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

--- Kat ---

Kat and crew found themselves at a cliff face after around an hour of walking. It had been visible for a while longer, but approaching it was a slow process. Not only was the group constantly on edge, but the threat of being sliced to pieces should they accidentally bump into a flower made moving at anything above human speeds a risky endeavour. That's not even getting into the regular attacks.

With the risks the glass creatures present it was hard to fight them properly. All fights had to be done with the understanding that until a special ability was shown off, anything could be potentially lethal. Kat found herself throwing rocks for the most part. Picking them up afterwards happened sometimes, with Lily reaching over with a shadow and carefully collecting them.

Only if the glass could be avoided of course.

When they reached the mountain itself, there was a clear and obvious cave to go in and Hunter couldn't help but ask. "Bower, I am noticing that whenever we simply head forward within these bubbles we run into pathways that allow us to continue. They may not be perfectly straight, but we run into few truly dead ends. Why is that?"

"It's just how it's also been," said Bower with a shrug. "I'd put money on it being a feature of the bubbles themselves. Either they're designed in such a way that picking any random direction allows you to find a way out, or they subtly guide the people inside them to available exits. I've never been able to prove it either way,"

"So are we going through the cave or trying to climb up the cliff?" asked Kamiko.

"I'd be worried that the cliff is too sharp to climb," admitted Bower. "I do not wish to presume, but Kat would you be willing to test this out?"

"I mean, sure," said Kat as she walked over to the nearly sheer cliff face. As she reached out she continued speaking, "Just as a by the way… you guys totally could've just tested this with some paper or leather or whatever…"

Kat pressed her hand lightly down on the glass and felt her skin being sliced deeply. "But yeah it's very sharp," added Kat as she held a bleeding hand up. It healed rapidly, and Kat couldn't even say that it really hurt. Honestly, the fact Lily was biting her ear and calling her stupid repeatedly over their bond was more damaging.

"Ah… yes…" said Bower somewhat ashamed. "I am unsure why that became my first call for testing. I would guess that it comes from knowing you are tougher then you look and that what might cut through my own scales or some weaker materials might not injure you… but it was a callous thing to ask,"

Kat shrugged which of course caused Lily to bite on her ear harder to stay on Kat's shoulder. "Eh it's fine. I mean, I'm giving you guys a bit of shit for it but I could've done the same. Got plenty of materials in my ring that would make for a good test and I chose not to use any of them either so I clearly think it's worth testing out,"

"Still…" said Kamiko, who was looking at Kat a bit oddly. "I feel like Lily might be right that you have a problem. Are you sure you're not a masochist?"

Kat shivered as the box labelled 'Vivian's Talk DO NOT TOUCH' rattled in her mind. "I don't get any enjoyment out of being in pain, let alone sexual enjoyment… but I do admit that… I think the part of my brain that's supposed to go 'pain bad' is probably broken. I certainly FEEL pain but it's just another sensation, I guess? I'm mostly apathetic about it most of the time.

It's only the really painful stuff that gets me,"

"Hearing that relieves some of my concerns with having you fight more directly with our largest foes. Even with my own experience ignoring and fighting through pain I cannot truly say I am apathetic about it myself. I still shy away from pain when it is unnecessary. Perhaps your regeneration is to thank for that," said Hunter.

"I'm not sure… I was sort of like this when I was younger before I picked up the regeneration. I think? It feels like so long ago and it's not like I got hurt all that often before I was taking contracts. Pain also mostly came up in times where I needed to work through it or accept it. Little kids pulling on my hair and stuff," explained Kat.

"Just to cut in. We haven't been attacked recently so I'd like to head in to the cave, if that's what we all agree on. We can talk as we walk. Having the sky free means less of a chance for flying enemies, though do watch out for glass spiders and what not," said Bower.

"I do believe as you are our guide it is your call to make," said Hunter.

"Well as the guide I feel like we have to go through the tunnel here… but I get a bad feeling about it. We didn't have to go through any tunnels last time I was 'here'. For a certain definition of 'here' of course. Granted I also don't think going around would be easy… but I suppose I simply wish to shift some responsibility around in case something goes wrong," explained Bower.

"If something happens we'll just have to deal with it," said Kat firmly as she stepped forward into the cave, Bower following quickly behind her.

From there it took some time for them to be attacked. Around ten minutes. It was a glass spider attached to the ceiling and one good rock took it down before it attacked… but Kat noticed a problem immediately after. The spider had obviously fallen onto the ground and cracked after Kat had killed it.

So now there only path through the cave was covered in glass shards. "I… clearly did not think that through…" mumbled Kat.

"I see no other action you could have taken Kat," stated Hunter. "Even if you waited for it to move to the ground or the wall this would still have happened should you kill it. Leaving it and trying to sneak past was likely impossible. This is… annoying but I see no other path you could've taken,"

"So what do we do?" asked Kat. "Do we just brush it aside with a broom? Would that be safe enough?"

"Probably best to test it first," said Hunter taking out a fruit from her storage ring. Hunter aimed carefully and threw the fruit onto the largest shard of glass. The fruit in question splattered against the floor and seemed… well not fine but normal. From there Hunter took out a broom and began to sweep the glass up.

Kat joined in soon after, with Lily requesting a broom for herself as well. Kamiko, not wanting to feel left out asked for a broom as well… but "Kamiko there's no space," said Hunter. "Lily can only participate because her shadow lets her reach over the glass,"

"Oh, right," mumbled Kamiko. Kat felt a little bad for Kamiko who just wanted to help… but really there was nothing to be done. Soon the glass was all cleared and the group moved on.

Progress was immediately stopped not even ten minutes later when they ran into a split in the cave. Worse? Both entrances were covered by glass spiderwebs. "Shit," grumbled Kat. "What do we do here? How do we get through without sending glass everywhere?"

"Those are no doubt quite deadly," mumbled Bower. "The real question is how sturdy they are. The more force we require to break them the greater the risk of shards going places we do not desire,"

[I might be able to help? I mean… maybe? So like… what if I made a bunch of paper to surround the spiderwebs and THEN you break them? It'll take a lot of mana because I'll need to actually MAKE the paper instead of just making a temporary bit of almost-paper that would disappear after a while.]

*Why is that?*

[Well we're worried about that mana freezing stuff right? If it's the almost-paper then I'll have to be constantly feeding it more mana. Even if it's not much mana, it's connected to me so there's the risk of it turning into glass.]

*Oh right. Should you even be using the other stuff then?*

[It should be fine? As long as I complete the spell and then disconnect myself it should be fine? My only worry would be paper getting cut up just from leaning it against the glass but if I make it a couple layers thick that should fix that.]

*I'll let the others know.* "So, Lily has a plan for everyone, and it goes a bit like this…" it didn't take Kat long to outline Lily's plan. The rest of the group had similar concerns to Kat, the risk of the curse, or poison or whatever it was backtracking to Lily through her paper, but Lily insisted it was fine…