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."

unassuming actions taken by Ren caused Suriol's expression to become

that point, Suriol maintained a relatively relaxed

step it

Ren's ear from the back as Ren felt the presence of someone standing right behind him. To his surprise, he could still see

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

in time as five rings materialized directly behind him, forming a stack

Crack!

the five rings shattering completely. The final ring also shattered, but by the time it did,

Duke Suriol who looked at Ren with

you've also dodged

the entire

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

"Khh.."

in time, and as a consequence, he sustained an injury on the back of his

continued to attack Ren, resulting in cuts appearing all over

time, Ren's body had already become covered in cuts, and blood had started to leak out of the

Suriol beamed with satisfaction as he took in Ren's predicament and then began

mean you can fight on equal grounds with me. It was over 150 years ago that I was promoted to the Duke

Suriol's rank was roughly equivalent to an

Ren, who had just broken through to rank, there was still a significant gap in their abilities,

wasn't bad enough, Ren's level of experience paled in comparison to that of Duke Suriol, who had lived for over 500

by Ren's appearance,

a bit more for everything you've done over the past few months. All of my

attacks grew increasingly vicious. Ren, who could barely avoid his attacks,

lonesome figure floating above them as their hearts

Duke Soriol

out every detail perfectly. Instantaneously, the morale of the demons grew stronger, whereas the orcs'

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

feel hopeless about the outcome

***

"Huakk!!"

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

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 millions of

enough, with another flick of her finger, the arrow exploded, and a large explosion resounded throughout the air, completely disintegrating the demons that were beside the

Booom!

"Another few down..."

many does that

of how many demons she had killed at this point. The only thing she could feel was her dwindling mana and

"It's bleeding."

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

the situation didn't allow

move and twist her body in a way

were rather close to

amount

Thud! Thud!

leap into the air and twist. Her bow let loose

"Haaa...haaa..."