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

Chapter 2273 Lightning Recovery ain’t Lightning Fast

--- Kat ---

Lily might have been trying, but she was in truth, failing. Her shadows weren’t really doing a good job of helping Appoline to fix the wheels. She couldn’t seem to keep them even semi-solid so that it would rest in place for a while, and then she started pacing and wasn’t even looking at them half the time. Appoline just sighed and gave up. Lily didn’t even notice.

Appoline sat down next to Kat, staring at the slowly closing hole in her stomach with interest. ”Is she usually like this?”

”No... well... yes, but not for a while. This is the worst I’ve seen her in ages. Since we’ve started dating it’s a lot more... direct worry, or complaints about letting myself get hurt. I think she’s annoyed because she can’t properly complain about that because you’d have been impaled instead, and that she can’t do anything to help me, but that’s just a guess,” offered Kat.

Appoline nodded, ”Ah, I never did thank you for that. So, yes thank you. I likely could not survive such an attack. While in theory I have the potions to survive it... there effects are not so pervasive nor so swift acting. I likely would’ve had my nervous system fried. A truly deadly poison, and not an angle I’d thought to go before. Then again, I also don’t store large amounts of electricity in my body.”

Kat wanted to laugh, but held back. Just in case she was missing a bit of her lungs. It didn’t FEEL like that, but Kat couldn’t exactly focus on that area without focusing on the pain. Better safe then sorry. ”Yes I can see why you’d have that problem. Has it given you ideas? Either for preventing it in the future or using it for your work?”

”Ha!” laughed Appoline. ”I’m surprised you’re game enough to ask. Most people would be a little hesitant to talk to someone obsessed with making the best poison while dying of a poison, especially one that I’m interested in.”

Kat shrugged, ”I trust you not to poison me while we’re still friends, and being squeamish about it won’t have me dying any slower. Plus it IS interesting.”

Appoline nodded, ”Fair enough. In this case... I might be able to come up with something to disrupt it. Truly the way it works is fascinating, and really the sort of thing you only see in monsters. The way it works is that the poison ’rides along’ with the lightning as it disperses throughout your body.

”Then, once that happens the poison is ’deposited’ along the travel path which allows for the lightning to linger along it. Constantly refreshing itself with the poison, as the poison uses the lightning to spread further. Though not much further after the initial burst. It’s likely why that hole in you is taking so long to close up. The bulk of your regeneration is going to supressing the lightning and the spread of the poison. Something it’s likely not the best at because your body needs electrical signals to work... or does it? I don’t know if that’s true of demons.

”Regardless, it does make it surprisingly useful against regenerators but part of that really is just how large the... delivery site is. Had the wound been smaller you likely could’ve burnt through it all faster, but your body needing to focus on so many things allows for each to have a chance to cause more problems. I wonder if further damage to you would force it to prioritise better?”

Kat shrugged, ”I’m not sure. I am a bit surprised that it could get through my skin so easily...”

Appoline raised an eyebrow. ”I... hmmm... I’d guess that you’re skin isn’t quite as strong as it should be because you’ve not been Rank 4 for long. Sure you got a qualitative boost when you reached that level... but it’s bathing in the energy from that rank over time that gives things the durability enhancements you’d think of. You might only have Rank 3 defences, or maybe the scorpion was particularly strong.

”It likely supercharged its muscles to move faster and with more force using its stored lightning after all. I’m not sure it could effectively exist anywhere but the most lightning infested areas, for it seems to be so integral to its existence,”

Kat nodded as she glanced over at Lily. Hearing that her defences likely weren’t where they should be, perhaps for Rank 3 and 2 as well made a lot of sense. It would also be a big worry for Lily... who was still freaked out and in her own head. Kat debated for a few moments if it would be worth it to poke her a bit mentally... but it was probably best she got it out of her system, and this chat WAS interesting.

When Lily was feeling better, or Kat had recovered then it would be time to work on the umbrella wheels. *Then again... perhaps this is a compounding issue because last time I was majorly poisoned Lily had to rip out my throat to stop the poison. Not something she’s likely to want to repeat.*

”That’s a fair point,” Kat said aloud, returning to the conversation. ”What sort of ideas does it give you?”

”Well, using some sort of extra bit of magic to spread poison around, perhaps even to certain specific areas, isn’t something I’ve looked into before. Sure I’ve had poisons that target specific organs but I’ve needed to aim those. The idea that I can just... design it to immediately zip towards the target is a fascinating one.

”There is also the fact it was self reinforcing. The poison enhanced the lightning which enhanced the poison which enhanced the lightning. Not truly an infinite loop, but it’s something a lot of people wouldn’t survive as the energy is concentrated and escalated until the thing in question is dead. It seems very useful against monsters, potentially large ones as well. Though I worry about the innate resistances they’d have.

”It’s a real shame I can’t properly study the thing’s corpse. It’s a really annoying way to deter fights with other monsters. Seems this scorpion got all the luck.” Appoline paused. ”I say that, but anything resistant to lightning can likely just go straight for the kill and perhaps end them fast enough that the explosion never goes off. I wonder if ripping off the tails normally works or not. The one Lily tore out exploded, but she wasn’t too fast with it.”

”I feel like I should defend her and say it was pretty fast...” Kat countered as she manoeuvred herself a bit to get more comfortable. Her skin was back now, and even if she could tell her internals weren’t quite all back together, fact her regeneration didn’t need to focus on keeping the upper layers of her skin from bleeding out was likely a nice reprieve. Kat could already feel her regeneration kicking up into a higher gear.

Appoline shrugged, ”Fast perhaps but clearly not fast enough. Though I do admit that it might not be possible to match whatever theoretical pace would be needed. Without actually stopping time it might not be possible. That’s just some idle musing though. The self-destruct mechanism it has isn’t really one I’m interested in. It’s more that whatever eats them might also be interesting... and might have some way to defend against it.”

”Well what about ideas on that front?” asked Kat.

Appoline sighed, ”The main issue is how large its stinger is. Most scorpions don’t try to ram the entire organ inside of someone, just the sharp tip which then pumps in venom. This scorpion was far more interested in causing a LOT of damage alongside its payload. I could probably make something to defend against the poison... but making it internal? And give it a regeneration component to stop the attack?”

Appoline shook her head. ”I think I’d be better off just trying to make some sort of magical armour strong enough to block the stinger itself. Easier... but designing it to block multiple attacks might be too hard. I’d probably need to make fragile armour that could still block a single attack... but as we saw it can split its tail into three and blocking all of those?” Appoline winced. ”Yeah that would be hard.

”Honestly best to just make something to discharge all the lightning inside of it. I don’t have the materials yet... but that seems the best path. Might make them unusable as ingredients though,” sighed Appoline.

”Yes well... I suppose in many cases the best defence is a strong offence,” offered Kat. As she glanced over at Lily... who was still freaking out. Kat was pretty sure that her own recovery was going to be done with before Lily’s was... hopefully it would be fine and this wasn’t another reason to go to therapy. Though they were DEFINATLEY going to therapy after this mission.

Appoline nodded, ”In this case it very well seems to be. Far easier to discharge electricity then block it along with a significant physical blow. Potions can do a lot, but that’s more of a job for an armourer.”