The Author's POV

In a large and wide corridor, footsteps echoed.

"Do you think it was the right idea to just let him go like that?"

Kevin asked, while he turned to face Amanda who was running next to him. Before she could answer, he raised his sword and slashed toward his right.

SHIIIING!

"Huek!"

The body of a demon split in half.

"Yes."

Amanda nodded. Taking out her bow, she brought the string back as three arrows formed on the bow.

Clang—!

Letting go of the string, the arrows shot toward the distance and impaled three nearby demons.

"Since he's recovered his mana, he should have no trouble protecting himself, and…"

Lowering the bow in her hand, Amanda proceeded to head deeper into the corridor.

"…he's not exactly alone."

***

Ba…Thump! Ba…Thump!

Feeling the demon's hollow gaze pause on me, my heartbeat started to rapidly increase and my breathing also became more difficult.

My back began to sweat when the demon once again began to raise his hand.

'Well, shit…'

I thought to myself as the Duke ranked demon slowly brought his hand down.

But…

A figure materialized behind the demon as his hand was halfway down and attacked him from behind.

Spurt—!

The demon began spraying black blood on the ground, and I noticed an enchanting figure standing behind him.

Her hand was currently reaching out for the demon's orb that was now visible to the naked eye, through a gaping hole in his chest area.

"Took you long enough."

I muttered with a smile and supported my body up.

'Thank god our plan worked.'

It was clear from the moment I decided to save Liam that I would not be able to defeat a Duke ranked demon with my current capabilities. Even if it was weakened and I had Liam's help. I still saw no way to defeat it.

Thus.

decided to have Angelica turn into a ring like usual, and dropped her toward one of

I was able to get Liam to push the demon toward

plan, and

Bang—!

swung to the other side of the room, before crashing into one of the pillars as a loud

later, my

Drip—! Drip—!

I saw was black blood spilling from the demon's chest as he held onto his core

body, and his injuries started to heal

'…how is this possible?'

I thought in shock.

his body and force Angelica

Liam and Angelica. They were currently both still alive, but I knew that it was only

was especially true for Liam who was bleeding profusely and a

that I had to

demon wasn't in the best condition at the moment. He was currently in a weakened state as he was

time passed, the weaker his attacks became.

clearly been fighting using the last

I just waited, ten minutes? …or maybe less, then he would without a

couldn't afford such luxury. Taking note of Angelica and Liam's condition, mana erupted

"Now!"

shouted as I turned to

his hand against the hilt of a black sword, and the mana

Click—

the shadow servant's figure disappeared from the spot and reappeared right

of the [Keiki style] :

Bang—!

the demon, the shadow servant stabbed his sword right where the demon's core was. Unfortunately, in spite of the extreme speed at which he appeared and attacked, the demon didn't seem to be

kicked the shadow servant right in the abdomen area, completely severing the servant into two. He soon disappeared into thin air

"Ugh."

a small groan, I pressed my sword's hilt with my

'Good enough.'

mind when I sent the shadow servant toward the demon, the goal was to stop it from healing and buy me enough time to accumulate enough mana to finally use my

most powerful movement to

movement of the

Cr..crack…crack…

surroundings as the space around the Duke ranked demon

this happened within the span of half a second, and it wasn't long before fissures formed next to the demon, and lights began to shoot out from them, heading toward the

"Huek!"

the demon's body, and even more black blood started to

demon's helpless screams echoed out. Had the demon been in the right state of mind, and not as injured, he may have been able to easily avoid

Drip—! Drip—!

blood formed, before the white lights

appeared before the demon and reached out for

Crack—!

make the same mistake as Angelica, the moment I felt the core in my hand, I rapidly shattered it into pieces, and the demon's body stopped moving and scattered

"Haaaa…."

butt, I leaned back and

chest was burning, and I was currently feeling extremely

a lot harder than I

all the preparations I had made in order to handle the Duke-ranked demon, it took everything I had to kill

'That was really close…'

I turned to gaze in

"Ugh."