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!

low snapping sound, his tooth came undone and fell directly onto the ground. The

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

have to use this? It's good

mechanism within the tooth

Tik! Tik!

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

Ren's nagging wasn't

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

though his main 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."

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

"That was nerve-wracking."

as he was, he had been nervous the entire

valued his life, during the process he found himself sweating more than he had ever done

worked out, and nothing

and he pressed his hands against the ground, helping himself

how they designed the

out, Rayn started to study it. He understood that knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely

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

even though time was tight, Ryan spent the next couple of hours just staring blankly at

himself to

"Hmmm "

out a small artifact from his dimensional space. It

may not have

that it mattered since he had several

a waste

core from his dimensional space, he placed it over the artifact and activated

on the artifact

"This will do."

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

use of

'This way.'

darkness, and that was when he noticed a small opening that was sealed by an

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

'They look rather strong.'

Not as strong as Leopold, though. He could at

'That's good.'

than him, then the situation would've

the top of it. The device's eight legs appeared to be clamping down on the metallic door

Cl..Click!

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

emitted a minuscule red light from its base, and this light began

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

like they haven't

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

light knock, it would fall, and

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

Tok!

"Hu?"

knock, it was enough to immediately draw the attention of the two demons who were standing guard. Both of their heads snapped around to look in his

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

soon took notice of Ryan whose

How is this possible?