D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2338 EXPLOSION

--- Kat ---

Now, it was perhaps true that some would say Kat had gone a little crazy… but in her defence, she had a bit of stress to work out after being so useless against that bird. There was also the fact that with Appoline still gathering yet more moss, she had plenty of time to kill… so Kat may have, just perhaps, let loose a little. Setting a slightly terrified Wiggles to the side, Kat got to work.

What had been a cloudy, muddy swamp was now a winter wonderland. The mud had been frozen, the clouds had been frozen. Any of the monsters that were too close and unlucky enough to get her attention? Well, they too were frozen. Kat had simply unleashed. Letting go of about half her demonic energy reserves all at once to blast the area in front of the portal. Kat then, a bit more carefully, covered the area around the portal itself before working her way outwards on the other three sides.

It didn't even take that long, though it was also true that some of the ice at the edges was melting already. Ultimately, while her demonic fire did freeze things and cool them down, that never seemed to apply much to the air. On the other hand, they were pretty high and it was quite cool so it wasn't as though the ice was melting all that fast. This was mostly to keep the monsters away in any case so it wasn't a big deal if it did melt.

Kat was relaxing against a frozen tree to recover her demonic energy when Appoline and Lily showed up. Apparently Appoline had finally decided that she'd taken enough moss, which was even more than originally planned. Kat's destruction of the island, or rather, the fact it was about to merge with her hand meant that the moss would either simply be gone, or fall all the way to the ground.

"Everything good with you two?" asked Kat.

Appoline nodded, "Yes. While I sort of regret not grabbing even more moss… the truth of the matter is that I've filled up about ninety percent of my storage already. Some of that is from earlier of course, but well over fifty percent of it is JUST the moss, and it's good sure, but I'm certain I can get better… but there's so much of it just there for that taking. Part of me wants to brew up a bunch of test batches with it and then collect some more… but I don't know that I really have the non-moss ingredients for that."

"Well…" Kat glanced at Lily. "Lily can still talk to me while I'm inside those runes so it's quite possible that you could do something like that. Lily can let you know if I'm about to finish up and you need to be on this side of the portal…"

Appoline shrugged. "Still not sure if I have the non-moss ingredients for it. I'm sure I could make a bunch of stuff… but it's almost a waste to use the moss for it. Though if it's gone anyway?" Appoline shook her head. "We'll work it out and be careful. There's still quite a bit of moss near the portal, I just cut away a small square not too far from the base. Basically enough to ensure that you wouldn't stop on it by accident, but can still get to the portal in a second or so."

"Thanks for that," Kat said with a nod before Lily transformed to give her a quick kiss. Kat returned it with a smile before inclining her head to both of them and heading back to the rune. Leaving Wiggles in their care. The rabbit… oh he was actually unconscious. That explained why he'd been so quiet. Kat had… forgotten about him during the fight… and barely consider him in the moss area. Still, no point worrying about him now that it was safe.

Stepping through the portal Kat gave a quick glance around, and easily spotted the square Appoline was talking about… and all that was left was for Kat to press her hand against it.

The transport was smooth, and she found herself in a sort of cave once again, with blue crystals lining the walls and black stone making up the bulk of it. Though unlike the claustrophobic tunnels of before, this new one was WIDE open. Very wide. Quite flat too… in fact. Kat glanced around at what felt suspiciously like an arena…

Kat's eyes snapped to the top of the cavern as a bunch of crystals started to fall. Still… they just looked like normal crystals and none of them were anywhere close to her. Kat glanced around, looking for something else, assuming it was meant to be a distraction… except… the crystals never shattered against the ground. Kat didn't hear them fall. Turning slowly back to them, she saw all of them floating.

Before she could even question what a bunch of floating blue crystals could do, three of the leading ones all fired laser beams directly towards her. Kat dodged two of them, and then intentionally left the back of her hand in the path of the third, testing the waters. The laser smacked into her with a surprising amount of physical force… but it was just enough to shift her hand. It wasn't enough to hurt, not really. Perhaps sting a bit.

As Kat rubbed her hand she also found it was slightly warm. So… this was a burning attack then? With her safety mostly assured Kat charged forward as more lasers were shot in her direction. The crystals seemed to need to recharge a bit, and were smart enough to stagger their attacks… well… that or they simply attacked based on when they hit the ground. Kat hadn't been quite that much attention.

When she reached the first crystal, Kat slammed a hand into it, intending to shatter the thing. Instead, it was thrown backwards into another crystal… that floated out of the way. Annoying. Kat followed up by trying to slam the next one down into the ground… but instead of crashing into the stone floor, it flung itself away like it was greased up. *Ok… how do I actually damage these things then? Don't tell me I need arrows or some garbage…*

Kat tried a few more attacks, including with her fans but it wasn't really working out. The crystals were decently sturdy, but were far too easily able to move with the blow. Their levitation kept them in place… barely, and in actuality seemed more of a defensive ability. Kat finally got sick of this and tried to use demonic fire on the nearest one… and it exploded.

Kat was not prepared in the slightest, and this time it was her that was sent flying backwards. Kat slammed into the ground and continued rolling further and further away from the group as her body began healing itself. Even before she'd stopped moving her wings had snapped back into place at least twice and Kat had to dodge to the side to avoid another round of lasers. She'd been half tempted to let those ones hit her…

Regardless, this was a problem. Looking at the crystals she could see that they all managed the explosion better than she did. Well, except for the one that was now shards on the ground. So… she had an answer, just not a perfect one. Kat checked her reserves and saw they were fine… Alright so… I COULD come up with a smart, intelligent plan that gets me through this with minimal further damage… or… well…

[Sigh.]

*FUCK IT WE BALL*

[SIGH]

Lily knew that the explosion hadn't hurt… that much. At least not be Kat's ridiculous standards of pain. A normal person would be much worse off just from said pain, but Kat got more injured from rolling onto her wings when thrown backwards then the explosion itself… so why not? Kat didn't mind, and it was an easy solution to the fight before her. She had the demonic energy for it after all. Regeneration didn't cost much and apparently these things only needed a spark.

So that's what Kat did. The crystals didn't seem to have any sort of survival instinct and it was unclear if they were just enchanted or if they were meant to be some sort of natural creation or what. Regardless, a bit of demonic fire and BOOM off they went. Kat was certainly better prepared for the follow up explosions. Her wings were flared for the second one and she was able to ride it away. It did also leave her with dozens of crystal shards piercing through said wings, but that was fine…

The next attempt just had Kat jumping backwards at the same time as she sent the flames out. It did send her into a roll again, mostly as she didn't want to risk her wings with additional stabilisation.