Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

After making it past the estate walls, literally bounding right over them instead of heading for the gate, Gelic was back in the Vulgrest she knew. Well, it wasn’t really a side of town she went to often, only when her mother took her to some meeting, or gala, or other boring city-affairs thing she didn’t want to be a part of. And occasionally they'd come to this area for a nice meal at a ritzy place, for the sort of once-a-year or after a major-accomplishment-type occasion.

The last time had been to a fancy steakhouse after she graduated college. And… that was honestly the last real memory she had with her mother, besides her somewhat helping the girl move into her new apartment, if moving a grand total of two boxes and then rushing off to some other obligation could count as helping.

Sentimentality aside, it was nice to have at least a vague notion of where she was, but it would be nice if she had more than a vague notion of where she was going. The borrowed Malignant Sense skill wasn’t as helpful as she wanted it to be, getting little more feedback than “it’s thataway” as if they were playing a kids game to find the creature she was meant to kill.

What was a bit more helpful was that the faint feeling from before had become ever-so less obscure. Gelic had to assume this meant she was getting closer. Not that she was baring down on it in the next few moments, just that she wasn’t as far as she was before. So at the very least, it was definitively the right direction, but there was still going to be a lot of ground to cover.

Go, go, glacial Frost Touch! The well-kempt grass beneath her round body immediately froze and became slick. Wanting to work on her natural balance, she actually skated forward on her own without an Order. It didn’t take her too long to be confident that she wouldn’t suddenly topple over, only to an actual main road which still took a bit.

From there, she let the self-induced auto-pilot take over, telling herself to head in the direction of the itchy feeling until it felt inevitable that she’d run into the Malignant. And as added precaution, the instruction included caveats about only taking safe passage while also doing her best to not leave the icy trail behind her somewhere that it would ruin someone’s day. Since it was still the tail-end of winter, the frost wouldn’t melt anytime soon. That could easily lead to a slippery sidewalk or a spun-out car if she was careless with the placement. So for the most part, she skated along the shoulders of roads, and took a mighty bounce whenever she needed to actually cross the pavement.

She was actually pretty impressed by how fast she was going, getting around the city quicker than if she even took the bus because of the traffic flows. The train or subway would still beat her skating, but this could very well become her new main mode of transport. Would it be wise to abandon her running training and just focus on becoming a prolific ice skater? Honestly, it felt like this was a far more intense workout, or at the very least, working different muscles.

Maybe it’d be wise to alternate between both. Skating as a Demon, running as a human. Of course, if she ever learned to properly fly or hover like Diamen could, it’d be over for all other forms of transport. Her feet would never be sullied by the ground ever again. During her speedy skating is when Gelic suddenly remembered a part of her Contract. Her master was supposed to watch her kill the Malignant, to see if she was competent.

Had she just left him in the dust? Was Rastille panting along the road not far from the estate wondering where oh where had his little Demon gone? That shouldn’t be a problem, though, right? With their telepathic link, he could just call her if their separation became an issue. Oh, and she vaguely remembered that there was some sort of tracking aspect that would tell them where the other was.

Subconsciously taking her eyes off the road for a second, Angelica focused on the thought, causing her to glance behind herself at the vehicle that had been tailing her for a little while. She’d assumed they were just heading in similar directions, but a better look found Rastille in the driver’s seat. Honestly, the big and burly pickup truck suited him. And while likely egregiously expensive over other models, it made him feel less like an entitled prick compared to the other Summoners. Instead, it made him feel like a prick in other ways, cus the thing was massive, but so was he, so it was probably one of the few vehicles that was comfortable for him to be in.

Sperado was cruising along in the passenger seat, looking about half ready for a nap. Well, it was late. There was no sign of Vystal anywhere, though the truck was a two seater. Oh! Maybe she was the type to cruise solo on a badass motorcycle or something, the gap between that and her strict-looking demeanor would make her a cooler character in Angelica’s mind.

But alas, expectations raised and then shattered, sort of. Gelic had been on the right track. The woman wasn’t far behind the truck, steady at a safe distance and speed. But instead of a cool motorcycle, it was a moped, one that looked like it would struggle to keep up if the Demon setting the pace was going too much faster. Vystal was also wearing a very generic yet sensible and safe helmet, along with a sensible scarf to keep her neck warm that was slightly flapping in the breeze behind her.

And riding in tandem with her, on top of her helmet because there was absolutely no more room on the scooter, was Xinder, who was apparently too lazy to use his wings. Kind of wild that the Summoner was even allowing such behavior. Though the woman did seem a bit taken with her Demon, perhaps thinking him more like a familiar or proper companion. It made the thought of actually being a bound Demon to a caring master not sound too bad. Though the Imp was her own master, so she couldn’t get more caring than that, not that her self-respect had ever been too high.

It also raised the question why Rastille needed a new Demon for this. He hadn’t been so kind as to offer her a ride. Gelic definitely could have guided the way from the inside of the truck, acting as a Malignant GPS, but there was no such offer. Maybe his last Bound, if he ever had one, got fed up with the discourtesy. She found this doubtful, but if he was actually a good man, then why wouldn’t a Demon want to stick around? Or it could be that he hadn’t found one that he wanted to keep.

Maybe if the puffball did a good job, she’d get such an offer. Of course, she most likely wouldn’t accept. Stable employment for Essence didn’t sound too bad, and so far nothing put her off the group fully. But her situation didn’t really allow for perpetually staying with another Summoner, unless they let her regularly go back to her apartment when not needed. She was getting ahead of herself, though, so it was time to get back to the task at hand. Especially because she spent so long looking back that she almost sped right into a mail dropbox.

The commute was nearing its end, and the itchy feeling had turned more into a bubbling burn. Gelic knew the Malignant was close, having narrowed it down to a single city block. She did lap around, trying to really pinpoint the spot, eventually leading her into the parking garage of a hotel.

Angelica could only watch in stunned silence after she found the Malignant. Unlike the last one she'd faced, which was a creepy and aggressive snake-like thing that was easy for her to get into the headspace of fighting, this one really looked like it was no threat at all. The best way she could describe it would be a small fleshy blob with a dumb-looking face and teeny tendril arms that could barely extend more than a few inches from its body. Honestly, if the puffball shaved down to the skin, it probably wouldn’t be a far off comparison.

She watched as the creature slowly wobbled in the direction of the human, holding its arms out toward the man, almost as if it wanted to hug him. Only for the Malignant to be dejected when the hotel goer quickly outpaced him and went into the nearby elevator. The goopy thing looked pitifully sad for a moment, only for light to appear in its beady eyes when a woman came out of a side door. Once again, it tried to “hug” her, barely making it a few feet from its original spot because it was so scuffing slow before she got into her car and drove away.

“Umm, what exactly is it doing?” Gelic inquired once her master and the two tagalongs of the trio, plus one Demon, caught up and parked their vehicles.

“Feeding,” Rastille answered with disdain in his voice. “Or at least it’s trying to. Malignants are attracted to the stagnant mana in humans, wanting to consume it for themselves, converting it to Essence in their bodies. They don’t actually need it to survive, but it’s how they grow stronger, and they possess an innate desire to consume as much mana as possible.

“At this level, that one isn’t much of a threat. If it does manage to touch a human, they won’t even know, and it will begin drinking their mana. All that will really happen to them is they might feel a little tired. If a human is ever complaining about sudden persistent exhaustion, they could very well have a Malignant clinging to them without knowing. Were that all they did, we probably wouldn’t need to hunt them so actively.

“But once they consume enough and get a few levels, they become dangerous. Some will evolve into something quite strong. And it’s the smart ones that we really have to worry about. They can be quite territorial, finding a good location and batch of humans to repeatedly drain. And in rare instances, should they be about to lose that territory, they’ve been known to lash out, even killing innocent civilians. Most never reach that level, thankfully. That’s because Summoners like us hunt them down before they become a problem.

“Okay, so Malignants are mana parasites,” Gelic dumbed it down. “Wouldn’t they go after Summoners and Demons primarily then, since they have a lot of mana?”

“No. Quite the opposite actually,” her master corrected. “They’re only interested in stagnant mana. Since we use our mana regularly, it’s constantly recycled. And if we’re stagnant ourselves for too long, we can also convert it to Essence, which we use to have Demons do our bidding instead, so it’s always useful. Ultimately, Malignants want nothing to do with us, so they stay away from Summoners and Demons. We’re their natural enemies.

“Malignants tend to migrate toward highly populated areas with minimal magical presence, so the centers of cities are always a good spot. As are supermarkets, convenience stores, and rubbish heaps. Since all living things have mana, that includes plants and animals, but not nearly as much as humans, so they’re usually ignored. However, the food they’re turned into, especially if it’s heavily processed, even more so if it’s rotting or expired, can mimic something close to stagnant mana that attracts Malignants as well.”

Well, that explained why the snake thing had been dumpster diving—a kindred spirit that was starving. Then when she and the dog arrived, it went after them as a more promising food source.

“So those specific areas are hot spots, but we try to keep all of Vulgrest safe, with Sects covering their cities or often multiple territories and provinces. Sadly, there aren’t enough Sect Summoners to perform regular patrols around the city limits to keep them out entirely, and there’s no way we can rely on Rogue Summoners to help out on that front. So it’s easier to let a few infiltrate and wipe them all out at once in hunts like these, which works well as long as we don’t slack or miss any when it’s time to cull. We usually go about it once a week unless one of our Demons lets us know otherwise. Sadly, my previous Bound didn’t want to be tied to a low level like me, so I’m testing out new Demons to see if I can find a new partner.”

Ah, that was nice to hear. Assuming he was telling the truth, which Rastille had come across as a very blunt person so far, then it meant he wasn’t a terrible master, at least in Angelica’s eyes. So she felt the urge to not fail his expectations. Again, not really looking for a secondary master, but she felt the urge to prove herself as a competent Demon. At the very least, she should be able to defeat a little blob like this. So it was time to get to work.

Gelic’s maw widened as she spat out the previously gifted dagger, catching it in the air with a flourish, getting a feel for the steel, or whatever metal it was made of—probably nothing that great since it was meant to be ornamental after all. While watching the Malignant slowly pad toward a family of four, she went as far to the other end of the garage as she could, wanting to get a running start, or rather, a skating start.

She charged forward, skidding across the pavement as she built up momentum, reaching the velocity and general appearance of a billowing ball zooming across the asphalt field. Holding her untrusty blade, and when she was just a foot away, she shouted “Stab!” grateful that the nearby civilians wouldn’t be able to hear her declaration or see her act. For the observing Summoners, though, hopefully she looked as cool as she felt in that moment.

Her body was lifted off the ground, surging ahead, dragged forward by the weapon in her hand, adding another jolt of power and speed to her attack. The tip of the dagger pierced the spongy skin and tore right through. Gelic’s whole body plowed right through where the Malignant once was, its corpse immediately exploding into Essence as it died, the decomposition hurried along by the added impact.

Of all things she had planned for, though, stopping was not one of them. Her momentum carried past the attack, and she bowled straight into the wall ahead, bouncing off with little damage thanks to her squishy and padded exterior.

[Malignant Lv.2 defeated. Gained 19 Essence]

Wow, somehow that thing had been a higher level than the snake. She supposed that meant that it had just lived for longer without being killed and had consumed more mana. Oh well, higher level meant more Essence for her it would seem. Hopefully, she could find more plump, harmless Malignants. Definitely better than actually having to put up a fight, even if it could be considered cowardly.

“Congratulations, you killed what may as well have been a harmless baby.” When the coast was clear, Sperado wandered over to the Imp and provided his enlightened insight. “Now if you’ll be so kind as to lead us to the next one, maybe we’ll find something to justify your Summoning.”

Next ones? Well, of course they’d be continuing, but it felt so abrupt. Her first kill ended with no celebration, no pizazz. To be expected, she supposed. This was just a job after all, like any other. And just like any other, the hard workers went underappreciated, even if the tasks were considered menial.

As if the DGS also wanted to move her along, Gelic was then hit with a fresh batch of itchiness from Malignant Sense. It was a lot more potent this time, but in a different way. The feeling wasn’t screaming at her that it was super close, but rather, that there was a bigger threat overall, possibly multiple of them. And of course, it didn’t give her any better specific indication as to where they were. Sure would be nice if the Skill levelled up, but the fledgling Demon guessed that wasn’t possible with a borrowed Rune.

And yet, there was a trick she wanted to try. Something that may make the hunt much simpler. It was worth giving a go. If the idea didn’t help, she at least got to be cute for a few moments. So she swallowed the dagger once more and activated Transfiguration.

Poof! The puffball magically transformed into a hunting dog, minus any actual flare. Thankfully, there was no one around at the moment, else they’d be wondering why there was a lost pupper in the middle of a parking garage. She made sure to give herself a collar, so it would look like she was owned by someone, rather than some random, possibly rabid stray.

With her mighty enhanced nose, the female dog sniffed the air. She wasn’t sure if she’d pick up the lingering traces of the dead Malignant, but sure enough, the stagnant stench filled her canine nostrils. She had the scent.

[Active Skill: Hunting Nose Lv.1 unlocked]

[Lucidity increased]

[Gnostic Attunement increased]

Ahaha, yes! The Skill had unlocked naturally just like she’d hoped. That one was Growth Point saved for a better use! Not that the Skill was something to be snubbed. No, she could feel its value immediately. While she couldn’t exactly see such a thing, it was as if a wispy trail was laid out in front of her, guiding her straight toward her target. So with a bit of a wiggle to make sure all of her doggy legs were working, she scampered out of the parking garage, straight toward the next batch of Malignants.

The hunt continued!

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