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!

directly onto the ground. The process was rather

moved his body forward

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

sealed, he had installed a mechanism within the tooth that enabled him to access the contents without the need to use

Tik! Tik!

twenty seconds, and within that time, the tooth had completely changed into a tiny black box. Tapping onto it with his tongue, Ryan was

guess Ren's nagging

would've thought he'd need to use it, but

was stripped of all his possessions, he wasn't necessarily as hopeless

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

space and making sure that it didn't trigger the alarm, Ryan finally

"That was nerve-wracking."

he was, he had been

during the

everything worked out, and

the most, and he pressed his hands against

they designed

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

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

tight, Ryan spent the next couple of

himself to understand everything

"Hmmm "

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

may or may not have

since

a waste of a

from his dimensional space, he placed it over the artifact

formed on the

"This will do."

strength between him and Leopold, it was a given that he

use of the artifact if it

'This way.'

within the darkness, and that was when he noticed a small opening that was sealed

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

'They look rather strong.'

couldn't exactly tell, but they were certainly stronger than him. Not as strong as Leopold, though. He could at least say

'That's good.'

than him, then the

while sticking his tongue out and bent over to place a small device over the top of it. The device's

Cl..Click!

make the least sound possible, the gadget activated, and

red light from its base, and

red circle formed on the iron door shortly after, and

like they

the machine was designed to be extremely quiet and unnoticeable, Ryan was able to create a small

gave it a light knock, it would fall,

looked toward the two guards from the opening above, and he knocked at the door once.

Tok!

"Hu?"

the two demons

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

soon took notice of Ryan whose eyes were fixed

can move? How is this possible? Did the