Salvos (A Monster Evolution)

Chapter 6 - Red Fire

6. Red Fire

My body was aching; I had just been attacked, and it hurt a lot. Black liquid— blood— was pouring from the cut running down the side of my face to my body— I had been injured before, but not this badly. And worst of all, I was being attacked by Demons like me.

Why did they attack me? Was it an accident—

There was a loud thud. The Demon with black and yellow spots was knocked back by the three Demons that were next to him. This was no accident; this was done with intent. But I could not understand why they were doing this. And I didn't even have time to try and understand it.

The horned Demon rushed at me, all of its spiky limbs lashing out at once. I evaded it, pushing myself off the ground and back with all my strength. He pressed forward, continuing slicing out in all directions as I kept my distance between him.

I was faster than him, but the way he was moving, I couldn't get close. And I almost didn't want to want to get close. I didn't want to fight him! I didn't want to fight them! I was just giving them a new companion— did they not like the Demon with black and yellow spots either?

Perhaps they knew he stole experience from others. Maybe that was why they were angry and attacking me now. But I was not like that!

I tried to get the horned Demon's attention; I waved my limbs up and down like had done earlier, frantically nodding my head to him. He did not let up.

He swung and missed me by just a tiny bit. I was only barely able to keep him away from me. Why isn't it working? I dodged another attack, and from the side, I saw something white flying towards me at high speeds.

A rock struck me on the face, where I had been wounded, and I recoiled. More blood spurted out, as I defensively covered the injury with my limbs. As I did, the horned Demon closed the distance and sliced at me.

I couldn't dodge it in time, but I wasn't completely unprepared like earlier. I managed to react by bringing one of my limbs to block the attack, and instead of being cut on my body, the limb was lopped off. I stared in horror as more blood oozed out of that nub where my limb once was.

Reflexively, I struck out. [Fire Strike]! I managed to land a hit back at the horned Demon before he could follow through with his next attack. He staggered for a moment, before recovering himself and charging at me with more vigor. Instead of using his limbs however, he lowered his head, pointing his horns in my direction, and rushed forward.

I drew myself to the side and he missed me. But another rock struck me to the side, and I turned to face where it came from. Next to where the three Demons were fighting with my companion, I saw the last Demon in their group pointing his antennae at me.

The antennae swayed, then glowed. A rock twice the size of my eyes flew up and shot out at me. This time, having seen it, I managed to evade the attack. I whirled back to the horned Demon, expecting him to follow up from this attack, but only saw him glaring at the magic Demon.

He swung one limb down, stabbing the ground, and pointed another at her. She flinched, nodded, then turned to help the other two Demons in their group fight the Demon with black and yellow spots. I looked at this, confused.

He was... ordering her to not help him? But why would he do that? He wasn't able to hit me without her help! If he wanted to kill me so badly, he'd have her pelt me with rocks as he engaged me up close. That was unless...

He wanted the experience from defeating me all for himself.

I glanced between the horned Demon and his group. They were attacking us for experience. They weren't mindless like the wild Demons, nor were they angry at us. They did not care that we were like them, and only saw us as an opportunity to level themselves. That— that— was ridiculous!