As the party of soldiers who came into the portal with Ash was being ripped apart, the Savior and the masked woman slipped away. Leaving their cries in the background, Ash looked around to see where she could spot the beams. Yumi tapped her shoulder and pointed to the right.
Sure enough, she saw three violet beams surging into the sky.
"Yeah," she nodded, "that's where we're headed."
"... Hm," Yumi stared ahead at them. "If these things are what you use to locate the objects that need to be destroyed, it is curious that they don't put them indoors, or somewhere where those beams can't be seen."
"My guess is that the beams touching the sky are what keep the portal open, or something. Anyway, let's get moving. We have another one to close after this."
With that, the two of them began to drag their feet through the disgusting black muck they were currently in.
Ugh, it smells so fucking awful here, Ash grimaced as a bubble popped nearby and released a gas into the air, and Ash inhaled it.
Coughing, she nearly puked.
"Not gonna lie," Ash gagged, "I'm actually getting dizzy from this."
"We likely shouldn't speak too much," Yumi told Ash. "The demons are still close. If they hear us, I don't believe a fight in this area would go in our favor. This... liquid is restricting my movement," Yumi told her. Ash nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, you're..."
And then, a status effect popped up over her head.
Status Effect Gained: Poisoned
Ash raised a brow.
"What?" She asked, looking up. Yumi turned towards her and saw the words over her head.
Poisoned
[Health and certain stats will deteriorate based on the intensity of the factor that caused the poison. Remaining poisoned will cause these effects to worsen.]
"What the fuck?" Ash asked, as the same status then appeared over Yumi's head.
"Ah," Yumi said, "this could be a problem."
Ash then checked her stats.
Level 56
MP: 330/330
EXP: 250/560
---
STR: 67 (-10) (Poisoned)
DEX: 41
CON: 46 (-10) (Poisoned)
INT: 30
WIS: 33
L: 100
... Crap.
Ash sighed as Yumi showed her own stats.
Level 44
MP: 100/100
EXP: 50/440
---
STR: 24 (-10) (Poisoned)
DEX: 100
CON: 19 (-10) (Poisoned)
INT: 10
WIS: 10
L: 5
"We need to get out of here," Ash told her.
"Is there any way that we can deal with this? A potion you brought, maybe?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah, I know a spell to cure poisons, but using it here, we'll just get poisoned again anyway.
"Ah, I see. Then, in that case, the best option would be-"
Yumi was cut off when a Wrath demon suddenly jumped out of the black water in front of her. Ash's eyes widened, but Yumi reacted quickly, swiping her naginata across its body. Although her attack landed, slashing its skin and releasing a spray of violet, the demon continued to press against her. It grabbed Yumi by her shoulders and pushed her down, submerging her into the water.
Shit, shit, Ash said as she clumsily tried to drag her legs over, but the thick liquid she was in made that hard. She wasn't too far though, so she reached the demon in a few seconds and transformed her Lust into her gauntlets, raising her left hand up and stabbing through its chest with it.
The demon let go of Yumi with a screech and the woman quickly rose up, gasping for air. Ash gritted her teeth and tried again to end the creature's life as the demon screeched loudly.
She pushed up closer and pulled back her right arm, and then stabbed it through its gut. Not stopping there, Ash pulled it back out and stabbed it again. Only then did the demon finally fall into the muck, dead.
EXP Gained: 100
EXP: 350/560
From behind her though, she heard a series of concerning sounds. Turning around, Ash saw multiple demons sprinting towards them from a distance, only slowing down once they began trudging through the same filth they were currently in.
"Fuck. Yumi, we have to move!" Ash let her know as the woman removed her mask and coughed out some of that water.
"R-Right," she said with a raspy voice, and so, the two of them began running away. Of course, thanks to the water, they didn't make progress too quickly, but neither did their pursuers.
As they ran though, Ash started to feel like her head was turning a little heavier. Every now and then, her heart would begin to hurt and Ash soon feared she was going to pass out before they could get away from the incoming monsters, or out of this poisonous water. However, as they continued to run for a few minutes, Ash saw the land rise, and actual dirt appeared between black trees, albeit humid and just as dark. However, as soon as they reached it, she guessed they could run at full speed again.
"Yumi, get ready!" She said, pointing ahead at it.
Yumi wordlessly nodded as the two of them put a little more effort into their strides. Behind them, the demons continued chasing all the way to the land, where Yumi was the first to arrive.
However, she didn't run. instead, Yumi turned around, facing Ash and the approaching demons.
"What are you doing!?" Ash asked. Yumi didn't respond. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Inzo, Anzo, Kenzo!" Yumi yelled out and, as Ash reached the dirt, she stabbed her naginata into the ground in front of her.
Ash looked back and her eyes widened as she saw lightning suddenly fall from the sky, onto the water. It electrified the liquid and the demons screeched as electricity coursed through their bodies.
... Holy shit.
"Now, go!" Yumi said.
"R-Right." Ash nodded and with that brief interruption, the two of them managed to retreat, away from them.
Eventually, when they could no longer see their enemies, they took some time to catch their breath. Ash, although she felt dizzy, couldn't help but take a second to ask:
"What was that?"
"A simple technique," Yumi replied. "I try not to rely on them too much as I fear that doing so will lead to the deterioration of my skills with my weapons, but I figured we needed it here."
"... So, you can do more cool shit like that?"
"The blood of a Zayama is a pathway to many abilities," Yumi told her with a proud smirk that Ash could see since she wasn't wearing her mask. "I suppose you could consider them cool, though I've grown used to them."
"Gotcha. Well," Ash stood up straight. "Let me take this poison off of us."
And so, she cast the Cure Poison spell that she'd received from the healer when Keiko had been poisoned before. Considering how Keiko's state had differed slightly from Ash and Yumi's just now, it made the half-demon wonder if there were different kinds of poisons with different effects.
"That was dangerous for me though," Yumi said with a low voice. "While poisoned, my Con drops to almost nothing. Though my Dexterity is unaffected so I can still move just as quickly."
"... If we find any more of this stuff," she gestured back at the muck they'd just left, "we should probably stay away from it. Anyway, come on, sooner we're done with this the sooner I can take a shower."
"Yes," Yumi chuckled, "this liquid is... slipping into places I'd rather it not be in."
"Yeah, I thought I'd gotten used to the feeling of blood and guts on my tits. This is extra gross though."
"That... is certainly an interesting statement," Yumi replied.
The pair continued walking forwards, with the hill continuing to rise. The beams in the sky pointed them to where they needed to go. They couldn't see much of the area around them though, as the black trees blocked sight of most of this strange place.
So, if these portals are supposed to send us to weird versions of real places, Ash thought, I wonder where the hell we even are. This doesn't look like Amber, and it doesn't look like Sapphire either... Is this around Pearl? Or maybe around Onyx? I can't imagine either of those, honestly.
Her thoughts were interrupted though when the two of them finally began reaching the top of this hill.
"Okay," Ash said as she walked up to it, "let's think of a path and..."
However, when she saw what lies ahead, she froze.
They had unknowingly found an oasis of sorts, as this hill was surrounded by that black liquid. Ahead, to the west and the east, and behind them, all Ash could see was that disgusting substance. Demons were sluggishly moving through it ahead, a few of them carrying the bodies of soldiers, some dead, some screaming for help.
Over their heads, Lust demons were circling the beams they were moving toward. Most concerning of all though was that there was so much fog in the distance, that Ash knew there was no real way they could safely reach the pyramids.
She nodded to herself and sat down. Yumi saw her and, albeit with some questions in her eyes, sat down as well, putting her naginata aside.
"Well, shit."
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