D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2267 Through the Mud

--- Kat ---

Appoline decided to rest as well, though she sat down instead of laying down like Kat, and sort of Lily. "It’s no issue. Though I am glad you were able to tell I was lying. Regenerator killer potions are not cheap and I don’t actually have any on me. Well, none that I would trust to take down something as large as the axolotl. It could likely deal with it by simply ripping off the infected chunk, and seemed to have the intelligence for it as well,"

"No, no it was a great plan. I’m not sure how else we would’ve got away from it," Kat confirmed before letting out a huff. "It does kind of annoy me that it could clearly understand what we, or at least I, was saying. The damned thing attacked immediately when I said ’Hello’ of all things! Maybe if it was completely unintelligent then I could’ve accepted this sort of thing... but it didn’t! Oh, though I do have to ask, what was in that vial? It seemed kinda worried about it."

Appoline nodded, "Yes it’s a major missed opportunity, but not your fault that it didn’t want to talk despite its intelligence. As for the potion? Its something that’s meant to induce pain all over the skin it gets into contact with. My hope was that it would assume the potion was far worse than intended. The lightning might have supercharged it... or made it useless. I’m not entirely sure, I didn’t expect that part though I probably should’ve."

"I didn’t feel any pain walking through it... but I don’t know how much that matters," offered Kat.

Appoline shrugged, "The thing was scared enough that it didn’t dare test the potion cloud anyway so it worked regardless. Though... now that we know the big guy isn’t going to work with us, can I take some ingredients from the little ones?"

"Did we even see a smaller one during the chase?" asked Kat.

Appoline frowned at the question. "No... I don’t think we did. Saw some of those earth crocodiles, plenty of cracks, at least a couple of jellyfish. Some plants I think could’ve attacked but were too scared too but no axolotls..."

Kat nodded, "Exactly. I will say that I personally don’t care if you grab one. They regenerate anyway so either harvesting a bit is fine... or killing them if you think you can. They’re cute sure, but they broke the ’don’t try to kill you’ rule so at this point they’re fair game I think. Once again, assuming you can find them... though actually.

"While I no longer have moral issues with trying to kill them... what if hurting them somehow summons the big one to our location? They were able to move around shockingly easily with not a lot, if anything, trying to attack them as they ran... hmmm... do you think it’s just because they were fast and know the terrain?"

Appoline clicked her tongue. "Dammit that’s a good point. My best guess, actually maybe one Lily can confirm, is that they all have the scent of the big one on them, keeping the other predators a bit too scared. They just need to hesitate for a few moments for the axolotls to run past afterwards. I’d assume it’s unlikely for the big one to find out if a smaller axolotl got taken out... but that’s an assumption."

"Alright, that’s good. Um... do you want to keep going or would you rather rest? Time is still... awkward for the moment so I couldn’t tell you how long it has been. Especially with our bands acting weirdly... and we still haven’t gotten a notice about that so it probably hasn’t been twenty-four hours but we may have moved all through the night..."

Appoline shrugged. "If you give me a bit of time to recover and perhaps eat something I’m sure I’ll be fine. I had a decent sleep in that ice cave you made for me and even if the physical effort of running for so long is something to note, I’m not exhausted."

"Right... hmm..." Kat glanced around before nodding. "Alright I’m willing to keep going after a short snack break, but only until we find a good place to get some actual rest for you, either when we transition to a new less muddy area, or we find something better like an abandoned shelter."

With that settled Kat and Appoline both brought out food... both for Appoline as Kat wasn’t hungry. The pair glanced awkwardly at each other for a few seconds before Kat swapped hers out for some fish and started to feed the slices to Lily. Appoline giggled a bit at the scene, but got stuck into the meal she’d grabbed. It seemed to be a mixture of... nuts and bacon with a bit of salad? *

"Did you make that yourself?" asked Kat.

Appoline nodded, "Yup, it was a while back now but it’s not like normal food expires in the good dimensional storage areas."

"Wait... do potions?" asked Kat.

"Yup," nodded Appoline. "You can get really fancy ones that don’t... I think? The main issue is that the magic is still leaking out of the potions even if they aren’t properly interacting with time. They do still keep their temperature though, and certain potions do better when they’re slightly warm or cool, or heck, even the extremes on occasion though normally potions that involve extreme temperatures produce it as a side effect rather then requiring it for storage."

Kat nodded along and the two continued to chat while Lily and Appoline ate. Most of that was actually Kat relaying questions of Lily’s who had no interest in transforming at the moment. Not only was she being fed fish, but it was while laying on top of Kat and doing both of those would be a lot more awkward at her full size. Especially because they were still just sitting on the ice sheet Kat had made earlier and was currently refreshing.

Once Appoline was full the group got ready to keep moving. They assembled into their previous formation and Kat took to the skies... by a few centimetres anyway. It was a much calmer sprint then they had fighting the axolotl, and Appoline abused that a bit to get clippings of the various plants they past and a few simple fights that were over instantly.

The main thing to note was that no further axolotls made an appearance. Even with the three keeping an eye out for them specifically, not a single one turned up. It was so ’bad’ they even managed to find a flower with an orb still inside it. Kat absorbed it swiftly into her bracelet of course but it was kind of weird to see after how long they’d gone without seeing any orbs at all.

It was just as the group got into a grove that Lily felt... something. A light touch indicating that perhaps something was wrong... but the realisation came too late. Kat flew forward directly into it and the swamp disappeared around them. They were now in a completely different biome... and the mountain seemed closer?

The main issue was this place seemed a good deal more dangerous. The ground was made up of metallic iron sand everywhere with the only saving grace being the charred and blackened pillars rising up out of the ground everywhere. Signs of lightning damage was obvious and it all centred around the pillars, with the sand perhaps the pillars being worn down over time.

Despite the lack of rain or even much cloud cover, lightning struck the various pillars around them on the regular. Even just waiting around a few seconds saw the lightning strike off in the distance multiple times. It seemed like it never struck too closely to the previous spot, but the fact that it was a near constant background noise was cause for some concern.

There was also no good shelter that they could see. While the pillars seemed to absorb most of the power, it might not be all. The current crop of strikes was a bit too distant to tell. There was also the monsters to worry about. None were visible for the moment but that didn’t mean none were around. Lily could hear quite a few things scuttling about just under the surface. It meant finding a place to bunk down for a bit to rest might have to wait. Of course, doing that might mean that things were even worse later on.

Kat gently put Appoline down on the ground, noting that her shoes weren’t glowing anymore. Kat didn’t know if that meant the full six hours had passed, or if instead the transition had drained them. "Are you good to walk? I want to be mobile enough to block any lightning coming for us, but that wouldn’t mean much if you’re in my arms when I block it..."

"You do remember there’s nothing wrong with my legs..." grumbled Appoline.