D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2357 Ice and Fire

--- Kat ---

Kat couldn’t help but think as they stepped through the portal and the ice assaulted them. Or rather, it tried. For Rank 2 ice, essentially, it just wasn’t going to do anything to Kat and Lily was hidden in between Kat’s boobs. Kat had even taken it a step further and added a jumper over the top. It looked rather strange, but would hopefully keep the warm in.

Kat agreed that it was both, quite likely and possible that the best counter to Wiggles was a flashbang, and that Appoline could likely make one. The hope was that she had at some point. It seemed like a useful enough thing to just have on hand even if it hasn’t come up before, though that might be due to Lily’s poor interaction with them in the past. Kat supposed they just had to hope for the best.

Which was currently what they were doing as they marched through the snow. It was practically impossible to see anything more than a few steps ahead of them and only the fact that Lily could sense the portals, and Grunkle had shown the exact path they needed to take made this trek even remotely reasonable. It would be so easy to get turned around here, especially with the various ice spikes sticking out of the ground.

Though, perhaps calling them spikes was a bit generous. Each of these ’spikes’ were wider then Kat, wingspan included, and only the fact that they were so cylindrical made the name feel even remotely appropriate in this case. Sometimes there were multiple stacked together, so you had to go all the way around... and once you did making sure you were on the same heading was a little difficult. Kat mostly relied on just counting the things and hoping her aim was good enough.

Luckily, the map they were shown was good enough to show these little features along the way, so it was easy to compare them to where they should be. For example, they’d just past a cluster of five spikes, and if they were heading in the correct direction still, the next thing they’d find should be the edge of the island. Then they had to follow that around until they found a cluster of four, with a slight gap, making it more of a cluster of three and a lone spike. From there, a cave should be nearby...

Oh, and there’s the edge. Kat had nearly stepped off the edge as she remembered the map. The edge really was just... there. Nothing to stop anyone from simply falling off and the snow extended a bit past what was likely safe. Kat confirmed as much when she used her tail to poke down about a foot back from the edge. Instead of sinking until it hit dirt, her tail went all the way through and a bunch of snow nearby started to crumble around it, falling off the side of the island and down into the clouds below.

They hadn’t seen any sign of the monster that they were meant to be avoiding though. Kat wasn’t sure if Lily and herself were considered too powerful to bother when it was just the two of them, or if it was actually an illusion the entire time. With Lily not peaking her head out from where she was snuggled, they could only see what Kat saw... and that was nothing. Grunkle had been quite insistent that the damned thing would bother him every few minutes...

But so far nothing. No footprints in the snow to indicate passage, no icicles being thrown there way. No screaming or screeching. There just wasn’t anything at all to note other than the fact it was snowing rather hard and of course, the odd landscaping choices. So Kat and Lily kept an eye out just in case... but were getting less worried about whatever the ’creature’ might actually be as they’d been walking for at least twenty minutes without trouble at this point.

Commented Kat as she moved through the gap in the spikes and started heading away from the edge. A few moments later they found the cave they were looking for and Lily could sense the portal inside of it. The cave itself was mostly hidden by snow, but when you knew what to look for the indent was fairly obvious. Pushing through and into the cave they got closer to the portal Lily could sense. It was the first of two lava portals, allegedly.

Kat stopped about a corner

Lily grumbled but shifted herself until her head was just barely poking out through the neck of the sweater Kat had on... so then of course Kat simply pulled the sweater off, leaving Lily glaring at her. *

Lily continued to glare even after she was fed a dosage of that potion and slunk back to her comfy place. She was too annoyed to be embarrassed about it for once. Still, with that settled Kat rounded one more corner and jumped into the portal. As soon as they were on the other side it was clear why Grunkle was uninterested in exploring further. The portal had dropped them off in the middle of a lava lake. Worse than that, lava covered most of the sides.

It seemed to be constantly churning, and even if it wasn’t too hot, Kat could still feel the humidity. Taking a careful breath in, Kat found it was still noticeably hot. *

Kat swiftly took out the first device and placed it directly under the portal as requested. Lily watched carefully for a bit, worried the portal would distort or something, but the device just dug into the ground a bit and then covered itself in dirt. Hiding it from everything without seeming to have done anything to the portal.

Kat then made the risky jump through the lava and into the next cave... or well, she floated over. No reason to make things difficult while carrying Lily.

Just as Lily was going to answer, she heard something cracking above, and slightly to the side. She the information to Kat who dashed backwards as the wall exploded and a... lava slime? No there were real eyeballs mixed in there and soon it swiftly spat out a glob of gas towards them. Kat sent a potent mix of demonic fire back in return. The lava that made up its body quickly froze it solid, only to crack open for a second or two before solidifying once again.

Then it exploded.

Kat hadn’t expected it, but she’d been ready for some sort of last ditch attack. She turned her back on the thing, careful to only allow the hits debris to hit her instead of Lily. The rocks that slammed into her were hot and did shred her clothing... but ultimately, for Kat it wasn’t THAT hot nor was it all that much of an issue to shrug off.

As she flexed, the bits of rock and lava flaked off her as she swiftly replaced her outfit and glared at the remains.