Newly Summoned Demoness: Side Story Two (Part Four) (Patreon)

Before the party could press further into Ranolf’s kennels, the demonic chickens erupted in a furious cackle. Some were stuck, legs pinned by metal cages and flapped their wings, sending sharp feathers as hard as steel at the group.

Elania stepped in front of Yolani and pulsed a wave of [Power] that shredded the projectiles aimed at the two of them. Harlock’s shield protected him as he crouched down, the quills sticking into the metal like miniature crossbow bolts.

Lucas and Kael stepped back into the corridor and took cover, their shields and the doorframe providing enough cover to protect them from injury.

An angled blue dome snapped into place, reaching from the floor to the ceiling as Yolani raised a wand. A second volley of feathers hit the blue energy and drove themselves into the ceiling harmlessly.

The chickens weren’t done, however. While some of them were pinned and trapped, most of them were not. A large group formed into a single feathery group and charged. The missile deflection field only worked on the projectiles, not the poultry themselves.

Harlock’s spear skewered the first chicken to reach them, its red eyes going dull as he impaled it on the tip of his weapon. That turned into a sweep that sent a half dozen of the birds hurtling through the air to the side.

Elania growled, taking a step forward to slash with her [Vorpal Dagger]. It plunged into one of the feathery attackers, but two others flapped their wings at her and gouged her arm, causing her to pull back. She had the wrong weapon for this type of fight.

Kael and Lucas shouted and charged forward, intercepting a group aiming for Yolani with their shields. The shield bashes sent the poultry flying backwards with wings flapping chaotically as they slammed into the mass of the rest of the group. Others darted under the party’s weapons or shields to slash and peck at their legs.

There was a yelp of pain as one stabbed Elania’s thigh, pulling out a chunk of meat and cloth. Another flapped up to her side and claw her.

Harlock grunted as they attacked him from the air, and one nicked his shoulder.

Small darts of white light flashed tactically as Yolani leveled her wand at targets of opportunity, knocking birds out of the air or halting their fowl attacks of opportunity.

Yolani cast a stone upward, which adhered itself to the ceiling and then began to pump out a bright light. Almost immediately, the Ironfist mercenaries began to fight more effectively, pulling back and forming up in a triangle around the artificer.

Elania slashed with her dagger, carving off the head of another chicken. She grabbed the blood spewing body in her free hand.

[Absorb the lingering Power from Demonic Chicken?]

Yes, that would be great!

[You have absorbed 32 Power!]

[Power: 1233/1427]

She just needed to get hold of a few more and she’d be topped off. Being slashed by chicken feet hurt, but wasn’t likely fatal with [Regeneration]. Her gear might be fucked, but there was no way—

One of the fucking birds flapped its way up to her head again, only to this time gouge her eye. She reached up and crushed its head in her palm and then absorbed it too.

“Elania! Get in formation!” Harlock bellowed.

Fuck that! There was a way better way to deal with the raging poultry.

Elania sheathed her dagger and pulled her belt and backpack off and tossed it towards the group so it wouldn’t get lost, then took a deep breath.

It wasn’t hard to feed [Power] into [Darkwalker] and then cloth ripped. Her gear fell to the ground around her as she morphed into an oversized panther-shape.

The chickens squawked in panic and they seemed to deviate from the party to focus on her almost immediately.

That was a poor choice.

She lashed out with her claws, taking down two birds in a single swipe, absorbing them even while snapping with her jaws to send a spray of feathers in the air as she bit down on a third. They tried to attack her from behind, but she whirled and snapped two more up in quick succession.

Her [Darkwalker] form must have been terrifying to the poultry, because they all broke from their combat cackle and fled.

She chased.

Ranged magic bolts flew through the air, assisting by smacking birds down and concussing them. Those birds were dispatched easily.

The rest of the group-maintained formation, holding the choke-point that was the only exit from the Kennels. They dealt with any attempts at escape.

Elania let loose, letting her [Darkwalker] instincts direct her in the wanton violence. She was vaguely aware of going over her [Power] limits but didn’t care. Her baseline was so high that it would take way more than a room full of demon chickens to push her percentages to a worrying level.

As the troupe of chickens grew thinner, the difficulty in hunting them down increased. Instead of going for groups, she began to have to pick out individuals. It was bothersome.

She glanced back at Emerald Eyes and let out a rumble to inform the girl that she needed to use her gadgets to imprison them. The artificer shrugged in confusion.

That was odd. She was normally smart for a human.

Elania pulled on her [Power] then shoved it into her [Demonic Aura] letting it flow out like a thick cloud of energy, then focused on tightening it around her prey. The cackling increased, but their escape attempts slowed.

It was a perfect outcome, and the [Power] outlays for the aura were easily made up by the taste of blood in her jaws and the power absorption that cleaned her palette for the next bite.

Only the chickens pinned or trapped in metal did she leave unaccounted for. Despite her eagerness for the hunt, her human side admonished her and reminded her they were to try to keep at least a few alive for later.

The last few chickens seemed to sense this and herded themselves into one of the precious few cages that were still standing, huddling in the metal confines instead of attempting to flee. She raised her paw and slammed the door shut, bending the metal until it twisted enough that it wouldn’t open any longer.

Elania raised her head and let out a roar. It was victory.

The demonic chickens let out a low thrum of bawks, while the trapped ones pinned in the wreckage let out more upset shrieks.

Emerald Eyes led the rest of the group into the room. “Is that all the ones that were loose?”

“We need something to trap these before they get free,” Harlock said. He pointed to several turned over cages. “Kael, Lucas, grab those and start caging the survivors.”

Elania watched as the two younger men put away their weapons and hurried to obey. Harlock joined Emerald Eyes and came to a stop near where she had stopped to lick her paws. “Impressive,” he said. “And you’re still intelligent when a beast?”

She growled at him in annoyance. Of course, she was still smart. Harlock stepped back warily in a hurry.

Emerald Eyes didn’t care, though. She stepped in close and grabbed Elania’s ear and tugged on it. “She is, but she likes to pretend she’s a cat.”

The ear tug wasn’t painful, but she let out a whine anyway. Emerald Eyes looked at her with a judging look before letting out a sigh.

Then the head rubs came. It was perfect.

The chickens mostly settled once all of them were caged properly in the few cages that remained that were usable. Whatever group-think had caused them to become aggressive and wage a battle had fully evaporated in Elania’s [Darkwalker] presence and [Demonic Aura].

So no one encouraged her to transform back.

Emerald Eyes dutifully collected her slightly damaged articles of clothing and stuff all her belongings into the bottom of the discarded backpack. That was nice. She’d have to reward and thank her human for the thoughtfulness, later.

“There is some artifice stuff over here,” Lucas announced.

Emerald Eyes turned away from the pettings and headed over to the middle-aged man, which was annoying. Elania padded after the other girl and watched as the two humans examined the counter. There were arcane instruments on it, but most of them had been scattered around the floor and left smashed or broken.

When Emerald Eyes opened a large round metal orb, it revealed a glowing mana shard inside. It twinkled in the air as she held it up to the light.

Elania let out an appreciative meow. They’d recovered something nice, and worth all the trouble of coming down to the icky basement.

Emerald Eyes looked at her, slightly surprised, then the girl’s eyes widened. “Oh. I’m sorry I forgot.”

Elania tilted her head in confusion before the artificer girl pulled out a leather collar with a loop on it. The new mana shard went into the bag, and Elania’s shard came out of one of the sewn in pockets that had once been part of her outfit.

A quick bit of work later, the mana shard collar went around Elania’s neck.

It was impossible to not let out a slightly annoyed growl. She hadn’t even wanted the collar. Her shiny mana shard was nice, though.

In the end it didn’t matter, even without the mana shard, she would have let Emerald Eyes put the collar on. Her fingers were soft, and the rubbing was wonderful, even in the current environment. All it would take was a flick of a claw to remove it if she wanted.

“We are going to need an entire crew to clean this mess up,” Harlock stated. “Yolani, what’s it going to take to get the elevator working again?”

“I’m going to have to climb back up and then we’ll need to check the gear shaft and mechanics room. Inspect the top of the shaft and cabling. It’ll take hours at the very last if there isn’t anything major,” Yolani replied.

“Nothing major? We almost fell to our deaths,” Lucas said.

Yolani rolled her eyes. “The safety mechanism worked fine.”

Kael looked away. “I almost pissed myself.”

Harlock slapped the young man on the back. “Aye, lad. Ain’t nothing to be ashamed about. The only thing more terrifying than a falling elevator is an angry woman!”

Elania let out a warning growl.

“Or an angry demon,” he quickly added.

The group took another moment to sort things out, then headed back into the corridor towards the elevator shaft. Halfway down the hall, Elania’s hairs began to stand up on their own as a chill breeze ran through the air.

She pushed to the front of the group and turned sideways to stop them all, her head held high and alert. Two red eyes stared at them from the other end, behind the broken door down the hall.

A series of curses erupted.

“We’re not done,” Yolani muttered.