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.

to have Angelica turn into a ring like usual, and dropped her

demon toward the pillar where Angelica sat so that we could sneak attack

and things should've

Bang—!

Angelica's body being swung to the other side of the room, before crashing into one of the pillars

later,

Drip—! Drip—!

saw was black blood spilling from the

his body, and his injuries

'…how is this possible?'

I thought in shock.

his core exposed like that, he was able to move his body and force Angelica

both still alive, but I

for Liam who was bleeding profusely and a small pool of blood formed

I had to

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

that the longer the time passed, the weaker his attacks became. I understood then that he was on the

been fighting using the last shreds of life energy

then he would without a doubt die

note of Angelica and Liam's condition, mana erupted from my body as I placed my hand

"Now!"

to

a black sword, and the mana inside of my body

Click—

figure disappeared from the spot and reappeared right in front

third movement of the

Bang—!

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 the slightest bit startled as he just move a little back

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

"Ugh."

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

'Good enough.'

didn't really have anything in 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

last and most powerful

of the

Cr..crack…crack…

surroundings as the space around the Duke ranked demon started

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!"

and even more

and not as injured, he may have been able to easily avoid my attacks, but he wasn't, and it wasn't long before his figure started looking like

Drip—! Drip—!

pool of blood formed, before the white lights impairing him

advantage of this moment, I rapidly appeared before the demon and reached out for his

Crack—!

mistake as Angelica, the moment I felt the core in my hand, I rapidly shattered

"Haaaa…."

on my butt, I leaned back and

was burning, and I was currently feeling extremely

a lot harder than I

had to kill him. It also had to be noted that I

'That was really close…'

myself. Quickly turning my body, I turned to gaze in Liam's

"Ugh."