Salvos (A Monster Evolution)

Chapter 4 - Magic Attack

Up until now, all of the mindless, lumbering Demons I had seen were alone. It was odd; the only time I had encountered a group of Demons had been shortly- relatively speaking- after I was born.

So based on this single observation, I came to the broad conclusion that only others like me would clump up together. And while applying that general rule too hastily might seem like a bad idea in retrospect, the logic made sense to me when I decided to approach the four Demons traveling next to each other.

Well, I knew better now.

I skittered around the large boulder as the remaining three Demons chased after me. They had caught me by surprise by attacking me when I had thought they were friendly, but I still managed to take one out.

The Demons weren't as fast as me, although they still managed to keep up with my speed. They followed after me, whirling around the corner-

And I was not there. The Demons paused, confused at my sudden disappearance. They cast their gazes around, scanning the landscape for any signs of me to no avail. Slowly but surely, the three began to spread out, slightly further away from each other.

From atop the boulder, I leapt down at the closest Demon. I wriggled below my feet as I struck it twice with my forefront limbs. The other two Demons noticed this and tried to rush me. I pushed myself off the first Demon as something bright went off right at its antennae.

Circling around them, I easily put distance between us as they tried to tackle me. Instead, I swung my entire body around, knocking one of them back, before charging the second. The Demon struggled as I jabbed all my limbs into it, forcing its black blood out of its body. I brought my head down on it once, twice-

Defeated [Demon Larva - Lvl. 3]!

Less experience is awarded for defeating an enemy half your level!

Once I received the words in my head, I quickly pried myself off the Demon and just barely evaded a strike from its companion. Pushing it back with my limbs, I was just about to do the same thing to it when I felt a sharp shock run through my body.

I spun around and backed away as fast as I could from the Demon I had dropped on. That was... electricity? Light was flashing between its antennae, sparks dangerously dancing off the side like the splash of blood that came from being crushed. It hurts!

I warily regarded the last two Demons as they approached me. There was no coordination between them. They had no thought behind their actions. So when they charged me again, one after the other, I shoved the first one back to the other.

It did not matter which came first. What ended up happening either ways was the Demon using magic shocking the other. And in that moment where the non-magic Demon was incapacitated, I threw everything I had at the magic Demon, wrapping my body around it and crushed it.

Defeated [Demon Larva - Lvl. 5]!

Experience is awarded for defeating an enemy!

Then it was just me and the last remaining Demon. It got back up, and I waited for it to charge me. I would have expected it to continue foolishly attacking me like it had before- as others like it had always done. But instead, it spun around and ran away.

For a moment- just a brief moment- I was left stunned. Not because I had been zapped or anything. But because it was running.

Why was it running? They never ran!

I was puzzled by this. That had never happened before; it was another thing that went against the norm established by observations I made in the past. By the time I thought to chase after it, it was already long gone.