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

— Kat —

“Let’s just deal with the worms, clearly it’s distracting you so we can just take them out and then move on,” said Kat. Kat didn’t say anything more as Hunter simply nodded and started moving. No further arguments, no alternate suggestions, just action. Kat let the silence hang as Hunter slowly moved over to the remnants of the battle to work out what direction the worms had come from.

It didn’t take Hunter long to read the tracks and soon the pair were heading further away from the road… at a walking pace. If that wasn’t an indication that Hunter should probably be forced into talking a bit, Kat didn’t know what was. “So… do you want to talk about it?”

“About what?” asked Hunter without turning around.

Kat frowned at Hunter’s back. Kat sped up slightly so that she could see Hunter’s face, but at a glance nothing seemed to be wrong. Kat’s frowned deepened at that as she contemplated what to say for a few moments. “I suspect it would be good to speak on your issues with our current task,”

“I have no issue with it, corpse worms should be destroyed when found,” stated Hunter. Kat rolled her eyes, uncaring if Hunter saw the action. *Now how the heck do I do this? Do I keep poking a bit or do I just start using my aura? I was hoping to not influence her if I don’t need to… is it wrong to just jump straight to ‘hit her with calm’ though? What’s the protocol with something like this?

She’s a teammate and… let’s go with acquaintance. Haaa… how far back is this trauma anyway? She might look around my age but she’s closer to a hundred. How the heck am I meant to deal with an issue that might be older then I am?*

Kat chewed on her lip as they continued following the rather obvious tracks. Well, most of them were obvious, and walking right next to them helped a lot. Then again, it wasn’t as though the worms were trying to be stealthy. Eventually, Kat decided to push out her aura a bit and see if Hunter reacted. She did. Instantly.

“I see you have a calming aura,” stated Hunter.

“Yes, I do,” stated Kat in her closest approximation of Hunter’s tone of voice hoping it would prompt the other girl to retort back. Three minutes of walking later and that plan had clearly failed so Kat let out a long sigh, pushed her aura up in power a bit and asked, “Look, Lily noticed that you may have… certain issues with corpse worms and recommended I get you to talk about it,”

“I see. Why did you decide that Lily was correct in this case?” asked Hunter.

Kat held back a sigh and instead answered, “I suppose it’s because I’m used to dealing with children? I mean, looking back on it Lily made good points… but I guess I was trusting you to be clearer about things? Kids are really bad at keeping secrets… or more like they overcorrect and it makes things obvious quite frequently?

Wait no, I don’t want to be- ok yes I do want to be distracted but I think this is probably important,”

“Do you think you are qualified to help with any issues I might have?” asked Hunter.

“Oh no, not at all. I think I’m completely unqualified but… Lily did point out I’m here right now and I’ve got a calming aura to help so she suggested I still make the attempt. Though… how come my aura doesn’t seem to be working all that well?” asked Kat.

“I am using my own aura to counter it lightly so that you cannot tell that I’m countering it at all. I noticed the effects quite quickly because recognising such mental manipulations is something my clan teaches us early. Counteracting most of them is easy once you know about them,” stated Hunter.

“So… do you think you can let my aura work a bit and calm down? Then maybe we can try to talk about this?” asked Kat.

“I do not wish to do so,” stated Hunter.

Kat nodded slowly, “Yes I understand that. It is beyond clear that you don’t want to talk about this. I also know that you like intelligent questions so I’m resisting the urge to just continually poke at the issue more directly, but I also understand that if I am supposed to help you here, then you need to want me to help you. If you’re running away, then I can’t catch you,”

“I am not running,” stated Hunter. Kat sped up just enough that she could turn to look Hunter right in the eye with a raised eyebrow. Kat was using the fact that she had wings to fly and avoid any rough terrain she couldn’t see to keep up the effect longer then it would be safe otherwise. Hunter just stared back at Kat.

She’d stared down giant monsters, a slightly disappointed Kat was much easier to look in the eye. Really helped that Kat had visible eyes.

*Ok this clearly isn’t working. Do I just force the issue? … Lily thoughts?*

[Oh sorry, I thought you were still talking to yourself. Kamiko and I set up under one of the trees near the road and we’re debating if doing a big meal for Hunter when she gets back would be ideal. Um… do you force the issue? I’m going to say not yet? Perhaps ask about how best to take out the nest and then we can corner her about it once the corpse worms are gone?

I mean, if she’s not letting you calm her down the fact that you’re heading towards an infestation of them is likely doing Hunter’s mood no favours.]

*I guess. I suppose I’d just hoped that I could help her deal with these issues somewhat before we arrived but seems like that was just wishful thinking.* Kat dropped back to the ground beside Hunter and continued to say nothing as they walked, pausing when Hunter stopped in place.

Kat watched as the lamia looked around, eyes narrowing as she examined the area carefully. Kat didn’t know what to think when Hunter lobbed some demonic fire at one of the nearby trees, though her confusion was quickly answered as worms exploded from various nooks and crannies only to turn to ash themselves. “Um… what was that?”

“Corpse worm sentry. Corpse worms are usually able to link up with each other somewhat. Not a true hivemind… but their minds do somewhat merge together as they group up. It’s how they can polit corpses around. This is one of their sentry posts.

Normally one or two would drop down on someone as they passed, essentially ‘marking’ them for the nest to burst out and collect as they approach,” stated Hunter.

“Oh… and they won’t notice you just burnt it down?” asked Kat.

“Unlikely. They are not that smart. Even when they are locked together most of their combined mind is devoted to keeping the body moving. They aren’t smart enough to check in with their ‘scouts’. It’s all instinct for them,” explained Hunter.

“So… how are we going to take them all out?” asked Kat. “I mean, the scout posts, any corpse worms that aren’t in the main nest… and the nest I guess?”

“Destroying the nest is our main goal. Then we take the scout outposts, and finally any corpses that return during the process. It would take too much time to ensure that ensure that we find all of them. Time that I recognise we do not have,” stated Hunter.

“Right… but what’s the plan?” asked Kat.

“I shall apply excessive amounts of demonic fire to the nest once it is found. From there I will walk downwards while watching the tunnels stability and keeping my flames burning everything they can. Once we reach the bottom and take out most of the worms, I shall head back up and take out the scout posts.

I would appreciate if you followed me into the tunnels, but it is not necessary,” stated Hunter.

“Um… why can’t we just throw fire down into the tunnels without going ourselves?” asked Kat, curious.

“That would require either fine control of demonic fire at a distance greater then I can currently manage, or the willingness to simply burn the surroundings down alongside the worms. While I would not be against such extreme measures in normal circumstances I suspect that the drake we are hunting would pick up on an emission of demonic fire large enough to eat away at the area.

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That might result in the drake heading in this direction, or running away, but it is likely to cause issues either way,” stated Hunter.

“Oh… but it’s fine if we limit ourselves to the worms?” asked Kat.

“I suspect you are either severely underestimating the amount of demonic fire it takes to destroy large quantities of non-organic materials or you are overestimating the amount of demonic fire needed for the worms,” stated Hunter.

“Remember my fire freezes stuff, so it doesn’t just disappear afterwards,” added Kat.