A group of demonic rats about the size of wild dogs clustered far away from the main battlefield between the powerhouses of monsters, humans, and Vereenas.

Unlike the stronger monsters, the F-rank demonic beasts remained as far away as they could manage. Occasionally, they feasted on body parts that were blasted in their direction. At the moment, the group of over two dozen demonic rats fed greedily on the corpse of a demonic boar, tearing into flesh with savage hunger.

Nonetheless, they were abruptly distracted when a loud shriek thundered from the sky above them, sharp and commanding, forcing all of them to look up at once. Their gazes met the cold, multicolored eyes of Obsidian, who had already marked them as its prey.

It flapped its massive wings and, with a swift adjustment of trajectory, began descending toward them. From its elevated vantage point, its bird’s-eye view captured all their movements clearly as they tensed and prepared for combat.

The rats released harsh rattling sounds as each of them braced themselves for the incoming assault. Unfortunately for them, they were melee fighters suited only for close-range combat. To their worst luck, an elemental war eagle, even an F-rank one, possessed natural affinity and control over multiple magical attacks.

Obsidian had already deduced from their posture and spacing that they were incapable of long-range retaliation. Thus, it calmly formed the strategy it would use to eliminate them efficiently and without unnecessary waste of energy.

When it was only a few feet above them, it formed several small magic circles that hovered steadily in front of it for a brief moment before condensing into fireballs about the size of a football, each radiating intense heat that distorted the surrounding air.

With a single controlled flick of its wings, the fireballs shot toward the ground in a blazing descent.

The rats, seeing the incoming inferno raining down upon them, cried out to one another in alarm before scattering in a desperate attempt to break formation and escape the impact zone.

But it was too late.

The fireballs slammed into the ground, blasting several unlucky ones and engulfing them in roaring flames. Their bodies writhed violently as their health gradually drained until they finally collapsed and died, reduced to charred remains that smoked faintly against the dirt.

Without hesitation, Obsidian flew lower, chasing after the fleeing demonic rats. Using its earth manipulation powers with calculated precision, it forced sharp rock spikes to erupt violently from the ground and launched them toward its opponents, who were too focused on survival to react in time.

The rats possessed an innate ability. Their feet had specialized features that made mountain climbing relatively simple and efficient. With no clear path left to flee, as they were fenced in by towering mountains on multiple sides, several of them turned toward the rocky slopes in desperation, claws digging into stone.

However, this only made them easier targets.

Obsidian merely shifted its focus and caused jagged spikes to thrust outward from the mountains themselves, impaling the climbing rats mid-motion. Some were frozen in twisted poses against the stone, so unfortunate that they did not even manage a final cry before their lives ended.

Within five minutes, Obsidian had finished killing all the demonic rats. Its strategy, composure, and above-basic manipulation of the available elements would make it difficult for anyone to believe it was less than two days old. Yet, even as it hovered above the silent battlefield, faint strain pulsed through its wings and core, a subtle reminder of the energy it had expended during the fight.

Nonetheless, despite the efficient slaughter, the elemental war eagle was not satisfied.

It descended and landed firmly upon the corpses of its slain prey, then began driving its sharp beak into their skulls one after another to harvest their monster cores with mechanical efficiency.

As a divine beast, it possessed the innate ability to perceive the cores of other beasts, whether divine, demonic, or otherworldly. Each core glowed faintly within its host, impossible for it to overlook or mistake.

F-rank cores were quite small, barely larger than the fire elemental crystals it had consumed earlier.

Obsidian consumed every monster core it located without pause. The energy within them began assimilating into its body almost instantly, circulating through its veins and strengthening its foundation while steadily improving the efficiency of its elemental skills.

Just as the last traces of energy were being absorbed, the elemental war eagle sensed another presence. A much larger group of demonic rats was charging toward it from another direction, their collective movements shaking loose stones along the mountain base and disturbing dust into the air.

Since its stomach was full and its internal system was currently in absorption mode, there was no immediate way for it to engage in another prolonged fight without risking internal instability and energy backlash.

It flapped its wings and ascended higher into the air, gaining distance and visibility.

Below, the new group of rats, nearly double the number it had just slaughtered, advanced aggressively, their numbers forming a dark wave against the ground.

Among them were three significantly larger rats whose builds and auras clearly marked them as stronger and likely the leaders of the small horde. They released furious, echoing sounds toward the sky, as though openly challenging the war eagle to descend and confront them directly.

Obsidian nonchalantly shut its eyes and focused on absorbing the new waves of energy drifting within its system, completely ignoring them.

The demonic rats not only grew more aggressive as they watched it ignore them, but more demonic rats that had been lurking in the outskirts so far came out and joined. The population of the protesting rats grew more and more as time went by, filling the area with continuous shrieks and agitation.

Meanwhile, unaware of the current aggression toward his "cute pet," Marlon received notification after notification.

[ Your pet has slain x5 demonic rats using skill: (Fire) ]

[ Power has experienced a slight increase: Current: E-rank (3%) ]

[ Efficiency of skill (Fire) has increased ]

In the most recent notification, he was shocked to see the power of his beast growing pretty fast.

[ Current: E-rank (78%) ]

All that growth in just a few minutes of battle.

’I never underestimated it. But I never really expected it to be this good at combat.’ Marlon thought.

For a moment, he even blamed himself for thinking otherwise. How could Obsidian not be good in combat? It was an elemental war eagle, the divine beast only a few beast tamers could tame successfully.

Nonetheless, on the current battlefield, not only his pet was gaining levels.

Marlon too had reached level 300 and was only a couple of million experience points away from reaching S-rank.

Removing his attention from the notification windows floating in front of him, he turned toward an A-rank Troll with thick defense that towered over three dozen feet, smashing even smaller monsters in its path as it struck toward him with destructive force.

..

At the same time, Obsidian’s eyes fluttered open, a much sharper and colder glow in them as it stared at the group of monsters beneath it, now numbering almost a hundred.

With a nonchalant attitude that should not belong to a beast, it scanned all of them, noting the presence of the bigger rats, who were as big as elephants. There were now six of them.

Obsidian spread its black wings stylishly, the dark feathers stretching wide as elemental energy rippled faintly around its floating body. About three dozen magic circles appeared midair, spreading in a quite uniform pattern above its figure, each one rotating slowly with steady light and stable formation.

They hovered for a brief moment before fading away.

Once the magic circles disappeared, fire took the form of swords.

Blazing flames condensed in midair, refining themselves into sharp blades. Despite being made entirely of fire, they looked extremely sharp and tangible, their edges clearly defined and properly compressed by Obsidian’s precise control and stable mana flow.

As its efficiency with the fire element surged, more spells and skills were unlocked within its mind. Unlike humans, who would have to practice for quite a long time to gain familiarity and mastery, its advantage as an elemental war eagle ignored such limitations, allowing it to instantly become knowledgeable in them as if the understanding had always existed within its instincts from birth.

With a casual wave of its wings, the fire swords blasted toward the ground rapidly.

The new horde of demonic rats was unaware of its long-range prowess, and all of them, except the bigger ones, were smitten, stabbed, and roasted to death almost instantly.

The six bigger ones survived with injuries, but the deaths of their minions made them more enraged.

They grabbed the bodies of their dead members and, with immense strength, began tossing them toward their foe in reckless retaliation.

Obsidian casually deflected them with wind magic, sending the corpses back down to the ground without allowing them to reach its altitude.

Then it casually used fire swords again.

This time, it created several normal-sized ones like the ones it had just used to slay the other rats and then merged them into six bigger ones before shooting them at the giant demonic rats with calculated precision.

It did not simply release them. It controlled them precisely to target the bigger ones, stabbing them in vital spots that resulted in rapid death and immediate collapse.

Meanwhile, while it had focused on the fight, it had ignored the massive change that had occurred within it as it evolved.

...

A/N

We’re finally at 200+ Chapters, please drop some reviews.