Krell Skullcrawler - Fireball isn't treated as a hit?

The Krell Skullcrawler does an occasional blue and red fireball that does extreme damage.

The fireball also isn't treated as a hit seemingly.
This feels weird as it is a projectile and that it can be blocked.

However the enemy does not receive backlash from Serle's Grit nor does it suffer thorns damage through Crown of the Pale King, therefore I am assuming it isn't a hit.

Might not be a bug per say, but it feels wrong and unintuitive that a projectile doesn't count as a hit. Which also means it bypasses a lot of defensive layers that the player would expect to apply.