D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

Hunter paused to take another drink, looking over the concerned faces on Kat and Kamiko. Lily was concerned as well of course, her face was simply hidden from Hunter's gaze for a moment. "I see you are all concerned," stated Hunter. "I will skip over some of the other options to speak on my fears." Hunter paused again, taking another drink. "Now, I do not pretend this is a likely option.

Know that if the drake had this particular ability, I would expect to have no been sent on this mission at all, or to have at least been warned about it before we left.

"Truly, I do not think this is likely, but it is definitely what I would consider the worse case scenario for this hunt. There are hints of it, but they are unreliable. I do not want you to misunderstand though. Despite saying it is unlikely, I am bringing this up at all because I do think it is possible, and if it is true, very, very bad,"

Hunter looked at the spread for a moment then took something out of her storage ring. It was a big ball of… something and Hunter crunched into it. The ball shattering upon her teeth like hardened sugar. Hunter bit into the sphere twice more devouring it. "I apologise for the delay I simply needed to bite something for a moment I was working myself up.

"It is, distantly, possible that this drake has developed into a hivemind. Perhaps not a true one, but it is possible. It remained in its egg for a long time and may have attempted to reach out with its mind to infect other creatures. If this worked, and the reach was long and powerful enough it could call predators to its side to do the hunter for it. Leving it to sit 'at home' as it were.

"Now, this isn't too bad, we kill the drake and we're done… but there is another possibility. If the drake took in the essence of a parasite, or perhaps the demonically empowered entity is not the drake, but a parasite that was inside the young drake then we may have an issue. We would potentially need to deal with not only the drake's main body but all of the infected monsters,"

"Um… is that… how likely is that?" asked Kamiko with great concern.

"That is the hard part," said Hunter. "I do not know if I am simply jumping at shadows or not. I got a lot of details from Stphn, but many of these things were already second or third hand when they reached his ears. Without knowing how trustworthy all the sources of information before Stphn are, it's hard to truly say what the chances are.

"I say it is unlikely, mostly based on my previous mission experience. If we were dealing with a hivemind of some description or something adjacent to it, we would have been warned, the group likely would have been larger, and we likely would have a team member or two with abilities specifically for hunting them. This is most certainly not my wheelhouse, even less then flying enemies.

With hiveminds and parasites it is difficult to truly know what is and is not an enemy. I can find you just about any monster with a vague description and a vaguer direction… but EVERY monster that's connected in a giant forest? I would likely need to burn the entire thing down to be sure,"

"That's… really bad," added Kamiko.

"Yes, it is indeed very bad. It is why I said as much when it explaining it," stated Hunter after a quick drink.

"It is decidedly the worst case scenario and we would almost certainly need at least one member of the team to remain in a settlement to spread the warning should it prove correct, yet I deem it unlikely… but it is also a big risk… yet of course, allowing the drake to escape because we left a member behind and it held different abilities, such as speed perhaps, would be potentially worse," Explore more stories at m,v l'e-m|p y r

"Perhaps we can just… table this for now. You said there were other options?" offered Kat. "It might be best to just get through all of them first before focusing on the chances,"

Hunter looked to Kamiko who nodded shakily before turning back to Kat and nodding as well. "Right. These other options are less likely then my first two suggestions, but more likely then the third. They boil down to 'has found a way to travel through the ground' somehow.

"It might be that the drake is aligned with plants and can travel through root systems, or perhaps it can burrow through the ground swiftly. It is also possible, though a touch more unlikely, that is has figured out how to phase and can simply move without interacting with things for an extended period of time.

Sure I refer to a standard drake as slow and large, but 'slow' for such a large creature can be quite relative," explained Hunter.

"Is true teleportation possible?" asked Kat on Lily's behalf.

"No," stated Hunter. "The drake is not smart enough to figure something like that out and almost certainly doesn't have the instincts for it.

It might have effects similar to teleportation, but true teleportation that can go nearly anywhere would be… the chance of something like that happening are infinitesimally small at this rank and if the drake had somehow managed it a Rank 4 team would be sent in to hunt it down.

"Which I suppose means it's still possible, but we would be recalled immediately by demons regardless of our protest if such a thing had remained undetected until we encountered the drake. It is better not to bother with accounting for that situation because it will be solved by someone that isn't us if it occurs and is extremely unlikely besides,"

"What makes it so unlikely?" asked Kat.

Hunter shrugged and said, "I don't know. It's simply what my clan records say. Personal experience has so far shown those records to be accurate and I have no reason to suspect the drake is space aligned. We would have… much greater problems if it was," Hunter saw confused looks. "Oh, right you meant why unlikely in this specific case.

"That's because if the drake were to have such an affinity it is likely to swiftly convert its stomach to a state not unlike a black hole and consume the environment at a rapid pace quickly engulfing the planet in a matter of days. Very obvious and not something we'd be called in to deal with,"

"Oh, well… that's a touch terrifying," said Kamiko.

"Indeed," said Hunter. "I am lucky to have never seen it myself, and it is exceptional rare, even if you already have a demonically empowered monster in play, but it is technically a possibility,"

"Right…" said Kat slowly. "So with that horrifying thought done… are there any other potential abilities for the drake we're worried about right now?"

"I do not believe so? Technically cloning, but demonic monsters do not clone themselves quite so much as they 'split' and it would likely be easier to hunt a hundred weaker drakes then one single strong specimen. So while it is possible, and potentially a touch concerning, it is more of a boon then a curse. Other than that?

Nothing springs to mind that fits the information I have been supplied," said Hunter.

"So… what would you suggest? In regards to splitting up I guess?" asked Kat.

Hunter shrugged unsure. "I really do not know Kat," said Hunter. "I am not usually in the leadership position. Not to say we really have a leader within this group. It is most unlike standard. Usually there is someone that takes up the reins early on.

I provide advice, my hunting expertise, and accept my orders even if I disagree with them… to an extent.

"Here I find myself with considerably more information then you three possess and yet I lack sufficient understanding myself to properly impress upon you my own thoughts in full. I do not truly know what is best here. I have tried to outline what I think is likely and what is most worrying but I know not if I've succeeded. I also do not know what would be the best.

"In a more normal group I ordering someone to stay behind is much more obviously the correct or incorrect course of action. The strength of the drake is unclear, the strength of our team members is unclear, and what is necessary to bring it down is unclear. I do not wish there to be hard feelings, and I do not automatically trust my gut feelings regarding team distribution…

"Of course on of the reasons for this is I cannot even seem to agree with myself as to what the best course of action is. They all have problems, and it comes down to what we wish to risk. Alas, even that is a nebulous concept because the foe we are gambling against is too distant and unknown.

Even a simple decision of leaving someone behind may not be safe unless they were to simply run away and I know that is not on the table,"