BXBX NOVEL Chapter 463: Parting the Sea
Chapter 463: Parting the Sea
Kat decided very quickly the brute force approach was necessary. As she swiped her fans through the horde, she found them underwhelming. She had no skill, no technique, no understanding in the slightest about what she actually needed to do with them, just using overwhelming power.
The first batch of rats she hit were all with the flat of the fan, crushing their bodies against the heavy weight of them, but ultimately, doing more to disperse the horde then to deal any lasting damage against it. Kat, without thinking dismissed her fans and they faded away, and Kat spread her fingers wide and further sped up the energy around her body.
Kamiko followed behind her, cutting down the rats that were trying to launch themselves at Kat's 'exposed' back, which was probably the best defended place she had, mostly because of the natural instincts of her tail. Still, Kamiko easily followed behind and used Kat's distraction to slice the rats to pieces while they paid her no mind. The 'clear danger' of Kat who was standing in the middle was a much more attractive target.
But Kat could still pull her weight. *I'm not as technical as Kamiko, but I have reach, strength, and a complete apathy when it comes to getting my hands dirty if it's really required.*
Kat blurred into motion, hands outstretched with nails gleaming in the lantern light as Kat whirred. Nails slicing through the sides of rats as her tail shot through their bodies, skewering multiple rats at a time as she moved.
Kat wasn't efficient with these movements in the slightest. Where Kamiko took a miniscule amount of time to line her slices up to deal the killing blows to as many rats as she could, Kat had decided to let her instincts run wild and simply attack anything nearby as best should could. In the end, for these weak Swarm Rats that must not have been old at all, it really didn't make much of a difference.
A clean slice through the neck to remove a head… or a large gash on the side and multiple broken ribs. They both led to very dead rats with only a small difference in the amount of time required. Kat knew this, and decided to play to her strengths. As her hands swiped through another batch of rats.
Kat's fingernails easily cut through the skin and fur on any rat close enough. She could feel the thick blood and viscera cling to her for just a second before sliding off, taken away by the forced of the wind as the limb moved onto the next target and Kat moved ever deeper into the swarm of rats around them.
Time started to blend together. Kat tried hard not to concentrate on the details. She certainly didn't mind the necessary actions but… there is only so many times you can feel yourself running your nails through a rat's intestines before you think it might perhaps be best if your more conscious mind decides to check out.
So Kat did. Letting the blood, skin, and bone splatter around her without a care. Her body simply struck at anything moving nearby as she shifted herself slowly forward. A few rats would always managed to escape. Perhaps they were a bit too close together, perhaps they were right at the edge of her range and her nails scraped the air before them.
Yet it did not matter, for Kamiko was doing much the same behind her. Utilising the full length of her naginata Kamiko sliced any rat that even had a chance of surviving Kat's rampage. She made sure to take out all the healthy ones, and add a few cuts to the ones that might have survived if they got lucky.
Unlike Kat, who really wasn't paying attention properly, Kamiko had entered a warriors flow. Her eyes missed nothing, and yet her mind was still and tranquil like a pond. She allowed her body to act, not on instinct, but on thousands of hours of training drilled into her body that had become something better then that.
Still, while the rats were great in number, they were nothing special, and eventually their number started to dwindle in the hallway. Kat didn't even notice at first when her hands began to hit more air than rat, and then hardly any rat at all. In fact, Kat didn't truly stop until her body chased the final rat nearby into the wall, slamming her outstretched fingers straight through the rat and into the stone, causing a soft thud to echo out, breaking Kat out of her trance.
Looking around, Kat watched Kamiko dispatch two more rats, the last of the group nearby. Shaking her head, Kat carefully pulled her fingers from the wall and let out a long sigh. As Kat rose back to her full height, she absently brushed at her outfit despite it cleanliness simply out of habit.
*Well… that was… something.* Kat checked her reserves and found them a bit lower then she'd like. They were down to seventy percent, though climbing back up rapidly. *I shouldn't have used up so much. I should have balanced that better or… or just USED it better. I wonder how likely it is Kamiko's still full. Perhaps… I should subtly ask.*
"How are you Kamiko?" asked Kat
Kamiko's eyes softened once she heard Kat speak, and her weapon vanished. She let out a long breath just like Kat before smiling. "I'm still in tip top shape. These rats really aren't much, but I do know they can get scarier… or well, they SHOULD be able to get scarier. All kinds of monsters get worse the longer they've been around. Little hard to tell with these guys because they spawn more frequently and tend to die just as fast…"
I'm sorry what? They get stronger? Thought Kat, choosing to just accept the fact that Kamiko seemed to be if not completely full on demonic energy at least pretty close. "What do you mean they get stronger?"
Kamiko frowned like Kat had just told told her that the grass was orange but still wanted desperately to believe the claim because she was a friend. "Um… that's just how it works?"
"Well… um… I don't really interact with demonic energy outside of demons… and even then mostly just myself and the system if it counts?" said Kat unsure.
Understanding dawned on Kamiko and she hit herself lightly in the head. "I am so sorry. It's just… this… this is like the basics of the basics for us. Sorry, it… we are told very early and then repeatedly what demonic energy does to things. Mostly in the context of why we should NEVER give it to human friends for a quick power up."
Kat raised an eyebrow and nodded, asking for Kamiko to continue as after a few seconds pass. "Oh, right right. Um… so, with basically everything other then demons, it happens in stages. Or well, not for monsters. Um… ok I'm bad at explain. Let's explain with sentients first.
"So, normal human, or elf, or whatever. They take in demonic energy. They instantly get… roughly twice as strong, give or take. They keep that strength for somewhere between an hour and a week depending on how strong they were and how much energy they got, before they crash back down to about half their normal strength.
"At that point, if they just wait, their sanity will drastically decrease as their power rather quickly returns to what it was, and then keeps climbing, much faster then even a demons power level would. It just keeps going and going, until they lose their mind, and then it keeps going even faster after that.
"Pretty much forever until something kills them, or they explode because their body can't handle the energy, infecting a large amount of the local wildlife. Now, from there we can talk about the wildlife. If it wasn't sentient before it gets… I don't want to say smarter but… perhaps more creatively vicious?
"Then, it develops a special ability, in these rats' case that would be duplication, and then it slowly starts to gain power. It isn't anywhere close to how strong a sentient can get in any length of time really but they do get stronger slowly. Sometimes developing new abilities but rarely.
"If these rats have been in the mine a while, they'll be stronger, and the OLDEST rat in the mine might be some… twelve foot tall super rat." Explained Kamiko cheerfully.
*That… that is way too much cheer for somebody who might need to fight demonic mutating rats for a few hours with a big rat super boss at the end. I… I do wonder why Stone didn't mention that but… if it's such common knowledge I suppose it does explain it… somewhat.*