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?"

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

were clearly trying to

on, a thin smile eventually spread across Smallsnake's face as he lowered his head

I'm still

now he

of him felt great relief once

didn't last long as he soon heard another crashing

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

to belong to another familiar figure who was standing not so far

standing behind what seemed to

I'm using is about to run out of energy. So hurry up Kevin!

"A couple more seconds."

hue coming out from his body started to fluctuate

to stop whatever he was doing, but regardless of much he tried, he would always get blocked by either the girl with the short

"Ready!"

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

head, he took a step forward

the air around him solidified. The last thing Smallsnake saw was the look of utter terror on the demon's face

Booom—!

to close his eyes. In the aftermath of the explosion, Melissa took

"Fucking hell..."

coming from a

Tin. Tin. Tin.

Smallsnake could also hear the sound of small rocks hitting against the barrier that was protecting the area

of seconds before it finally stopped. Opening his eyes, Smallsnake was met with a large cloud of dust

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

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

"I…did it…"

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

Crack—!

tried

harder

echoed throughout the

cleaned the small pieces of the core

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

"Tell me about it."

with both hands and legs spread apart. Not far from her were her

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

you think I'll be

stood up and turned to face one

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

same went for their mana which was slowly recovering due to the aid of several

he was still suffering from the after-effects of having used Overdrive. At this moment, his whole body was

hoped Ren would

not even a minute after he said those words, he was able to hear the sound

"Is it this way?"

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

turned their heads, they were confronted with a scene that