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 the attention of a Marquis ranked demon, and in turn,

he was

"Where is everyone?"

be the correct one as the Duke ranked

moment that I exchanged glances

'Let's go.'

task was even before we spoke as mana erupted from my body and

[Shadow Servant]

black disc formed beneath my feet, and I propelled my body

Crackle. Crackle.

crackled around Liam's body, and his figure vanished from the

his hand, he slashed

SHIIING—!

my hand against the hilt of my

[Keiki style] : Quick

Click—!

as mine and Liam's

Clang—! Clang—!

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

our attacks with just an arm. Or, to be more precise, his bones,

you think

place as his red pupils glared

of us back, as

ranked demon didn't say anything and just flapped his wings once. His figure disappeared from the spot before

time I had activated Eyes of Chronos he was already a couple of

'Shit.'

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

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

its strength rapidly declining, the demon

'Fucking Liam.'

against a Duke ranked demon? He was worse than Kevin when it

careless for even one second, I

figure out the way out of the situation I found myself in, I noticed what looked like a sword tip heading for

'Fast.'

I stared

noted that currently, time was flowing a lot slower than it was supposed to be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that

inches away from the demon's temple, I noticed the demon's eyes slowly

was no longer aiming to hit me, but rather, he was now trying to defend himself

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

and I saw the demon's body crash into

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

me as he supported his

'What just happened?'

as I stared in Liam's direction

has Liam become so

fought him, our strength was rather similar, however, right at this moment, he seemed

"You broke through?"

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

finally dawned on me, as I just speechlessly looked

one week has passed. Did he break through

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

head before placing his sword on the floor and facing the direction