NOVGO.NET Chapter 2051 Poisonous Break
Chapter 2051: Chapter 2051 Poisonous Break
— Kat —
Kat and Lily lay collapsed next to the poison pond. Well, it wasn’t anymore. Kat had frozen the entire thing and Lily had ripped up the bramble thing that was guarding the place. They were both out of energy, Kat demonic and Lily mana. They’d been expecting the air to clear up now that the bulbs were gone. Like a video game level after you cleared out an obstacle. Sadly, that wasn’t how the magic worked in this case. The air was still thick with poison, and even freezing away a bit just saw it flood back in from the sides. The slimes were nowhere to be found. Their ’corpses’ questionable evidence that they’d been dealt with.
Though in the case of two of them it might be true. One however had left a pretty clear trail of pink slime heading off to the left where it had run away. The others were either better at hiding their survival or dead and Kat was hoping for the latter option. “I’m mostly recovered. How about you?”
[Blegh. I know I’m technically helping you regenerate demonic energy but it’s such bullshit that you’re basically full up already. I don’t even have HALF of my mana back. We can still head out if you want. I imagine I’ll be mostly recovered by the time we run into another problem. Just annoying. Those brambles drained my mana as well. Not as much as the concentrated poison, but more than I’d think for their weight when pulling them up.]
*Which way do we even go?*
[I don’t know. Just pick a direction?]
Kat really didn’t have a better suggestions so off they went. The pair managed to run into another set of poisonous bulbs and dismantle them. With a better understanding of things, they were able to save a bit more energy and head off straight away to the next set of bulbs. The slimes were still annoying, but Kat managed to at least scare them off once again. When the second lot was done, Kat let out a yawn and collapsed onto the grass a second time.
Lily followed behind her. [I’m basically on empty after that. I barely had the mana for that last bulb in the middle.]
*Yeah I’ve kept burning through a lot of demonic energy. Even if I regenerate fast it still feels exhausting when you’re nearly out. I think it might be because part of my regeneration is supporting me normally, but stops when I get low on demonic energy and without the adrenaline I just feel tired. Or maybe I’m just imagining things. The constant inhaling of poison also probably isn’t doing me any favours.*
[Urgh. I know what you mean. I’m completely out of mana. Well, not quite technically speaking, but it’s going to take me at least an hour to recover, maybe more and we’ve still seen no sign of Appoline.]
*I suppose hoping she’d be cackling madly right in the centre of this mess was optimistic. How the heck did she have the time to put up all of these bulbs though? Sure we took our time getting to the first few but I refuse to believe they can just be grown in an instant. I’d also be there are a bunch going the other way. If memory serves, I think we’re pretty close to the edge of the poison. Perhaps enough space for one more bulb… but they’d be right on the edge of the poison and surely recently planted? Yet Appoline is nowhere to be found. Have you smelt her or heard her?*
[Nope. Then again I can’t smell much other than this poison. It’s not necessarily a strong smell but it’s EVERYWHERE and tracking her is hard. At least I do know what she smells like because of that close encounter… but that was mostly her perfume. She could easily mix up something that hides her scent consider the whole ’master alchemist’ thing.]
*Another reason this is a massive pain in the ass. Are we just meant to wonder around with fuck all visibility searching for ONE person in like… what is this? Three or four suburbs? It’s a lot of land to hide one person in.*
[I don’t know. I think everyone sort of expected the maniacal cackling or some big cauldron in the middle of things that she was continually working on to spread the poison. Though… now that I’m thinking about it. What are the chances this is a distraction for something else? An excuse meant to look like a psychotic break?]
*I… I don’t know and I don’t like the fact that you might be right. Where are you going with this?*
[Well… I’m just wondering if she might have had help, and if she’s even still in the area?]
*Surely they wouldn’t have sent us in if they had no way to prevent her from leaving. They’ve managed to keep the poison contained…*
[Right but what if she’s just going through the sewers?]
*I’m going to hope that they have a way to lock those down as well. Maybe not a way that’s worth using to box in the thieves guild normally, but to prevent a catastrophe like this? Surely they’d have something.*
[Fair enough. The question next is, do we make our way out the side of this cloud to at least relay what we know? Perhaps try to get some updates?]
*Yeah that does seem worth it. How much mana have you got?*
[Still only like 15%]
*Not ideal… hopefully we don’t find another bulb before the edge of the poison. If we do, might have to skip over it and come back for it instead…*
[Only thing we can do is get moving.]
*Aren’t you still out of mana?*
[Yup, but if we’re just checking in that should be fine.]
Kat grimaced but nodded, forcing herself up into a standing position and starting to run for a bit before taking to the skies. Kat flew for the edge of the poison and found more worries. There was indeed a bulb and poison pond along the way. Much closer then the other two had been. Perhaps because not long after she found the edge of the poison. It was thick, pressed up against an invisible wall keeping it contained. Even for Kat it was hard to walk through that last bit. It didn’t hurt but there was so little oxygen in the air that it was safer to just hold her breath.
Kat burst out of the mist of poison and found the nearby guards had all trained their weapons on her. Holding up her hands, Kat said “I was sent inside to deal with the issue by Ramor. I’ve encountered some problems and ended up nearby. Is there a way to contact Ramor or Steel for more information?”
The guards looked at each other before one of them ran off. The rest kept their weapons facing her. Kat didn’t take it too personally. About a minute later, the guard came back with a crystal that he swiftly lit up. A grainy picture of Ramor appeared above the crystal. “Kat? What’s going on?”
“We’ve been looking for Appoline, but we found a few issues…” Kat started to detail her concerns. The potential zombie plague, the slimes, the bulbs, and how unlikely it was for Appoline to have done all of this by herself. Kat didn’t linger on the details too long, just tried to explain everything she could as quickly as possible.
“Dammit,” grumble Ramor once the story was over. “That’s… hmm… finding Appoline is still the highest priority and we’re nearly certain she’s still inside. Since you went in, we managed to get a tracker set up for her… but it’s not all that accurate. Simply telling us she’s somewhere in the area still. Which… in truth it might be wrong.
“I think your theory that it’s a distraction for something is likely accurate but we simply cannot ignore this. It’s too big, too dangerous and too hard to contain. It’s a massive risk, and I’ll be contacting Steel right afterwards to try and soften that blow but we can’t stop. I’m afraid I don’t really have much advice for you.”
“Well, how about answering a question for me? Is it worth taking out these bulbs? It’s not easy, and it’s quite draining magically on both Lily and I. It’s not too hard. The slimes aren’t as scary as I might have once thought but they’re still a pain. I also don’t know if I’m actually killing them, but the bulbs seem more important,” explained Kat.
Ramor nodded, “I’d like you to try destroying them, if only because it might force Appoline out. We’re working on suits to allow for guards to help out with things, but that’s not a job that can be finished in one night this stuff isn’t super powerful, well not innately. It’s real power seems to be in sneaking through all sorts of imperfections in the protection. If you don’t manage to finish things tonight… I’m not sure what will happen. Perhaps if you’re not tired I might ask you continue. It’s… it’s a stressful time for us all,”
Kat sighed, “Yeah I suppose it is…”