When I wake up, the crow is already there.

In fact, it seems like it's been watching me all this time while I am sleeping.

I chirp to greet it. It caws back in response.

And then, it immediately leaps at me, grabbing me by the strong grip of its talons.

It must be a ridiculous sight, for a crow to carry a chick like this. Thankfully, the night already comes thus no one would ever see us flying inside the darkness.

I myself do not know where the crow is taking us, and the crow itself seems to be not that interested in sharing. But I can only trust it lest I will fall down to my death.

For hours we fly through the warm air of the night, though it may be less or more considering it's hard to tell how much time has flied away when you're in this situation. The crow never shows a sign of hesitation. It knows exactly where it wants to go.

Slowly, I can make out a silhouette of a mountain in front of us. Is that where the demon queen is hiding? On the mountains inside a cave somewhere?

As the mountain approaches the crow begins to increase its altitude. Perhaps it's heading to its peak? Is that where the demon queen is?

My prediction turns wrong once it descends towards a cliff inside the mountains. It keeps descending and descending, until moonlight no longer shines on the cliff walls and we are left with absolute darkness around us.

And then, I feel it. An odd sensation like I just passed through something.

Was that... a barrier? Perhaps it hid the demon queen's presence?!

After that, we finally reach land. The crow releases me from its grip.

Darkness is still enveloping us however.

But then, light comes.

My eyes reflectively close themselves due to the sudden overexposure. And when I open them back, I can now see clearly where I am standing right now.

I am inside some sort of valley, with towering cliffs to my left and right and long passages to my front and back. The light comes from the rocky walls itself, from some kind of light-giving moss growing there. It's obviously magical, since it just turned on by itself like it's some kind of a light bulb.

"Hello! Hello! Can you hear me down there?"

There it is. There's the familiar voice.

I want to respond but I can only chirp back.

"...Oh, that's right. You're a chicken still. Of course you won't be able to answer. Silly me!"

It seems she finally notices the fault of her logic.

"So, let's get working on fixing that, shall we? In that valley, there should be many worms laying around. They are no ordinary worms though. They're bursting with magic inside. So, if you eat them, I'm sure you can evolve right away! So go on! Eat them all!"

...Damn, I somewhat feel like i'm being treated as a pet by her.

Oh well, it's not like I don't want to eat or anything. I just realize how starved I am since I haven't been eating for a while.

I see some worms right in front of me. Quickly, they become my meal mere seconds later.

Hmm, they are definitely delicious. And I can already feel their magical power entering throughout my body.

More worms show up. They too become a part of me soon enough.

And then I see still more of them all around me. The Queen really set this place up for my feeding ground, didn't she?

Of course, I devour them all too.

And then, I feel it. That feeling of evolution once more.

I am surprised it took so little. When I still had my butterfly body, this little guy won't evolve at all no matter how much I fed it.

Perhaps now that the butterfly body is gone the path is opened for him? Or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I'm having an all magic worm diet right now?

Who knows? Who cares?

All I know is I can finally evolve further.

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"My, what a wonderful-looking rooster you are!"

As you can guess from the Demon Queen's remark, I am now a rooster.

...This feels less like an evolution and more like simply growing up.

Still, I won't complain. This only means that the next stage would finally be an actual evolution.

More worms I devour. One hundred, two hundred, I don't know. I have lost count a long time ago.

And then, I evolve once more.

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"Congratulations! You just become a cockatrice!" the Demon Queen joyfully announces.

It's true. I have now transformed to a giant chicken-like creature at the size that rivals a grown man. My feathers are no longer soft white things rather than sharp and golden.

"Now you should be able to turn your enemies to stone just by your breath! Now why don't you try it on those worms?"

I do as she says. They do indeed turn into stone just by a single blow from my breath.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Now you're well-equipped to tackle the next course of your evolutionary meal!"

The next course?

"Please welcome, Gerald The Foolish Adventurer!"

And then, a dark light manifests right in front of me.

It carries a human along with it.

He is in a terrible state. His face is full of bruises and wounds while his robe is tattered in many places. He reeks of blood and sweat. He clearly hasn't taken a bath in a long, long time.

Oh, and his arms and legs are bound together by some kind of force that I cannot see.

The prisoner of the Demon Queen, I assume.

"Poor Gerald here tried to impress his girlfriend back at his village by going here, thinking he's gonna bring back a trophy from a monster rumored to live here. However, little did he know, said monster was my cute little familiar, and surely I could not allow any greedy human to come and harm it. So he ended up being my prisoner. I tried to break him in many ways but all he did was shouting his precious Queen Tina's name over and over again. What an idiot! As if she would ever hear him!"

"So now, I decide to just get it over with and give him to you, my dear! Feel free to tease him a little bit before you eat him!"

The man opens his eyes slowly, only for his face to go white as he sees what stands in front of him.

"A-a cockatrice! Y-you... you finally did it, Demon Queen! You finally decide to end me! Ahaha...ahahahahahahaha! I win!"

I have no idea what this madman is saying.

"Yes! You fail to make me break! Now you're just going to kill me! But by doing so, you have just declared war against Lady Tina! Yes, she will avenge my death! And what a sweet revenge it will be!"

"And I don't even need to die for that to happen! Right now, my dear Lilia would've noticed that I've gone missing and would've contacted the guards for sure! And they will file their report, which will end up bringing attention to this place! Yes, your days are numbered, you filthy demoness!"

Yep, this guy has lost it.

So I'm supposed to eat this guy, huh? I suppose I'll have to in order to go human once more.

Might as well end his suffering right now.

With a quick slash of my beak, I tear his neck apart.

And then, I devour him.