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

— Kat —

Kat was happy to be free and while the desire to slide around on the top of the glass and enjoy that freedom was very strong… they had a job to do and the rest of the group had just spent over an hour to break her out of that glass prison so wasting time on it felt like a bad idea.

Of course, that didn’t mean Kat couldn’t have any fun at all. Lily was limited in the speed she could pull Hunter around and Kat found she… wasn’t confined nearly as much. Once Kat got back on her feet and got into things? She was sliding around all over the place.

Using her tail and wings Kat could practically fly over the smooth glass surface and was able to cover the distance in a fraction of the time. “Hahahah! This is great! Makes me wonder if taking enough of this stuff to make skates or something would be worth it,” laughed Kat. Find your next read on freewebnovel

[In more normal circumstances I’d say yes. It’d take a few hours, but if you cut out a big chunk you could just take that and then refine it down later on. Sadly I don’t think we can afford the break.]

Kat slid back over to Hunter and Lily, skating circles around them as she spoke, “Yeah I know that much. It’s a shame we won’t be able to… but it might be worth looking into purchasing something similar from the Hub. I think… after this a proper shopping spree might be in order.

“Just the rings alone have made this whole journey so much more comfortable. I put up with it most of the time… but if the price isn’t too bad? Then I can see myself splurging on a good one,” said Kat.

“It is likely worth it,” stated Hunter. “I have my own storage ring that I keep around you know. It is nowhere near as large or well stocked as the ones we were provided for this mission, and I do not always take it with me, but I do have one,”

“Wait really? Why not take it all the time?” asked Kat.

“Simply put? It makes a number of things a bit too easy. You can get rings large enough to fit tents that are essentially houses and my clan has found that overly relying on the expanded storage can really dull your senses and mind. You stop looking for unique solutions. There’s no reason to think outside the box when you have ‘everything’ you could ever need on your finger.

“Exceptions are made of course. If I did not know I was being provided with a ring for this mission I would have taken my own. One mission of use isn’t going to ruin all of my habits and having access to nearly anything is acceptable when you’re trying to stop the destruction of a world,” stated Hunter.

“Yeah I guess that makes sense?” offered Kat with a shrug. “I’m not sure I’d have the self discipline to do something like that… so maybe I should look into only getting one on the smaller side? Just for the essentials? Food, Water, a small tent and a sleeping bag? Maybe a bit of gold or jewels to use as barter? Not sure about that last one…”

“Unless you’re already consistent bonfires I wouldn’t worry about the gems and such. The conversion is awful. Gems aren’t all that cheap and most civilisations can’t pay their full value so you lose a lot in the transaction.

For times like this they’re great because just about everyone accepts them and money is essentially no issue, but for normal operations I wouldn’t recommend it,” explained Hunter.

“Huh… well didn’t they say we can keep anything we don’t end up using?” asked Kat.

“Yes… but the trick is that you’re only allowed to take food supplies and anything you can carry out because they force you to hand over the rings then and there. The food they can give away because it’s potentially a health hazard, even if no demon would actually end up getting sick from it. Still, the rules are on the books,” explained Hunter.

“Right… so if I do want gems I need to be ready to carry them out?” asked Kat.

“Yup,” answered Hunter just as they got back to the gap.

Hunter went first due to her lacking mobility on the glass. She transformed and wiggled through gap, wincing slightly at the sound like everyone else, but otherwise having no issue. Lily was able to slip in easily. With the hole widened such that Hunter could move through it, Lily had no trouble at all. Kat just transformed into water and flowed down into the hole after them.

Once they were all inside the tunnel the rope was wrapped around everyone and they got moving. It only took around ten minutes of crawling before they were dumped out on the grass. Bower let out a long sigh, “Glad that’s over. The stress was getting to me,”

“How often do you see stuff like that?” asked Kat.

“Well, if ya’r talking specifics I’ve never seen something like that before… but if ya just talking about things that are deadly? Eh maybe once every second trip? Things tend to be safe if you know what ya’ll are doing but it’s those few things ya don’t recongise that get ya. In this case we weren’t ready for that ceiling drop at all,” answered Bower.

“I was mostly talking about traps that drop the ceiling on you, but you still make an interesting point,” returned Kat.

“Oh in that… I’d have to think on it,” said Bower after a moment. “Not really something I keep track of. I want to say… hmm… yeah really not sure. We probably use drop traps on monsters more often then the mists use them on us at least,”

“Well, while you guys were talking Kamiko and I have set up the snacks… so they’re ready if you want them,” said Lily with a nodding Kamiko beside her, already eating one of the jelly cups.

— Kat — 3 Hours Later

After they’d all eaten the group had set off through the forest once again. They ran into no bubbles and surprisingly few monsters as well. They only had to fend off a single round of attacks from the same tree snakes they’d run into before. Though admittedly, it was a touch strange to not have glass just EVERYWHERE for a time. In the end though, they found something much stranger…

“Now that just ain’t right,” said Bower as he looked at the end of the mist. “There’s… definitely something not right here. This should still be part of the forest, the mist should cover all of this…”

The group had found an end to the mist, one that apparently shouldn’t be here. Just like before the mist ended completely at a sharp line. You just had to step out of it and suddenly there was clear skies all around. You could actually see… and it was majorly freaking Bower out.

“So what does this mean? What would you guess caused this?” asked Hunter.

“I don’t rightly know… though I suppose I DO feel the need to blame the drake. I’ve never seen anything like this in all of my years,” complained Bower. “Can’t be sure of it though. Could be unrelated. Not sure that’s likely… but I’ve seen no evidence either way.

“As for what it MEANS? I don’t really know that either. The mist has never changed the amount of territory it covers. Will this be temporary? Permanent? I really don’t know.

If ya forced me to make a guess… I’d think that the drake was eating the mist and cleared out the area that way,”

“Hmm…” Hunter carefully licked her teeth as she thought the suggestion over. “I could see that as being possible. The mist contains a large amount of space mana. Even if it’s not as nutritious for a corrupted creature as eating things that are alive I could see it being used as a substitute for drinking water.

“Hopefully it is simply able to digest the spatial energy and turn it into something else, instead of more directly making use of spatial manipulation itself. Can you see any sign of the drake? I personally notice nothing. Despite the clear strangeness of the missing mists everything here seems normal, if a bit quiet. Though perhaps that is to be expected?

Do the creatures inside of the mist need it to survive?”

“It’s not a necessity no… though the squirrels really freak out if they leave the mists and tend to flee straight back to it. I’d say the snakes are the most likely to handle it well… alongside a couple of other monsters we haven’t run into just yet,” answered Bower.

“So what exactly IS the plan?” asked Kat.

Hunter looked Kat over for a few moments. “I think perhaps… it’s time to do some ariel reconnaissance,”