The Author's POV

[Pillar of Greed]

It was dark and damp. A musty smell of damp earth and rocks filled Ryan's nostrils as his eyes slowly opened up.

Blinking a couple of times, he noticed that he couldn't quite see very far. The dim lighting around him made it difficult to see beyond a few meters. When he reached out with his hand, he felt a rough and uneven surface.

'A cave?'

That was the first thought that crossed his mind as he felt the sides of the walls.

Drip. Drip.

The sound of dripping water echoed in all directions in the space he was in, further reaffirming his original assumption.

"Hm?"

Right when he tried to move, he noticed that his feet were bound to something and that the little mana inside of his body had been completely sealed.

"Shit."

Letting out a curse, he squinted his eyes and noticed a small bracelet on his ankles.

They were firmly clamped at his ankles and were rather thick. About the size of his forearms and made it impossible for him to move properly.

'This is bad.'

He knew instantly that the situation was not good.

It was also at that moment that he recalled what had led to his sudden appearance over here, and his expression changed.

"Leopold?"

He called out, hoping to receive some sort of answer, but it was much to his dismay that he realized that he was the only person inside the cave.

"Crap."

Ryan started to worry a little.

Although Leopold was stronger than him, he didn't know what was currently happening and was understandably worried.

That being said…

"Huu."

All it took was a single breath for Ryan to calm himself down. He had been on many dangerous missions in the past, and this wasn't any different.

After calming himself down, Ryan closed his eyes and started to ponder over his options.

While he wasn't like Ren and didn't have a chip inside of his brain, he was still a genius in his own right.

Several different scenarios popped up in his mind, and it wasn't long before a plan formulated inside of his mind.

'Hmm, I guess that could work.'

He opened his eyes. Unlike before, his gaze was calm, and no longer was he nervous like a few moments prior.

"Now then…"

Fiddling his tongue around his teeth, his tongue settled over the furthest tooth on his bottom right side, and his expression cringed a little.

Cr… Crack!

onto the ground. The process was

at the tooth in front of him, Ryan moved his body forward a little, and he

thought I'd have to use this? It's

installed a mechanism within the tooth that enabled him to access the contents without the need

Tik! Tik!

had completely changed into a tiny black box. Tapping onto it with his tongue, Ryan was able

Ren's nagging wasn't

one for himself and the others. He never would've thought he'd need to use it, but as luck would have it, he indeed found himself in a situation where he needed to use

taken and he was stripped of all his possessions, he

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

disabling the bracelet that was on his ankle using one of the items in his dimensional space and making sure that

"That was nerve-wracking."

as he was, he had

the air. Since he valued his life, during the process he found himself sweating more than he

worked out, and

mattered the most, and he pressed his hands against

wonder how they designed the

it. He understood that knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely important for his next

this the one that connects

spent the next couple of hours just staring

forced himself to understand everything that was going on inside of

"Hmmm "

took out a small artifact from his dimensional space. It was the same shotgun like artifact that

may not have stolen it

that it mattered since he had

waste of

core from his dimensional space, he placed it over

gentle glow formed on

"This will do."

strength between him and Leopold, it was a given that he had to use a core to supplement the

would never be able to make use of the

'This way.'

that was when

the small gap above, and that was when he caught sight of two demons standing

'They look rather strong.'

stronger than him. Not as strong as Leopold, though. He

'That's good.'

than him, then the situation would've

bent over to place a small device over the top of it. The device's eight legs appeared to be clamping down on the metallic door

Cl..Click!

the buttons and trying to make the least sound possible, the gadget activated, and the eight legs clamped harder on

base, and this

circle formed on the iron door shortly after, and once the legs rotated

like they haven't

to be extremely quiet and unnoticeable, Ryan was able to create a small opening on

light knock,

two guards from the opening above, and he knocked at the door once. He didn't bother ducking down and

Tok!

"Hu?"

attention of the two demons who were standing guard. Both of their

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

took notice of Ryan whose eyes were fixed on the two

is this