--- Kat ---


    The others didn''t notice but as they rode along Kamiko was stewing on that titbit of information Hunter had dropped on them. For all that she trusted the two, she was now concerned about how she''d been dragged along. Not for herself of course, no that was very much not the problem.


    Her recruiting had implied that she wouldn''t be in danger, that Hunter was a professional who had done stuff like this before, and that Kat could regenerate so it wasn''t worth worrying about them too much. That she would be fine if she stayed out of the way… but never any true reassurance that Kat and Hunter would ACTUALLY be fine. Just reasons that they should be, or reasons for her not to worry.


    Well, Kamiko could safely say that she was very worried now and that worry didn''t diminish in the slightest as the road through another vige. They''d actually been through two today, but didn''t bother stopping at either. They had time before the sun set and those tents were very nice.


    Kamiko had considered stopping so that her horse could have some better amodations… but the stables she''d noticed along the main road hadn''t exactly been clean so far and horses survived in the wild fine. So resting at their camp wasn''t really a hardship for him.


    Of course, with no need to worry about her horse she went back to worrying about Kat and Hunter. So much so that as soon as the decision was made to rest for the night she blurted out, "SoI''mworriednowandIwanttoknowhowtofightthedrake" which wasn''t understandable in the slightest.


    "Kamiko, if you wish to convey information swiftly you need to force the trantion. Simply speaking quickly distorts the information and makes picking out what you said difficult," stated Hunter.


    Kamiko blushed and repeated what she''d said, properly this time, "So… um… I''m a bit worried now that I… um have had some time to think about it… and I want to know how to fight the drake… or um, maybe how I can help? Or… I guess like… how you n to fight it? Ideally?"


    Hunter looked around the clearing before nodding at Kamiko. "I have several ns but a lot of more general information you should know ahead of time. Would you like to discuss this now or after dinner has been made?"


    "I can cook while you talk," added Kat.


    Kamiko looked between the two and grimaced. "Um… I mean… if that''s not too much trouble I guess. I… I can try and make stuff tomorrow? I''m not that good… but if you guys want?"


    "Cooking isn''t much trouble so if you''re not confident I don''t mind leaving you off the rotation… but if you want to learn I''m willing to help. Though I don''t recognise all of the ingredients so I''ll be avoiding most of them," exined Kat as she dropped a box out of her ring. She was going to make somesagna. The ring had arge stock of noodles, and of course, she''d just taken out of oven.


    Kamiko gave a hesitant shrug. "I… um… I know some basics… but um… nothing off of memory. I wouldn''t trust myself that far. So… like… um… I''m not sure how much you could really help me… it… it''s probably just a matter of practice and well… if we don''t have a real kitchen… I''d probably just be listening to whoever was doing the real cooking. Um… I can washup though!"


    "While the offer is appreciated we have an artifact in the ring for cleaning everything. That is why I did not request assistance with the washing upst night," added Hunter.


    "Ah…" said Kamiko with a pout.


    Kat paused what where she was, turning away from the vast array of sauce jars she''d taken from the rings to long over at Kamiko. After a moment of thought she put away the jars and dashed over to Kamiko and wrapped the girl up in a hug. "Hey it''s alright. Not everyone knows how to cook. It''s probably better to learn, but we can save that for when you''re morefortable," said Kat.


    "Yeah, I mean, I don''t know how to cook anything proper," added Lily. "I can do some basic noodles, I know how to work a rice cooker… oh and I can do toast and microwave stuff! But real cooking? Eh haven''t really needed to try. I… probably won''t? As long as Kat doesn''t mind.


    I don''t really care for learning and Kat skips meals all the time while I''m happy to eat a lot more things raw now so… less of a concern,"


    "Oh, that… that makes me feel a bit better, thanks you two," mumbled Kamiko into Kat''s shoulder.


    Kat let the hug go on for a few more moments before spinning away and going back to the sauces. She wasn''t quite sure if she had the ingredients to make a proper sauce for asagna and it was looking like one of these would have to do as a base. So she was trying to work out which was the best for it without opening any of them.


    Lily pushed her notes to the side and turned to Hunter. "So what should we know about this drake? We… maybe should''ve covered it before now, but hey, at least we''re thinking about things now!"


    Hunter nodded and started to exin, "Yes, it is best you know what to expect ahead of time. Sadly, in this case there is very little I can tell you with certainty because of the way the situation developed.


    Usually, you find that corrupted entities tend to fit within their theme, ensuring that while greatly empowered they do not spontaneously develop a wide variety of disconnected and powerful abilities.


    "These can be somewhat mitigated if the monster in question was once a person, helping to direct the growth of powers somewhat before dying… but in this case we have a drake that likely remained in its egg for an extended period of time. The sort of abilities you can develop in that time are powerful and far reaching.


    "Ideally, it will simply have upgraded fire breath, something unlikely to do proper amounts of damage to demons, as well as a flight power and perhaps a magical strength increase. This is the supremely best case scenario and I doubt we would encounter something so weak.


    "On the other end of things, would be if the demonically empowered ability is either ''growth'' or ''adaption''. It is possible that the embryo nearly perished in the egg and so it adapted to keep itself alive through one of those two efforts. If so, its power could be adapting to things, or growing to ovee them.


    "In either case, a protracted battle is thest thing we want. Sadly, it is likely the drake has a at least some level of regeneration so an easy kill is not something we can count on. Your first priority Kamiko, if you are to be within viewing distance of the fight at all, is to watch and note down if the drake is adapting to us, learning from us, or actively growing more powerful as we fight.


    "If it is not, that''s fine. We can take our time wearing it down by relying on Kat''s endurance and my ownrge supply of ammunitionbined with ability to hide. It should help us win a protracted fight should the beast not be adapting… but that is the difficult thing. I cannot truly tell you what to predict because an egg is a thing of potential.


    We just have to hope that the drake didn''t make use of most of it,"


    "What are the chances of that?" asked Kamiko worriedly.


    "Very low," stated Hunter.


    "Well what is a reasonable thing to expect then?" asked Lily. "The worst case seems to be ''expecting basically everything'' and the best case seems to be ''expect a standard dragon'' so… where is the middle ground? What are we likely to see?"


    "Ah yes, I was lost in the extremes it seems," stated Hunter with no change in expression. Kat and Lily were unsure if the slight pun in her words was tranted or not. "Regeneration on its end is likely, though just as likely to be based on consuming more sustenance instead of seemingly endlessly like Kat. Fire breath or some kind is likely as well, though not necessarily heat.


    When I aim for weak points, that is the time for Kat to strike. I likely cannot kill it with a shot to the brain or the heart, but both things WILL slow it down. If Kat can use those openings to try ripping off limbs, that would be optimal."


    Hunter paused for a few moments to think of things. "Teleportation is not out of the question, or super speed of some kind. I imagine if the drake has had any issue at all with prey running away from it, it''ll have developed something to speed up. That could be real teleportation, or shoving demonic power behind it and using explosions to catch up.


    It will probably be a costly technique, but one that exists. I do not know how smart it will be. It is unlikely to be creative, but simple ns can be deadly if we are not ready for them. I shall thing on my previous hunts I can share. They may give you some insight to drawn on when nning in the moment,"