D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2272 Sschting

--- Kat ---

Things were going well. There were no problems so far. The wheels worked well enough even on uneven terrain due to their own uneven placement. Lily could push the contraption without using much mana, and Kat could keep it moving without worry. The lightning continued to disperse for reasons neither of them understood but overall it was simply nice to have the plan working, even better than intended too.

This would soon change, though not through any fault of engineering. It was the dirt beneath their feet that shifted, and even as Kat prepared, things sprang into motion. From below a giant stinger ripped through the air. Each nob filled with lightning, like a plasma globe but far more deadly. The stinger tried to come down onto Appoline, who was standing slightly to the side so as not to be caught up in the wheels.

Kat shoved her out of the way, and the stinger slammed into Kat instead. Lily hissed as the pain hit across the link. Kat wasn’t just being injected with poison but lightning as well. Kat nearly transformed to get away from the pain, but the risk she’d simply be fried in her water form was too much so Kat endured it. The stinger hadn’t pierced her all the way through... but that might have been quite intentional.

Lily wasn’t completely frozen though. A shadow clawed into the stinger’s body, an attempt to get through the scorpion’s armour... but when it made contact with one of the glowing orbs, an explosion rang out with the lightning travelling back through Lily’s shadows and shocking her, causing her far more damage then the scorpion had taken.

Kat used her shaking hands to rip the stinger from her stomach hissing in pain even as her entire body was shaking. Her regeneration was working over time to fix all of the issues she’d just experienced, but the lightning and poison combination had been deadly. Anyone of lesser durability would’ve simply died on impact. Lily was far better off for the moment but the scorpion had freed itself to the ground and its claws were snapping towards Lily as its stinger retracted.

At the same time, Appoline threw a bottle of something, it looked a bit like a dust storm was trapped inside before it collided with the scorpion and exploded into mud and muck. It didn’t seem to do much damage but it did stick the thing in place somewhat, and the lightning in some of the lower orbs making up its tale started to drain. The scorpion shrieked, enraged by this as its stinger thrashed in place as its body tried to get free.

Kat threw some demonic fire towards the thing while it was trapped, but it was stilted, weak. Apparently all of her demonic energy was currently trying to keep her in operation while the poison continued to cause problems. What she could summon up for other things was very limited. Kat hissed, but didn’t dare risk transforming at the moment, just in case.

Lily though, was ready. She was also in pain but ready nonetheless, and the lightning had travelled through her fast enough to give her time to recover instead of continuing to play around with her insides. A fist of shadow slammed into the scorpion’s shell, freeing it from the mud, but cracking its chitin plates all across its body. That same chitin plate Kat had hit with her demonic fire.

The scorpion screamed, its tail splitting into three somehow as it struck out at each of them. Lily dodged, able to move swiftly enough to avoid the strike by getting behind the central pillar. The stinger targeting her slammed into the umbrella, knocking it back and away. Something Lily would try to rectify a moment later... but...

The one heading for Appoline and Kat were less easily dealt with. Kat still found herself not really in the condition to move far. Kat still had almost full control over her tail though... and she had a choice to make with it. Which of course, was barely a choice at all. Instead of grabbing onto something and hurling herself out of the way, she wrapped her tail around Appoline who was still nearby and threw her away before the third stinger could make contact with the elf.

Appoline had a plan as well, and hurled a purple bottle at the scorpion. It made contact at the same time as the stinger hit Kat. The bottle exploded into purple fire reminiscent of Kat’s own, burning at the gaps in the chitin and introducing ice crystals that stabbed into the thing. Kat for her part was not having a good time being impaled. Again. It didn’t hurt as much, the poison and lightning drastically reduced to pull off the triple tail trick, but that certainly didn’t mean it was pleasant.

Lily was on the case though. With the scorpion mostly stunned by the pain of Appoline’s potion Lily wanted to hammer into the thing, but she needed to bring the umbrella back towards them. If lightning struck while they were fighting, and they had no shield it would be horrible for the defenders and a great boon for the monster attacking them. More than likely anyway.

Appoline was still working. While the stinger had not let go of Kat... that just meant there was an easy target for Appoline. Another lobbed potion, similar to the previous and the entire stinger lit up with purple fire. One that didn’t effect Kat at all. This caused it to retract the stinger from Kat’s re-opened wound in her stomach. Kat, not quite willing to just let it get away with that, slammed a fist THROUGH one of the glowing orbs on its tail. Giving her another blast of lightning, but at this point it wasn’t even something Kat could notice.

That was apparently too much for the scorpion as it screeched and discharged lightning all around it. The last of the lightning it contained was spewed out into the environment, and sucked up by the nearby pillars and the umbrella Lily had just barely got back into position. Lightning rushed along the exposed pathways underneath their contraption, burning some of the stone wheels, but mostly dissipating into the structure itself.

450

Kat let herself collapse, wheezing as she hit the ground, and a few of the prongs on her way down. Appoline soon moved to flip Kat over and look at the hole in her stomach. "You know, I’d call you pretty dead if you were anyone else..." mumbled Appoline.

Lily heard this and looked over. "Oh don’t worry I can see her body repairing it. No normal person would be able to, but I was clear in my wording. Assuming Kat has enough demonic energy to heal through this... she can fix herself."

Lily transformed, and HAD to ask. "Is there anything you can do? I mean... she’ll be ok right? But is there anything you can do?"

Appoline shrugged. "I mean, I could give her a healing potion. I don’t think it would help, and there is a small chance it makes the poison worse... but I could do it."

"Is there nothing else?" hissed Lily, slit eyes tightening as she looked down at Appoline crouched next to Kat.

Appoline still shook her head. "No. Nothing I have is likely to help. Do remember that not only is Kat Rank 4, she has a strong regeneration factor and is a demon. It’s really not my expertise. The best way to perhaps help her would be to pull all the poison from her... but I don’t possess that power and it’s not exactly a common need so I have no potions prepared for it. Perhaps if the scorpion was more intact..."

Appoline pointed over her shoulder at the completely ruined scorpion corpse. Even ignoring the damage they’d done to it each bulb on its stinger had exploded, and charred the rest of the corpse through rendering it unsuitable for... anything really. "... I could make something but I don’t even know if the whole thing would count as a singular poor ingredient at this point."

"Dammit..." cursed Lily. "So what we just sit here?"

Appoline shrugged, "We could start working to fix up the wheels. Most of them are broken and until those are fixed we’re not going anywhere."

Lily let out another hiss. A giant claw of shadow slammed into the scorpion before hurling it away. Still, Lily got ready to help gather the pieces of rock that had once been wheels. She’d be useful. She’d try.