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

Chapter 2204 Explosives.

--- Nixilei ---

After defeating her two competitors Nixilei had booked it in the other directions. She wasn’t certain that anyone was waiting for either of those two in the desert, but at least one of them seemed to be running this way for a reason and Nixilei didn’t want to risk another confrontation so soon. Not when she was so low on orbs. To solve this, she backtracked into Spring using a somewhat circuitous route that meant she wasn’t just retreading old ground that they’d cleaned out.

Nixilei had made decent time, making sure to avoid the town just in case anyone wanted to ask her questions she had no interest in answering and skipping over any tasks that look too difficult. There were a few moments during the trip that she might have come into contact with someone else, but Nixilei had made sure to keep a wide berth around the various noises in the forest that seemed to indicate someone else was around. It might have just been monsters but without a good orb stockpile Nixilei wasn’t interested in taking that risk. She wanted more orbs, but she didn’t NEED them.

Eventually, this lead her to finding her way into Autumn and a bunch of orbs were just lying around. Sure it was a bit muddy but Nixilei wasn’t afraid of some dirt. The rain was nice to hide her own passage... but Nixilei would later learn that it hid everyone else just as well. Nixilei was certain that she’d made no mistakes.

She’d been sitting on a tree and eating a small snack. Nixilei had been certain that the meal wasn’t going to spreading any sort of scent around. There was no fire, she wasn’t talking to Timmy and generating noise... no instead she was eating as quietly as possible while keeping her ears pealed for anyone that might be coming past. Sure, it was mostly habit, but she was paying attention to her surroundings. Such a plain meal didn’t require much thought after all. It was mostly a collection of nuts and berries she’d found along the way.

The bomb thrown her way was a good indication she’d missed something. Nixilei had barely heard it moving through the air, and only the fact her instincts were so finely honed ensured that she was on the move before she even considered her options. Her instincts able to determine that it was something worth getting away from... but even that wasn’t quite enough to avoid everything.

The explosion ripped through the tree she’d been using as a resting spot, along with a good chunk of the ones surrounding it. The bomb had been aimed rather specifically, and Nixilei knew she needed to move. The force of the blast had caused her to stumble as it hit her before she’d managed to land, nearly forcing her to fall forward in the process.

Luckily, some trees remained and she was able to reach out and stabilise herself before sprinting off. Hoping to make distance from this unknown attacker.... Though Nixilei did have a guess. Sadly for her, that guess wouldn’t matter as much as the fact the attacker could aim. Another bomb landed ahead of her, exploding with the same level of force, and ensuring that Nixilei had to dodge again... the issue she had now, was which way?

They’d already proved they could predict her movements somehow. So instead of running away from where the bomb had been thrown, Nixilei moved towards it, at least somewhat. She was still trying to run away after all. Her hope was that her attacker was lobbing these bombs from a distance. The trees made it hard to tell exactly what angle they were using and...

Another bomb. This one much closer, and aimed perfectly. Nixilei found she couldn’t get away from it. Her momentum was throwing her directly at it, and there wasn’t any trees nearby to bounce off of it. She could try moving to the side but there wasn’t really time and... Nixilei hurled a rock from her bracelet at the thing. The rock impacted the bomb, setting it off early. The wave slammed into Nixilei, rupturing both eardrums and probably causing some internal damage but that was fine. She could deal with that.

Nixilei managed to get her feet under her and keep running even with her damaged ears messing up her balance. Two quick spells and both of them were in working condition once again. Nixilei didn’t have time to consider fixing whatever other damage she’d sustained because another bomb was flying her way, but Nixilei had been expecting that, and the direction was mostly known at this point. Now that she had time to focus it was easy to pull out another rock and hurl it at the bomb.

It exploded and while the shockwave wasn’t nice, it was hardly an issue. Nixilei was able to simply bully through it and keep running. The next bomb was much the same... at least, Nixilei had planned to deal with it the same way. Everything up until the moment the rock made contact it was the same. Except instead of simply exploding with force, a bunch of green mist exploded from the bomb, coating the area ahead of her.

Nixilei shut her mouth and focused on not breathing as she ducked around the area, trying to run as best she could while low on oxygen. Spinning up the spell to help re-oxygenate asphyxiating patients would be too hard and too risky to do while running at full speed, but she kept it in mind just in case.

Nixilei was nearly sure that it would be necessary as two bombs were thrown her way. One of them would be easy to hit... but the second was only barely visible around the nearby trees and if it continued on its current path Nixilei was certain it would be blocked. Fuck. How many bombs does this nuisance have? And how are they tracking me? There’s nothing hire enough nearby for them to just be watching from above.

Nixilei slammed into one of the nearby trees, wincing as it cracked and broke under her feet but it was enough to turn her around and shoot off away from the two bombs. When they exploded into more poison mist she knew she made the right choice. The shockwave was basically nothing and the distance she’d made with her trick was enough to avoid the effects completely... this time.

Her first brush was apparently enough to cause problems though because her vision was getting fuzzy. Nixilei sucked in a few deep breaths to try and see if that was the issue. Seconds past as Nixilei’s vision got worse and worse instead of recovering. *Shit it was contact poison. How was it so potent that they could even get all these bombs?*

Nixilei did her best to weave around the next salvo of bombs while working on her anti-poison spells. She focused on the ones for blood based poisons and hoped for the best. In this case, she was correct. Her spell went off without issue and her vision cleared up... somewhat. Apparently whatever had caused the issue wasn’t entirely clear even if it wasn’t getting worse.

*Shit. Messing with my eyes while running like this is a recipe for a bad time. I just need to make do with what I currently have. Not ideal but I’ve been in worse situations. Need to rely on my other senses I suppose.*

Nixilei listened to the air, her ears attuning to the sound of the trees and their leaves. Her own feet slapping against the mud, and of course the bombs. If she could make out her pursuer that would be nice as well but they clearly had something to hide their own sounds at this point. The bombs didn’t start making noise until they were far too close for it to be anything else.

Nixilei continued running. The bombs slowed down somewhat but they never stopped. While the person throwing them didn’t seem worried about wasting them... clearly just going for broke wasn’t going to work here. There was too many places for her to run. This wasn’t an ambush... someone had stumbled over her. The question was, what to do with that information.

*Clearly, whoever is throwing these at me is able to run after me, and track me. I don’t know if I can outrun them. In theory I can, my healing should help... but in truth it’s not impossible to have enchantments that help with that. Plus, my muscles were never developed for endurance. Sure I’m fit and I have a good deal of endurance... but fighting forever was never my job.

So where does that leave me? Even footing? I don’t love that either... but I don’t think I can turn around and face whoever is hurling these at me because they have to either be one of the rich dwarves or someone that has found a massive amount of loot. I simply haven’t had the same success. I don’t think I can risk this fight... but what else can I do? I can’t run away, can’t run towards. What are my options? The ocean? No that seems silly... unless... their armour would be too heavy? It’s a lot harder to throw bombs underwater as well. Hmmm... I still don’t love the idea but it might be my best bet. The worry is if I can get far enough out to sea before I hit either the fog wall or the final wave of bombs goes off from my pursuer...*