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…'

others who went for the core of the mana compressor, I knew that they would attract the attention of a

since he was already a

"Where is everyone?"

proved to be the correct one as the Duke ranked

was right at this moment that I exchanged glances

'Let's go.'

before we spoke as mana erupted from my body and

[Shadow Servant]

beneath my feet, and I propelled

Crackle. Crackle.

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

hand, he slashed

SHIIING—!

my hand

[Keiki style] :

Click—!

mine and

Clang—! Clang—!

the only thing we heard after our

was shocked to see the Duke rank demon blocking both of our attacks with

you think

place as

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

teeth, the Duke ranked demon didn't say anything and just flapped his wings once. His figure disappeared from

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

'Shit.'

cursed to myself as my heart tightened and

in spite of the fact that it was already old, and almost

its strength rapidly declining, the demon was still leagues

'Fucking Liam.'

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

for even one second, I could kiss goodbye to

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

'Fast.'

I stared at

slower than it was supposed to be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that it was…it could

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

no longer aiming to hit me, but rather, he was now trying to defend himself from Liam's sudden attack. Apparently, it

fast for the demon to stop, and it

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

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

to me as he supported his body with both knees and heavily gulped for

'What just happened?'

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

when has Liam

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

"You broke through?"

at that moment, I realized he was now

me, as I just

remember, only one week has passed. Did he break through in that short week

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

his sword on the floor and facing the direction of where the