Calling the situation at the other end of the rift 'wild' was putting it mildly.
There was no strategy in this battle, it was a dogfight.
'Just like how most battles end up.'
Xaren gripped the sword he had collected and looked at his surroundings as he thought this. He'd managed to get used to his new body in the past 2 weeks, however, this was his first time wielding a sword in this life.
He was worried about weight and other things but his worries vanished like smoke when he felt the Swordsmanship skill's effects activate.
Xaren's body adjusted—his stance becoming more grounded and balanced, his feet naturally finding the perfect spacing. His grip on the weapon shifted, firming up in a way that felt both secure and flexible, allowing for greater control and fluidity of movement.
It was as if his muscles remembered techniques he learnt in his past life despite knowing this was not the case.
Taking a breath, Xaren rushed forward as he analysed the enemies before him.
Flying beings with radiant white feathered wings, their forms covered by a soft, golden light. Their expressions were stern, and they wielded swords of pure energy, hacking and slashing at demons and monsters.
Tall and slender beings with sharp, angular features and long ears, firing longbows of magic that knocked flying demons out of the sky.
Amidst them, the occasional giant towered, their massive frames casting long shadows over the battlefield. With stone-like skin and clubs the size of trees, they were behemoths of brute strength, crushing anything in their path.
'Angels, Elves and…are the giants our allies?'
Answering his question was a tall giant who wielded a giant club to bash ten demons out of the sky in one move.
'Clearly not.'
Just as he thought that, someone cried out loudly as if threatening him and charged towards him.
"DIE!!"
'A wingless angel? Must be unranked then.'
Xaren made this analysis as he kicked off the ground and used his gravity magic, lessening his weight to give himself a speed burst.
"?!"
The angel's eyes widened and he swung his light blade frantically, trying to stop Xaren's charge, but Xaren tilted his body to dodge the blade and then swung his sword.
Xaren's blade slashed the angel's neck as he dashed past him, then he killed his momentum before lurching back and stabbing the angel from behind, ending their life.
[Level Up]
'Finally!'
Without a second's delay, Xaren dashed forward, using his sword to slice the arrows fired at him by some elves while his second hand conjured a magic circle.
"Dark Bind!"
He called out and the single-ringed magic circle flashed, right before a similar one manifested underneath the legs of the elf and released tendrils of darkness that latched onto their limbs to hold them down.
While he was distracted by the tendrils, Xaren conjured another circle and with a short chant, he fired a ball of black flames at the elf.
"Fire Magic: Fireball!"
The ball of black fire tore through the air at breakneck speed and collided with the chest of the elf, exploding right after and sending charred flesh flying.
Xaren dashed forward with a short burst of speed, running his hand across his blade as he cast a 'Fire Infusion' spell on it.
His blade was engulfed with black flames and he swung it down on the back of an angel fighting against a demon beast, tearing through the angel's shoulder with ease and sending white blood spraying.
Just before he could pull out his blade to deal the finishing blow, Xaren sensed danger and let go of his weapon without hesitation, jumping to the side to avoid the beam of light that pierced the ground where he stood a second ago.
He looked up to see another angel attack from above, but before he could even say a word, the demon beast he had aided leapt at that angel to distract it, giving Xaren time to get his sword and finish off the one on the ground.
Then he used gravity magic to lighten his body and jump in the air, doubling the weight of his blade as he brought it down on the back of the angel trying to fend off the demon beast.
"GAK!!"
The angel screamed out in pain and the demon beast seized the opportunity, swiping its claws and slashing the angel's chest.
Blood sprayed out, but the angel wasn't dead yet. He tried to use light magic but Xaren launched a fireball at his magic circle, destroying it. And like everyone whose magic was destroyed before they completed the casting, the angel faced spell backlash.
The demon beast roared and swiped the angel's neck, while Xaren launched another fireball that finished him off.
[Level Up] x4
"?! I knew he was higher since he took many attacks without dying but 4 levels?"
Xaren had only just killed his third opponent, but he was already level 58. Just as he moved his gaze to the angel's corpse, he saw a floating ball of light atop its back and he remembered that he hadn't taken any souls so far.
"Grey demon helped. Take it."
The demon beast growled those words before turning around and charging towards a nearby group of elves, while Xaren quickly reached out to the angel's soul.
'Is this safe to eat?'
Angels were light beings. They were on the positive side of the universe's polarity spectrum and last he checked; their powers were a bit harmful against beings on the negative side.
Xaren covered his hand with demonic energy before reaching for the angel's soul, and as his fingers closed around it, the demonic energy latched onto the soul, tendrils of darkness seeping into the radiant sphere.
In seconds, the once-brilliant soul was corrupted, its light extinguished and replaced by an ominous pitch-black hue.
Without hesitation, Xaren devoured the corrupted soul.
As it entered his body, his eyes widened in shock as he felt magic power coursing through him. His magic power increased slightly—a change so subtle it would normally go unnoticed.
But this 'slight increase' was substantial enough that Xaren felt the difference.
This was no ordinary boost; it signified an increase in his energy stat level.
Demons like Xaren devoured souls to grow stronger, and these souls, essentially concentrated forms of energy, directly contributed to the enhancement of their stat levels.
Each Stat had three sub ranks, the Negative sub ranks 'X-', the Neutral sub ranks 'X', and the Positive sub ranks 'X+'.
Within each sub-rank, there were Stat Levels that number 1-100. When one gains a stat; D- for example, that stat is at 'D- Level 1'. With every main level increase, that stat 'D- Level' increases, eventually reaching Level 100, whereupon, one gains the 'D Level 1' stat.
Take that to 'D Level 100' and one gains the 'D+ Level 1' stat, and so on.
In Xaren's case now, this soul had taken his D+ Level from 8 to 16 in one jump, so he felt the increase which should have been gradual and unnoticeable.
His eyes glinting, Xaren charged at the elves nearby and together with the demon beast from before, defeated them; however, this time, Xaren let the demon beast have the last blows.
The two exchanged a look and then jumped at another group of elves, killing them and devouring their souls.
Just when Xaren was about to pick up one of the souls, it suddenly flew out of his reach and into the air, surprising him.
"What?"
"Mid-Rank demon, collect 1 soul for every five."
The Demon beast explained to help him understand and Xaren turned to where he saw the soul fly and indeed, there were a group of Mid-Rank demons with some strange-looking devices in hand.
'So, the souls we devour are our pay and they take one in five as tax?'
He analogised it as such, before noticing that the Mid-Ranks weren't fighting, they were just floating in the air and observing the battlefield. Most of the Low-rank demons weren't fighting as well.
Xaren turned and saw that on the angels' side of things, the Mid-Rank angels were also silent, warily watching the Mid-Rank demons while the Low-Ranked ones who had gained wings ordered the unranked ones.
'What's going on?'
He wanted to ask the demon beast but he saw that it had already charged at a trio of angels so he just shook his head and joined it.
Xaren conjured a magic circle of flames and lightened his body with gravity manipulation, allowing him to move with extra agility.
'Wait a sec…I'm using gravity manipulation without using my Unique Skill?'
It finally occurred to him that this was indeed what had been happening and a quick glance at his status board saw the 0 in his Gravity Magic Tier had now become 1.
'When did it change?'