D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2199 Poisonous Assumptions

— Kat —

Rocky moved over to the couch and let himself fall into it and Steel made a bit of a face before shaking his head and deciding whatever he was going to say wasn’t worth it. Once Lan was suited up, Steel clapped, letting the sound carry throughout the house. “Alright, everyone is ready. You’ve already been briefed and none of this should be new to you, but just in case let me go over a few final things.

“This is Kat, she’s your main source of protection alongside her familiar Lily, who is currently guarding the item. They have the most experience in the area, and what they so goes until you all start getting setup. Appoline here, has chosen to come along to investigate the unique plants in the area as well as provide potions for use should something happen in an emergency,” Kat glanced at Appoline when Steel said this… but she didn’t react. Perhaps expecting this.

Steel continued. “The poison itself can’t hurt you in those suits, and it is believed that the facility is able to keep itself at least somewhat filtered, but I don’t want any of you testing that. The warding team should have a filtration ward ready to guard the area up swiftly, and once that’s in place you will all be free to remove the equipment. It is NOT a substitute for armour, so fighting in them is not ideal.”

“If your suit gets punctured, run to the nearest safe zone, either further in, or leaving the quarantine area. If you’re fast you should be fine. If not… you know the risks. We’ve taken steps to prevent that, and the suits aren’t made of paper of course, but they are weak so keep that in mind. Kat is capable of freezing the area nearby so if the exit, and the filtration ward are both far away pray that she is nearby.”

This was news to Kat… but wasn’t wrong either, so she nodded along with what Steel was saying, summoning a bit of demonic fire for effect. “The mission for you is simple. Find the core, set up the wards, and keep it defended until you are relieved by a more long-term team. This mission is meant to secure the item from outside interference, and the extra mana it puts off means maintaining strong wards will be easier then normal.

“If necessary, running for you life is quite acceptable as long as you report afterwards. I recommend running towards Kat if possible as the strongest combatant, or one of the guards if she’s not around. Lily should also be on watch but you might not see her so don’t worry about that too much. Are there any questions?”

Brook raised a hand and Steel inclined his head in her direction. “Are we expecting to be attacked?”

“Yes, at least somewhat,” conceded Steel.

Lan raised an arm, and Steel nodded once again. “You said we’re being replaced later by proper guards, when can we expect that to happen?”

“Depends on how long it takes to properly set up the wards. I’m aware that it could longer or shorter depending on how you decide to set everything up, but likely a day or two after it’s finished. I could rush perhaps, but there’s no need.”

One of the guards raised a hand, “What about food and water supplies?”

“Food has been assembled and there is a flooded room filled with clean water you can fill up canteens in if yours start to run low. They shouldn’t, but we went lighter on the water knowing there was a good source nearby to fit more food in,” explained Steel.

After a good thirty seconds of silence, Steel nodded. “Alright then, every it’s time for you to head off. All be escorting you to the quarantine zone and leaving afterwards. Good luck to you all,”

Everyone started to move, following Steel out of the house. Kat didn’t want to know what the neighbours thought as a bunch of suited figures marched behind the captain of the guard. Then again, the poison wasn’t exactly subtle so Kat supposed they could all guess. Walking to the wall itself didn’t take long, but before they could enter, Appoline made a worrying declaration. “The poison is more potent.”

Kat looked it over. It… seemed the same? A bit thicker perhaps but if you’d asked her it hadn’t reached the same density as the original night. On the other hand it was Appoline saying it. “The suits should hold,” claimed Steel. “They aren’t really limited by potency unless it becomes exceptionally acidic.”

Appoline shrugged at the answer. “Simply letting you know.” As she said this, Kat took a step forward and pushed her arm into the mist. It… tingled a bit. That was not good. Pulling it back Kat immediately had the feeling vanished. Placing her hand back inside she found no drain at all on her demonic energy so it wasn’t bad enough to need regeneration… yet.

“It’s certainly strong. I can actually feel it now. Still doesn’t hurt and my regeneration isn’t reacting… but Appoline is right it’s more potent,” confirmed Kat.

“That’s a slight worry then,” muttered Steel. “Would you mind stepping inside for a moment? Actually wait.” Steel tapped his gauntlet and a rope appeared in hand. One end was passed over to Kat. “Wrap this around yourself and we can yank you out if you collapse.”

Kat shrugged and did as asked, it wasn’t a hard request to follow. Stepping into the poison… the tingling feeling was more pronounced for a few seconds… but then it sort of faded away? Kat frowned and rubbed her arms a bit to see if that would change anything but it just… didn’t. Shrugging she stepped out. “Still feels weird being inside but it doesn’t seem to be hurting me.”

Steel nodded, while Appoline looked her over. “The poison doesn’t seem to have breached the barrier when Kat moved through it.”

“That was a worry?” asked one of the guards.

“Yes,” said Appoline and Steel at the same time. Steel glanced at Appoline to see if she was going to say more before continuing. “It doesn’t seem to be a major concern yet, but it is still a worry we’ve been cautious of. Once again, the more potent effects shouldn’t be an issue for you all. The suits are designed to keep everything out, but if things are getting worse… just keep an eye on them.”

Kat nodded and stepped inside, it was her time to lead the way now. The tingling came back and she took a few further steps inside as she waited for everyone to follow. The group naturally formed up into a pack with the normal guards at the corners and everyone else in the middle, except for Kat of course who remained in the lead. Appoline seemed to be hanging back, taking an almost mirrored spot, though still between the guards. Vanilla and Maryland were part of the pack for now.

Kat waited for a bit, just to make sure the suits would hold before beginning to walk. As she did so, she started to flex her demonic energy a bit. The tingling on her skin felt like it might be a problem. It still wasn’t, not really, she was loosing no demonic energy to it… but it felt like a signal of potentially worse things to come so Kat started to try and fend it off. Demonic energy coating her in the thinnest of layers with the smallest amount of demonic energy necessary.

Kat was having… no real success. Covering just an arm was fine, but stretching that coverage out obviously took up more demonic energy, but thinning it out further tended to cause it to vanish completely. Kat was so focused that she almost missed the sound of nearby movement. Kat threw her demonic fire at whatever it was, not even waiting to check. Her flames burnt a path to the figure, revealing a slime that quickly froze over. Kat frowned. “I thought we’d cleared all of those out…”

Kat continued to glare at them as Appoline walked over and pulled a vial from… somewhere to collect some of the slime. Kat watched her for a bit before it was stoppered Appoline was back in formation. “Alright, the slimes here were seen before… but the fact they’ve returned is an issue. Either they’ve gotten boulder… or someone added them back in. Appoline can you tell us anything?”

“Not really. Pink they may be but from the looks of things they actually aren’t all that related to my own creations. I suspect their appearance is simply intended to invoke my own projects. It’s simply a dye in this case rather then their natural colouring,” explained Appoline.

“Does that change much?” asked Kat.

Appoline shrugged. “I can’t say what colour they’re meant to be… and half of the time the colour of a slime doesn’t actually mean anything anyway. Until I have some more time with it I can’t give you more. You did immediately flash freeze the thing after all.”

“I’m not apologising,” Kat said firmly.