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

Chapter 1878 Don’t Smell the Roses

--- Green ---

Green grinned as she pulled herself up through the last layer of whatever this was. After her nap sheʼd gotten back into climbing. Up past the clouds and yet higher still before eventually reaching the bottom of this platform. She wasnʼt on the edge and couldnʼt see up into it properly but the fact there WAS something up here probably meant good things. Stepping inside the next gap Green looked around at the ceiling for the way up. Then Green realised she had a better way. ”Timmy, stand below the path leading further upwards,”

The little guy dashed off and Green followed, the dust trail if not the original. It didnʼt take long, just slightly further around the corner and Timmy was standing firmly in place. There wasnʼt any obvious way up… but that too could be solved. ”Open the secret door please,”

Timmy remained in place. ”Open the trapdoor please?” Green tried. Timmy leapt into the air and gripped one of the stalactites… and nothing happened. The little guy wiggled a bit to try and bring it down with no success. Still, it was enough to tell Green what to do. Jumping up she gently grabbed Timmy and let gravity do the work. A bad idea in hindsight. Whatever the door had been made of once upon a time, the hinges werenʼt up to the same standard.

Timmy and Green fell to the ground with a giant pile of rock and metal hitting them from the top just a moment later. Timmy was fine, and the fact the little guy was between Green and the trapdoor meant there was nothing more than bruising. ”Oof. Sorry Timmy. Can you get use free?”

The answer was yes. It was a bit hard on Greenʼs stomach where Timmy pressed back against her but the little guy was able to throw off to the weight and leave them a clear passageway to the next level. Jumping up Green was immediately hit by the smell. *Urgh. The enchantments to keep the smell in clearly still work.* A sewer. Green had just broken into the sewer.

It stunk massively but the water had mostly evaporated. Dirt grime and other questionable things had dried to the walls and left behind plenty to keep the stink alive but the water was barely a trickle running along waterway. ”Timmy you got an exit for me?” asked Green.

This time the little guy shook its head. ”Alright. Not ideal, but alright…” mumbled Green. Is it worth putting on my mask? Probably. Best not to risk things. Green pulled out her enchanted mask and slapped it over her face. Immediately the smell was reduced, though notably, not removed. Urgh. Probably in my nose already. Yuck.

*Still. Good news. The fact Timmy isnʼt helping means this place has to be filled with goodies for me to loot. Hopefully I didnʼt climb all the way up here JUST to run around in a sewer. Then again… I wonder what Iʼll find? City in the sky might have been my first guess but based on the lack of water down here it might not be much of a city anymore. Heck, it could just be the sewer here.*

Green glanced around. The area sheʼd come up in was just some random section of tunnel running horizontally. Neither direction really seemed any different to the other and the light coming in from the tunnel was especially limited. The mask did help a bit but not a whole lot and the darkness was still the limiting factor for distance. Green certainly couldnʼt see any indication of corners.

Occasional holes dotted the ceiling but based on the few drips she could see from some of them they were meant for water to dump itself into the main stream on the ground. Not for people to climb through… and Green might be willing to do a lot for the win but that was a step too far. Especially when she wasnʼt sure if it was actually big enough to crawl through. Green was certain sheʼd fit inside… but moving her arms? That was another matter.

Green gagged a bit at the thought. *Yeah no. Too risky. Letʼs just explore the sewer here. Hopefully I donʼt run into any monsters… Iʼm really not sure how likely that is.*

--- Nixilei ---

Nixilei and Ugalaz were sitting across from each other sipping tea. Theyʼd been around the area looking for various secrets and ended up with a decent haul of orbs between them both. They were currently hiding out in one of the larger underground areas. This one was apparently a food storage depot and there was food all around. Neither of them had touched it though.

Nixilei could sense some sort of alarm enchantment on all of the shelves. No idea what that would set off but she was most interested in not triggering it. Still, the ceiling and doors were quite large and it meant Ugalaz could properly relax inside for once. Honestly, when sheʼd browbeat the larger demon into taking a slightly favourable share in exchange for freeing him…

She hadnʼt expected to need to do quite so much of the work. Sure he was great for fighting off monsters in trees and reaching the high spots so she could avoid climbing but plenty of the area was underground bunkers of sorts. It was slow going combing through them all and they hadnʼt found any actors around. All it really meant was more work for Nixilei.

*Honestly. Was this directly targeted at the guy? Itʼs not like he was pulled in last moment and it seems out of character for Thyme. Then again… if he avoided properly participating in all of the previous rounds perhaps Thyme didnʼt think he would bother this time? Or perhaps forcing him to participate while not accommodating him is the punishment? Maybe itʼs just random? Thyme might not have designed this area personally and itʼs really just bad luck.*

”Think we should bunk down for the night here?” asked Ugalaz.

”You need to sleep already?” asked Nixilei.

”Yes?” answered Ugalaz uncertainly. ”Well… NEED is perhaps a strong word but I would really like some sleep… why?”

Nixilei shrugged. ”Iʼm just used to Katʼs nonsense I suppose. She doesnʼt really need sleep the same way everyone else does. Though arguably her familiar sleeps enough for both of them,”

Ugalaz clicked his tongue. ”Lucky. My own family has far too much sloth demon in it for me to be comfortable skipping sleep. With how early we were forced to start the day itʼs honestly catching up to me. If we didnʼt have such a good spot to camp for the night I could force myself to keep going for another few hours before my performance suffers noticeably…

”But we DO have a great spot to rest right now. It can fit me and the doors and enchantments together keep the damned pollen out of the area. I really donʼt think weʼre going to find a better spot, at least not any time soon and I would indeed like some rest,”

*Hmmm… probably best not to push this issue. Heʼs not even trying to hide things like earlier. Not that he was good at it before. Plus, while he said he has Sloth in the family, he hasnʼt mentioned what kind of demon he is… and Pit Fiends are usually Wrath aligned. Best not make the demon healer angry due to lack of sleep.*

”I think my only concern would be if we should expect visitors. This place is obviously well maintained. There isnʼt any dust around, I can still feel the alarm enchantments on the shelves mixed in with the preservation ones. The weirdest thing is actually the missing dates. Nothing here is labelled. Perhaps thereʼs some sorting system, but otherwise? Weʼve got indication of how often things are delivered here,” explained Nixilei.

”So… what are you suggesting?” asked Ugalaz.

Nixilei shrugged. ”I guess there are two things Iʼm suggesting. Either we take turns sleeping to ensure that nobody comes in and finds us unprepared or we take the time to properly barricade the door. Even if they can break through it, the noise of doing so should wake us up,”

Ugalaz nodded. ”I think Iʼd rather bar the door. Itʼs not like we can just lock it after all,”

Nixilei raised an eyebrow at the demon. *Was… was he not paying attention? I picked the lock on the door in no time at all sure but I didnʼt exactly hide what I was doing. They didnʼt even have a locking enchantment in place just a standard physical one.*

”We definitely can,” Nixilei said after a moment. ”It was locked when we got here after all,”

”Did you have a key then?” asked Ugalaz.

Thatʼs actually a good excuse but… ”No I just picked the lock. They didnʼt bother enchanting it to make that harder in any way and this isnʼt a particularly high quality lock to begin with. Didnʼt even take me ten seconds,” explained Nixilei.

”Oh… um… hmm…” mumbled Ugalaz.

”They will have keys though, hence the barricade,” explained Nixilei.

”Ah that makes sense,” agreed Ugalaz.

*Did… did I team up with a moron?*