The Author's POV

Bang— Bang—

'What's going on?'

The sound of something crashing near Smallsnake awoke him from his slumber. With each passing second, the sound became more clear, and it wasn't long before his eyes were fully open.

Blinking his eyes several times, he thought to himself.

'Am I still alive?'

He could clearly remember being on the verge of dying not too long ago.

Did he die? …or was he still alive?

"Shit!"

Bang—!

Immediately after opening his eyes, he saw a figure being sent flying into the distance, before crashing heavily against what appeared to be a large metallic door.

A muffled sound accompanied the figure's crash.

"Kevin, how much longer do you need?"

A female voice shouted.

'Who is she?'

Squinting his eyes, Smallsnake's eyes paused on a female figure that he had never seen before in his life. She had long auburn-colored hair and seemed to be rather beautiful. The way that she moved across the black marble floor seemed extremely nimble, and so were her attacks that looked extremely sharp.

No, rather, she did seem familiar, but he just couldn't seem to recall who she was.

"Just buy me one more minute!"

Taking his eyes away from the female figure, Smallsnake's eyes finally paused on Kevin, and it was then that he noticed a large red hue coming out from his body.

The hue seemed to completely engulf the area they were in, making it extremely terrifying.

'What's going on?'

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, Smallsnake turned his head slightly and finally spotted what seemed to be a demon.

"Demon?"

His groggy mind sobered up and he tried to lift up his body.

"Smallsnake! You're awake!"

Feeling a hand press against his chest, Smallsnake was shocked to see a couple of familiar figures rush in his direction.

"You guys?"

"Smallsnake!"

Before he could speak anymore, he suddenly felt something hug his body tightly.

"Ryan?"

shocked to see that the person was Ryan who seemed to have tears streaming from the side of his eyes. As he raised his head, he saw Leopold, Ava, and Hein also staring at him. Their weapons were drawn out and

were clearly trying to protect

was going on, a thin smile eventually spread across Smallsnake's face as he lowered his head back down and turned to

I'm still

sure before, but now he knew...He knew that he

him felt great relief

long as he soon heard another crashing

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

to another familiar figure who was standing not so

what seemed to be a

to last much longer. The core I'm using is about to run out of energy. So hurry up

"A couple more seconds."

red hue coming out from his body started to fluctuate wildly and

demon who had long noticed that Kevin was up to something, desperately tried to stop whatever he was doing, but regardless of much he tried, he would always get blocked by either

"Ready!"

unable to fully

behind his head, he took a step

him solidified. The last thing Smallsnake saw was the look of utter terror on the demon's face as Kevin's attack came crashing down on him and a bright red light

Booom—!

forced to close his eyes. In the aftermath of the

"Fucking hell..."

curse coming from a meter

Tin. Tin. Tin.

sound of small rocks hitting against the barrier that was protecting the area

persisted for a couple of seconds before it finally stopped. Opening his eyes, Smallsnake was

point, he could clearly see the aftermath of the attack and saw Kevin as well

mess. Nevertheless, they appeared to be relieved as Kevin

"I…did it…"

the ground, and observed the core in his hand. Taking another breath, he

Crack—!

everyone sighed in relief and tried

was much harder than I

echoed throughout

hand on his clothes, he cleaned the small pieces of the core

they would be this strong. For a moment, I thought I was going

"Tell me about it."

distance as she lay on the ground with both hands and legs spread apart. Not far from

Marquis ranked demon comes, just know that I won't be able to help you. You're

I'll be able

slowly stood up and turned to face one

told me that it might take a while, but I seriously think that if he takes too

almost depleted. The same went for their mana which was slowly recovering due to the aid

weren't enough to completely heal him into top condition, and Kevin knew this. Especially since he was still suffering from the

fight, he hoped Ren would arrive before any demons could reach

a minute after he said those words, he was able to hear the sound

"Is it this way?"

Ren's voice. His complexion instantly brightened. The same could be said for the others

with a scene that changed