Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 40 – Transformation (Patreon)

Elania sat on a boulder outside the waystation entrance, humming a half-remembered tune from one of her favorite fantasy music channels back home. One of the novices had been in and out a few times to fetch water, and each time gave her a funny expression.

Maybe they weren’t used to musical demons? Or maybe she was just bad at humming. She certainly hadn’t earned any music related skill from her attempts, which was unfair. She was doing her best.

Waiting for Taniel to wake up was boring, and she reached out to swat the small [System] bar that represented her contract screen to send it spinning like a spin-top balanced on her finger. Why couldn’t things be easy?

Figuring out that her [System] screens weren’t quite as static as she had imaged was a nice revelation. She’d rearranged everything to feel more comfortable, including adjusting the color, opacity, text, font, and size. If she wanted, she could plaster them against a wall like a full size projection, or attach them to her forearm or clothing.

No one could see them but her, but it was a nice touch for just looking at things and… thinking about them.

The first thing she had made was a nice gauge for her [Power] stat that she kept active somewhere, unobtrusive. It was, in her opinion, her most vital statistic since it acted as her life bar, mana bar, and food bar all rolled into one.

Joren called her from inside the waystation. “Elania!”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “What’s up?”

It took some effort to stifle a giggle and smile when he actually looked at the ceiling, looking slightly confused, before looking back to her. “Taniel’s still unconscious. I want to try a few herbal remedies to see if they would help. Could you find a few mushrooms for me?”

Elania shrugged and then hopped off the boulder. “Sure, I guess. What do you need, exactly?”

He pulled out a leather pouch, along with a leather glove. “Most important ones are [Fenicia’s Fungal Growth] and some [Bright Stem] mushrooms.”

She eyed the leather glove as she accepted it and the pouch.

“You’ll want these. Don’t get the Fenicia anywhere near your eyes, nose, ears, mouth or…” His gaze crept downward and then his cheeks turned red as he looked away.

She wanted to know just who Fenicia was and why she had been sticking mushrooms between her legs, but she didn’t figure the poor embarrassed monk would know. Scratch that. She didn’t want to know.

“I’ve seen the Fenicia before, but what does the [Bright Stem] look like?” Elania asked.

“They are the small ones that like to grow on the sides of rocks near the water. They have long spines with a bright glow coming from underneath the cap,” Joren explained.

Elania nodded. “Easy enough. I think I saw them near the pond when we came in.”

Ten minutes later she had already filled half the pouch with the [Glow Stem] while still looking for more Fenicia. It was ten times more annoying than she imagined, because all the ones she spotted were growing on small ledges that were too hard to reach. There was no way she was going to take the risk of jumping up to one and face planting into it with all the warning labels.

By the time she had the leather pouch full, it had taken a full hour. Actually, it was more like 90% full, but if Joren wanted more Fenicia, he was going to have to get it himself. Following the stream back toward the waystation, she noticed one of the novices gathering some water…

With a [Razorscale] sneaking up on him from behind.

Elania hastily broke into a run toward them. She didn’t have her javelins with her, just her knife.

Moving as fast as she could, she almost made it in time. When it became clear the [Razorscale] was about to lunge, she shouted a warning. “Run!”

The novice looked at her and was afraid of the wrong thing, freezing in place. The overgrown alligator monster snapped down on his leg, eliciting a pained scream. It yanked him off his feet easily, then began to drag him away.

Panicked, she slammed on her [Demonic Aura] and pulsed a burst of power into it, directing it straight forward. She wasn’t sure of the efficacy, but the [Razorscale] did pause and release the novice to turn on her.

He screamed and scampered through the pond away just as she reached the monster. It snapped at her but she sidestepped the bite. Jumping over a claw swipe, she jumped onto the beast’s back. The knife wasn’t an idea weapon, even as she reinforced the edge with [Power] and began to poke holes in the [Razorscale]’s back.

It scrambled to remove her, but she held on for a half dozen stabs before it twisted in the water and managed to flip her off. A hot searing pain flared up her left arm as large teeth dug into her upper arm.

The new position had one small benefit. It gave her access to its throat, and she jabbed her knife into the soft skin there and slashed a cut all the way to where the thing’s jawbones connected. That made a large opening and while they struggled, she jabbed her hand into the opening.

The once crystal-clear water of the pond had turned a murky burgundy by the time the beast stopped struggling.

[You have absorbed 22 Power!]

[You have gained Razorscale Affinity!]

[Consume more Razorscale Essence to enable Razorscale Transformation!]

Her arm burned like fire, and the fight had ended up a net neutral [Power] wise. Joren ran out of the waystation straight for them.

“What happened?” he shouted.

“A [Razorscale] ambushed him,” she panted. Pain blossomed in her arm and wasn’t going away. Confused, she pulled her robe away and was horrified by what she saw.

Instead of fresh baby soft skin, there were writhing abscessed pockets bubbling there. “Ahh! Fuck!”

Joren went for the novice first. “Allen! Allen! Stay with me!”

A white light appeared from Joren’s hands, but she was too preoccupied with her own ordeal to pay much attention. Slowly she realized that the [Razorscale] had somehow injected something into her arm with the bite, and her [Regeneration] had caused her skin to heal over it, trapping it inside.

Holy shit… was the bite infected like some type of super poison Komodo dragon thing?

She glanced over at the novice Joren was tending to and felt a moment of panic. The young man was dead, his eyes glassed over. The area where the [Razorscale] had bitten him had begun to melt like wax too close to a flame. Melted flesh began to spill into the water. Joren was still trying to use his glowy hands to help.

Being dissolved like that was horrible. That was what was happening to her? She couldn’t let it happen.

Her knife was still bloodied; she pulsed a flare of [Power] through it, blazing off the outer layer of grime. Then she pointed the cleaned blade at her arm. The painful writhing flesh was mercifully not working its way higher, but it was still fully active.

Elania stabbed herself.

A splatter shield would have been a good idea.

The contents of the pustule were the most foul-smelling liquid ever. Worse than even the Mushroohum compost baby boxes.

Pain wracked her in pulses that were as bad as having her nerves regrown. [Crisis Management] wasn’t blocking things out. Distantly, she realized that she’d stabbed a second one. At that point, the thought of cutting her arm off just so she could grow a new one seemed to be the smartest idea.

But she didn’t have an axe. Holy shit, what if the thing had bitten her somewhere other than her arm? How many Razorscales had she fought, how many times had she come close to getting bitten?

Elania rolled onto her back, panting heavily. Joren’s face appeared as he stood above her, looking down with a frown. “It bit you, and you’re still alive somehow.”

He knelt down and put his hands on her shoulder and examined her infected arm. He shouted something to someone and then she realized they were carrying her up to the waystation. It would have been heartwarming if she wasn’t in so much pain. They placed her on her thin bedroll.

She reached up and grabbed Joren’s wrist when he turned to leave for something.

“Can you chop it off?” Elania asked, tears flowing freely from the corners of her eyes.

A panicked look appeared on his face at the question. “I can try some holy magic on it, but it might hurt since you are a demon.”

“Wh...whatever. Just do it!” she hissed.

Light flared around his hands as he laid them on her arm.

It turned out holy healing magic was a bad idea. He stopped almost immediately, but it seemed like whatever he had done had multiplied the constant flare of pain. It filled her entire body.

She was vaguely aware of her screams when everything went black.

***

Elania raised her nose and sniffed the air, the scent of terrified fleeing Ralfots clear in the still cavern air. One passed by her hiding spot and she transformed into a silent flash of movement, leaping from stone to stone. The distance between her and her prey was devoured rapidly until she spotted a vulnerable target.

The young Ralfot screeched as she pounced and tumbled with it to the cavern floor. Claws rent deep gashes through the calf’s side, spilling precious life blood. The rest of the fleeing herd paid the encounter no mind, and she bit down hard on the carcass and dragged it to a safe alcove.

The taste and sense of fresh blood filled her mouth. The hunt was good. A feeling of satisfaction filled her as she finished the meal, and she found a safe, hidden alcove to curl up in.

When she woke up from the dream, she felt the need for a massive, spine curving stretch. It felt wonderful. The absence of pain was welcome. Cracking an eye open, she found herself inside her chamber in the waystation, her stuff pooled in a pile on the floor. Opening her mouth wide, she let out a yawn.

When she looked out into the common room, the light was dim; everyone was asleep. Her ears flicked as the soft sounds of steady breathing highlighted the occupation of two chambers. The three remaining novices were together, while Taniel and Joren were asleep in the same room.

She poked her head around the divider, her tail swishing of its own accord. Sure enough, Joren and Taniel were fast asleep exactly where she had pinpointed them to be. It seemed everyone was exhausted and tired after all the fighting.

It wasn’t like she had much to do, so she decided to take up the watch herself. Laying down at Joren’s feet, she watched the entrance to the waystation.

Eventually, she nodded off for a nap since nothing happened.

Something tried to move underneath her, and she shifted her weight so she could stretch from head to tail as best she could. A small, panicked noise had her ears rotating as she tried to go back to sleep. The noise grew louder and then a hand landed on her head. It squeezed her ear!

It was too rough! Finally opening her eyes, she found Joren was trying to push her head away. She let out a warning growl, and he froze. Standing up, she rubbed her cheek on his face before walking a short distance away and licking her foot. She needed to clean between her claws.

“Elania?” Joren asked hesitantly, still frozen on his bedroll.

She turned and tilted her head at him. “Joren?”

The sound came out through the filter of an oversized female Darkwalker. His eyes widened at the sound, and he looked extremely worried. He looked torn between trying to flee or not.

She wasn’t that scary, was she? Deciding to give him some reassurance, she prowled over to him and gave him another friendly nuzzle.

“Ha…ha…haaa. Elania, why are you an oversized Darkwalker?” Joren stammered out.

That was a good question. She started to try to vocalize something when he held up a hand. “I don’t understand. Let’s try yes and no questions. Tilt your head left for ‘No’ and right for ‘Yes,’ alright?”

Ha! This game was simple. She settled down onto her haunches and tilted her head to the right. He almost seemed surprised that she got it right.

“Are you Elania?” he asked.

What kind of stupid question was that? She tilted her head to the right again.

He seemed at a loss for words. “Ok... umm. Do you know why you are a Darkwalker?”

Hmm. Elania thought about it. She knew part of why—it was that stupid transformation thing that happened during the big fight, somehow activating on its own when she blacked out from the pain—but she didn’t think that was what he was after. She didn’t have any idea why the transformation had activated this time.”

She tilted her head to the left.

He let out a sigh. “Alright… do you know how to transform back?”

Uhm. Right. Transforming back into a human… she wasn’t sure what to do, and when she tried to think about being a human again, nothing happened. Her [Status] didn’t appear when she called it, either. That was annoying. Was the only way back to burn out all her [Power] like before?

She tilted her head to the left again.

Joren let out a sigh. “Alright. Well, just wait here a moment. I need to tell the others before they see you and panic.”

Elania considered. Hunger was absent, so she finally agreed with a nod and laid down, putting her chin on her feet. What was the big deal, anyway? She felt fine in her new form.

“Just…just remember, don’t eat Taniel.” Joren said as he stepped out.

She let out an acknowledging rumble. No promises.