Chapter 1667 The Flow of Ideas

--- Lily ---

Experience more content on empire

The group split up with Hunter leading Meg off to the doors to check for weaknesses just in case while everyone else got started on finding the air vents. Despite this, after fifteen minutes Hunter was the one to gather people together. Having found not one but three vents in that time by abusing the fact she could just smell them out, checking a much larger area.

So here the team was, except Meg. Looking over a vent that was set into the cliff. The snow melted around it and showing off that it clearly had some heating runes engraved around it to keep it clear and open at least somewhat. The grate covering the top was also quite fine but had an obvious latch that you could simply flip if you wanted to open it up for some reason.

There was one small problem, with small being the key word. The entrance itself was maybe the same size as a cereal box, or a dash smaller. Kat knew she could never squeeze inside. It was just large enough that it looked possible for someone maybe a kid… but not a full grown person.

Of course, when Kat mentioned as such out loud Hunter pointed out, "Lily in her Memphis form should be able to fit inside with no issues,"

Lily grimaced from her spot in Kat’s arms. It was technically true she could fit inside with no real problem. It wasn’t even that tight of a fit for her Memphis form… but it was too small for her wings to fully extend. Lily was certain she could go down, and her magic meant she could slow her fall sufficiently to prevent getting injured… but climbing up again would be a wholly separate issue.

Kat was happy to share Lily’s thoughts on the matter out loud "Lily can fit sure… but she can’t climb back out again without potentially damaging the walls and the vent itself…"

As Kat was considering what else to say Hunter got a confused look on her face and cut in, "I don’t see why that’s an issue… why would Lily need to come back up?"

"Um… hmm… I guess in case there’s trouble? I mean… how else can she get up?" asked Kat.

"I was imagining that Lily could either find someone to request the doors be opened temporarily or that she could open them herself. Based on the fact the merchants planned to stop here I can surmise that the doors open somewhat regularly. Perhaps at a certain time of day.

"If Lily can find that information for us or open the doors herself we can all visit the town, and start investigating matters properly. It is why I was not so worried about Lily climbing back up. I cannot see a reason for her to do so when the objective is to open the doors," explained Hunter.

"Right but what if there’s… like a grate at the bottom or something?" asked Kat before Lily considered her own questions to ask.

Hunter shrugged, "The grate up here can be easily opened so I would imagine any obstructions down below would be the same. They need the air to keep flowing so having them easily serviced just seems reasonable. Additionally, if there is some obstruction at the bottom I would feel much less concerned with destroying it then damaging the main gates,"

Kat sighed "I guess this is the only option?" Though as Kat said that Lily could sort of feel there was something Kat was keeping back. Like there was an answer she knew of that Lily wasn’t seeing. Lily found it odd that Kat was keeping it a secret… though it didn’t really seem like one? Lily saw nothing obviously hidden through the link, just a feeling of smugness.

"Well we could wait around for the doors to open as I mentioned they are likely to… but there is no clear way to determine how long we’d need to wait. Perhaps there is some way of signalling the town we do not know about. I could see there being a mail shaft or something similar but I didn’t find it when exploring. If you do not think Lily is capable of this task I can look for it?" stated Hunter.

This if course, firmed the decision in Lily’s mind immediately. I’m going to do it.

[Yeah as soon as she suggested it might be ’too hard’ I saw this coming.]

Hey! I’m not some reckless fool who got baited into something! This seems like an easy job that’s not expected to end up being dangerous at all. Plus I’m the only one who CAN do it!

[I could turn into water and slip down myself you know?]

Kat almost giggled aloud at the mental record scratch as Lily’s mind processed that. Kat could clearly tell that Lily had quickly decided that she needed to do this, even before Hunter had said anything… and then re-affirmed that decision once Hunter had baited her, intentionally or not.

I guess we can go together then…

[You sound awfully disappointed Lily… almost like you don’t want me around!]

Not at all it’s just… I thought I’d get to prove myself as useful for once.

[Lily you’ve done that a few times already. Heck you were a large help in getting into and out of the various twisty spaces we encountered back in the forest so don’t count yourself out.]

Just as things were being confirmed by the dating duo, Kamiko asked the very question they’d just be debating. "Um… er… I… um… maybe you three are seeing something that I’m not but why can’t Kat go with Lily? She’s got the transformation for it right? Oh and wait what about you as well Hunter? Didn’t you get the ability to break into little snakes?"

Kat jumped in with, "I was mostly pranking Lily by not bringing up the water transformation… but Kamiko brings up a good point with the little snake transformation,"

Hunter shook her head, "I am afraid neither are safe. On my end of things I have very little experience with the transformation, and not only that but the small bits of testing I have done proves that the tiny snakes are exceptionally fragile in exchange for being able to reform out of nearly any one. I suspect that they would ’die’ when impacting the bottom of the vent.

"Perhaps Lily could carry one down with her and have me reform from it on the other side but I do not know how deep the vent is or if I have the demonic energy for such a manoeuvre. If I was more familiar with the ability I would know if it was reasonable to take the risk but as it stands it simply isn’t at this time.

"As for your own situation Kat? Did you neglect to look notice the snow that is missing from the area around the vent? As well as the fact that it is particularly dry still? The ice melts and then the water evaporates. If you wish to test how well you can withstand the spells trying to boil away your water form then please do, but I suspect it will be a massive drain on your reserves and depending on if the enchantments line the entire vent

"I can see it being simply impossible for either of us to make it down the entire vent intact, for similar if different reasons. I simply didn’t deem it worth the risk if Lily is capable for going down herself,"

"Ah," mumbled Kat as she quickly handed Lily off to Kamiko to test that out. Lily watched with some horror as soon after Kat’s transformation completed her watery form started to bubble and hiss. Kat quickly transformed back and moved away. Frowning.

"Hmm… yeah that’s no pleasant at all. I could probably get through it… the drain wasn’t too high… but if it gets worse in the vent itself and continues all the way I can see it being potentially an issue. Still probably not lethal… but I admit it’s not fun…" explained Kat. Notably, not connected to Lily mentally during those moments she was boiling. She’d also pushed away the memories of that moment into a deeper part of her mind.

Lily narrowed her eyes at Kat and glared, knowing that ’not pleasant at all’ probably meant it was massively painful. Knowing this Lily hopped down from Kamiko’s arms and transformed before glaring at Kat challengingly and stating, "I’m happy to do this by myself. No need for anyone else to take any risks. Worse comes to worst I can simply use my shadow to drag myself back up. It’ll damage the vent sure, but we can all live with that,"

"I doubt it will come to that," stated Hunter, "but I am glad you are keeping it in mind,"

Lily nodded and walked over to Kat to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off. Kat, having none of this turned her head right before the kiss would land so that instead of a more chaste kiss on the cheek it was a proper kiss. Lily immediately felt her mind start to turn pink, and very distracted. Which was exactly the reason WHY it was meant to be a kiss on the cheek. Now she couldn’t confidently stride forward and down into the vent because she had a dopey grin on her face!

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