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

were clearly trying to

thin smile eventually spread across Smallsnake's face as he lowered his head back down and turned to

I'm still

been sure before, but now

felt great relief once he

last long as he

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

belong to another familiar figure who was standing not so

behind what seemed to be a

to run out of energy. So hurry up Kevin!

"A couple more seconds."

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

to something, desperately tried to stop whatever he was doing, but regardless

"Ready!"

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

his sword behind his head, he took a

completely as 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

Booom—!

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

"Fucking hell..."

heard her curse coming from a meter away from

Tin. Tin. Tin.

Smallsnake could also hear the sound of small rocks hitting against the

eyes, Smallsnake was met with a

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

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

"I…did it…"

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

Crack—!

everyone sighed in relief and tried to regain

harder than I

echoed throughout the

the small pieces of the core he

would be this strong. For a moment, I thought

"Tell me about it."

on the ground with both hands and legs spread apart. Not far

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

you think I'll be able

slowly stood up and turned to

to do is wait for Ren and the others to come back. He told me that it might take a while, but I seriously think

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

Especially since he was still suffering from the after-effects of having used Overdrive. At this

fight, he hoped Ren would arrive before any

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

"Is it this way?"

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

turned their heads, they were confronted with a scene