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.

Angelica turn into a ring like usual, and dropped her toward one of the

to push the demon toward

our plan, and things should've ended

Bang—!

saw Angelica's body being swung to the other side of the room, before crashing into one of the pillars as a loud banging

later, my body

Drip—! Drip—!

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

it into his body,

'…how is this possible?'

I thought in shock.

core exposed like that, he was able to move his body and force Angelica out of his way before hiding the core

wide, I alternated my gaze between Liam and Angelica. They were currently both still alive, but I knew that it was only a

for Liam who was bleeding profusely and

knew that I had to

condition at the moment. He was currently in a weakened state as he

the weaker his attacks became. I understood then that he was on the

fighting using the last shreds of life energy inside of his

…or maybe less, then he would without

condition, mana erupted from my body as I placed my hand on the sheath of

"Now!"

I turned to glance at my shadow

his hand against the hilt of a black sword, and

Click—

shadow servant's figure disappeared from the spot and

the

Bang—!

his sword right where the demon's core was. Unfortunately, in spite of the extreme speed at which he appeared and attacked, the demon

he raised his leg and kicked the shadow servant right in the abdomen area, completely severing the servant into two. He soon disappeared into thin air and the mana inside of my body rapidly

"Ugh."

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

'Good enough.'

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

and most powerful movement to

fifth movement of the [Keiki

Cr..crack…crack…

the surroundings as the space around the Duke

within the span of half a second, and it wasn't long before fissures formed next to the demon, and lights began to shoot

"Huek!"

soon completely impaled the demon's body, and even more black

the right state of mind, and not as injured, he may have been able to easily avoid my attacks, but

Drip—! Drip—!

pool of blood formed, before the

advantage of this moment, I rapidly appeared before the demon and

Crack—!

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 in the air in the form of fine black

"Haaaa…."

I leaned back and

chest was burning, and I was currently

was a lot harder than I

I had made in order to handle the Duke-ranked demon, it took everything I had to kill him. It also had

'That was really close…'

body, I turned to gaze in Liam's

"Ugh."