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

Chapter 2048: Chapter 2048 Mindless Poison

— Kat —

Kat and Lily were camped out on top of a house, gazing down at the nearby street. They’d figured out what happens to people who stay in the poison too long and it was at least a bit concerning. Milling around on the street below them was a bunch of people… though perhaps that was overly generous to their intelligence. The group was just milling about on the street, travelling in random directions and turning around. Usually when they hit something.

Their skin had taken on an odd green colour. Not like Thyme’s skin could be, and not as if they’d been painted green. The closest comparison Kat could give was as if someone had gotten neon green tattoo ink and spread it over their entire body. Even still, that wasn’t quite right either. Kat wanted to say they looked like plant people but they didn’t and that was perhaps the more disturbing part. Also they were acting like zombies.

*So should we like… DO anything about these guys?*

[They seem easy to avoid…]

*Right but like… should we take them out because they seem easy to kill? Should we capture them so that they can’t hurt themselves? Should we take them out of the poison and hand them off to Ramor? We’re maybe twenty minutes from the entrance if that, and while that’s a decent chunk of time… who knows if they can be saved in that amount of time.*

[I think the last one we should ignore. There’s no reason to think these few people are everyone trapped in the gas. Even if we can save these guys by taking them out right now, we’d be dooming quite a lot more. It’s a risky gamble for poor payoff that might not even work. Do we even know if these are actually people?]

*I mean… they’re wearing clothes but if you’re asking ’are they Thyme clones or real people magicked green’ then no I have no idea what they’re meant to be. I think they’re meant to be stand-ins for real people at least.*

[Alright. In that case… hmm… I think we leave them. No sense in disturbing them for now. They seem… maybe not healthy but at least not actively suicidal and that might change if we chain them to a wall or something.]

*Yeah… I guess you’re right. I suppose it just feels wrong to leave them like this but we don’t even know if this is deadly. For all that Appoline loves poisons and likes creating deadly ones, she liked to create exotic poisons as well.*

[Indeed. There’s no way to know if her plan with these was intellect removal, some sort of remote control that failed. Perhaps this is all experimental. Ramor didn’t mention anything like this before heading in so its hard to say.]

*Well… perhaps they were unconscious or ’dead’ before? If this is meant to be a zombie plague it would make sense if they didn’t just get up immediately.*

[Yeah but counterpoint. Why would Thyme know what a zombie is?]

*Um… magical undead? I feel like necromancers have come up before.*

[Oh right. Now I feel stupid.]

Kat flicked her girlfriend lightly on the head. *Nobody says bad things about my girlfriend. Not even my girlfriend.*

[Ah, but physical violence against her is fine?]

*Only if it’s me. And yes, that does mean no physical violence against yourself.*

[Can I get a similar promise from you then? No physical violence against yourself?]

*Nope. I regenerate.*

[I knew you were going to say that and yet somehow I still find myself disappointed. Regardless, can we get back to the problem at hand?]

*I think the problem at hand is one we move on from… despite not wanting to.*

[Then let’s go.]

Kat sighed, but Lily was correct. She was no expert in potions and whatever was done to them probably wasn’t going to be an easy fix. Though kat did make a note to ensure that her skin didn’t start turning green. A quick check for that before they flew off would probably be for the best. *Want me to check you as well?*

[I guess? Should I transform for that or are you just going to look under my fur?]

*The latter.* Kat found her own body was the same as it always was. She technically had a slight greenish tint, but a quick brush through the air showed that it was simply the mist colouring things a bit rather then her skin that had changed. Lily was in much the same boat. So whatever was going on with the people on the street it hadn’t seeped into either of them yet.

Kat got back to flying, and it didn’t take them long to leave the street behind. What did cause an issue was when they got to a line of trees four streets over. Kat wasn’t flying too high to avoid being outside the gas an unable to see anything. When the trees were coming up, Kat simple angled herself to fly over it with a couple of centimetres to spare for clearance. This would prove to be a poor decision. As Kat flew over the tree, a vine whipped out and wrapped itself around her leg, tugging her towards it.

Kat tried to resist but she couldn’t put enough power into her wings to overcome the force of the pull and was yanked backwards. Hissing in annoyance, Lily sent out her claws of shadow to shred the offending vine but they were already travelling backwards. As Kat made contact with the tree, several dozen other vines reached out to tie her down and Lily shredded all of them as well. My hero!

[You could’ve dodged the vine if you were paying attention.]

*Yeah? And I really wasn’t. It looks exactly like all the other trees we’ve passed. How was I suppose to know it was secretly a monster?*

Kat pushed off the tree and tried to fly away but was once again interrupted by a vine going for her. Three this time. One for each of her feet and one for her wings. Lily sliced through them with a soft huff as Kat sped away. The tree sent out a few more vines to try and catch up to them but they were already too far away. Kat kept going for a bit longer until she was absolutely sure the tree couldn’t attack them anymore, and gently set down on a rooftop.

*Hoooo, that was a bit annoying but I’m fine. How are you?*

[Also fine. Didn’t even use up ten percent of my mana.]

*Alright. Do we just keep going then? There’s still no sign of Appoline or even thicker poison and we’re pretty deep in at this point.*

[I say we keep going until we hit the fields at least.]

Rogger, Rogger. Kat flew back into the air and returned to their old flight path, with some adjustments. Kat started to take slightly sub optimal lines to avoid any trees in the future. Just in case. Even if none of the other trees attacked them the time loss was minimal and they weren’t even sure they were heading in the correct direction just yet.

’Not-zombies’ got more common as they continued deeper into the poison. People who had less of a chance to run away, or perhaps simply hadn’t been scared enough of the mist to run, perhaps thinking it was some sort of mass pesticide plan. Kat couldn’t really comment. Especially when they approached the farms. The farmland was a ways out, barely visible at the edge of Kat’s ability to see. They’d been decimated.

*I guess I know how the slimes were made.* Whatever had been growing there was gone. Completely flattened, and left behind were bits and pieces of pink slime scattered around the field itself and extending a bit into the land around them. No sign of the crops remained after they’d been used as fuel for Appoline’s experiments.

[Do you think that means she’s nearby? We could do a proper investigation of whatever farmhouse this place is connected to?]

*I’m not sure. Maybe? I sort of want to know if she’s done the same to other nearby farms but to see if she made THIS one her main base we’d probably have to go two farmsteads over. Claiming this field and the two adjacent to it wouldn’t be too crazy after all. She’s had a fair bit of time to setup. The other idea is that she’s just running in one direction and collecting more materials.*

[Well we’ve got no way to know which way is which. This seemed to be fairly central to the cloud so I say we check the building before moving on.]

*How thoroughly though? And would it be better to just… burn the whole place down?*

[That’s someone’s house!]

*Yeah, and it’s ten, fifteen, maybe twenty minutes we’ll never get back if we use them to search an empty barn. If we burn it down we’ll know one way or another if Appoline is down pretty quick.*

[I… don’t like that plan at all.]

*Noted… but does that mean we shouldn’t do it?*