Xaren had dodged the giant's strikes three times and now, he could feel the gazes of the other demons near him and the rage of the giant.
'Alright, let's aim to counter after dodging. Attack the leg and break his stance.'
He recited the simple strategy he had used to fight giants in his past life while the giant roared and drew the attention of more elves to them.
The elves charged with swords, while some stayed behind and fired arrows from crossbows. In response, a part of the demons roared and charged towards them, while another part charged towards the lesser giant.
Three of them swung their swords aiming for his legs just like Xaren had done, but the giant didn't stay still and jumped into the air to dodge the attacks.
After landing, the giant swung his sword while activating a skill, prompting the demons to retreat hurriedly. However, one of them got hit and the demon's upper body was sent flying.
The other two didn't care for their comrade's death and charged at the giant's legs again, but it was pointless as the giant was now protecting his legs.
The giant kicked the two demons away before jumping towards Xaren who quickly lightened his body with gravity magic and dodged to the side to avoid its sword that hit with the force of a truck.
'Hitting the legs is no good because of the others. Now it's actively protecting them. So… let's try aiming higher.'
Xaren thought as he used gravity magic to lighten his body and dodge one of the giant slashes, before jumping onto the giant's hand and running up the limb.
"Fire Magic."
The giant moved his other hand to flick Xaren off, but Xaren jumped before he could be knocked off and completed his magic circle.
"Fire Spear."
The spear of black flames manifested before Xaren's hand faster than the giant could react, forcing it to close its eyes in a desperate attempt to protect itself. But that decision only sealed its fate.
Instead of throwing the spear, he clutched his flaming sword tightly and launched himself at the giant's face. The massive creature's eyelids, now shut in futile defence, were a perfect target for his Runeblade.
With a swift movement, Xaren drove his sword into the giant's eye, the blade sinking deep into the soft tissue. The black flames surrounding the weapon roared to life, igniting the eye from within.
A guttural, earth-shaking scream tore from the giant's throat as it stumbled back, clutching at its face in agony.
Xaren threw the flame spear at the giant's forehead and twisted his blade to ensure maximum agony, but just as he pulled it free, the giant's other arm grabbed his body and flung him to the ground.
Instinctively, Xaren coated his body with magic power but even then, the force of his fall made him feel pain and shock that seemed to break his body.
If he was unarmoured, he might've lost consciousness!
Xaren raised his body with small difficulty, looking up to see the Lesser Giant thrashing around.
'Chance!'
He rolled on the floor to avoid the giant sword that threatened to split him in two before infusing more magic power into the Runeblade and kicking the ground to dash towards the giant in a burst of speed.
The Runeblade greedily sucked his energy and its blade engulfed in black flames gleamed with sharpness.
Holding out his right hand, Xaren locked onto a chunk of earth that the giant had scattered when it emerged from the ground and used his Child of Gravity skill to attract it.
Dark red energy enveloped the rock and it flew through the air, heading towards Xaren, however, the giant's left leg was in between Xaren and the rock.
The rock, lacking intelligence or homing capabilities, continued in a straight line and struck the back of the giant's knee, destabilizing its footing and bringing it down to one knee.
Seeing the giant's head drop to his level, Xaren quickly lightened his body with gravity magic and leapt into the air.
'Shift magic power into the sword to increase its weight and SWING!'
He instructed his body as he brought down his blade towards the neck of the giant with all his might.
The blade cleaved through flesh and bone, splitting the neck as blood erupted like a fountain.
Xaren couldn't land properly, tumbling to the ground, but he used his sword as a cane to rise and as if on cue, the massive body of the giant toppled with a thunderous crash.
The surrounding demons gulped air. Even the demons that were still in the middle of fighting were looking at Xaren.
And then, all of them started to yell loudly.
"Woohoo!"
"Grey Demon!"
"The giant is dead!"
"Giant Slayer!"
"Black Fire Demon!"
"Blade of Darkness!"
'Don't call me that cringe name!'
Xaren thought, trying to ignore the odd titles the demons had already started to give him. He quickly got to his feet and turned to pick up the giant's soul, devouring it without a second's hesitation.
Gripping the Runeblade in his hands tightly, he infused more energy into it and turned towards the direction where more elves were charging from beyond the white plains.
'That's the direction of the city we're aiming for, right?'
Taking a deep breath, he glanced at the demons nearby who were looking at him with expectant eyes.
In demon society, merit and might made right, and Xaren had shown he had might. Now, they were looking at him like he was to be their new leader after Langa's death.
Not wanting to break the momentum, he held up his sword and yelled aloud.
"Charge!!"
The demons roared loudly and charged at the elves after him, their bloodlust palpable as they surged forward, eager to spill more blood and claim the souls of their enemies.
The unranked demons, emboldened by Xaren's victory over the giant, unleashed their fury on the terrified elves in what could only be called a massacre.
◇ ◇ ◇
Mid-Rank fire demon Floch silently glared at the sky. Although it seemed like it was just filled with clouds, it was different in his perception.
He could sense the airships of the elves with Level 100+ soldiers hidden behind the clouds.
They could also sense his presence, as well as his look which dared them to attack.
As he expected, they didn't risk it, especially as Floch was currently seated on the severed head of a dead Greater Giant.
'The demons we sent here are only a few thousand, and they should be able to deal with the elves in the plains.
The main battle would begin when they get to the city.'
The number of unranked demons that were on this planet, Zorix 1I numbered in the millions, and they were all scattered across numerous battlefields.
"In the end, this territory is not worth much. This battle's only goal is to train the newbie demons."
He said this aloud and in the next moment, a voice rang out from behind him.
[They don't need to know that.]
"?!"
Floch's eyes widened and he hastily turned around. By the time he faced the figure that had suddenly appeared behind him, his head was bowed and he was down on one knee.
"Sir Naephas."
Naephas, the High-Rank demon in charge of overseeing this continent's battles nodded to acknowledge him, before glancing at the plains where Xaren was fighting.
[Lord Xynax said he wanted me to pick some promising newbies and bring them to him. I've found two already, so I came to observe and see if I can find the remaining three.]
Naephas was only on this world temporarily, because of the new batches of demons who had just come in from the hatching grounds.
After a few weeks or months, he was to return to the Mid-Level world he was in before, and Naephas's superior in that world had passed down an order which led to his presence here.
[Has anyone caught your attention?]
Naephas posed this question to Floch and the fire demon almost responded like he usually did—that there was none. But this time, he paused and thought of a certain little grey demon.
"Sir, there's one who might interest you."
He explained the circumstances in which he found Xaren and hearing this, Naephas just sighed.
[It's probably a Noble's kid. But who knows, he might turn out to be an ordinary folk. Nobles aren't the only talented demons out there, after all.]
The High-Rank demon used magic to observe the entire plains, rubbing his chin as he spotted some demons making waves.
A leopard demon beast tearing through elves with his claws, a white-haired little demoness, dismembering elves left and right with imperceptible slashes and a grey demon leading other unranked demons in a charge.
'Those ones seem good. But the battle is just beginning, let's see how they fare until the end.'