“Lesser Eye Demons - Daemonium Oculi Luminare, are a species widely regarded as ‘

‘The World’s Prey’. Nearly every monster who resides inside the Dungeons has these small ocular creatures in their diet. Their small body to high nutrition ratio makes them a phenomenal meal for all types of creatures, humans included. Though they are regarded as incredibly weak, it’s been rumored that many high ranking noble demons from the Velnia Kingdom were once Oculi as well, though it’s nothing but hearsay.” - Julene Verde, Encyclopedia of Demonic Creatures.

Slowly flapping their wings to the beat of their heart, Eye swooped around the expansive cave system, scanning left from right, up and down. It was very dark, and despite the small amount of light shining in from the surface, it was practically impossible to see. Eye slowly descended closer to the floor of the cave, to get a better idea of any possible prey they could eat. Eye felt ravenous, as if some kind of untamed beast inside of them was yelling in their ear to eat. Not that they had ears. Looking around for a few minutes more, they encountered what looked like a small mouse. It had dark fur, and big tufts of fluff surrounding its ear. Though it looked relatively harmless, Eye was weary. They had already seen their fair share of battles, both in this world and their prior, and knew that the smallest creature was not always the weakest; However, this was a risk that Eye would have to take, otherwise they may starve, only a couple of hours after their penance started.

Eye swooped down at the mouse-like creature, their sharp devil’s tail straightening out, into something akin to an arrow. It was an unorthodox way of attack, but Eye was praying it worked. In one strange, but silent strike… their first prey was dead, just like that. It was a simple endeavor, now Eye just had to eat it. Instinctually, Eye knew what they had to do, no matter how much they were against it. In disgust, Eye watched as the end of their tail began to expand, slowly turning into something not unlike a nozzle on a hose. Slowly, the meat and blood was being sucked out of the small, helpless mouse. Its body shriveled up, and its skin tightened as all of its nutrients were transferred to Eye.

Eye couldn’t dare look at the scene. They may have been a deplorable criminal lackey in their past life, but seeing something grotesque was outside of their zone of comfort, putting it lightly. Once Eye had finished feeding, they shook off their tail, small bits of meat and flesh being flung off their combination weapon/eating apparatus. It was then that a small message appeared in front of Eye.

[SYSTEM]

[Lesser Infant Cave Mouse] Has been slain.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[Evolution Progress: 10%] {•○○○○○○○○○○}

[Tail Whip] {Rank F} -> {Rank E}

Eye looked bright-eyed at the message in front of them. It wasn’t much, but they had seen it: Their first sight of progress. It was a satisfying feeling, working towards a goal. That was something that they had not experienced much of in their previous life.

One could only meander around so much without trouble brewing, and as they were admiring the system message, a rumbling sound could be heard from far down the cave. At first, it was a low rumbling, as if there were a light tremor, but with increasing speed, the rumbling intensified into feeling like an intense earthquake.

Eye had enough foresight to fly upwards, and right as they did so, a large swarm of mice ran across the cavern floor! Thousands of them, all skittering across the moist stone ground like ants in a hill. Eye had once again dodged a massive bullet. Had they taken any longer with that mouse, its furry brethren may have gotten their revenge sooner than expected. Eye breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly flew off the crime scene, now with a full stomach.

A few more hours were spent gliding through the large open caverns that Eye now called home. It was convenient, being able to fly around above it all, with not a care in the world. There was something that Eye found cathartic about it. As if god themselves were listening in on Eye’s thoughts, a large bird-like creature swooped down and bit onto one of Eye’s wings!

The creature had dark, metal-like plumes and towered over Eye like an elephant to a man. Its sharp beak began to tear into Eye’s small leathery bat wings. Things looked grim for Eye, as they swung around their body and attempted to stab the bird in its neck! However, it seemed as though it’s metallic plumage was too thick and too strong to be punctured by Eye’s puny tail.

“Damn, is this the end already?” Eye thought, as the bird began to bite harder into Eye’s wing. Eye tried multiple times to attack the beast, to no avail. Each second passed by like an hour, as the pain grew more and more within their body, slowly spreading from their wing into their main head/body. Eye screeched in pain,but the only thing that could hear its plea was its enemy.

As a last ditch effort, Eye aimed its tail carefully at the bird’s eye, and to their surprise, it worked! The bird squawked in pain and began diving down towards a large lake below. Its maw had released Eye’s wing from the bird’s grasp. This was not the end of it, though, for Eye was in just as bad a state as the bird, with only one wing, it was practically impossible for them to fly, and Eye was a little unsure if a creature such as themselves could even swim. As they fell, a small tree came into sight right below them. Perhaps they could try to grab onto the tree with their tail?

The wind whipped by Eye at sonic speed, as they rapidly fell towards the lake, and as the tree got closer and closer. Mere seconds before they hit the ground, they managed to hook onto the tree, and stop themselves. A great pain shocked through their system as they managed to barely swing themselves onto land, inches away from the lake. Eye was beaten, and barely able to move, but as swiftly as they could, Eye slowly crawled into a small crevice to rest, and hopefully be healed enough to hunt again tomorrow.