--- Kat ---
It was early into the next morning when the group all stopped in place. Well, as best they could. Kat was able to simply flare her wings and stop with Lily in her arms but not everyone was so lucky. Kamiko had to stop her horse, and without wanting to simply yank on the reigns she had to let him continue forward for a bit longer.
Hunter decided not to destroy the road with her attempts to stop so she continued forward and wrapped her lower body around a nearby tree, throwing herself back towards Kat and landing softly nearby.
The reason for this sudden stop was the sound of something falling nearby. Now that Kat was paying attention it seemed to be more than that. The sounds of combat were mixed in as well. While Kamiko was making her way back Hunter said, "Kat and I should investigate. I believe Lily and Kamiko should remain here on the road,"
"Why?" asked Kat mostly out of reflex.
"The danger is unclear and I do not wish to leave any one of us alone. Additionally, we passed some merchants approximately ten minutes ago and if the fighting moves in this direction we will need them to run interference. Finally, I do not believe Kamiko's horse could keep up once we leave the road and as I said originally I do not wish for any of us to be alone when we split," stated Hunter.
*I mean... I'm fine with this I suppose? I trust you can Kamiko to be safe. I think the drake is the only truly dangerous thing around here and I'm pretty sure we're not close enough for it to be that. If you want to stay with me I won't complain... but Hunter's comment about the horse is likely quite correct.*
[No it's fine. Hunter makes a good point and you can probably run faster when you're not carrying me anyway. Go check it out. We're pretty close to another town, city, whatever. It was marked on the map at least. So if it's an actual problem it's best we at least have someone look at it.]
Kamiko looked unsure but didn't make to say anything when Kat glanced over so she quickly deposited Lily on the back of the saddle and got ready to run as she said. "You make a good point. Hunter, after you?"
"If you so desire I shall lead the way. Stealth is a minor concern at this point and we can likely stop far enough out from the fight that we will not be noticed. Just one question. Are you capable of flying while carrying me? It will change plans if you can?" stated Hunter.
"I do not know. The fight is over and perhaps we should leave this thing alone. We are not in a contract to deal with any wildlife other than the drake after all. At the same time... I can smell the beast from here and I am not happy with what I have found. I wish I knew if it was part of the local ecosystem or not," stated Hunter.
"Um... why? I mean, it does look like a chimera but I just sort of assumed they were things that exist," stated Kat.
"They do... however that is NOT a chimera. The body you are looking at is rotting away. I suspect it to be some variant of corpse worms puppeteering a body. They are quite regularly invasive species and something akin to locusts. Dealing with them if at all possible is usually recommended and from a pest control side of things, I feel tempted to deal with them...
"But even though they are easy to destroy finding them all is an issue and not one I am necessarily willing to commit time to. The part of myself that yearns for the hunt knows that this will be nothing of the sort. The worms can be easily dealt with. It is just a matter of getting to them and applying some demonic fire," stated Hunter.
"Well... that one looks like it's about to leave the area, so should we deal with it now and decide later?" asked Kat.
Hunter nodded and dashed forward, Kat following close behind. Kat was getting ready to cut the thing down, and realised she hadn't asked HOW to kill them. If the corpse was being controlled by a bunch of worms how was she meant to take them all out? Well Kat's question was answered a few moments later. Once Hunter was in range she simply lobbed a bit of black demonic flame at the creature.
Kat watched in awe as the fist-sized fireball instantly engulfed the two corpses. There was a brief moment of screeching and then the entire thing was rendered down to ash. Kat stared at the spot the corpses had been. "H-how? I mean... demonic fire is strong but that took at most like... three seconds..." stammered Kat.
"I did say these worms are weak. Demonic fire struggles because it must first eat through the mana that is keeping the target alive instinctively. This slows it down quite a bit... though based on your reaction I suspect at least some of you lack of damage is your own subconscious desire not to use your demonic fire to its full potential. Something to later perhaps.
"Of course, even when using your full potential burning certain things is much easier. Corpse worms are not strong individually. They are pathetically weak, and overwhelm things with numbers. Normally spells either target the corpse itself, thus the worms escape unharmed, or can only target one or two worms.
Even area of effect attacks, while potentially useful, can be eaten away at by the worms working together.
"For demonic fire? That is not the case. It burns the worms down to nothing, spreading along what little mana they have to consume them in their entirety and then using that energy to spread. It is a lot like setting of a chain reaction of explosives, though much more effective in this case,"
Kat nodded slowly. Turns out? Hunter could be really scary when she wanted to be