Chapter 866: Solid Snake


    Five more minutester, still no snake. Kat makes the call. “I need to rest a bit, get my demonic energy regenerating. I’ll be keeping an eye out but it’s getting risky to continue,”


    Kat slows down, letting her wings re out as she passed next to a tree. It was brittle like all the rest but it was just the right height for what she had nned. Kat pumped onest burst of demonic fire into the ice before setting it down carefully across the trees branches. She doesn’t let gopletely, keeping her hands raised, but it takes most of the weight off. Kat lets the demonic energy circling her body slow, and takes a deep breath. Ready for anything.


    She frowns a momentter, when her energy regeneration starts. It’s slow. Unbearably slow. *Why? What’s restricting me here? I’m resting as much as I can...* The obvious answer Kat was missing was the poison. It didn’t really have a chance to dig in and start effecting her, being almost instantly destroyed by her impressive regeneration. The problem though, was that even if she wasn’t doing much, her regeneration was constantly working preventing her demonic energy from recharging faster.


    Kat grit her teeth as she gained a single percent of demonic energy after a minute of rest. She could still feel the snake, it was clearly waiting for her to rx and she wasn’t going to give it such an easy opening. The problem of course, was that with only a percent a minute she was likely to need over an hour of rest and that just wasn’t in the cards. The snake hadn’t shown itself for fifteen minutes, which frankly was fourteen minutes more than she wasfortable with really.


    Seven minutes, seven precious percentage points of energy (and hopefully a bit more than that on Lily’s end)ter, Kat heard a sound she couldn’t quite identify. It was a soft roaring that seemed to be building in intensity. A few moments passed as Kat tried to identify the sound. She looked around for anything that might clue her in... but it was when she finally turned her face back to the direction they were travelling she saw it. The sted snake had been busy.


    Apparently just because it was keeping an eye on Kat didn’t mean it was simply waiting for a chance to attack. It had been working on something to cause Kat an issue. It had run around, gathering water behind it and muffling the sound of the movement. All to be unleashed in one giant attack. A wave of ckish poison continued to rise up and out of the swamp and it was heading straight for Kat’s position. *Well fuck. How am I supposed to deal with that?*


    As it climbed higher and higher Kat’s fears were confirmed. She slowed her mind in that moment as she tried to n. The wave was already impossible to jump over. At least, without better footing and less weight being carried. *Ok. This is officially not good. Well, it wasn’t good before this, but things are really not looking good. Ok... ok... what can I do? Hmmm... could I run around? Hmm... no... it looks like it’s too wide... hmm... maybe run and then jump over? Though the wave still seems to be gaining height at the edges... hmm... a risk... and I’d have to start running NOW before we get confirmation... not ideal...*


    .....


    Kat wanted to bit her lips in annoyance but didn’t drop her slowed time for it. *I’m burning energy just thinking about it. Is there no way to jump over? No... not with the ice chunk... is there another way I could get the ice chunk over? I could... throw it? Maybe? Would that work? Kat started to go over the idea in her head. She’d need to attempt a discuss throw, spinning in ce and using that to giver herself extra height. Bit dangerous for the passengers... but I’m not sure I have any other choice.*


    *I... I think that would work. Especially if I freeze myself a small tform to stand on, ensuring I have adequate footing for this... I think... I think I have to try.* “You guys better hold on because a massive wave ising and I have only one crazy idea to get out of it,” said Kat even as she was already working on her tform. It took but a moment... and a ratherrge chunk of her recently regenerated energy. Kat really wasn’t pleased with that fact but needs must. It just meant she needed to avoid doing this in the future.


    Kat firmed up her footing and started to spin. She let her hands work their way out to the edge before all she was holding the ice by was a reinforced chunk at the edge. She could see Yang and Xiang panicking as they tried desperately to hold on as much as they could. Kat continued to spin, speeding up with each rotation until the wave was upon them. Kat spun around once more and then let the ice fly, aiming more upwards then sideways but really doing her best with what she had.


    It spun around like a top, nearly throwing its upants off to the side. Lily had to dig her ws into Xiang’s outfit to remain in ce and he just winced and said nothing at the treatment. Kat followed behind them with a jump, trying to catch up to the flying ice chunk and bring it down safely. The snake was nowhere in sight... but the wave was dissipating fast. Kat was certain the only reason it could retain its integrity in such a shallow bit of water was the snake’s interference. Now that it had clearly moved on, the wave fell.


    The ice chunk reached the peak of its jump, holding there in ce for a few moments until it started falling and met Kat’s waiting hands. She red her wings and tried to reduce their falling speed. Kat was somewhat sessful. She did reduce the speed greatly... but considering how fast they’d been moving before it was still not a pleasant ride. It didn’t take long for the whole ensemble to crash into the water once again. Kat freaked out when her mind screamed at her immediately. The snake was waiting.


    Kat threw herself up as the snake charged in from behind. Apparently, it didn’t have enough time to do anything fancy, it simply raced towards Kat as fast as possible. She Kat managed to just barely crest over the tip of its outstretched mouth by tucking her feet in as far as she could. As soon as the head passed, Kat acted. She brought her foot down lightly on the scales, not looking to break any more bones. Kat let her demonic energy explode, releasing as much of it as she could in those few short moments before letting herself fall to the side and watching the rest of the snake barrel past.


    What Kat didn’t expect was that the snake would turn around ande in for a second attack. It was so slowpared to the previous one she dodged it easily. The follow up though... that was a different story. As Kat sailed easily over the thing, she spotted the patch of scales that she’d set on fire. They were shivering and chitting like a thousand insects. Kat experienced a moment of confusion when they exploded outwards flying towards Kat fire and all.


    She didn’t have any time to react properly as they mmed into her and the ice chunk above. The fire at least kept it together even as the cracks formed... but the scales that got Kat were another think entirely. Several tore their way through her wings with barely any resistance and while most did miss her, the rest sliced into her skin, digging in painfully. Kat winced, and wished she had a free hand to rip the cursed things out even as the fire seemed to peter out instead of attacking her.


    Katnded heavily without the full aid of her wings, and the pain in her legs caused her to stumble. It didn’t stop Kat from running but it was a near thing. She could feel the scales shifting alongside her muscles as she ran, doing more damage because she refused to stop. The problem was, the snake was right there beside her and Kat wasn’t willing to bet it would be willing to let her stop and rest to fix the issue. Her regeneration was working after all. That was all she could bank on.


    It was slow going. Kat didn’t know if it was because the scales were magical in some way, or if it was just the number of them... or maybe it was how deep they were embedded. Still, Kat felt her body slowly healing and rejecting the foreign substances. If it could just go a bit faster she’d be thrilled. Then again, Kat finally find an issue with her regeneration. It prioritised fixing things as it removed them from her body, or so it seemed. The scales would be pushed out a little as the muscles healed... only to move while she ran, damaging the muscles more and setting back progress.