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 mana compressor, I knew that they would attract the attention of a Marquis ranked demon, and in turn, stop any reinforcements from coming to the Duke's

he really needed any since he was already a lot stronger than

"Where is everyone?"

proved to be the correct one as the Duke ranked

was right at this moment that I exchanged

'Let's go.'

spoke as mana erupted from my body and a dark shadow appeared beside

[Shadow Servant]

a black disc formed beneath my feet,

Crackle. Crackle.

body, and his figure vanished from the spot,

his hand, he slashed toward

SHIIING—!

hand, pressed my hand against the hilt

[Keiki style]

Click—!

white light followed a clicking sound as mine and Liam's attack landed

Clang—! Clang—!

thing we heard

demon blocking both of our attacks with just an arm.

you think

the place as

and powerful pressure suddenly sprang out from his body, forcing the two of us back, as the wings on his back expanded, casting a large shadow over

flapped his wings once. His figure disappeared from the spot before reappearing right in front

speed was so fast that by the time I had activated Eyes of Chronos he was already a

'Shit.'

my heart tightened and

should've known better not to challenge a Duke ranked demon in

the demon was still leagues above my

'Fucking Liam.'

fight against a Duke ranked demon? He was worse than Kevin when it came to being

second, I

found myself in, I noticed what looked like a sword tip heading

'Fast.'

thought as I stared at

supposed to be. For the sword to be moving at the pace

was a couple of inches away from the demon's temple, I noticed the demon's eyes

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

the demon to stop, and

I saw

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

happened, Liam appeared next to me as he supported his body with both

'What just happened?'

stared in Liam's

Liam become so

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

"You broke through?"

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

dawned on me, as I just speechlessly looked

week has passed. Did he break through in that short week that we

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

his head before placing his sword on the floor and facing