The Author's POV

"Hurry up Kevin, don't waste any more time."

The firm voice of Amanda echoed throughout the surrounding area as Melissa and Kevin stared at her, baffled.

'When was she ever like this?'

Simultaneously, they thought.

Ignoring their looks, Amanda urged.

"So?"

"Eh...ehm..."

In a state of shock, Kevin had no idea how to respond to Amanda's abrupt attitude shift.

He really had no idea...

"No."

When Kevin was about to say anything, Melissa covered her forehead with her hand and extended her other hand to cover his mouth.

In the distance, she glanced at the large pyramid and sighed.

"Going now would do more harm than good."

"What do you mean?"

Kevin and Amanda simultaneously looked at Melissa. They were both wondering what her words meant.

A second sigh escaped Melissa's lips as she stared at them both.

Bringing her arms towards the leaves and pulling them away, she glanced at the pyramid in the distance and asked.

"Kevin, you said that Ren and the others are currently inside of the mana compressor, right?"

"That's right."

Kevin nodded his head.

Bringing his arm out to push some leaves away, he also gazed at the nearby pyramid.

Beside him, Amanda leaned forward a bit to get a better look. In the meantime, Melissa continued to speak.

"Currently, my best guess is that Ren and the others are inside the building not because they infiltrated it, but rather because they are imprisoned there."

"But if it's Re—"

"Shut up."

Melissa extended her hand and stopped Kevin from interrupting her. Her glare and her stern voice were enough to stop Kevin from speaking as he nodded his head.

Massaging her chin, Melissa pondered for a bit before continuing.

"…Let me finish before you say some of your usual nonsense."

She brushed the side of her hair behind her ear.

"According to how mana compressors work, especially ones of this size, I would guess they are currently somewhere beneath the pyramid, trying to fuel the device."

As with any large machine, it consumed a lot of fuel when it was running, and Melissa estimated that the pyramid in the distance consumed a lot of energy.

Large enough that it needed a lot of cores and ores in order to fuel.

Her conclusion was that if Ren and the others were truly in the compressor, they would have gone into labor to fuel the compressor.

"We would not only bring trouble to ourselves, but we would also bring trouble to them if we left now."

Melissa shook her head, letting go of the leaves that soon returned to their usual position, blocking her view of the pyramid.

"I was only half joking when I previously said that they should be sacrificed. I mean, Emma and Jin are pretty important people. Their death would bring me quite a lot of trouble…"

Biting her nail, Melissa looked at Kevin and Amanda.

"In any case, you two have heard my analysis. You should now know better than to act rashly and teleport yourselves there."

Kevin

"Good."

hands in satisfaction. Her face was

Rustle—! Rustle—!

sound was heard at that moment, and Melissa

"What are you doing?"

"The obvious."

prompting a frown to appear on

"Sounds annoying."

"It's the only way."

then disappeared from

in Amanda's direction, Kevin turned to look at Melissa

"…Where is she going?"

"To get some information."

crossed

look at Kevin, she

infrastructure and Ren's and the others' conditions, she'll probably abduct

simple glance from Melissa to understand Amanda's next set of

had let emotions get the best of her not too long ago, now that she had calmed down,

was happy with

couldn't be more than two idiots at

"Alright."

Kevin turned back to

information gathering. This is so that I can react if anything outside

"Alright."

set of equipment from his dimensional space and carefully placed them

hands

continue what we were

***

"Earth?"

distance. He could feel

overlooking the distance, he caught a glimpse of several demons guarding

"Demons…"

on their heads, Liam was able to instantly guess

"Where am I?"

thought that he was on earth, but as he stared at the demons and structure in

he perhaps still in the demon

leaving with

"How strange."

a yellow hue as the world

demons guarding the door appear to be Viscount ranked demons,

couple of times, a frown emerged on Liam's

presence of a couple of Marquis ranked demons inside..a Duke too, but his aura

rather lethargic in his eyes. Perhaps the

what he

"How troublesome…how troublesome…"

hand, a sword sheath materialized

would truly be a stupid idea…a

his eyes and lightning cracked around him

Crack—! Crackle—!

his body zoomed all

"Who's there!?"

"Intruder!"

startled the two

there's no need to be this

words did not seem to reach the demons' ears as demonic energy erupted

his eyes

tell me I didn't

Click—!

of the two

Thud. Thud.

the head to the side and strolled into the gates of the building where a long and dark corridor

same, this will

as he walked through the corridor and his bright yellow pupils shined

might be different from what he showed me, but it'll get

himself, Liam's figure

***

the dense foliage, Amanda

being too