D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2282 On the Inside

--- Kat ---

Kat was genuinely surprised when another rock went to fall on her head. She was in the corridor just after the slide, and had been on the lookout for traps. There still wasn’t anything she could see that triggered the fall... but whatever. This time Kat caught the first two and shoved them into her bracelet. With the golem fists elsewhere, she had the space. Oh, and by elsewhere, she meant hidden in Steel’s basement.

Regardless, with the rocks secured it was another easy corridor walk. Kat was wondering if it was a way to lure her into a false sense of security. Especially as, open entire the next door she was practically slapped in the face by water. It was being kept in place by an invisible barrier, but crossing into it saw her in a room filled to the brim.

Tiny little fish monsters that were a cross of angler fish and piranha immediately swarmed towards her. They were glowing a soft blue light... and it was their teeth and fins that produced the glow. Kat initially wanted to use demonic fire, but as she summoned it around her hands she found her demonic energy being drained away as the water around her froze instead.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, Kat simply transformed into water letting her mind spread out through the room instead of bothering with fighting the fish. With completely free movement Kat could get to the door... that wasn’t glowing. Shit. Kat reformed at the door, and noticed that the main blue orb was completely dull. Quickly tapping her bracelet on it as the piranhas approached produced nothing, no matter how many times Kat tried.

Transforming back to water just before one took a bite from her shoulder, Kat considered her options. There were really only two. The first was to explore the area as water looking for something important, and the second was to take out the monsters and hope that was what would trigger the opening for the door. It didn’t seem entirely normal to have monster slaughter as the goal where Thyme was involved... but it was pretty standard adventurer tactics so perhaps it could be excused in this case.

Even still, there was no harm in looking around for a bit as the piranhas dispersed again to nibble on some plants that were attached to various suspended blocks. All over the place... it made Kat wonder. Why the heck where they piranhas, with a clear and present desire for flesh and blood... if they were also fine to eat the plants. Or were the plants special in some way? Kat supposed that was possible on Thyme’s end, but ultimately made for a weird viewing experience. The piranhas really did tear into the thick seaweed like they were trying to tear apart a carcass.

A thorough investigation of the plants, and their accompanying cubes left her with nothing. There wasn’t any secret she could find... this was simply meant to be a brawl. Once that was decided, Kat got to work, and once again, found that perhaps the challenges weren’t really designed with her in mind.

Kat could simply reform behind one, crush it, and then move on. Their teeth were deadly, and they clearly had some magic as the glow would get a lot brighter... a moment before taking them out. Kat simply kept up the rhythm and soon, they were all dead. Once that had happened, the door lit up, confirming her choice. *

Kat opened the next door, and was surprised to find that the water wasn’t kept in like last time. Before she could take control, the pressure from the water washing her away pulled Kat along and into the next area. It was a series of rapids that carried her along. Sharp rocks and cave walls to throw her against. No monsters and a low ceiling... but once again, turning into water meant she could just ride it towards the end. Another obstacle skipped over.

That ease did almost lead to Kat following it down a drain. The waterflow ended at a massive grate that let the water flow on while being tightly packed enough to have someone walk over it. Of course, that meant Kat could’ve fit through the gaps as well. It just likely wasn’t intended. Kat had to actually throw her perspective back up the waterfall a bit to reform above the grate instead of below it.

Kat let out a long breath as she moved towards the ladder. *Kat brushed her hands off on her kimono even though nothing was on them and then got to climbing. This proved to be the wrong idea. Apparently engaging in the challenges in good faith just wasn’t the way to go about it. One of the rungs Kat had reached out for had simply snapped in her hands, sending her backwards. With wings that was no issue... but she still looked at it like it had betrayed her.

Kat nodded along, understanding the idea as she flew upwards, keeping an eye on the ladder in case it did anything else weird. Perhaps there were more trapped ladder rungs, but as Kat wasn’t touching them they certainly didn’t stand out. She was able to fly all the way up to the trapdoor at the top and throw it open.

In this, hopefully, last room Kat found a plinth with three copies of what looked to be small version of the stone outside. Each with slightly different designs on them, and a note in front of them all. It read ’Welcome to the final challenge. All you need to do, is reach out and take the mirror of the truth. If you can do that you will be set free along with your prize’.

Kat glared at the paper like it owed her money. *

Kat looked over the three for a while, taking in the rune placements and how they looked... and realised that eliminating the one she did at first might be premature. It seemed that, just perhaps, it might be mirrored as though the rest of the relic was there, instead of just existing as a single piece, while the second one made it seem like it was resting the mirror image, and the third looked, roughly, like it should.

Which was the thing, Kat was trying to work out the specifics. Sure they all seemed correct enough when viewed through a certain lens but she hadn’t actually look at the whole thing. That was the big issue. Without having seen the full structure, it didn’t matter if she was reconstructing it from memory or not, those parts were still missing.

Even still the ’normal’ one was the first to be eliminated. Kat found a rune on the back that was simply wrong. It looked close enough, looking a bit like a pictograph of a lantern, but that’s not how the original looked. It, instead, had a circle with the two lines not touching at all. So that one was false.

Trying to decide between the next two though... that was a challenge, and one Kat wasn’t sure she was up to. They were both correct enough, no obvious flaws, and even if the runes didn’t line up completely she had to account for the one she couldn’t see... unless? Perhaps... Kat glanced over at the one she’d marked as wrong.

While that was still true... perhaps she could use it to compare to the other two? See what differences they had between the three of them. This was going to take some time...