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!

sound, his tooth came undone and fell directly onto

front of him, Ryan moved his body forward a little, and he picked the tooth with his

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

was sealed, he had installed a mechanism within the tooth that enabled him to access

Tik! Tik!

black box. Tapping onto it with his tongue, Ryan was

Ren's nagging

had also made one for himself and the others. He never would've thought he'd need to use it, but as

dimensional space was taken and he was stripped of all his possessions, he wasn't necessarily as hopeless as 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 it didn't trigger the alarm,

"That was nerve-wracking."

he was, he had been nervous

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

everything worked out,

was what mattered the most, and he pressed his hands

how they designed

Rayn started to study it. He understood that knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely important for his next course of action, and so he

this circuit does? Is this the one that connects to the

so, even though time was tight, Ryan spent the next couple of hours

himself to understand everything that was going on inside

"Hmmm "

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

may not have

mattered since he had several spare

what a waste

space, he placed it over

on

"This will do."

disparity in strength between him and Leopold, it was a given that he had to

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

'This way.'

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

it carefully, Ryan peaked through the small gap above, and that was when he caught sight of two demons

'They look rather strong.'

certainly stronger than him. Not as strong

'That's good.'

the situation would've been a

the iron door while sticking his tongue out and bent over to place a small device over the top of it. The device's eight legs appeared to be clamping down on

Cl..Click!

and trying to make the least sound possible, the gadget activated, and the eight

a minuscule red light from its base, and this light began to revolve

formed on the iron door shortly after, and

like they haven't

able to create a small

long as he gave it a light knock,

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

Tok!

"Hu?"

was a soft knock, it was enough to immediately draw the attention of the two demons

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

notice of Ryan whose eyes were fixed on the

this possible?