Reborn As An Evolving Monster

Chapter 5 Teaming Up

?Mark opened his mouth as he stared at the flying Inferior Demon.

'Let's start with this.'

Three balls of venom appeared in front of his opened mouth.

The Monster cut a Winged Kobold's neck as two of those balls of venom hit its back.

'How many will I have to shoot to bring it down...'

Mark shot another three.

This time, all of them hit the Monster's body.

Right away, it turned towards Mark.

Its piercing gaze made the Modified Black Wolf Skeleton freeze.

'Found me already...'

The Inferior Demon extended its hand towards Mark.

A Fire Ball was formed in front of that hand.

Aimed at Mark, it flew at a fast pace.

While the Inferior Demon's focus was elsewhere, a Winged Kobold didn't miss the opportunity.

The flying Monster started falling to the ground.

It had lost one of its two wings.

Mark had jumped sideways to dodge the attack, but,

[You have lost 10 Health Points.]

'Shit. I thought that dodging it would be enough...'

The bones on his side had small cracks all over.

'The whole area around the point of impact is burnt...' He thought.

Mark hadn't taken into consideration the fact that Fire Ball would explode once it hit the ground.

While he wasn't burnt, the explosion's shockwave was strong enough to damage his body.

The Inferior Demon hit the ground.

It immediately got up.

Since it wasn't in the air, the other Monsters weren't moving targets anymore.

The Small Golems, the Ogres and the Orcs joined the fight.

An Orc sprinted towards the Inferior Demon's back.

It tried punching the Demon with all its strength.

The diabolical creature, much more agile, dodged the attack easily.

The Inferior Demon's claws pierced the Orc's heart.

Its whole hand had penetrated the Orc's chest.

The Monster pulled that hand back with great strength.

Great amounts of green blood spurted.

'In one hit, huh?' Mark thought as he stared at the falling Orc.

The Inferior Demon extended one of its arms to its right.

Mark, who was behind the Demon, sprinted forward.

Three consecutive Fire Balls were shot towards a Small Golem.

BOOM-

It died on the spot.

Flick-

Mark's heavy tail hit the Demon's side and launched it a couple of meters away.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Mark thought as he sprinted away.

He hid behind a Small Golem.

The Infernal Demon rolled on the ground before shooting Fire Balls towards that same Small Golem.

An Orc took advantage of the opening and slammed its fists on the Inferior Demon's shoulders.

'Good!'

The Demon's body hit the ground.

While the Inferior Demon was sturdy and strong, it was relatively light in weight.

As the Small Golem in front of Mark fell, five balls of venom were shot one by one.

The small devil took down the Orc right away.

And as it did, balls of venom rained down on its body.

The Inferior Demon was not impressed by the attack.

It didn't even bother dodging.

Instead, it launched itself forward.

'It's...' Mark thought as he shot balls of venom at the incoming Monster, '...Too fast!!'

Mark turned his body sideways.

The Inferior Demon did not care one bit and kept running forward.

Every Venomous Bomb shot by Mark hit the target's upper body.

In total, 9 balls of venom had hit its body.

As the Inferior Demon arrived in front of him, Mark tried to hit it with his tail.

The Monster retaliated by using its sharp claws.

[Your Passive Skill "Tail Flick[F]" has evolved into the Passive Skill "Heavy Tail Flick[E]".]

A second later,

[You have lost 30 Health Points.]

'Seriously...?'

Shatter-

The big rock that constituted the tip of Mark's tail had been destroyed.

'How are its claws so hard?'

Mark immediately jumped away to create some distance.

'Two Healing Potions! Fuck... With that speed, it'll reach me any second now!'

The potions appeared in the air.

He grabbed them with his mouth, hurriedly broke the potion bottle and drank the liquid hurriedly.

His tail started slowly regenerating.

'What...?'

Unlike what he had expected, the Inferior Demon hadn't followed Mark.

A second later, he understood why.

The [E+] Rank Monster coughed up blue blood.

'The venom... Finally... It's paralyzed and poisoned...'

Without wasting a second, Mark launched himself forward but an Orc had already moved closer towards the paralyzed Monster.

'This f#cker... Don't steal my kill!' Mark thought as he ran even faster.

But he couldn't catch up.

The Orc pulled its arm back, prepared to give a strong punch.

Infernal Demon's stomach was hit with great strength, but its body wasn't moved back.

Slash-

The next instant, the Orc's head was rolling on the ground.

Mark would have gulped if he could.

'It wasn't paralyzed...?'

He instinctively took a step back.

'Just poisoned... Maybe its lower body is paralyzed?'

That seemed to be the case, as the Monster raised its arm towards Mark, ready to shoot deadly Fire Balls.

Mark immediately started running in circles around the Inferior Demon.

A series of explosions left multiple holes in the ground, but not one Fire Ball had hit its target.

Mark positioned himself behind the Demon.

Two Ogres had been taken down by the explosions, even though the attacks were not aimed at them.

The only Monsters left were Mark, the Inferior Demon, one Winged Kobold and one Small Golem.

'Let's attack from here...'

Mark used the remaining of his Mana Points to shoot more venom at the Inferior Demon.

As the last ball of venom hit its body, the Monster suddenly turned around.

'Was it bluffing by acting like it had been paralyzed? Good thing that Orc got there before me. Otherwise, that would have been-'

Mark couldn't finish his thought.

The Monster disappeared from the spot it had been standing on.

In a heartbeat, the Demon's hateful yellow eyes appeared in front of Mark.

The latter couldn't do a thing.

'I'm dead. If I take a hit straight-on... I'm dead!'

The Inferior Demon pulled its arm back, ready to break Mark's fragile body.

'These bones won't be able to-

Suddenly,

'Wha-..'

The Monster fell to its knees.

It threw up massive amounts of blue blood.

The light in its eyes started fading

Mark stared for a bit.

Surprised and relieved.

'So it used the last of its strength to try and kill me...'

Mark's heavy tail hit the Monster's head.

'But the more you move, the faster the poison spreads.'

Mark's newly acquired "Heavy Tail Flick[E]" Passive Skill increased the damage inflicted by his tail by 40%.

The Monster's head hit the ground.

Pieces of debris flew.

Mark walked with great caution.

'Is it alive? Of course, it is. Since I didn't get that notification about Experience Points...'

The Monster was lying on its stomach, its wings folded on its back.

A second time, the heavy tail hit the Monster's head.

The ground beneath that head cracked.

A third time, the heavy tail hit the same spot.

[You have defeated an Inferior Demon. 500 Gold Coins and 1000 Experience Points earned.]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

The Demon's skull had been crushed.

Mark would have sighed if he could.

'Finally. Its Health Points are high, despite its body being on the smaller side. All that venom was barely enough to keep it from moving...'

A strong but slow punch suddenly came from above.

Mark dodged at the last instant by jumping sideways.

'Not even a moment to breathe, huh? Even though we were teaming up a moment ago?'

It was the remaining Small Golem.

Mark ran away from both it and the remaining Winged Kobold until his Mana Points regenerated.

He shot the Winged Kobold first, as it had started attacking the Small Golem.

After that, the Small Golem was easily taken care of.

The only Monster left standing, was Mark.

And in front of him was a magnificent feast.

Hunger-

...

After devouring all the Monsters, Mark continued the loop(?).

He only found a couple of Gray Wolves and Goblins.

After a bit, Mark was back at the point he had been before entering the circular corridor.

'That was... Not what I'd expected. Anyways, Evolution Points?'

[You currently possess 9445 Evolution Points.]

Obviously, it was a very high amount.

After all, Mark had devoured more than 20 Orcs, 15 Small Golems, 10 Ogres and 10 Winged Kobolds.

Plus other the lower-ranked Monsters.

And of course, the Inferior Demon that had given him 540 Evolution Points at once.

'Holy sh... This is way too much! I should evolve, right? But what if I can beat the Floor's Guardian and evolve then??'

Mark's greed started growing.

'If I can do that, then...'

He snapped out of it a second later.

'That would be impossible. I can't even beat this Inferior Demon 1-on-1. And the Guardian is supposed to be the strongest on this Floor...'

Mark walked towards the crossroad(?).

'It's supposed to be the strongest...'

Monsters were rare.

A lot of them couldn't even sense Mark, thanks to his Passive Skill "Assassin's Movements[E]".

'I will evolve in that room where the Orc had put me. That Orc if it hadn't fed me all of those... Haha!'

Mark started running towards it.

'I'm so excited!'

After a bit, he entered the room.

It was empty and dark.

'Perfect. I hope I'll only pass out for a bit... Oh, any new Skills available?'

[Yes.]

'Can I get those Skills after evolving?'

[Yes.]

'I'll check them later then. Gotta keep my Evolution Points. Alright!! Show me those Evolutions!'

[You can Evolve into:

1) Great Bear Skeleton.

2) Skeleton Mage.

3) Weakened Inferior Demon.

4) Four-Armed Ogre.

5) Giant Skeleton.

6) Infernal Hound Skeleton.

7) Great Black Wolf.

]

'Oh! Wow! So many choices! Let's dissect them one by one. Great Bear Skeleton is obvious. I'd get the skeleton of a big bear. Great Strength but low Agility. I would probably keep the low Vigor Stat I have now though. It wouldn't use too many Evolution Points since I would still be a Skeleton. Mmm...'

Still, Mark wasn't too fond of that option.

'Skeleton Mage sounds good. I'll be back on two feet which I wouldn't mind and my Mana Stat will increase. I probably will be able to obtain new Magic Skills too.'

Skeleton Mage was definitely a route Mark could see himself taking.

'Weakened Inferior Demon is a no. It had lots of Health Points and its claws were nothing to laugh at, but a weakened version might be too weak! It's not specified how much weaker it is so I don't want to gamble. It's probably weakened since I've only devoured one of them. Mm... Further Evolutions might be good though. But I need immediate strength, since I've already explored the whole Floor...'

This option could have been a good choice in the long run.

Still, a great foe was waiting for Mark.

The Guardian whose strength was supposedly higher than that of an Inferior Demon.

Fighting as a "Weakened" version, therefore, seemed like a bad option.

Mark did not know it was the case, but the Boss Monster was much, much stronger.

'As a Four-Armed Ogre, I would probably look like some kind of god of war and destruction, but Ogres are big and not that strong. Their regenerative ability is really cool, but that's just a Skill. The Giant Skeleton probably interests me the least. It'll use up all my Evolution Points to make me huge, turning me into a big target for Monsters to team up against. I probably would be slow too.'

The two options interested Mark the least.

'Infernal Hound Skeleton is interesting. I've never seen an Infernal Hound on this floor. It, for sure, has a drop of the demon's blood in it. Had I not devoured the Inferior Demon, I probably would not have gotten this Evolution Option. It must be pretty good. Although, hounds are just dogs, right? So I'll probably get smaller. Finally, Great Black Wolf is a stronger bigger version of the Black Wolf... No thanks...'

Mark sat on the ground like any other four-legged Monster would have.

He was truly accustomed to his new form.

'It really is between the Skeleton Mage, the Infernal Hound Skeleton and the Weakened Inferior Demon... I guess. No. Not the demon. Not only is it Inferior, but it's also Weakened. The final two contestants are the Infernal Dog's Skeleton and the Skeleton Mage.'

[Understood.]

[You can Evolve into:

1) Skeleton Mage.

2) Infernal Dog's Skeleton.

]

'Wait, are you for real? Did you just delete the other options?'

[Only two options are available.]

'Son of a...'

A bit later, Mark made his choice.

His consciousness faded.

'Not... Again...'

The bones that composed Mark's body were broken and rearranged.

His body got smaller than before.

Flames engulfed the skeleton for a second.

The color of the bones that made up the body slowly changed.

They were painted black.

A sole red stripe made its way from the Skeleton's head to the tip of its tail, passing by its spine.

***

"It's me, Mina! I'm coming in." A woman said.

Mark opened his eyes.

'This...? Again...?'

The same room.

White sheets.

Machines.

A window from which rays of light could enter.

Mark couldn't move his body.

He couldn't even turn his gaze towards the woman.

"Glad you're still here." The woman said cheerfully as she entered the room.

Suddenly, Mark's gaze started moving.

'Huh? Still here? When I was... Just before I was in... Where was I again? I can't remember-'

"Yeah, well. Can't really leave now, can I?"

'Did my lips just move? I didn't mean to say that... What's going on??'

And once that gaze fell on the woman, pure shock and surprise overtook Mark.

'She's... She's...!'

***

An hour later,

[Congratulations!]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Infernal Senses[E+]".]

[Two Skills of yours have merged.]

[Your Passive Skills "Infernal Senses[E+]" and "Acute Senses[E]" have merged to form a new Passive Skill.]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Demonic Senses[D]".]

[You have developed the Magic Skill: "Infernal's Corrupted Touch[E+]".]

[You have developed the Magic Skill: "Infernal Breath[E+]".]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Intimidating Stare[E]".]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Burning Claws[E]".]

[Your Magic Skill Venomous Bomb[E] has evolved into the Magic Skill "Corrupting Bomb[E+]".]

The Monster woke up from its slumber.

Its eyes shone red.

[You have evolved into an "Infernal Hound Skeleton[D-]".]