The Author's POV

"Wait, Ren. I can still fight. I still haven't used my trump card."

"It doesn't matter. You already had your chance, and honestly..."

Ren didn't even bother to look at Liam before he shot him.

"Even if you were to successfully defeat him, the cost would be too great for you to bear. Please return to the castle and allow me to handle the current situation."

"Tsk."

After making a clicking sound with his tongue, Liam sheathed his sword, and the hue that had been swirling around his body began to fade.

When he looked into Ren's eyes, he found that he could not bring himself to disobey his orders. The things that he said weren't totally off base.

Even though there was a slim chance that he could triumph over the demon that stood in front of him, the price that he would have to pay to defeat that demon would be far too high for him to stomach. In spite of the fact that he often acted on impulse, he was not exactly wishing to die just yet.

There were a great number of other goals in his mind that he wanted to accomplish before dying. Dying to some unknown Duke ranked demon wasn't on the list.

'...Like fighting the Demon King.'

The one demon that was said to be unbeatable.

Now, dying against him would indeed be fun.

"Fine, but just this time. There won't be a next time."

His body then fell to the ground, and he disappeared immediately after.

In the sky, Ren and the Suriol stared at each other. Ren's eyes appeared rather icy, in contrast to Suriol's, which shone with a watchful intensity.

Opening his mouth, Suriol asked.

"Did you just breakthrough?"

"...I thought that was obvious enough."

Ren cast a casual glance in the direction of the castle, which was located behind him.

He didn't feel the need to lie about his most recent breakthrough. To him, it wasn't going to change the outcome of the fight regardless.

Additionally, the phenomenon that his breakthrough had brought into existence ought to have already been a dead giveaway at that point. Clearly, Suriol was just asking to waste time and get a better read on his strength.

"I see..."

Duke Suriol closed his eyes once.

His wings quickly grew larger, and a powerful force erupted from his body, heading in the direction of Ren like an unstoppable tsunami.

When confronted with such intense pressure, Ren simply extended his hand forward and swiped to his right, which allowed him to effortlessly slice through the assault as though it was made out of paper.

"...Not bad."

by Ren caused Suriol's expression

point, Suriol maintained a

step

felt the presence of someone standing right behind him. To his surprise, he could still see Duke Soriol's figure standing in the

was obvious that he moved at such a rapid pace that he

this, Ren was able to respond in time as five rings materialized directly behind him, forming a stack that stopped Duke Suriol's impending

Crack!

The final ring also shattered, but by the time it did, Ren had already

Duke Suriol who looked at Ren with a surprised

you've also

demeanor remained consistent the entire time, but

front of him, the space in front of him shattered, and his hand disappeared, only to reappear

"Khh.."

he was unable to deflect the blow in time, and as a consequence, he sustained an injury on the back

to attack Ren, resulting in cuts appearing all over

covered in cuts, and blood had started to leak out of the

took in Ren's predicament and then began

with me. It was over 150 years ago that I was promoted to the Duke rank. Even if you had managed to stabilize the mana within your body, you would not have been able to fight me

rank was roughly equivalent to an

to rank, there was still a significant gap in their

wasn't bad enough, Ren's level of experience paled in comparison to that of Duke Suriol, who had lived for over 500 years. In his head, there wasn't much of a fight left to be

by Ren's appearance, the 'surprise' was where

make sure to torture you a bit more for everything you've done over the past few

his attacks grew increasingly

Ren's lonesome figure floating above them

gap between Duke Soriol and

looking up from below could make out every detail perfectly. Instantaneously,

demons' attacks started to become more

all beginning to feel hopeless about the outcome

***

"Huakk!!"

head with an arrow, a demon toppled to the ground, sending it crashing down hard against a pack of other demons that were fighting beneath the

with a flick of Amanda's bowstring. This arrow was perfectly aimed at the exposed core of the demon, and when it was suddenly released, the arrow shattered the demon's core into

wasn't enough, with another flick of her finger, the arrow exploded, and a large explosion resounded throughout the air, completely disintegrating the

Booom!

"Another few down..."

does that

this point. The only thing she could feel was her dwindling mana

"It's bleeding."

noticed that her fingers were bleeding. Evidently, all that shooting had

a problem because she could simply take out a potion to heal her wounds...unfortunately, the situation didn't

and thus she was forced to swiftly move and twist her body in a way that granted her the ability

skill [Target Lock [S]] activated, as its functions were rather close to an aim bot. She didn't even really need to aim properly to kill a demon with

large amount of mana that the

Thud! Thud! Thud!

and twist. Her bow let loose three arrows that flew at horrifying speeds. One after the other, the arrows pierced the skulls of

"Haaa...haaa..."