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, stop any reinforcements

that he really needed any since he was already

"Where is everyone?"

as the Duke ranked demon seemed taken aback by

this moment that

'Let's go.'

even before we spoke as mana erupted from my body and a dark shadow appeared

[Shadow Servant]

formed beneath my feet, and I

Crackle. Crackle.

vanished from the spot, before

hand, he slashed toward

SHIIING—!

pressed my hand against the

movement of the [Keiki style] :

Click—!

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

Clang—! Clang—!

the disappointment of Liam and I, the only thing we

the flash of light disappeared, I was shocked to see the Duke rank demon blocking both of our attacks with just an arm. Or, to be more precise, his bones, as he

do you

place as his red pupils

from his body, forcing the two of us back, as the wings on

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

time I had activated Eyes of Chronos he was

'Shit.'

silently cursed to myself as my heart tightened

not to challenge a Duke ranked demon in spite of

declining, the demon was still

'Fucking Liam.'

in the world did he even think he could fight against a Duke ranked demon? He was worse than

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 the Duke's head in the

'Fast.'

thought as I stared

to be 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 it was…it could only be described

the demon's temple, I noticed the demon's eyes slowly moving towards

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

attack proved to be too fast for the demon to stop,

[Eyes of Chronos], time returned to normal and I saw the

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

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

'What just happened?'

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

Liam

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

"You broke through?"

at that moment, I

on me, as I just speechlessly looked

only one week has passed. Did he break through in

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

placing his sword on the floor and