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."

Ren caused Suriol's expression to become

that point, Suriol maintained

step it

someone standing right behind him. To his surprise, he could still see

that he moved at such a rapid pace that

rings materialized directly

Crack!

ring also shattered, but by the time it did, Ren had already moved a considerable distance away from where

actions surprised Duke Suriol who looked at Ren with a surprised

also dodged

remained consistent the entire time, but his smile

front of him, the space in front of him shattered, and his hand disappeared, only to reappear in a flash right next to Ren as the

"Khh.."

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

that wasn't bad enough, Duke Soriol continued to attack Ren, resulting in cuts

body had already become covered in cuts, and blood had started to leak out of the various wounds and onto the

beamed with satisfaction as he took in Ren's predicament

you've advanced to the next level does not mean you can fight on equal grounds with me. It was over 150 years ago that I was promoted to the Duke rank. Even if you

other races, Duke Suriol's rank was roughly equivalent to an

who had just broken through to rank, there was still a significant gap in their abilities, and this was what he was attempting to convey to Ren, who was struggling to avoid his

comparison to that of Duke Suriol, who had lived for over 500 years. In his head, there wasn't much

by Ren's

everything you've done over the past few months. All of

sudden outburst of rage as his attacks grew increasingly vicious. Ren, who could barely avoid his attacks, began to bleed even

see Ren's lonesome figure floating above them

Duke Soriol

could make out every detail perfectly. Instantaneously,

on the battlefield below took a new direction as the demons' attacks started to become more fierce while those on

all beginning to feel hopeless about the outcome of the

***

"Huakk!!"

toppled to the ground, sending it crashing down hard against

aimed at the exposed core of the demon, and when it was suddenly released, the arrow shattered the demon's core into millions of different

her finger, the arrow exploded, and a large explosion resounded throughout the air, completely disintegrating the demons

Booom!

"Another few down..."

many does

The only thing she could

"It's bleeding."

were bleeding.

the situation didn't allow her to do so as her hand

appeared, and thus she was forced to swiftly move and twist her body in a way that granted her the ability to lock sight with the demons that

fortunate that she had her 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

the large amount of mana that the skill

Thud! Thud!

of the castle and attempt to attack Amanda, her body continued to leap into the air and twist. Her bow let loose three arrows that flew at horrifying speeds. One after the other, the arrows pierced the skulls of three demons,

"Haaa...haaa..."