Xaren was born as a Level 50, so he was going to be prudent and assume that the other demons had similarly high base levels. But he was pretty sure that the one who just attacked him certainly did not, as there was no way he could one hit K.O. a Level 50 like himself.
It would have been nice if he could perceive energy, then he'd be able to gauge their Existence realms based on the energy they emanated, but it should not be forgotten that he just emerged from his incubation cocoon not too long ago.
His energy circuits hadn't yet awakened or activated, and he couldn't even sense his own energy, much less another person's.
"KRAAaaa!"
He heard a roar coming from behind and abruptly turned around, however, his foot got caught on the legs of the unconscious demon on the floor and he tripped, falling onto the ground.
The little demon that was about to stab him with a broken shell shard froze as its target suddenly fell to the ground, and it stared at Xaren in confusion for a good 10 seconds.
Then it roared once more and tried to stab him with the broken shell like it originally intended, but Xaren rolled his body out of the way and the demon stabbed the ground instead.
The shell shard shattered to pieces upon impact with the hard ground and Xaren quickly got to his feet, stumbling a bit as he had unconsciously tried to move the way he used to in his past life.
'Remember Xaren, you're in a kid's body. It's not as strong as your former body.'
Xaren mentally chanted his mantra, grounding himself in his new reality as he lashed out with a swift kick, connecting with the stomach of a demon in an impact that knocked the air out of its lungs.
Just like the previous demon, this one was knocked out in a single hit.
But there was no time to celebrate; another demon lunged at him and he sighed as he jumped back to avoid the punch. This time, he was able to keep his balance and not stumble like before.
The demon charged forward and threw another wild punch, but Xaren dodged, before grabbing its outstretched arm, pivoting on his heel and flinging his attacker over his shoulder.
As the demon hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud, Xaren grabbed a nearby rock, smashing it against the demon's skull before it could recover. He repeated the motion with ruthless efficiency until the demon stopped moving.
Just as he finished off that one, a thunderous roar caught his attention. He turned to see a fourth demon charging at him.
'Give me a fucking break!'
Xaren recognized that this demon was unlike the other humanoids who attacked him. It had a humanoid body, but its head was that of a bull, complete with large, menacing horns.
'Bull Demons have powerful strength.'
That little trivia came to his mind as the bull demon charged at him with its head pointed forward, and Xaren dodged the charge at the last moment, before seizing the demon's left horn with his left hand.
Without hesitation, he drove his right knee into the demon's neck, but it didn't go down as easily as the others. He aimed for another knee strike, but the demon thrashed about, causing his knee to miss its neck and strike the horn instead.
**CRACK!
"GAR!!"
The demon roared in pain, swinging its fist toward Xaren. He parried the blow with his right hand, then used the same hand to strike the base of the cracked horn, snapping it off just as the demon's other fist slammed into his side.
Xaren tumbled to the ground, rolling forward to avoid the demon's follow-up stomp. Quickly getting to his feet, he gripped the broken horn like a dagger. It was curved and about 30 cm long—just enough for Xaren to adjust his hold, maximizing its offensive potential.
The bull demon charged at him again, and just like before, he was able to sidestep its charge at the last moment. He slashed the horn across the demon's flank and it roared, stumbling, giving Xaren an opportunity to drive the horn into the back of its knee, forcing it down.
With a quick leap onto its back, he plunged the horn into the base of its neck. The demon thrashed briefly before collapsing, lifeless, at his feet.
"Phew…"
Xaren kept up his guard, but it seemed the other nearby demons were all too busy fighting each other to consider him.
Suddenly, his nose seemed to perceive a tantalizing scent, and he turned around, trying to find the source.
He saw a small ball of black light floating on top of the body of the demon whose head he had bashed to death, and a single thought came to his mind.
'A…Soul?'
He'd heard demons devour the souls of their enemies in battle, and he had indeed seen some demons making strange motions after killing.
But since he couldn't see souls, they always looked silly to him.
Turning to the bull demon at his feet, he saw that one's soul had emerged as well and was just silently floating there, waiting for the law of death to claim it.
Xaren unconsciously reached out to it, grabbing the soul and looking at it in silence.
"Demons eat souls, right? I know they eat normal food so it's not their main form of sustenance, and the Mid-Rank demons I saw made it look more like a hobby than anything.
But before that, I doubt my mouth can open wide enough to eat this thing…"
The bull demon's soul was large enough to fit in his palm. Xaren was curious.
He'd seen the expressions on the faces of some more humanoid demons when they ate souls and they seemed to be in ecstasy.
That state had even given him openings to kill some of them, so he was curious about how souls tasted that they could get so unguarded.
Xaren slowly brought the soul closer to his mouth, trying to bite it like a fruit, but the moment it touched his lips, the whole thing was sucked into his mouth like dirt being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.
"?!"
The flavour was unlike anything he had ever tasted, both intoxicatingly rich and deeply satisfying, as if every essence of the bull demon's life force was compressed into that single moment.
The sensation was over as quickly as it began, leaving Xaren breathless, eyes wide with shock and a newfound understanding of the dark hunger that demons harboured.
His gaze shot in the direction of the other soul, and he rushed towards it and grabbed it, devouring it without a word.
That same intoxicating feeling returned and Xaren turned his gaze towards the two unconscious ones on the floor.
He used the horn in his hands to end their lives and ate their souls, and it was only after the fourth soul that he snapped back to his senses.
"…damn…now I see why they do this…"
The taste lingered, sweet and addictive, as if calling out to him, tempting him to devour more, but he smacked his head with the horn in his hand.
"Focus, Xaren."
He turned around and saw that the thousands of demons around him were all fighting each other, trying to kill themselves for souls.
Suddenly, a deep rumble echoed through the air, drawing Xaren's gaze to the ocean. His eyes widened as he saw the tides swelling ominously, rising higher with each passing second.
"Tsunami!"
He barely had time to speak the word before his instincts kicked in. He bolted, muscles coiling like springs as he sprinted across the beach.
Xaren navigated through the shells and cocoons, ignoring the waves of fighting demons as his mind focused solely on escape.
Thanks to his E+ Agility, Xaren moved faster than the other demons, his speed giving him a crucial advantage.
He effortlessly outpaced those who were persistent enough to chase him, leaving them in the dust. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that others had also noticed the impending danger, and soon, the entire beach was a frenzy of demons fleeing for their lives.
"Got to get to high ground fast...!"
Xaren sprinted through the rocky terrain, his breath coming in sharp bursts as he pushed himself toward the forest. His legs pumped furiously, vaulting over jagged rocks and scrambling up the steep incline.
The rumbling of the rising ocean grew louder behind him, a constant reminder of the impending danger.
Reaching the edge of the forest, Xaren didn't slow down. He ducked under low-hanging branches, his feet barely touching the ground as he wove through the dense foliage. The air grew cooler as the canopy thickened, but he kept moving, instinct and experience driving him deeper into the safety of the woods.
Behind him, the tsunami crashed onto the beach with a deafening roar. The crimson waves engulfed everything in their path, swallowing the incubation cocoons, broken eggs, and demon corpses without mercy.
Xaren paused at the edge of a small clearing, glancing back just in time to see the last remnants of the beach disappear beneath the churning waves.
He spotted some little demons who couldn't get away fast enough being claimed by the ocean, and just when he thought they could try swimming back, giant shark monsters devoured them whole.
"?!"
The sight sent a shiver down his spine, but he quickly turned away, pushing forward into the heart of the forest.
"Damn…
I survived that…but the real challenge is just beginning."
The further he went, the quieter it became, the chaos of the beach fading into the background.