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…'

of the mana compressor, I knew that they would attract the attention of a Marquis ranked demon, and in turn,

since he was already a

"Where is everyone?"

decision proved to be the correct one as the

moment that I exchanged glances

'Let's go.'

spoke as mana erupted from my body and

[Shadow Servant]

formed beneath

Crackle. Crackle.

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

his hand, he

SHIIING—!

my hand against the hilt of

of the [Keiki style] :

Click—!

followed a clicking sound as mine and Liam's attack landed simultaneously on

Clang—! Clang—!

much to the disappointment of Liam and I, the only thing we heard after our attacks landed was a strong metallic

demon blocking both of our attacks with just an arm. Or, to be more precise, his bones, as he

you

sinister and aged voice echoed throughout the place as

two of us back, as the wings on his back expanded, casting a large shadow over the area

anything and just flapped his wings once. His figure disappeared

the time I had activated Eyes of Chronos

'Shit.'

heart tightened and cold sweat

a Duke ranked demon in spite

strength rapidly declining, the demon was still leagues above my

'Fucking Liam.'

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

I was careless for even one second,

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

'Fast.'

stared at the

be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that it was…it

was a couple of inches away from the demon's temple, I noticed the demon's eyes slowly moving towards where the sword was coming, and the demon's

trying to

too 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 crash

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

to me as he supported his body

'What just happened?'

I stared in

has Liam become

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

"You broke through?"

I noticed the pressure coming from Liam's body, at that moment, I

finally dawned on me, as I

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

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

nodded his head before placing his sword on the floor