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

--- Kat ---

The rats knew psychological warfare. As their little group progressed the sounds of the area turned over. Sometimes, there would be almost silence. Only the ripples of the wind in the trees and grass could be heard. Other times, the sound of one of those squirrels attacking could be heard... but not a single nut got within eyesight. They weren’t shot to the sky, or at least, not ’upwards’ enough to be seen. Sometimes, you could hear chittering nearby, sounded like it was directly on top of them. Kat and Lily could detect no real squirrels in that radius.

Appoline seemed similarly off centre because of this. The elf continually palmed various glowing concoctions. Rotating through a colourful cast that could likely be used for a few things. More than once Appoline wound her hand back to throw... only to vanish the potion before the motion completed, returning to normal and trying to watch out for when they were truly attacked.

Finding that moment proved difficult. Were the squirrels the only thing here? It didn’t sound like it... but perhaps they had ways to make other less standard sounds? It was hard to know, and something could throw those sounds all over the place. It wasn’t entirely magic, and certainly no illusion... but it continued to tickle at them all, ensuring that you couldn’t relax properly.

It also made the group slow. Every time they readied for a strike that never came was a moment they stopped running. Eventually they stopped responding like that... only for a nut to finally come flying out towards them, Appoline specifically. Kat kept Lily on her this time, knowing the lightning didn’t properly conduct through her body, at least, not the stuff propelling these nuts. Kat caught it and waited for the follow up. Appoline watching the other side.

But of course there was nothing. This was punishment for their lack of reaction the last two times the rats had tried charging up an attack. It meant they were watching... but not acting. Not much. It proved exceptionally annoying. *There’s no way this is natural at this point. These monsters move not like monsters, but like a tiny army. So the question is then... are they being ordered by someone? Is it an enchantment? And if they are being ordered by a real person... are they actually in the tournament grounds? Or are they just giving commands from outside of it.*

[You think that would be allowed?]

*I don’t see why not. They’re acting as the General for this squirrel army, but why do they NEED to be in a place we can hit? The challenge isn’t to beat the General, it’s to do... something else. I mean, I have a few possible ideas as to what we might be meant to do, but it’s mainly that this central area is supposed to be more deadly that leads me to think that they’re getting outside help. I’m just not sure if it’s ’outside’ as in nearby, or ’outside outside’ if you get my meaning.*

[Yeah I do, and I see why it would be hard to puzzle out. I think... either way would make sense. Thyme might even be the one conducting them. Though consider everything else surrounding this round I’d guess that the answer would be no... then again Thyme has managed to spin up the character of Weaver. Though that too might be heavily restricted.]

*Yeah... I guess the question is now, what can we DO with this information?*

[Keep booking it to the portal?]

*I guess that makes sense.* Kat and Lily would regret this decision later. They continued to make their way to the portal, not bothering to disguise where they were going, and they were so busy paying attention to the various distractions and occasional warning shots that... they weren’t really listening to what ELSE was going on in the background.

Thus, when they climbed the final hill before the portal should be in proper sight, and in fact, they could see the edges of at least two... well they came face to face with a field absolutely filled to the brim with squirrels. Their tails all glowing brightly in a synchronized display of power. Kat yanked Appoline back, diving behind the hill as dozens of acorns pelted into the hill they were hiding behind. They punched into the dirt one after another.

As this was happening, the troops that were up in the nearby trees had readied their own acorns. Distracted as the group had been with all the ones at the front, they were not quite ready for the ones at the sides when they fired. Kat’s first instinct was to hurl Appoline and Lily up into the air to get them out of the wall of acorn fire.

It wasn’t quite as much as the initial volley but it was still layered, dense, and coming in from two directions. The problem with simply hurling them away was that they’d be sitting ducks for any follow up attacks. Regardless of Kat’s worries though, Lily insisted. A quick mental communication from the two of them declaring it the correct answer... so Kat didn’t hesitate any further, throwing them both towards the sky.

As soon as they were out of her arms, Kat transformed into water and pressed herself against the ground, while up in the air, Lily used her shadows to pull Appoline in close. Appoline, less prepared for this specific course of action, but still ready for combat threw two different potion bottles off into the distance where they exploded into a cloud of something that washed over the formation on the other side of the hill.

Sadly, this meant they were in the visible range of those squirrels on the other side of the hill, and despite initial thoughts, not all of the army had fired in that initial volley, and a second set of acorns came flying at the pair in the sky. Kat had reformed on the ground, and decided to simply go for one side. Charging out towards them and praying her two companions would be fine.

The squirrels hadn’t been expecting her charge, but they were still fast and mobile. They saw Kat’s approach and immediately started to fly. That wasn’t quite enough this time. Kat continued running until she got to the nearest tree and then started to break it to pieces with her tail so that the fragments could be thrown at the fleeing squirrels. She didn’t need to kill any of them, not really, but injuries would be a good deterrent.

Back with Lily, the line of acorns launched towards her was going to cause issues. Deciding to avoid most of them, Lily summoned a set of shadow wings, not to raise her up, but to push down. It was far easier to halt her momentum and send them back towards the ground then it was to generate further lift after all. It ended up being enough, though it was close. The acorns screamed past the spot in the air they’d just been in, and as they were falling another set of acorns was fired from the side Kat wasn’t covering.

Lily summoned several sheets of paper while also raising a shadow shield from her body, making it small but thick and quite easy for Appoline to see. The elf readied herself behind the shadow wall as the acorns ripped through the paper, loosing quite a lot of their velocity before they slammed into the shadow shield. Lily felt it as they were launched away from the shield proper. It was a lot of mana, but not too much. Ultimately, it was an acceptable ten percent for the entire manoeuvre.

Appoline was ready when the acorns stopped firing nearby, launching a trio of three bottles that exploded into a wall of ice. "It’s not that thick, but it will block their line of sight," Appoline informed. As she did so, some of the acorns on the ground exploded into lightning, ripping through the pair. It wasn’t too dangerous. Most of the energy went straight into the ground, but it was painful and caused Lily to drop her shadows.

Kat winced, wanting to run back immediately but knew she needed to keep this side mostly clear. She could return to help in a few moments. Especially as Lily was already recovering from her shock. It seemed they still won that rally. Despite the dropped shadow shields, Appoline pre-prepared ice walls, all supported by the potion that created them and NOT her internal reserves, meant that they were still shielding the pair even when the lightning was causing them issues.

The problem wasn’t the small bit of lightning, but what it represented for the future. It was quite likely that they had more exotic ammo they hadn’t risked firing. It was also possible, perhaps likely that they had some way to destroy the rather small hill the group was using as cover. Kat’s wide angle meant that if they approached now she’d be able to see that and perhaps react... but that didn’t make it not an issue. The problem really was that with the band restricting her Kat didn’t think she could catch the squirrels before they started to run away.

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