D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad-Chapter 1840 Pillar Orb

--- Kat ---

*It's the little things that really make you LOVE being able to fly. I might not be super happy to be here and I think your nose is dying… but it would be so much worse if someone else from the team ended up here.*

[Urgh. You're not wrong but I just really wish we weren't] Kat was flying them both a short distance above the swamp. It helped stay out of the mud, give them a better perspective on what was going on under the water, and didn't trigger the swarms of birds Thyme had covered the island in. Kat wondered if it was something Thyme had cooked up for her specifically… or if it was more of a general 'stay out of the air' type deal. Kat could imagine Green using her boots to jump up high to check the surrounding areas and getting swarmed in response.

Of course, despite the fact they were avoiding most of the swamp… Kat did have to duck into it occasionally. She was glad her skin just let the gunk slide right off… even if they weren't having much luck with the orbs. See, it turned out that there was a glowing fruit that grew underneath the swamp here. It looked very similar to the orbs they were meant to find and grew everywhere. Theoretically you could tell the difference but even for Kat the distortion of the water was too much to be certain. Perhaps if the water was clearer it wouldn't be such a drawback.

Soon though, the pair were drawn to something more interesting and certain to be a challenge set up by Thyme. In the middle of the water there was a pillar with a glowing orb on the top of it, clenched in fake metal fingers that held it in place. The issue was that the area around it was completely free of water… and everything else. The water just stopped. It didn't fall, it stopped and left a completely empty section of the river around it that seemed to go down into the earth for quite a ways.

*Alright. So… what's the chance that this is a trap?*

[Depends on if just getting over to it was meant to be the challenge. Like… you can't just jump over there because there's no solid ground to stand on. So you need to… what, jump and then hope you get far enough or build something?]

*Hmm… is it safe to fly over though? There's like… actually nothing and…* Kat moved right up to the water's edge and then reached a hand out into the empty air. *Hmm… hard to tell. Like… is there enough air here to fly? It's obviously not a vacuum… but are we just lucky? Or is there something else we need to do to get the orb out?*

[We can test this by just having you throw me over. If you lob me I can see if the empty area is fine to fly in… and if it isn't I should still be able to make it to the other side.]

*Alright, but keep a bit of shadow on my wrist or something. The distance isn't too far and I think your shadow can reel you back in if anything happens.*

[Of course. Sounds good.] Kat waited for a few wingbeats as Lily moved to her hands. A mental countdown between the two of them started and on three Kat gently threw her girlfriend up and into the air. Lily's wings tried to catch the air but, their guess was correct. There was something to prevent simply flying over. Gliding was possible though, and Lily made it over to the pillar without trouble.

There wasn't any good place to land. The pillar did have earth underneath it but there wasn't exactly space around it to stand so Lily wrapped her shadow around it and pulled herself close. Once she was confidently in place, Lily attempted to lift Kat over and immediately felt her mana start to burn up. [Shit. Going to have to do this quickly. Get ready.]

Kat nodded as she was yanked over the gap and towards the pillar. Kat flared her wings once she was past the gap and managed to regain her equilibrium. *What was the issue anyway?*

[I don't know if it's because you're a demon… or if it's a weight issue but I lost like twenty percent of my mana just pulling you across the gap. Heck, it's possible the gap itself was the cause I don't really know. Just keep in mind that we might need to be careful if we see more stuff like this.]

*Understandable. Now… do I just fly up and grab the orb?*

[I'm not sure. It looks pretty well attached but that might just be to keep it from blowing away or having a monster steal it. The more important question is 'will we trigger a trap attempting to break it' because if not? We might as well just go for it. No sense in wasting time on puzzles if we don't need to.]

*Ah but we might need to. Knowing Thyme there will be punishments for not doing things properly…*

[Right but what clues do we have for that? The pillar looks fancy and it's glowing but none of these are runs I recognise. In fact, there's barely any mana in the pillar so I'm all but certain that 'lighting up and looking fancy' is the whole point of it. Doesn't mean there's not a way to free the orb, but I don't… feel any defences? Oh… but Thyme said they had help… so maybe it's not space based or hidden elsewhere? With all the fish and stuff around it's hard to say what 'low mana' really is.]

[The pillar has notably less then the environment… but maybe that's because it's sucking it in and storing it elsewhere? I really don't know. My senses aren't that well attuned to mana. If it was taking in a huge amount I'd probably notice but… if it's just skimming off the top? Probably not.]

*Alright… so what I'm hearing is that it could be dangerous but it's probably best just to crack it open anyway. I think… it's a three hour one? Yeah only three hours I think. That probably isn't guarded too heavily.*

Nodding, Kat flew up to the orb and looked for a good spot to grab onto. She wasn't so stupid as to just grab the orb and try to pry it out that way. Thyme had designed the things to be destroyed. Though… actually… *Would you say we've been walking around for two hours?*

[Um… probably not? Why?]

*I'm wondering if it would be safer just to tap my bracelet against this thing to drain it and then leave it here or destroy it after doing so. Sure we'd be losing out on a bit of 'time' but it's not like this was too hard to find. Not all of them will be easy but… well… I don't know that there's anywhere to get my fingers to grab at the supports without breaking the orb. I could maybe try and wrench off the base but that'd be awkward too.*

[Huh… I'm not against it… do you think that's how other people are meant to interact with this one? It's not too hard to get to if you have the right equipment just a bit of a pain but you can't carry it around?]

*Maybe? So we claiming it or not?*

[Might as well see if you can claim this one. Their might be other similar ones around.]

Kat nodded and tapped her band against the orb. For a few moments she thought it wasn't going to work but the orb soon dimmed. Kat found her bracelet was back at full… though that didn't mean much. Regardless of if this was a two or three hour orb it was enough to fill the whole thing back up.

*Hmm… I'm a little surprised that worked but I suppose Thyme DID say that if you press against the orb you'd drain them and have your own time fill back up again. Do you think we should destroy this one now or just let it stay here?*

[I say we break it. Just less risky that way]

*I'm fine with that. Though… let's test them a bit. Just see what the durability is like.* novelbuddy.cσ๓

Kat started with a light tap against the orb and nothing happened as expected. Kat then swapped to a bit of a flick and managed to make a slight crack. It wasn't broken sure but apparently that was already too much force. Kat frowned. *Hmmm… these things are fragile. I wonder if it's meant to make carrying around a big bag of them impractical?*

[Maybe] Agreed Lily as Kat continually tapped on the orb, and spreading the cracks across the entire thing. It didn't take much force at all once some damage was done and with practically no force the whole thing just crumbled into dust before vanishing.

*We're going to have to be careful with these things. Carrying them around might be the real bait because I don't see how you're meant to keep them from breaking.*

[Bubble wrap?]

*Hmmm…* Kat glanced at the swamp. Specifically the glowing berries that looked quite similar to the orbs. *There might be options…*