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

he was

"Where is everyone?"

to be the correct one as the Duke ranked demon seemed taken aback

right at this moment

'Let's go.'

our task was even before we spoke as mana erupted from my body and a dark shadow

[Shadow Servant]

disc formed beneath my

Crackle. Crackle.

and his figure vanished

he

SHIIING—!

hand, pressed my hand against the hilt

[Keiki style] : Quick

Click—!

sound as mine and

Clang—! Clang—!

thing we heard after our attacks landed

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

you think

and aged voice echoed throughout the place as his red

us back, as the wings on his back expanded, casting a large shadow over

his wings

Eyes of Chronos he was already a couple of

'Shit.'

as my heart tightened and cold sweat

known better not to challenge a Duke ranked demon in spite of the fact that it was already old,

with its strength rapidly declining, the demon was still

'Fucking Liam.'

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

was careless for even one second, I

out the way out of the situation I found myself in, I noticed what looked like a sword tip heading

'Fast.'

thought as I stared at the

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

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

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

for the demon to stop, and it soon made contact with his temple and dug into

time returned to normal and I saw the demon's

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

next to me as he supported his body with both knees

'What just happened?'

thought to myself as I stared in Liam's direction

Liam become

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

"You broke through?"

at that

dawned on me, as I just speechlessly looked

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

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

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