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…'

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

any since he was already

"Where is everyone?"

the correct one as the Duke ranked demon

at this moment that I

'Let's go.'

understood what our task was even before we spoke as mana erupted

[Shadow Servant]

beneath my feet, and

Crackle. Crackle.

around Liam's body, and his figure vanished from the spot, before reappearing right in front

hand, he

SHIIING—!

my hand against

[Keiki style] :

Click—!

a clicking sound as mine and Liam's attack landed

Clang—! Clang—!

and I, the only thing we heard after our attacks landed was a strong

both of our attacks with just an arm. Or, to be more precise, his bones, as he didn't seem to have any

do you

echoed throughout the place as

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

the Duke ranked demon didn't say anything and just flapped his wings

that by the time I had activated Eyes of Chronos

'Shit.'

silently cursed to myself as my heart tightened and cold sweat dripped down

known better not to challenge a Duke ranked demon in spite of the fact that it was already old, and

strength rapidly declining, the demon was still leagues

'Fucking Liam.'

even think he could fight against a Duke ranked

second,

I was trying to figure out the way out of the situation I found myself in, I noticed

'Fast.'

as I stared

flowing a lot slower than it was supposed to be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that it was…it could only be described

from the demon's temple, I noticed the

longer aiming to hit me, but rather, he was now trying to defend himself from Liam's sudden attack. Apparently, it

stop, and it soon made contact with his temple

deactivating [Eyes of Chronos], time returned to normal and I saw the demon's body crash into one of

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

Liam appeared next to me as he supported his body with both knees and heavily gulped

'What just happened?'

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

Liam become

rather similar, however, right at this moment, he seemed

"You broke through?"

pressure coming from Liam's body, at that moment, I realized he was

finally dawned on me, as

Did he break through in that short week that we were

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

his sword on the floor