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?"

was Ryan who seemed to have tears streaming from the side of his eyes. As he raised his head, he saw Leopold, Ava, and Hein also staring at him. Their weapons were drawn

were clearly trying

across Smallsnake's face as he lowered his head back down and turned

I'm still

not have been sure before, but now he knew...He knew

of him felt great relief once

as he soon heard

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

to belong to another familiar figure who

seemed to be standing behind what seemed

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

"A couple more seconds."

the red hue coming out from his body started

had long 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

"Ready!"

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

behind his head, he took a

look of utter terror on the demon's face as Kevin's attack came crashing

Booom—!

the aftermath of the explosion, Melissa took several steps back and her face paled

"Fucking hell..."

coming from a meter

Tin. Tin. Tin.

small rocks hitting against the barrier that was protecting the area around

stopped. Opening his eyes, Smallsnake was

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

a mess. Nevertheless, they appeared to be relieved as Kevin

"I…did it…"

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

Crack—!

sighed in relief and tried to regain some of their lost

harder than I

echoed

cleaned the small pieces

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

"Tell me about it."

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

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

think I'll be

slowly stood up and turned

come back. He told me that it might take a while, but I

mana which

Kevin knew this. Especially since he was still suffering from the

condition to fight, he hoped Ren

minute after he said those words, he

"Is it this way?"

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

confronted with a scene that