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?"

the side of his eyes. As he raised his head, he saw Leopold, Ava, and Hein also staring at

clearly trying to

a thin smile eventually spread across Smallsnake's face as

still

now

part of him felt great relief once he realized

long as

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

to another familiar figure who was standing not so far from where she

behind what seemed to be a large transparent

about to run out of energy. So hurry up Kevin! I don't want to die

"A couple more seconds."

red hue coming out from his body started to

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 the girl with the

"Ready!"

the demon's desperate attempts, he was unable to fully free himself

his sword behind his head, he took a

the look of utter

Booom—!

close his eyes. In the aftermath of the explosion, Melissa took several steps back and her face paled as

"Fucking hell..."

curse coming from a meter away

Tin. Tin. Tin.

also hear the sound of small rocks hitting against the

eyes, Smallsnake was

the attack and saw Kevin as

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

"I…did it…"

core in his hand. Taking another breath, he squeezed

Crack—!

this, everyone sighed in relief and tried to regain some

much harder than

voice echoed throughout the

on his clothes, he cleaned the small pieces

ranked demons were strong, I didn't think they would be this strong. For a

"Tell me about it."

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

to fight again. If another Marquis ranked demon comes, just know that I

you think I'll be able to

he slowly stood up and turned to face one of the

have to do is wait for Ren and the others to come back. He told me that it might

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

was still suffering from the

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

as not even a minute after he said those words, he

"Is it this way?"

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

heads, they were confronted with a scene that changed their complexion,