging. A large section of the city now had mist clogging it up. Not normal mist, a deep green mist that was being held back by a line of guards somehow. Kat might have also been able to see the Treant armour out and about but there was far too many people and the green mist made it hard to tell who was actually wearing fancy green armour then it would’ve been otherwise.

Lily was on her way and making good time. Kat was pretty sure Lily would reach her just before she hit the mist… when a piercing whistle cut through the air. Kat glanced around, pausing in the air for a moment. The whistle rang out again and she was able to better pinpoint it. The fact it lasted longer helped a lot too. Following the sound, Kat could see someone waving their arms roughly in her direction.

Deciding it was better to check then simply head in, Kat flew down as she thought about what was going on. *This is totally Appoline’s fault isn’t it. The park she had her base built in is covered by this stuff… but it seems to extend a lot further back? Did she start this somewhere else? The thief base is below me or even further back… so she wasn’t there… hmm…*

Now Kat was closer she could see that the person waving at her was definitely Ramor. Kat felt better about coming over to him now. She managed to glide down without losing too much speed and Lily was just behind her. Ramor seemed to be following her girlfriends descent for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m glad you’re here Kat. We have a big problem and your help would be very nice.”

“What seems to be the issue… outside of the obvious,” said Kat as she gestured to the wall.

“Right, well,” Ramor glanced up at Lily as she landed on top of Kat’s head. “It seems word got back to Appoline, either that we’d managed to find her lab or that we were planning to take some action against her. It seems to have immediately escalated her response as she dumped a bunch of potions into one of the fields and now the mist is covering a tenth of the city,”

Ramor ran a hand down his face. “Which is really fucking annoying because we were honestly pretty close to just dropping the thing. Part of me wants to think Lin dropped the info to force us to act… but she seemed keen on the idea yesterday and she’s with some of the other healers trying to keep the people investigating the mist alive. And trust me, she is NOT pleased about that fact. Still volunteered, but she is livid.

“If I was a betting man… and well out of earshot I might, idly, note that someone in her organisation tattled and she was about ready to rip into them. Of course, that’s just wild speculation that I’m not trying to spread. Not at all,”

Kat gave Ramor a deadpan look. “Not that the info is irrelevant… but what’s the plan here? What do you need me to do?”

Ramor sighed. “I’m not certain honestly. We’re holding it back with some rushed enchantments. This fog has actually been spreading for a few hours now,” Kat winced. “Oh don’t look at us like that. If we thought you could’ve helped earlier we would’ve called on you. Now though, it’s at the point where we need to capture Appoline to try and force her to give us the counter, or get her to make one.

“Things are somewhat contained, but not perfectly. We’re slowly losing ground and we’ve got very limited idea of what’s going on inside. The poison in the clouds isn’t too bad but it consistently gets past any enchantment we try to use to repel it. The only success we’ve had is making a completely sealed air dome… but I’m sure you can see the issue with that.”

Kat nodded slowly, “Running out of air eventually. Though, would an air mage not be able to fix that part?”

Ramor made a so-so gesture. “Sure but they don’t have infinite mana and keeping something like that running is hard. They might be able to get someone halfway in before running out of mana, or perhaps all the way if they were by themselves… and then they’d still have to fight Appoline with no mana AND get out somehow. Oh, and that’s not getting into whatever else is going on in there…”

“Dare I ask?” sighed Kat.

“I think you might need to know,” countered Ramor. “See, we think we’ve seen some slime monsters and plant monsters rising up from a distance, but that’s more of a guess then a certainty.”

Kat groaned into her hands. *Ok, this is looking like a major problem. The poison probably isn’t going to cause me problems because I doubt it’s designed for demons and even if it is my regeneration should see me through. What… what are you thinking?*

[I… I’m not sure. I don’t exactly have standard biology either and if I stay in Memphis form I might be fine? I have no idea what sort of poison resistances I have, it’s not really something that’s ever come up. I think I heal faster like this but I haven’t really tested it and it’s certainly not on your level. I… I think I want to go along. Even if I’m not in the best shape afterwards Thyme can heal me up.]

*Are you sure?*

[Not really but it’s probably better to know now. Plus, I don’t think Hedera can come and help.]

*No I suppose not. Feel a bit bad about waking her up now… but I suppose that’s just how it is.*

“Alright, that’s… well not fine but Lily and I are willing to head inside. What’s the plan here?” asked Kat.

“Capture is probably a must,” sighed Ramor. “I don’t love the fact that I need to ask that, and if Appoline is responsible for this like she almost has to be, execution is essentially certain… but we NEED to know how to reverse whatever this shit is. It’s to the point that, if you have to choose between killing her and letting her get away it’s probably best to let her get away, as much as I hate to say it…”

“Really?” asked Kat. “Like, I can try but just to be sure?”

Ramor nodded while giving out a sad sigh. “Yeah. This has taken out a huge chunk of the city AND our food supplies. It’s also probably seeping quite far into the underground areas and that won’t be good for anyone when we already get monsters there from time to time. We NEED a cure.”

“Oh…” Kat intoned with a shiver. “I’ll get right on it then,”