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!

tooth came undone and fell directly onto the ground. The process was rather quick,

moved his body forward

use this? It's good that I came

a mechanism within the tooth that enabled him to access the contents without the

Tik! Tik!

him about twenty seconds, and within that time, the tooth had completely changed into a tiny black box. Tapping onto it with

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 to use it, but as luck would have

was taken and he was stripped of all his possessions, he wasn't necessarily as hopeless as he would've

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

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

"That was nerve-wracking."

as he was, he

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

out, and

pressed his

wonder how they designed the

it. He understood that knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely important for his next

one that connects to the mana disruptor, or is

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

within his mind, and he forced himself to understand

"Hmmm "

from his dimensional space.

or may not

it mattered since he had several spare

what a waste

from his dimensional space, he

glow formed on the

"This will do."

given that he had to use a core to supplement

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

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

'They look rather strong.'

they were certainly stronger than him. Not as strong as Leopold, though. He

'That's good.'

him, then the situation would've been a lot

place a small device over the top of it. The device's eight legs appeared to be clamping down on the metallic door in a manner

Cl..Click!

buttons and trying to make the least sound possible, the gadget

red light from its base, and this

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

like they haven't

the machine was designed to be extremely quiet and unnoticeable, Ryan was able to create a small opening on the door without being noticed by the

it a light knock, it would fall, and an

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

Tok!

"Hu?"

enough to immediately draw the attention of the two demons who were standing guard.

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

took notice of Ryan whose eyes

How is this possible? Did the band