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…'

the mana compressor, I knew that they would

any since he was already a lot

"Where is everyone?"

be the correct one as the

right at this moment that I exchanged glances with

'Let's go.'

mana erupted from my body and a

[Shadow Servant]

forward, a black disc formed beneath my feet, and I propelled

Crackle. Crackle.

his figure vanished from the spot, before reappearing right

he slashed toward

SHIIING—!

hand, pressed my hand against the hilt of

the [Keiki style] :

Click—!

clicking sound as mine and Liam's attack

Clang—! Clang—!

thing we heard after our attacks landed was a

the flash of light disappeared, I was shocked to see the Duke rank demon blocking both of our attacks with just an arm.

you

place as his red pupils glared in our

two of us back, as the wings on his back expanded, casting a

and just flapped his wings

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

'Shit.'

silently cursed to myself as my heart tightened and cold

should've known better not to challenge a Duke ranked demon in spite of the fact that

rapidly declining, the demon was still leagues

'Fucking Liam.'

a Duke ranked demon? He was worse than Kevin when it came to being a

careless for even one second, I could kiss goodbye

found myself in, I noticed what looked like a sword tip heading for

'Fast.'

thought as I stared

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

a couple of 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 from Liam's sudden attack. Apparently,

for the demon to stop,

and I saw the demon's body crash into one of the

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

appeared next to me as he supported his body

'What just happened?'

stared in Liam's direction with eyes full of

Liam become

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

"You broke through?"

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

dawned on me, as

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

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

placing his sword on the floor