The clearing was silent.

Dark-orange dust, almost a kind of burnt tinge, blew low across the ground in the slight breeze. Blackish and red boulders surrounded the area, leaving an open space where I stood, wearing tattered sleepwear caked with blood and dirt, the claw of a large monster held loosely in my hand.

Two demons were in that clearing along with me, the corpse of their comrade by my feet.

The pair were trying to catch me off-guard, moving on opposite edges of the area in order to put each other into my blind spot. The only way I could stop that was by constantly moving, keeping each of them in the corner of my vision.

Of course, that quiet standoff didn't continue forever.

In a single moment, one of the two demons jumped towards me, snarling and howling with its claws outstretched.

A Canidos- a giant black dog, a little taller than half my height and probably twice my weight in muscle and teeth.

It was also covered in fire.

When I managed to sidestep the attack, I hopped backward, keeping my eyes on the second demon dog that was still stationary, just about ten feet away.

Blood was dripping down my arm and leg, claw and bite marks deep into my skin a few minutes old, each one taken due to not paying attention to both demons at once.

They had a pretty simple strategy going on; taking turns distracting me and forcing my attention by loudly attacking, while the other would quickly jump in at the best moment.

What made the situation even more difficult was that I was handicapping myself.

This encounter was instigated all so I could become stronger, after all. These guys were stepping stones for me to train with, and I intended to make the most of it by intentionally not using the full extent of my abilities.

At least, that was my justification. The problem was that I didn't have any sort of plan to deal with them.

When I charged towards the demons in a surprise assault, they were able to run out of range, then both would attack me at once and put me on the defensive.

If I tried to leave the clearing and use the surrounding boulders as cover, they would run right after me and put on pressure.

It was... annoying.

I just couldn't do anything to put these demons down.

It would be much easier if I could use all my skills, but there was a simple reason why I didn't. I would gain more XP at the end of the fight if I made the whole thing harder.

And this was definitely a hard fight, in the sense that it would take forever to actually finish.

I wasn't able to get a solid hit on either of the demons, while neither of them could attack me properly.

That said, none of this was actually going through my head at that moment.

There wasn't much time to complain about the situation to myself; I had already done enough of that earlier. I just had to find a way to kill these demons- that was the only thing on my mind.

So when the next Canidos jumped towards me as a distraction, instead of stepping away or dodging with a small dash to the side, I ran forward, holding my free hand in front of my body.

It was a strategy I had used on other demons before, doing something so stupid as to actually run into their attack in order to put them on the backfoot.

And it worked perfectly.

The demon crashed into me, biting into my arm and burning up the already tattered clothing, while pain mercilessly shot through my body.

But I didn't let the Canidos do anything else.

I punched my hand into the chest of the demon, physically tackling it to the ground with my larger form while quickly stabbing my blade into its ribs.

The Canidos let out a deep, pain-filled noise. Something... unnatural, something that seemed too deep and distorted to have come from such a relatively small body, and with a burst of strength, it managed to kick me off and onto my back.

But I had already done enough damage.

It tried to scramble away, but I could see how the demon's legs weren't working correctly. I had stabbed it deep.

Then, the second Canidos came running.

I was lying prone on my back, and seeing the flaming demon sprint towards me with its dagger-like teeth bared in a snarl was enough to freeze my spine, but I just barely managed to keep calm.

It seemed to be overcome with anger and bloodlust. It saw me on the ground and assumed that I was defenseless.

The observation was one I had made before, with other demons. It seemed like, as a whole, demons would develop a kind of tunnel vision when assuming they were about to win, which gave me an easy opportunity to attack at that moment.

What I'm saying is that it was almost too easy to stab the blade up into its chest as the Canidos blindly ran towards me.

The demon's claws still tore deep into my shoulders, but I was able to push it off and onto the rocky ground, stomping down onto the wound I had already inflicted and stunning it with pain.

After another two stabs into its neck, the Canidos died.

You Have Slain: Canidos, Level 6

+38 XP Acquired

That only left the first one, laying on the ground a few feet away from me.

Wordlessly, I rose to my feet.

Seeing my movements, the Canidos managed to also struggle up onto its paws, staring at me silently. It couldn't move anymore. I could tell it had lost too much blood- my first attack was a decisive one.

As I approached the demon, I experienced a deeply unsettling moment.

I looked into the eyes of a living creature, and the only thing I saw was bloodlust.

I killed it quickly.

You Have Slain: Canidos, Level 5

+31 XP Acquired

Double Hit: Level 2 Acquired

Demon Killer: Level 4 Acquired

As the messages popped into existence before me, I let out a gasp of breath, falling onto the ground, surrounded by the corpses of the demons.

That... had been stressful.

I looked towards my status at the corner of my vision, my lips quirking at what I saw.

HP: 17/23

SP: 13/19

MP: 13/13

Overall, a decent result. I had managed to kill the two demons without using any more SP, but it cost me six points of damage, which I probably could have avoided if I fought them seriously.

But that was alright. If needed, I would be able to heal myself with the Regenerate skill.

It had already been an intense enough fight, though. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to continue restraining myself in future combat, since I didn't even know how good the XP bonus was from making the fight harder.

"What should I do..."

Trying to wipe the dust from my face, I blinked frantically to get rid of the sudden dampness coming to my eyes.

Even after winning, and gaining XP and skill levels, feeling myself becoming just that slight bit stronger, I felt some kind of coldness well up in my chest.

I exhaled again, slowly.

Kehl suddenly landed on the ground next to me, flying down from wherever he had been drifting above the battle.

The blue demon was around three feet tall, with leathery bat wings, a thin black tail, and dark talons extending from his feet. His twin horns slightly crackled with electricity and his eyes were cold.

My only ally in this place.

"Lake. I have a few observations, but I'd like to ask, were you intentionally refraining from using your Skills in that encounter?"

"...Yeah."

Kehl stared at me for another second or two, before his eyes narrowed and his tail flickered.

"The purpose of this trip is not only to increase your own level but also your individual skill levels. If you do not use skills, you will not strengthen them. I'll make sure that the next encounter will be more challenging, so you do not feel the need to weaken yourself again."

Ah, he's pissed. And now he's going to make me fight even stronger demons.

Lovely.

I grimaced but bit my lip and nodded. I didn't like it in the slightest, but Kehl was the only support I had here, and he could throw around lightning bolts. I didn't want to piss him off even more than I already had.

It was okay. Even though the next fight would be even harder, it would work out. I just needed to bite my cheek and go along with it.

Kill demons, get stronger, and kill more demons.

That was all I had to do. It was a simple process, easy to understand, even for a guy like me.

Kehl closed his eyes briefly before pointing in a seemingly random direction.

"There are hostiles around the level we are targeting in that direction. Go quickly. I will be timing you to see how fast you can move over long distances."

With those instructions, he flew back into the air.

I took a deep breath and wet my lips again.

It's okay. I just had to go along with it. I would get stronger, and it would be better in the long run.

Taking a few steps towards the indicated route, I looked back up towards Kehl as he began circling in the air above me.

I started running.