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!

fell directly onto the ground. The process was rather quick, but

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

have to use this? It's good that I

the tooth that

Tik! Tik!

changed into a tiny black box. Tapping

Ren's nagging wasn't

had originally made this for Ren, but he had also made one for himself and the others. He never would've thought he'd need

space was taken and he was stripped of all his possessions, he wasn't necessarily

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

that was on his ankle using one of the items in his dimensional space and making sure that it didn't trigger the alarm, Ryan finally let

"That was nerve-wracking."

he had been nervous the

and everything would go up in the air. Since he valued his life, during the process he found himself sweating more than

everything worked out, and nothing

the most, and he pressed his hands against the ground,

wonder how they designed

knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely important for his next course of action,

what this circuit does? Is this the one that connects to the mana disruptor, or is

even though time was tight, Ryan spent the next couple

circuit within his mind, and he forced himself to understand everything that was going on inside of

"Hmmm "

from his

not have stolen it

mattered since he

waste of

dimensional space, he placed it over the artifact and

gentle glow formed on the artifact in his

"This will do."

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

be able to make use of the artifact if it weren't for

'This way.'

could now see better within the darkness, and that was when he

gap above, and that was when he

'They look rather strong.'

Not as strong as Leopold,

'That's good.'

stronger than him, then the

of it. The device's eight legs appeared to be clamping down

Cl..Click!

the gadget activated, and

legs emitted a minuscule red light from its base, and

iron door shortly after,

like they haven't

designed to be extremely quiet and unnoticeable, Ryan was able to create

he gave it a light knock, it would

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

Tok!

"Hu?"

though it was a soft knock, it was enough to immediately draw the attention of the two demons who were standing guard. Both of their heads

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

Ryan whose eyes were fixed on the two

this