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?"

eyes. As he raised his head, he saw Leopold, Ava, and Hein also staring at him. Their

were clearly trying

process what was going on, a thin smile eventually spread across Smallsnake's

still

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

felt great relief once

long as he

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

to another familiar figure who was

behind what seemed to

to

"A couple more seconds."

out from his body started to fluctuate wildly and the room shook

doing, but regardless of much he tried, he would

"Ready!"

desperate attempts, he was unable to fully free himself from their attacks and

took a step forward and appeared before

the air around 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

Booom—!

sounded out and Smallsnake was forced to close his eyes. In the aftermath of the explosion, Melissa took several steps

"Fucking hell..."

coming from

Tin. Tin. Tin.

the sound of small rocks hitting against

eyes, Smallsnake was met with a

of the attack and saw Kevin as

was extremely pale, and their clothes were a mess. Nevertheless, they appeared to be relieved as Kevin held

"I…did it…"

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

Crack—!

and tried to regain some of their

was much harder

echoed

clothes, he cleaned the small

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

"Tell me about it."

from a distance as she lay on the ground with both hands

be able to fight again. If another Marquis ranked demon comes, just know that I won't be able to help you.

you think I'll be able

and turned to face one of the

to come back. He told me that it might take a while, but I seriously think that if he

stamina was currently almost depleted. The same went for their mana which was slowly recovering

knew this. Especially since he was still suffering from the after-effects of having

they were in no condition to fight, he hoped Ren would arrive before any

after he said those words, he was able

"Is it this way?"

also hear Ren's voice. His complexion instantly brightened. The same could be said

turned their heads, they were confronted with