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…'

for the core of the mana compressor, I knew that they would attract the attention

any since he was already a lot

"Where is everyone?"

one as the Duke ranked demon

moment that I exchanged glances

'Let's go.'

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

[Shadow Servant]

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

Crackle. Crackle.

body, and his figure vanished from the spot, before reappearing right in front of the Duke ranked

his hand, he slashed toward the

SHIIING—!

my hand against the

the [Keiki style]

Click—!

light followed a clicking sound as mine

Clang—! Clang—!

the only thing

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 didn't seem to have any muscles

you

place as his red pupils glared in

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

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

Chronos he was already a couple of inches away from my face, and

'Shit.'

my heart tightened and cold sweat

ranked demon in spite of the fact that it was already

with its strength rapidly declining, the demon was still

'Fucking Liam.'

a Duke ranked demon? He was worse than Kevin

careless for even one second, I could kiss goodbye to my

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

'Fast.'

as I stared at

to be. For the sword

the sword was a couple of inches away from the demon's temple, I noticed the demon's eyes slowly moving towards where the sword was coming, and the

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

stop, and it soon made contact with

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

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

as he supported his body with both knees and heavily

'What just happened?'

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

when has Liam become

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

"You broke through?"

body, at that moment, I realized he was

me, as I just

Did he break through in that short week that we were

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

his head before placing his sword on the floor and facing the direction of where