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 core of the mana compressor, I knew that they would attract the attention of a Marquis ranked demon, and in turn, stop any reinforcements from coming to the

was already

"Where is everyone?"

to be the correct one as the Duke ranked demon seemed

moment that I

'Let's go.'

even before we spoke as mana erupted from my body and

[Shadow Servant]

a step forward, a black disc formed beneath

Crackle. Crackle.

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

hand, he slashed toward

SHIIING—!

on the other hand, pressed my hand against the hilt of

the [Keiki style] : Quick

Click—!

sound as mine and Liam's attack landed simultaneously on the

Clang—! Clang—!

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

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

you

sinister and aged voice echoed throughout the place as his red pupils glared

his body, forcing the two of us back, as the wings on his back expanded, casting a large shadow over the area we were

and just flapped his wings

that by the time I had activated Eyes of Chronos

'Shit.'

silently cursed to myself as my heart tightened and cold sweat dripped

not to challenge a Duke ranked demon in spite of the fact

declining, the demon was still leagues above my

'Fucking Liam.'

he could fight against a Duke ranked demon? He was worse than Kevin when it came

was careless for even one second, I could

trying to figure out the way out of the situation I found myself in, I noticed what

'Fast.'

thought as I stared at the moving

supposed to be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that it was…it could only be

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,

rather, he was now trying to defend himself from Liam's sudden attack.

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

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

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

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

'What just happened?'

myself as I stared in Liam's direction

when has Liam become so

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

"You broke through?"

body, at that moment, I realized he was now

as I just speechlessly

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

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

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