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!

and fell directly onto the ground. The process was rather quick, but it still hurt a

head to stare at the tooth in 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

the tooth that enabled him to access the contents without

Tik! Tik!

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

guess Ren's

but he had also made one for himself and the others. He never would've thought he'd

dimensional space was taken and he was stripped of all

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

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, Ryan finally let out a sigh

"That was nerve-wracking."

was, he had

his life, during the process he

out, and

pressed his hands against the ground, helping

wonder how they

it. He understood that knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely important for his next course of action,

Is this the one that connects

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

he forced himself to understand everything

"Hmmm "

he was done stretching his body, he took out a small artifact from

may or may not

since he had several spare

a waste of a

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

formed on the artifact

"This will do."

a given that he had to use a core

of the artifact if it

'This way.'

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

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

'They look rather strong.'

couldn't exactly tell, but they were certainly stronger than him. Not as strong as Leopold,

'That's good.'

stronger 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 eight legs appeared to be clamping

Cl..Click!

least sound possible, the

of the legs emitted a minuscule red light from its base, and this light began to revolve around the device in a

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

they haven't

able to create a small opening on

long as he gave it a light knock,

above, and he knocked at the door once. He didn't bother ducking

Tok!

"Hu?"

was enough to immediately draw the attention of the

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

Ryan whose eyes were fixed on

this possible? Did