[SS 2.74] Excision (Part 2/3) (Patreon)

Gelic Transfigured down to a millipede, making Rastille’s eyes go wide at her ability to do so, apparently. She had purposefully not used Identity Fraud, wanting any of her companions who scried her to see through the disguise. That was definitely better than thinking she was capable of such another crazy deception that was well above her Rank. She then left them all behind and slipped under the door into the patient's room.

[Malignant Lv.35 | Health 99%]

Damn, her next target was a much bigger Malignant than she was expecting, both figuratively and literally. And its appearance and demeanor caused some conflicting emotions to stir. The first big problem was that it was so hecking huge, that the patient it was laying atop of looked practically crushed by them. Gelic didn’t want to move too much and risk catching the monster’s attention, but she was able to get a glimpse of the elderly man whose face looked genuinely anguished, even though he was deep in sleep. 

The Malignant definitely needed to be culled to help him, and while Gelic couldn’t quite say she was hesitating, its appearance still made the deed harder than it needed to be. Of course it had to look like a cat. A big blobby cat that almost looked like it was made of dough, with its cute squishy face looking so peaceful. How could she hurt something that appeared so innocent? Well, the rest of its body was kind of its undoing in that regard. 

It had the claws of a scorpion, which were definitely not nearly as adorable when laying on them in an attempt at being a loaf. And it also had a scorpion’s tail that was flicking back and forth slowly in contentment, the stinger dangling uncomfortably close to the elderly man’s face. This thing was definitely far more dangerous and evolved than most other Malignants Gelic had come across, barring the giant unagi exception. And if it wasn’t dispatched quickly, she didn’t want to think of the damage it could do, to either the room or patient.

Obviously, a Potent Toxic double-hit was her best choice since her ice shards probably wouldn’t kill it in one hit. Even if it had some poison resistance from being part scorpion, she should be able to inflict enough damage to destroy it instantly. But actually hitting it subtly was part of the problem. Its tail was moving a bit more now, and Gelic thought she might have seen its eyes twitch. Maybe it had noticed her, or noticed something, so more movement was a bad idea. Especially if it was anything like her own cat, who could pounce at any bugs it saw with enthusiasm.

The angles were a bigger problem. From where she was, lining up a shot would be difficult, especially with the bedrails in the way. So to avoid moving more, she’d have to manifest the ice away from herself, which she’d had some decent practice in now. The bigger issue was the patient. Ideally, she could angle it so he wouldn’t be struck at all, but if he suddenly moved, it could be a problem—doubtful, but still possible, and if she accidentally killed this innocent suffering man, the guilt would crush her.

To avoid potentially piercing him, she’d shape her ice as blunt balls. They’d still hurt like scuff, though, with the speeds she’d have to launch them to make sure that the Malignant couldn’t notice and react to them in time to attempt dodging. And then there was the poison problem itself. If she accidentally hit the patient with Potent Toxic, that would assuredly be instant death with him too. And she was wary of using just regular Toxic, since that would probably leave the Malignant alive for at least a few moments, probably longer, which could lead to a disastrous altercation. 

Fortunately, that problem could be solved with Delayed Release. If she fired them with the poison temporarily dormant, and accidentally did infect the man, she could hold the release and let it run out until it became benign. That failed attack would still probably piss off the cat-scorpion, but that was a problem for later that hopefully wouldn’t come to pass. 

Despite thinking it through, being as prepared as possible, and giving herself an Order to make sure she hit her mark, Gelic still held her breath when she fired the two ice rounds. Something she’d somewhat noticed, but hadn’t been as evident until she’d been in such small forms, was that performing magic at scale became harder with her reduced size. Maybe it had something to do with the flow of MP, or mana, into reality, and it had less body mass to act as a conduit. So while she couldn’t really say she struggled making the two poisoned frost balls, it felt comparable to making something several feet wide if she were in her human form. 

Apparently, though, she had good reason to be stressed about her attack. The Malignant’s eyes lurched open, and a claw quickly swung out from under its body and attempted to bat the incoming projectiles out of the air with its cat-like reflexes. And it did connect actually, but the beast shattered a second later when the Potent Toxic round bumped against its chitin. Gelic made sure to Salvage the balls immediately. One had shattered upon force with the hit, and the other had deflected upward, looking like it would land back down onto the patient if given the opportunity. 

The man’s breathing notably eased significantly a second later. His strained face relaxed, as if he was suddenly hit with unfathomable relief. Hopefully, his recovery would go a lot smoother now with the literal weight off of him. Gelic scuttled back outside, and they continued down through the patient rooms. Most of them went a lot smoother. If the door was open, Himpo would take point just for a fairer workload. 

Another snag came eventually, though, in a bit more packed room. This time, the patient was a mother, and sleeping in the chair next to her was her son. Apparently, she took too long looking at the cute dynamic, because the Malignant, a flying plant thing that had originally been looming in the open closet, noticed her and tried to flee. It began bumping into the window repeatedly, like a dumb bird or bug that didn’t understand the concept, desperately trying to get out. And that spot was extra annoying, because her shots could easily break the glass.

So Gelic reverted to her Puck form and used Jump Good to lunge at the thing. She sunk both of her claws into its body using Pierce and pulled it down to the ground, then finished it off quickly with a flurry of Stabs until quite literally croaked. Maybe there was some frog mixed in there. With the nuisance killed, she planned to slip away, except there was a problem. After standing back up, and scanning the room, she found a pair of eyes staring back at her. The boy had woken up, maybe from the noises, and now was very clearly looking right at the Demon.

Just to confirm, Gelic waved at him, and he waved back, a bit panicked, a bit curious, probably part of him thinking he was still dreaming. Damn, if only she had Conceal and could blink out of existence, but slipping down to a millipede and zooming out of the room wasn’t a terrible escape either. 

“All good?” Rastille seemed to notice her worry when she turned back to a Puck once more. Her staring at the door with panicked intent probably made it obvious.

“That kid, umm, there was a boy in there. He could see me,” she explained as calmly as she could. “He had just woken up, so he may not believe it, but there was definitely eye contact for a few solid seconds.”

“Ah, I see.” He nodded. “Roughly the age of a pre-teen or teenager, around when he should be hitting puberty?”

“Erm, I didn’t exactly pay that much attention, but sounds about right.”

“Then congratulations.” He smiled slightly, though there seemed to be a moment of conflict. “You’ve just seen the awakening of a new Summoner.” Rastilled put out his phone and took a picture of the patient’s nameplate. “I’ll send it to Pathos, and she’ll make sure the right people handle it. Actually, one more thing.” He suddenly grabbed at the door, and burst into the room. Only to pause for a moment, assumedly glance at the boy, and apologize before backing out. “Sorry, wrong room.”

“What was that for?” Angie took on the burden of asking.

“To twist and cement the memory,” he elaborated. “If it was just Gelic, his mind may let it slip, or not even believe it when someone comes to speak with him. But if he can put a face to the event, it becomes a lot more defined. I may go with the recruiter if they deem it necessary during their initial research. The kid suddenly realizing, ‘hey, you were there’ will make it all the more real in his mind.”

“Okay, makes sense. But isn’t his age a bit young to be recruiting?” The Duplicate was apparently full of questions, not that Gelic wasn’t curious as well.

“It’s unlikely they’ll actually be recruited at this stage, but now that their eyes have been opened, it is very rare for them to shut again. It can be even more disconcerting if it’s not a full awakening, and they are plagued by shadows and weird feelings rather than just seeing the Demons outright. That’s what happened to me. But either way, it’s best for someone to talk to them and explain what’s going on as soon as possible. Otherwise, can you imagine suddenly being in a world surrounded by Demons with no idea what’s happening and no one to help you through it?”

Yes, she could. She really could. They cleared out the rest of their wing without any unexpected surprises, to the point that Malignant Tracker basically gave the all-clear. “I can sense a few above, and less below,” Gelic reported. “I think it’s just one beneath us, or maybe a few clumped together.”

“What about you, Himpo? Same thing,” Rastille inquired. The Hellion gave an affirming ook in response. “Then let’s handle the one downstairs first. We could be lucky and it’s just some storage or maintenance room, but I suspect it will be something more unpleasant. We’ll likely find our target in the morgue.”

Since Angie looked a little put-off by the subject, Gelic jumped in. “A morgue, that’s where humans put their dead, right?”

“Yes.” The man nodded, looking a bit pleased that she knew something most Demons likely wouldn’t. “I guess you learned that from Merlina. But do you know why a Malignant would be interested in such a place?”

“Uhh, no.”

“It’s because when someone dies, their stagnant mana disperses to be reclaimed by nature, almost like they’ve sprung a leak. So the Malignants try to gobble it up before it’s gone. You’ll often find them at funerals, lured by the body, staying for the people. And then they’ll often hitch a ride home with someone, making their grief all the more dreadful.”

“Sounds like something you’ve witnessed first-hand.”

“Yes…” he admitted. “Not everyone’s awakening begins by seeing a Demon.” Gelic wanted to prompt Angie to give him another pat on the back or maybe a hug after that, but he’d already started walking away, headed to the staircase, before she got the chance.

“Just one Malignant,” Gelic confirmed after poking her head into the morgue. “Hmm, it’s just chilling in one of the open pod things. It’ll be difficult killing with the human doctor moving around so much.” She knew the word for pathologist, but figured her Demon self probably shouldn’t. They’d definitely come at a bad time, too, since the woman was right in the middle of the autopsy. Fortunately, the Malignant wasn’t repeating the act of the cat scorpion and just hanging out on the body. Though now that Gelic thought of it, the open refrigerator unit was likely where it had come from, so the monster was waiting for its meal to return.

“Then we’ll need to lure it out,” Rastille noted.

“Gelic can do it.” Angie volunteered her once more.

“Err, I can?” Angelica mentally asked herself.

“Yes, you have the Malignant Bait ability, remember?”

“Oh… right, right, right, right, right, thanks.” Damn, her younger self remembered her steadily increasing ability list better than she did? Was her memory already failing her so much with age? No, it was probably just the craziness of the situation and being caught up in her usual tactics. Malignant Bait wouldn’t have worked until this point, since it could disturb the bigger crowd. But with just one in the nearby vicinity, it should be perfect for the situation.

After briefly discussing it with the crew, she triggered the Skill, at Lv.1 for the first use, also not quite remembering how far the power exuded per tier. And that turned out to be not enough at all, so she jumped it up to Lv.2, which just barely caught their target in its radius. The Malignant came storming out of the pod like a hungry kid out playing who had just been called in for dinner, bolting toward Gelic who was standing out in the open. As soon as it crossed the threshold of the morgue into the other hall, Himpo jumped down onto it, ambushing it from his perch atop the door. He then proceeded to wrap his arms around the thing and hug it to death.

“Huh, the ones above are vanishing?” Gelic noted when she focused on Malignant Tracker again. “Pretty fast too.”

“The others must have beaten us up there, then, and started the fight,” Rastille noted. “Let’s head up and join them.” But by the time they made it to the roof, the only thing they saw was Eliah standing there with the discards of Maligants around her, dissolving into Essence for her to absorb. “Was it that bad that you had to call your Ghoul?”

“She wanted to,” Sperado answered, panting off to the side while leaning against the roof’s railing. “Said she’s getting close to Evolving and wanted to hunt some too. Hopefully not too close, though. If she turns into a Daemon soon, it’s going to be the death of me!”

Eliah appeared to ignore her master’s plight and took a sudden interest in Angie like Xinder had. The Ghoul shuffled over and began to inspect the Duplicate, but never said anything. She didn’t reach out to Gelic telepathically yet either, not that she could without registering as an Accomplice first, and no such effort was made there. Instead, weirdly, she wandered over to Gelic and patted her on the head a few times before turning and jumping off the roof. The heck was that all about?

“Mmm, apparently she’s gonna go hunt the stragglers around the city,” her master shared. “I think too many people made her a bit shy.” Yep, Angelica could totally relate. And if she weren’t friendly with these folks, she’d absolutely want to do the same. 

“Great, that clears us up to head to the second location then. Let’s move out,” Rastille ordered. 

“Merlina can ride with me,” Vystal suddenly insisted. “It’ll give us time for some girl talk.”