“We won! It’s our victory!”

  “Uooo!”

  “Woohoo!!!”

  The demons raised their ons and cheered, with some jumping while holding souls in their hands.

  Xaren smiled wryly at the sight of the demons’ strange ways of celebrating, before sitting down on a rock with a sigh.

  “Whew… Ha……

  I’m fug exhausted.”

  He muttered as he opened his status to see his current level, however, his expression rapidly darkened when he saw his Titles tab.

  |Titles- Unranked newborn Demon, Irregur, Lesser Giant Syer, Bck Fire Demon, Bde of Darkness. |

  'They already stuck…'

  Many demons had been shouting 'Bck Fire Demon' and 'Bde of Darkness'. Even those who hadn't seen him kill the giant began shouting it as well, and soon, hundreds of demons were screaming this out as they fought.

  Things like this were what made titles stick, and whether Xaren liked it or not, there was nothing he could do about it.

  After iing his status, he raised his gaze and began looking around for what to use and the blood off his sword when he caught sight of a familiar figure.

  ‘Isn't that the demo from yesterday?’

  The demo, with a head that was a mix of humanoid and leopard features, sensed his stare and turoward him, reition fshing through his yellow eyes.

  “Grey demon.”

  “It’s Xaren.”

  Xaren corrected him, mildly surprised that the demo remembered him at all. The demo then tilted his head to the side, as if pting this new information.

  “Grey demon is Xaren.”

  He repeated, nodding slowly in uanding. Then, pointing to himself, he added, “Bjorn.”

  Xaren gave a nod iurn and raised his balled fist in a gesture of camaraderie, but Bjorn blinked in fusion, clearly unfamiliar with the greeting.

  After a quick expnation from Xaren, Bjorn's eyes lit up in prehension, aurhe gesture with enthusiasm.

  Not long after, Bjorn moved on, eagerly sharing this newfound greeting with another demon, the sight drawing a rare, amused smile from Xaren.

  ‘Like a child who just got a oy and wants to show everyone…’

  That was how Xaren saw Bjorn’s as, and they weren’t too far off from reality as uhe reinated Xaren, Bjorn and the others were genuine children.

  ‘Oh well, not like I’m far off. I didn’t even reach adulthood before.

  Also, I’m probably the you demon here sihese guys are most likely all from previous batches.’

  Indeed, he was.

  Just then, a Mid-Ranked demon appeared in the sky and gave the order to gather, with the unranked quickly rushing to gregate. The se of the disobedient beien up was fresh in their minds, so they were quiply.

  [Alright, listen up pipsqueaks. Yht here is just beginning.

  The goal is to get back that city in the distance so you’d be fighting a siege battle tomorrow. Not like half of you know what that is.]

  The demon yawned, his tone dripping with boredom as he adjusted his magiake his voice even louder.

  [Where are the ones who were uhe dead guy called Langa?]

  At the mention of their fallen captain, Xaren and the few others who bothered to remember Langa’s name raised their hands. The Mid-Rank demon nodded before effortlessly lifting them into the air with his magic, gathering them up like stray cattle and depositing them in another part of the pins.

  [Your Captain died so you all would join another Captain’s troop.

  She is your netain.]

  The Mid-Ranked demon poi a young demoness seated on a rock, hugging a Runebde simir to Xaren’s.

  She had long white hair casg down her back like a waterfall of silver, trasting sharply with her tanned brown skin. Her obsidian bck eyes, seemed to absorb the light around them, giving her an air of quiet iy.

  In respoo the Mid-Ranked demon’s words, she offered a simple nod, casting a quick, assessing g the demons who had just been unceremoniously pced under her and.

  [Moving on, some of you had good performaoday so you’ve got extra rewards.]

  The Mid-Ranked demon unfurled a piece of part and sed the crowd below, ting something under his breath.

  His magic pulsed outward, washing over the unranked demons, and moments ter, Xaren and several others noticed glowing markers h above their heads.

  [You all get on and armrades, and eh…what else was there again?]

  The demon squi the part before nodding to himself and tinuing.

  [Ah, right. You’re exempt from soul tax tomorrow, and you get ten angel souls each.

  Lastly, there’s a pouch of silver s. Better keep that one safe si’d be useful on main Battlefront worlds…if you live long enough to get there.]

  Hearing the demon’s words, Xaren found himself more ed about why everyone and their mother kept saying things like ‘if you live long enough’ or ‘if you don’t die before then’, than the rewards being listed.

  ‘Just how high is the mortality rate for unranked demons?’

  He just had this thought when a pouch of s nded squarely on his head and snapped him out of his thoughts.

  A scroll followed, which he opeo reveal runiscriptions he couldn’t decipher. However, the bold words at the top: ‘Infuse Demoniergy to Retrieve Souls’, were clear enough.

  This magic scroll was a method that demons used to store souls they weren’t dev immediately, preventing them from being cimed by the w of death.

  As he examihe pouch more closely, he realized it was a low-level magic pouch, capable of holding the scroll and even rge enough to fit his Runebde.

  He tied it securely to the inner part of his armour, just as the Mid-Ranked demon’s magic ed around him once more, lifting him into the air and dragging him over to where he would receive his armrade, as well as get marked so the Soul attractors didn’t take souls from him tomorrow.

  ◇　◇　◇

  His Runebde was already good enough for his level and any upgrades would have made it too powerful for him to use, so they did nothing to it.

  His armour, however, got proper entments whicreased their defensive power by 2x. After being marked so the Soul attractors would avoid him, Xaren rushed to bed to rest his mind and body.

  The m, they were jolted out of bed by a siren once more and after a meal that was just enough to prevent any stomachs from growling, they were sent into battle again.

  Despite taking a hands-off approach to the fighting si was meant to level up the Unrahe higher demons still gave certain orders.

  For example, the troop Xaren was in was given a special assig.

  To begiaking the city, the demons had to first take out the fortress on the way to the city. Only after taking down this fortress could they attack the city without worry of a pitack so they were striking it first.

  “The siege battle has started. While the enemies are focused on defending the front, we’d use that opportunity to attack their rear. Seg the Rune Magitrol room and opening the gates is our task.”

  Xaren’s troop captain, whose name he discovered was ‘Ilya’, spoke and the demons around Xaren all nodded silently.

  The troop had been split up, and she was talking a small group of more experienced Unranked demons for this, with Xaren being the only new batch demon in it.

  When his armour was being upgraded, some of the higher demnized him as the ‘Runebde guy’ and they made him join this small group on this mission.

  There were about 200 of them, and they silently watched as the rest of the unranked demons attacked the front of the huge stone fortress.

  Their numbers were ihousands, and the sight of thousands of demons charging towards them alongside several siege towers made of steel charging at the same time was really overwhelming.

  ‘Well, they look tiny from up here.’

  Xaren thought as he watched the on the ground from his position on an airship high up in the sky.

  He and the other demo to ehe fortress were all being dropped into the fortress from above and they were awaiting their drop.

  After a few moments, Xaren removed his gaze from the ground and looked around to study the airship they were in. It was equipped with advanced magic-tech meisms, ah his feet, runes glowed softly on the floor, a sign that the teleportation ptform they were standing on was activating.

  "Get ready. We’re being dropped directly into the fortress courtyard."

  Ilya's voice cut through the silend a momehe runes uheir feet fred to life. The teleportation system ied with the ship’s hull crackled, casting a shimmeri of demoniergy over each demon.

  Xare a tug in his chest as the meism activated, and the now-familiar sensation of spatial dispt washed over him.

  His visio dark for a few seds, and when light entered his eyes again, he was falling through the air, right above the fortress courtyard.

  As they dropped toward the ground, the air shimmered around them, revealing wind entments cast ohat slowed their dest, cushioning them.

  Ilya touched down first, her feet barely making a whisper against the stone as the rest of the group followed.

  The st of trees filled their noses, and the elves who were scurrying about, moving supplies and anizing their defeuro them in shock.

  The fortress courtyard was filled with t trees that seemed out of p such a militarized setting. The roots of these immerees curled and twisted through the stohways, their broad trunks rising high enough to block parts of the sky.