Chapter 865

Kat continued to run as she tried to come up with a plan. Apparently kicking the damned thing wouldn’t work, it’s scales were tougher then Kat’s feet apparently. *Wait... I managed to KICK it. That means I can make contact with the thing... can I just pump fire out of my feet in that instant they make contact?*

Kat felt Lily’s approval down the link. “Guys I’ve got a plan! It might not be a great one, but I think I can get some of my demonic fire onto it!”

Xiang and Yang both shouted variations of ‘go for it’ and Kat got ready for another strike. When it did, Kat leapt out of the way, reflexively, only to be surprised. The snake had come from directly behind and Kat jumped off to the side this time, trying to avoid needing to twist and bend and stabilise the ice chunk she was holding. Less risk of throwing everyone off that way.

Kat cursed mentally as she realised the problem with that plan. Snakes were rather flexible and turning its hid about ninety degrees to the side wasn’t hard. Additionally, with a jaw longer then Kat was tall, it was simple to turn and try to bit Kat. Seeing the head whipping around Kat’s eyes went wide and her mind slowed. Well shit.

Kat looked at the giant maw and tried to figure out how to avoid dying horribly. *Within my power my ass. How the heck am I supposed to get out of this one? Hmm... I could burst into flames? Maybe... but while the snake’s mouth is large enough to swallow me whole, it isn’t quite enough to swallow me, and the ice chunk so I’d probably end up dropping those three... so not an option.*

*Hmm... still... If I did set myself on fire... would it avoid my attack again? I’m not sure how deadly it thinks my flames are. Did it throw water in the way just as part of a reflex that triggers against any attacks? Or did it know my fire was actually deadly to it? Is that something I can risk lives on? No. No it really isn’t. Need more data. Hngh... Is there any other way to avoid getting eaten?*

Kat glanced at the mouth one more time... and a crazy idea came to her. *Damn. I’d love to say ‘that’s so crazy it just might work’ but to be entirely truthful I give it maybe... 50% odds? Something like that? Hmm... is that more or less risk then going for the fire play? I mean... I guess I could do both?*

.....

Kat settled on that. Split the difference and go with both ideas. She didn’t really have any extra time anyway, even with everything extremely slow the snake was still quite fast. So, Kat set her plan in motion. Flapping her wings heavily Kat moved forward a few more centimetres, lining herself up with the giant fangs of the snake. Kat summoned up her demonic fire and braced herself.

Kat felt the impact on her side. The snake had kept turning right into her body, and she was smacked away like an unruly fly. Kat could feel her entire left side burning from the impact. It was spread out enough that her bones survived by all the flesh on her left side was bruised. Kat had made sure to keep her wings from the impact so that she could use them to stabilise herself in the air and prevent falling over. She could feel those muscles in her back screaming in protest against the treatment but she just sent over more demonic energy, hoping it would speed up the recovery.

Kat managed to only stumble slightly when she hit the water and managed to use her tail to right herself and start running in less then two seconds. The snake hissed at her as its head dove back under the water. Kat ran towards its tail, not really expecting to catch it, as that was the safest way back to the path. The snake didn’t seem to mind, no attempt to incircle her was made as Kat sprinted diagonally to get back to the sticks that marked the way. Her speed was a touch slower then before, and her bruises were healing slowly because of the constant movement agitating them but she didn’t feel like there was any other choice. Kat was just thankful she was still somewhat in the air and the snake didn’t smack into the ice. Kat doubted she’d have been able to hold it together under that sort of assault.

Up above on said ice chunk, Yang and Xiang were not have a great time. Xiang needed to hook is feet in awkwardly and was pretty sure his ankle had been sprained. It might have just been a bruise, but he didn’t think so. It wasn’t pleasant, but he was hardly going to complain. It was quite clear Kat was doing all she could. Yang was in a similar position. She’d given up trying to stay somewhat standing and had laid herself flat on the ice now. Her knees were shaking, and bruised from the sharp movement causing them to impact the ice. Yang was holding in her anger. Though, the fact that most of it was directed not outward, but inward towards herself wasn’t making it easy to bear.

While Kat was recovering her footing and allowing her regeneration to get to work, the snake was dealing with Kat’s demonic fire. It was using an extremely efficient method for something of its strength. The snake had opened its mouth and raked the tooth through as much poison as it could get its fangs on. With just a bit of effort the snake managed to dilute the flames by spreading them amongst thousands of litres of poison. The tooth itself was slightly weaker and covered in a thin layer of ice... but saying it was ‘weaker’ was like saying a car going at 99 instead of 100 km/h was ‘slower’. True yes, but only in the most technical of manners.

Once the flames were dealt with the snake made another beeline for Kat who was not pleased with how much energy she’d needed to use in that defence for apparently so little. When she looked back, the snake was already missing and presumably fine. Kat had lost around 5% of her reserves in that attack, and really it was only so little because the rest of it had been filled in by her connection with Lily. That extra demonic energy was literally a life saver at the moment and Kat couldn’t be more grateful. Still. She needed to be careful next attack.

The moments following that decision were tense. Every second the snake didn’t attack was another second that sent Kat’s nerves on edge. She knew the snake was fast, exceptionally so for its size. It could catch up to her quickly and attack within moments. It was waiting. Kat didn’t know what for, and she wasn’t liking it. As the seconds stretched to minutes, it did nothing to calm her nerves. Something told her the snake wasn’t giving up just yet. Kat could only hope the reason for the delay was that it was warry now. Being injured. That was the hope. That was what Kat prayed would be the answer. She didn’t know though, the snake was as silent in its movement as ever and Kat could see no traces of its passing.

At the ten-minute mark Kat couldn’t help but frown. She was down to twenty percent energy. Kat didn’t like just how much she had left. If the snake had some way of knowing it was wearing her down, she had a real problem on her hands. Part of her wanted to call out, to get advice from those above her if it would be best to stop. To regain some of her constantly dwindling energy.

But that was just another issue. The snake... just how intelligent was it? Could it understand language? If it was smart enough to but just didn’t know one... would it understand her through the translation? Kat didn’t know and neither did Lily. Kat knew it was at least partially based on intention, but did that mean she could intend different messages for different people? Perhaps with practice but Kat was almost certain that wasn’t something she was capable of.

*Lily I don’t really know what to do here. I’m pretty close to running on fumes and when I get to around the ten percent range I’m pretty sure I’ll be at risk of just collapsing until my energy recharges a bit. I’d only need like... maybe ten minutes tops of no activity but... I don’t think we’d ever get that. Should I try and rest? Or do I need to keep running?*

[I... I don’t know Kat. I wish I had the answer for you... but I just don’t know. How tenacious are these Rank 3 spirit beasts? Is it going to chase us forever because we’re now ‘prey’ or is there a good chance it’s given up? Are we safe already and we just don’t know it?]

*No... I can... I can almost feel its eyes on me. We’re not out of the woods yet. I just don’t know if we need to risk a stop or not. We’re really cutting things close.*