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

Chapter 2116: Chapter 2116 Rotten Gathering

--- Kat ---

It took a bit more exploring and a few more attacks to find something notable. Along the way limbs shot out of the walls a few times, and for a moment it looked like one of the worm-like monsters were going to barrel down the tunnel directly towards Kat... but a quick flare of demonic fire had it running away. Kat barely had time to throw fire on its tail before the thing left down a side path. It seemed they were scared of it... but also quite prepared.

In the most recent case, the thing simply detached its tail allowing the tail to stay behind and freeze. Kat also noted that the tail itself was hollow. She couldn’t be sure if that was the normal state of affairs or not... but it seemed likely it was a temporary thing, almost like shedding its skin to get the demonic fire off of it. Leaving behind the minimum necessary amount of material.

They also weren’t sure what was up with the goop. Some things when attacked would just fall apart but others would remain ’alive’ until something like her demonic fire hit them. Would they have turned into goop after enough time? Was the demonic fire freezing them preventing it from turning into goop? They didn’t have the time to stop and test these questions.

Especially when they could hear arguing a few voices coming from nearby. The problem is that the arguments were coming from the cracks in the walls. Kat and Lily could probably slip through with their combination water transformation and teleport... but Lily had no confidence at all in taking a second person with her and leaving behind Tanisha was a big no from both of them.

So instead they spent around ten minutes working their way in to the area and the argument was still going when they arrived. One of them, assuming their guess about speaking was true, had to be a real person. It was an older male dwarf with a few specs of grey in his beard that was yelling. He was cursing at the other two for a number of things.

The second member of the group was a female elf and she wasn’t in great condition. She had a bunch of bandages around her mouth and the fact they were soaked with blood implied some pretty heavy damage to her mouth and throat. It would also make determining if she was a real person very difficult considering nobody was going to want to talk with a wound like that.

The final guy was a male human who looked to be cradling a broken arm. Oh, that’s what the argument was about. ”-think we can waste healing supplies on that arm. We didn’t bring anything to heal broken bones, just stabilise them and if we waste everything TRYING then we’re going to be even more useless,” growled the dwarf.

”And I’m saying we’ve got maybe one good fight left in us. Tanisha is gone, her brother is probably dead. Davey is definitely dead, Furen over there is missing a good chunk of her face and her bow was destroyed. What exactly are we waiting for? The other team was told to gather the plants and then wait for us to come back and check on them. I don’t even know if we’ll make it that far!”

”Listen Bruce,” growled the dwarf. ”I’m telling you, we don’t even know if the stuff we’ve got will work at all for your arm, and you’re right Furen is in a bad way. We probably need those to stabilise her if things take a turn.”

”Oh? Where was that care for Tanisha then?” asked Bruce.

”She was half crazy when we left her,” the dwarf argued. Kat noted he was holding a sword without a sheath. Probably Tanisha’s then. ”The damage was pretty extreme... and we both know that she only came along for her brother. Even if I could trust her not to go crazy, which I’m not sure we could... the chance she stabs us in the back for getting her brother killed is a lot higher then I’d like. It wasn’t something I was going to risk.”

”Yeah I’d have totally done that,” whispered Tanisha. ”Or... ok maybe not if Davey was still around. He was cool. Now though? Yeah fuck those two. Furen’s fine as well... but eh, if I was still freaking out I might not have cared?”

Furen’s ears wobbled a bit as she looked around and slowly towards the direction Kat and Lily were approaching from. She raised a single eyebrow to indicate she’d seen them... but didn’t move otherwise. Shrugging she just leant back and tried to relax as best she could with her injuries.

Kat was internally debating if it was best to stay quiet for a bit or not when Tanisha decided that, because she’d been spotted, she might as well introduce herself. ”Oi fuckheads! Guess who!”

Bruce and the dwarf, who they still didn’t know the name of whipped around, weapons out. Bruce had a small mace that looked a little chip and the dwarf obviously still had Tanisha’s sword. ”Tanisha?” asked Bruce after a moment of confusion.

”That’s right it’s me! Good to see you’re all still completely dysfunctional idiots!” retorted Tanisha.

”It’s stressful,” growled the dwarf, as he kept the sword pointed in their direction. ”Plus, we’re doing our best... but why are you tied up like that? And who is the winged woman?”

”I’m tied up like this because I’m missing an arm now and they’re massive worry-warts. I’d also give the cat some credit. Not sure how smart she is but considering the sort of things I’ve seen her pull off... well... let’s just say she’s pretty scary. Wait, the cat is a girl yes? Not sure that was ever confirmed...” mumbled Tanisha.

”Yes, Lily is in fact a girl,” Kat said while trying not to giggle.

[Is it bad that I sort of want to shake her around a bit for not working that out yet?]

*She’d probably enjoy it so I wouldn’t bother.*

[Oh. Right. Yeah best not to prompt that sort of reaction.]

Bruce chimed in with... a decently good question. ”How do we know you’re real? We’ve seen that the monster or... monsters can transform into people too. How do we know you’re not one of them?”

”How the fuck should I know?” hissed Tanisha.

”She has a good point,” mumbled the dwarf. ”Also, Furen, why didn’t you warn us?”

Furen gestured towards their heavily bandaged mouth with a raised eyebrow as if to say ’Warn you how’?

”Throw a rock or something!” retorted the dwarf.

Furen continued to gesture. She mimed throwing a rock and then pretended to be a monster immediately afterwards. Indicating that she didn’t want to potentially set them off if they were monsters... at least that’s what Kat was assuming. From the slight movement of her ears Furen might’ve just been having fun messing with them.

”Can you let Tanisha go? At least for a bit? I get that she was injured but... seeing her body instead of a mass of shadows would probably go a long way,” Burce requested.

Lily immediately took this excuse to dump Tanisha on her feet. She stumbled a bit but managed to correct her balance... or at least she would’ve if it wasn’t for the fact she was missing her arm. Instead of following forward she was now falling off to the side. Kat lashed out with her tail and caught Tanisha around the waist. No reason to let her crack her head on the sharp rocks.

”Rude. I was enjoying myself,” grumbled Tanisha as she glared at Bruce. ”Suppose you always were a bit of a killjoy,”

”Yeah yeah, screw you too Tanisha,” sighed Bruce.

”Only in your dreams you perpetual bachelor,” countered Tanisha.

”Look, it’s not my fault I have some rather extreme tastes. Everyone always likes to say they’re fine with crazy stuff in the bedroom until I bring out the chains... something I note you never had a problem with,” riposted Bruce.

”Ah but you’re forgetting the fact that... you’re a dickhead and I don’t like you,” pointed out Tanisha.

”Yeah it’s her,” said Bruce with a nod.

The dwarf sighed, ”Fine whatever, I can accept that’s the real Tanisha... for now... but I’ve still not been told who the demon is. Or the cat I guess, considering you indicated she was strong as well...”

Tanisha looked over at Kat and Lily, making her best ’go ahead’ gesture she could with only one arm. The idea still got across at least. ”My name is Kat and I was sent here by the guard to investigate what sort of a mess was being made inside the poison. Obviously this is a bigger mess then we intended to fine... and personally I was interested in ensuring you all lived. Clearly based on the argument I’ve failed in that, but I’m happy to try and get you all out of here.”