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 shocked to see that the person was Ryan who seemed to have tears streaming from the side of his eyes. As he raised his head, he saw

were clearly trying to

going on, a thin smile eventually spread across Smallsnake's

I'm still

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

of him felt great relief once

last long as he

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

figure who was standing not

to be standing behind what seemed to be

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

"A couple more seconds."

the red hue coming out from his body started to fluctuate wildly and the

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

"Ready!"

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

he took a step forward

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

Booom—!

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

"Fucking hell..."

coming from

Tin. Tin. Tin.

also hear the sound of small rocks

persisted for a couple of seconds before it finally stopped. Opening his eyes, Smallsnake was met with a large cloud of dust that soon settled

clearly see the aftermath of the attack and saw Kevin

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

"I…did it…"

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

Crack—!

tried to regain some of their

much harder

voice echoed

cleaned the small pieces of the core he

think they would be this strong. For a moment, I thought I was

"Tell me about it."

as she lay on the ground with both hands and legs spread apart. Not far from

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

you think I'll be able

slowly stood up and turned to face

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

mana which was slowly recovering due to the

heal him into top condition, and Kevin knew this. Especially since he was still suffering from the after-effects of having used

fight, he hoped Ren would arrive before any demons could

his hopes were answered as not even a minute after he said those words,

"Is it this way?"

His complexion instantly brightened. The same could

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