I take another step into the town.

After the first ground-shaking roar, the air stays still, and silence fills the dark Abyss. The only movements I can sense are the white and purple flickering flames ahead of me.

Cautiously, I take more steps forward while gripping my dagger. The roofs of the small huts I walk past are torn off, and some are missing doors and walls. It's difficult to tell if this destruction was man-made before evacuating, or if the monster that released its battle cry earlier had something to do with all this.

Using my manipulation skill, I sense the dense grouping of raw energy coming my way at a steady rate. If I'm picturing it correctly, there are nearly 40 units swirling around inside this beast.

In response, I channel energy into my blade and start moving in its direction.

I make it all the way through the desolate village, peering out into the purple-tinted horizon awaiting its arrival.

At first, I thought it might be some kind of mutant wolf, or a humanoid version of one. However, considering its roar, it sounds too familiar to a type of monster I've fought in the past to resemble a wolf howl.

My suspicions come true as the 4-meter-tall shadowy figure of a high orc comes stomping toward me from over a risen sand dune.

Its skin is dark purple, and its armor is jet-black. The creature's crimson eyes are the first thing that becomes visible while it charges my way.

The monster raises a long glossy sword similar to my dagger's coloring and lets out a roar. It locks its gaze on me while its body begins to exude high amounts of Demonic Energy.

In doing so, it accelerates much faster. Sand flies up in the air to its sides as I finish channeling excess energy into my dagger. This activates my buffs to let the dark matter leak out from my body as well. The creature is fast, but I'm faster.

"It's time to fight."

Grinning, I lunge forward and match the Demonic High Orc's speed without an issue. My gaze tightens on its armor the closer I get, darting my eyes up and down to try and pinpoint a weak area to strike.

It's almost entirely covered from the neck down.

Other than its head, the areas I can strike are the backs of its knees, elbows, and a small area around its waist. That's where a majority of its Demonic Energy is leaking out from, so it's signifying holes in the defenses.

With eyes locked on the prize, I continue running forward as the armored High Orc runs down the sand dune with its black blade raised.

I jump upward, powered up with my new speed and strength buffs, as the Demonic Creature swings its blade down at me.

A clang rings out on impact. The heavy breath of the beast can be felt from less than a few meters away, and its red eyes illuminate the area where we clash, announcing the battle's start.

It's strong...

Much stronger than I initially imagined.

Once we collide, even with my buffs, I'm slightly overpowered strength-wise.

My mana control is worthless, and my stat-boosting gear can't be used. I'm reliant on the base stats of this body double's nerfed form plus whatever extra power the Mysterious Midnight Dagger can lend me in the heat of battle.

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Although it slightly overpowers me, I still clearly have the upper hand. The monster's long sword begins to crack against the flowing essence of my dagger. My blade sinks into the metal of its weapon as it attempts to push it down further toward me.

Surprisingly, neither its sword nor armor glows, channeling energy like mine. It seems this blade is special.

It realizes its sword will break if it follows through with this swing any further, so it comes at me from the side with a tightened fist covered in Demonic Essence.

Hit straight on from the side, I'm sent flying down the desert hill while coughing up blood.

"I'll give it to ya, you can hit hard. Unfortunately, that's not going to be enough."

I smirk, catching my feet on the desert floor and repositioning myself for our second incoming clash.

It has the strength advantage over me, but I have speed. As long as I don't let it catch me in the air again, this battle is as good as won.

I turn to let it follow me to a more flat area of the desert right outside the village. Battling on a hill is giving it the unnecessary advantage of high ground. It takes less than 5 seconds to get the beast exactly where I want it. The High Orc lets out a roar while following and swinging its arms and blade, frustrated that I keep it meters out of reach at all times.

Then, once the battlefield is to my liking, I turn to face it, activating my buffs.

In the blink of an eye, I swerve around the creature's left side, narrowly avoiding its blade and aiming for the back of its knee. There's a small gap in its armored leggings, so I aim for it.

The sound of metal on metal rings out as my energy-covered blade chips a hole in its armor, exposing even more of its hind leg. The monster swings its blade around to hit me, but I lunge away, slashing at its exposed free elbow.

With every step I take, I burn through more Demonic Energy.

Each powerful stride of mine uses up about half a unit, and just dodging burns through another half a unit every 3 seconds that I partake in battle.

I could take a few hits from its charged fist if I needed to, but that first one hurt quite a bit. If I were to quantify it, the attack felt like the strength of a level 350 to 400 monster with a strength-based natural affinity.

Considering this, and the fact that the wolves I faced earlier with 10 units of demonic energy felt like level 100 monsters, I can safely assume that a single unit of Demonic Energy is roughly equivalent to 10 levels, stats-wise.

In my weakened form, I only have a few dozen levels up on this creature. It's best for me to stay cautious moving forward. There may be many other opponents like this one that I can't always brute force my way to victory; I'll use a more tactical battle style here.

Slashing at its weak points until massive holes in its armor become visible, the High Orc roars with frustration. These roars turn into cries of agony as I begin aiming for its flesh, not only aiming to weaken its defenses.

Focusing on speed, and using up a lot of my energy stores, I'm able to bob and weave around the brute with surgical precision. Hit after hit, the beast's vitality is brought down to a critical level. In doing so, the monster gets much slower as well.

Every attempt it makes to block uses up more of its own Demonic Energy, and every swing of its blade becomes sloppier by the minute.

The clang and crack of metal echo through the vacant town as its final desperate attempt to cut me down ends in its blade being sliced in two by my dagger.

The dark-skinned High Orc falls to its knees, unarmed and riddled with slash marks on its arms and legs. I jump above it and deal the finishing blow to the center of its forehead.

The corpse, shattered armor, and broken blade fall to the sandy floor with a series of thuds. I step away while breathing heavily.

I check the contents of my core.

Less than 10 units of Demonic Energy remain. I'm a bit fatigued, but the physical stress on my body is mostly forgotten as I'm invigorated by the fact that I took down my first difficult opponent in the Abyss.

"That was the first time I've managed to go all out with this new power... and it felt good."

The remnants of the High Orc start to dissolve, and I absorb the remaining raw energy it releases, bringing me almost back up to a full core, but not quite. The monster used up a lot of its own energy stores in our battle.

I bend down to grab the glossy black gem it leaves behind, but the ground starts to shake violently as I do.

Just like before I met this High Orc, the sand beneath my feet shifts. This time there's no roar...

I feel exactly where it comes from.

My eyes open wide and my heart skips a beat as I sense a monster wielding over 90 units of raw Demonic Energy lurking nearby in the Abyss. It's been waiting patiently for me to finish my battle before making its presence known.