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…'

knew that they would attract the attention of a Marquis ranked demon, and

was

"Where is everyone?"

the Duke ranked

at this moment

'Let's go.'

spoke as mana erupted from my body and a dark shadow

[Shadow Servant]

formed beneath my feet,

Crackle. Crackle.

body, and his figure vanished from the spot, before reappearing right in

hand, he

SHIIING—!

my hand against

movement of the [Keiki style] :

Click—!

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

Clang—! Clang—!

the only thing

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

do you

voice echoed throughout the place as his red pupils

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

wings once. His figure

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

'Shit.'

silently cursed to myself as my heart tightened and cold

in spite

the demon was still leagues above

'Fucking Liam.'

in the world did he even think he could fight against a Duke ranked

for even one second, I could kiss goodbye to

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

'Fast.'

thought as I stared at

be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that it was…it could only be described as incredibly

from the demon's temple, I noticed the

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

Liam's attack proved to be too fast for the demon to stop, and it

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

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

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

'What just happened?'

myself as I stared in Liam's direction with eyes

when has Liam become

strength was rather similar, however, right at this moment, he seemed a lot stronger than he was

"You broke through?"

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

on me, as I just

has passed. Did he break through in that short

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

his sword on the floor and facing the direction of where