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?"

Ryan who seemed to have tears streaming from the side of his eyes. As he raised his head, he saw Leopold, Ava, and Hein

clearly trying

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

I'm still

but now he knew...He knew

felt great relief

as he soon heard another crashing

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

who was standing

behind what seemed to be a large

don't think I'll be able to last much longer. The core I'm using is about to run out of energy. So hurry up

"A couple more seconds."

out from his body started

something, desperately tried to stop whatever he was doing, but regardless of much he tried, he would always get blocked

"Ready!"

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

he took a

felt as though time had frozen 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 bright red light

Booom—!

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

"Fucking hell..."

curse coming from a meter

Tin. Tin. Tin.

small rocks hitting against the barrier that was

eyes, Smallsnake was

he could clearly see the aftermath of the attack and

Nevertheless, they appeared to

"I…did it…"

ground, and observed the core in his hand. Taking another breath, he squeezed his hand together and the core shattered into millions

Crack—!

relief and tried to regain some

much harder than

voice echoed throughout

cleaned the small pieces of the core he had in his

I knew that Marquis ranked demons were strong, I didn't think they would

"Tell me about it."

hands and legs spread apart. Not far from her were her two short

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

you think I'll be

slowly stood up and turned to

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

same went for their mana

enough to completely heal him into top condition, and Kevin knew this. Especially since he was still suffering

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

as not even a minute after he said those words,

"Is it this way?"

instantly brightened. The same could

were confronted with a scene that changed their complexion, making