The Author's POV

"Looks like I'm not too late, no?"

Brushing my hair back, I moved to where Liam was. In my right hand was a small silver sword. It was a spare sword that Kevin had handed me before separating from me.

"Just a little…"

Liam's words left me speechless. Especially after he took out an apple and started to take bites out of it.

While he took a bite of the apple, the juices from it spilled all over his fingers before falling onto the ground.

I shook my head when I saw this.

"Here."

I handed him a potion.

"I don't need it."

"Hm?"

Catching the potion, Liam threw it back to me. His actions surprised me as I blinked a couple of times, unable to fully understand why he rejected the potion when he was clearly not in a good state.

Seemingly being able to read my thoughts, Liam raised his hand and showed me the apple.

"You see, this isn't a normal apple."

Standing up, his broken foot magically started to twist and squirm. Within the span of a couple of seconds, his leg had completely healed and he lightly jumped in the air.

"See? I'm fine."

Liam threw what remained of the apple on the floor and turned to gaze in the direction of where the demon was.

I did too.

"…Another intruder?"

Unfortunately, my surprise attack didn't seem to have had much of an impact on the demon, as he appeared to be completely unscathed.

The situation was made worse by his apparent anger, as his face twisted savagely and a powerful force enveloped the scene. Currently, we were standing in a small hall, with tall pillars supporting the ceiling.

A smoky and iron-like scent lingered in the air.

"Not bad…not bad…"

The demon spat through his clenched teeth as he alternated his gaze between Liam and I. Then, looking toward the other demons present in the room, he finally noticed something.

"Dead…"

The aura that was revolving around his body fluctuated slightly.

A thin smile spread across my face when I noticed this.

'I was right to kill the others first.'

It had been quite a bit since I had arrived here, and during the time that I was here, I spent my time killing all the demons that were in the room.

None of the demons in the room were that strong, but they still posed a liability that could cause trouble in the middle of the fight, which was why I decided to kill them before saving Liam.

'The others should also be attracting the attention of the other high-ranked demons…'

for the core of the mana compressor, I knew that they would attract

any since he was

"Where is everyone?"

the correct one as the Duke ranked demon seemed taken aback

it was right at this moment that I

'Let's go.'

even before we spoke as mana erupted from my body

[Shadow Servant]

a black disc formed beneath my feet, and I propelled

Crackle. Crackle.

body, and his figure vanished from the spot,

hand, he slashed

SHIIING—!

on the other hand, pressed my

[Keiki style] : Quick

Click—!

followed a clicking sound as mine and Liam's attack

Clang—! Clang—!

and I, the only thing

of light disappeared, I was shocked to see the Duke rank demon blocking both of our attacks with just an arm. Or, to be more precise, his bones, as he didn't seem to have any muscles in his

do you think you're

sinister and aged voice echoed throughout the place as his red pupils glared in

from his body, forcing the two of us back, as the wings on his back expanded,

didn't say anything and just flapped his wings once. His

so fast that by the time I had activated Eyes of Chronos he was already a couple of inches away from

'Shit.'

as my heart tightened and cold sweat dripped

demon in spite of the fact that it

its strength rapidly declining, the demon was still leagues

'Fucking Liam.'

fight against a Duke ranked demon? He

even one second, I could kiss goodbye to my

the way out of the situation I found myself in, I noticed what looked like a sword tip heading for the Duke's head in

'Fast.'

as I stared at the

be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that it was…it could only be described as

I noticed the demon's eyes slowly moving towards where the sword was coming,

hit me, but rather, he was now trying to defend himself from Liam's sudden attack. Apparently, it wasn't something

fast for the demon to stop, and it soon made contact with his temple and

time returned to normal and I saw the demon's body

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

appeared next to me as he supported his body with

'What just happened?'

thought to myself as I stared in Liam's direction with

when has Liam become so

I had fought him, our strength was rather similar, however, right at this moment, he seemed a lot stronger than he was since

"You broke through?"

noticed the pressure coming from Liam's body, at

me, as I just speechlessly looked at

week has passed. Did he break through in that short

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

sword on the