BXBX NOVEL Chapter 497: Adventure Can be Boring…
Chapter 497: Adventure Can be Boring…
Once it had been established that as long as Kat didn\'t go too overboard with the demonic energy things had calmed down and settled into a routine. After recovering her energy Kat got back to work, chipping away at the ice wall until gave way to unfrozen rats, blasting it again, and keeping on.
At some point Kamiko had decided to be more efficient about things. She\'d put together a bunch of ice in the shape of a snow shovel before freezing it together. She kept running her energy through it every now and then to keep it frozen as well, but that was mostly an extra precaution. She only did it because unlike Kat she wasn\'t really using much energy at all so this little bit of extra expenditure wasn\'t worth mentioning.
They hit the ceiling again a few times, and moved lower, though Kat did make sure to turn these into ramps. This was because Kamiko now regularly used her shovel more like a snow plough pushing it all the way back to the first drop and then throwing it out rather then just hurling it behind her. She was strong yes, but gravity was still a thing and it was just easy to run with it.
Granted, this tended to scrape a bit of ice off the footpath but that was a price she was willing to pay. Sue even gave them a bit of a hand by flattening out that first section somewhat. It didn\'t quite allow Kamiko to run up it with her plough setup but it made flinging the ice out easier. Apparently Sue\'s fingers still got chilled for a split second before the coat warmed them up again, not a fun experience apparently. She used much more colourful and insulting language of course, but at this point, the K\'s took it in stride and kept up the excavations.
The first surprise, was when they hit a wall. Literally. Simply thinking this was another case of the ceiling dipping down, Kat dug in that direction waiting for the ceiling to finally stop dropping. Of course, reaching the stone floor then, was a surprise. It actually took Kat a few seconds of looking at the rock, much to her shame, to realise why she couldn\'t chip away at it anymore.
*Oh. OH! This… this is the floor.* Kat didn\'t want to facepalm. That would be more embarrassing. Her left hand made contact with her face, broadcasting the sound of well… getting slapped all the way down the corridor. Everyone knew.
*Shit. Um… what now? Go up? Is this a dead end?* Kat observed the makeshift icy ceiling she currently had. *Hmm, this could be a pain. I mean… I can dig straight up, but I\'m not sure if I want to? That\'ll be a lot harder then just digging down. I\'m not quite sure how my energy reserves will keep up?*
Checking those reserves, Kat found herself at around sixty percent. Lower then she\'d thought, but then again, she did rush into the next section a little faster then was perhaps prudent. She\'d gotten into the groove and just gone for it. Still, it was more than fifty.
Just one issue. The hole she\'d dug. Not quite large enough for wings… or to crouch down really, her knees hit the wall when tried. *I really boxed myself in here huh? Guess I can just jam my fists into the wall to climb up but… I feel like I\'ve made a serious of dumb decisions in rapid succession. Maybe I should stop and think about this for a second. Regen some energy while I\'m at it.*
So Kat did. After five minutes she now had most of her energy back and no better plan so she started climbing. Halfway up she thought she could tried that back walking technique where you pushed against the opposite wall and walked up. It failed very quickly.
As Kat tried it, she felt her wings being squished against the wall. Trying to use solely that pressure, Kat had let go of the parts supporting her arms and put her back further into the wall. That\'s when everything fell apart. Her wings were very smooth and she started to fall backwards basically the moment she put weight on her back.
She tried pushing down harder but it was so strange on her wings, like trying to squeeze the muscles out of your arm. Her wings felt pressured on all sides and slipped even further down. Kat\'s tail pushed into the wall to stabilise her slightly, and it walked for just a moment. She could already feel herself falling back down but it was enough. Slamming her hands to the side sticking them into more ice Kat felt her descent falter.
*Ok. Not doing that again. I\'m not a human with some grippy clothes or even normal skin. I\'m a Succubus with smooth skin that nothing likes to stick to. Even if my clothing might have let me cling to the wall slightly with it\'s friction, though now I think about the fact that it\'s silk maybe not… still, with wings in the way it was a moot point anyway.*
Using her tail to keep pushing herself forward, Kat managed to manoeuvre her body and grip the front wall once again, before pausing. *Hmm, is it better to keep my arms out like I had them? No wait that\'s dumb, I can\'t bend them properly like that. I\'m flexible but not quite to that extent. I don\'t have double joints in my elbows or knees.*
With that, Kat managed to get out of the hole she\'d trapped herself in. "You alright Kat?" asked Kamiko, shovel in hand and leaning against the wall. She\'d trusted Kat to get out herself or just ask for help so she hadn\'t said anything before.
"Yeah I just found the floor. Not really sure what to do now. We could either try to climb up but that\'ll be costly energy wise as I use my wings to keep myself afloat while I chip through it all. Or go the other direction. Where do you think we should try and go?" asked Kat
Kamiko tilted her head to the side… which lead her to smacking her horn lightly against the ice and rebounding. "Woops" said Kamiko as she flailed very slightly as she regained her balance. "Um… I think… I think going up. Sure we could go the other way but that\'d just be more frozen rats probably. Sure it\'s killing them but it\'s not like we\'re finding the real power behind the nest. With so many of them they must have some fancy rats around somewhere. Maybe they are up somewhere?"
"Sounds good. I haven\'t really got a better idea so I\'m happy to go for it. Still, I\'ll have to take more breaks, I don\'t want to be caught in the air with anything less then seventy percent energy just in case I think" said Kat
Kamiko nodded, "That\'s fine. Should was ask Sue? Oh and should I wait here. You\'ve got that hole below to dump the ice so… I don\'t know if you need me shovelling… hmmm. Yeah those two."
Kat bit her lip. *That\'s a good question. I don\'t really need Kamiko helping me out with this part but do I want her on standby? If shit hits the fan I don\'t want to be caught without support… then again… she\'s pretty fast. If something happens, she can probably just run down to me… except then she won\'t have Sue\'s help… but she wouldn\'t have that anyway.*
"Go hang out with Sue I think. Take a small break. I don\'t need the extra hands I don\'t think, and while combat is a risk, if it\'s so risky that I need help, I\'d be much happier knowing you had Sue\'s shield around you. If I just find more basic rats then I can deal with them myself" said Kat
"Are you sure? I don\'t want to be just messing around…" said Kamiko
Kat shrugged, "I\'m not going to tell you what to do, but maybe try and make friends with Sue? That\'ll be the harder task between the two of us" said Kat with a grin
Kamiko giggled at the thought realising just how true that was. She then started to more seriously consider it. Sure, Kat had meant it as a joke… probably but now that the idea was lodge in her mind it really did seem like a valuable use of her time. "I\'ll do it" said Kamiko, eyes blazing with interest. She\'d make Sue… well maybe not a friend, but at least less openly hostile. She was sure of it.
*Well… back to digging.* Kat first enlarged the nearby area around her, making sure that she actually had the wingspace to fly properly. She hit actually hit the wall on the left side, and needed to dig out extra on the right, where she thankfully didn\'t find more stone, to have the wingspan required. This did put the shaft off-centre but there really wasn\'t anything she could do about that. She NEEDED that extra room, and if a little structural annoyance was what she had to pay. She\'d happily pay it.
*Still…* thought Kat as she looked up at the iced over ceiling. *This isn\'t exactly going to be a fun time. Rats flowing into you is one thing. I do not want to be too slow and have them crush me and force me out of the sky.*