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?"

As he raised his head, he saw Leopold, Ava, and Hein also staring at him. Their weapons were drawn out and formed a small circle around

clearly trying to

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

I'm still alive,

before, but now

him felt great relief once he

as he soon heard another crashing

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

familiar figure who was standing not

standing behind what

last much longer. The core I'm using is about to run out of energy. So

"A couple more seconds."

his body

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

"Ready!"

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

took

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 enveloped the entire

Booom—!

was forced to close his eyes. In the aftermath of the

"Fucking hell..."

coming from a meter away

Tin. Tin. Tin.

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

Opening his eyes, Smallsnake was met with a large cloud of dust

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

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

"I…did it…"

his hand. Taking another breath, he squeezed his hand together

Crack—!

in relief and tried to regain some

much harder

voice echoed throughout

small pieces of the

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

"Tell me about it."

both hands

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

think I'll

joked as he slowly stood up and turned to face

me that it might take a while, but I

mana which was

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

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

minute after he said those words, he was able to hear the sound of several footsteps

"Is it this way?"

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

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