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…'

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

any since he was already a lot stronger than

"Where is everyone?"

decision proved to be the correct one as the Duke ranked demon

moment that I exchanged glances with

'Let's go.'

as mana

[Shadow Servant]

forward, a black disc formed beneath my

Crackle. Crackle.

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

he slashed toward the

SHIIING—!

other hand, pressed my

[Keiki style] :

Click—!

as mine and Liam's attack landed simultaneously on

Clang—! Clang—!

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

with just an arm. Or, to be more precise, his bones, as he didn't seem to have any muscles in his

you think you're

sinister and aged voice echoed throughout the place as his

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

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

that by the time I had activated Eyes of Chronos he was already a couple of inches away from my face, and closing

'Shit.'

my heart tightened and cold sweat dripped down my

a Duke ranked demon in spite of the fact that it was already old, and

strength rapidly declining, the

'Fucking Liam.'

Duke ranked demon? He

careless for even one second, I could kiss goodbye to

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

'Fast.'

I stared at the

was flowing a lot slower than it was supposed to be. For the sword to be moving at the pace

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

aiming to hit me, but rather, he was now trying to defend

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

deactivating [Eyes of Chronos], time returned to normal and I saw the demon's body crash into

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

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

'What just happened?'

in Liam's

has Liam

strength was rather similar, however, right at this

"You broke through?"

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

finally dawned on me, as

one week has passed. Did he break through in that short week that we

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

on the floor and facing the