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!

fell directly onto the

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

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

the tooth that enabled him to access

Tik! Tik!

the tooth had completely changed into a tiny black box. Tapping onto it with his tongue,

guess Ren's

and the others. He never would've thought he'd need to use it, but

was taken and he was stripped of all his possessions, he wasn't

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

on his ankle using one of the items in his dimensional space and

"That was nerve-wracking."

as he was, he had

during the

everything worked out, and

and he pressed his hands against the

they designed the

to study it. He understood that knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely important for his next course of action, and so he spared no second

one that connects to the mana disruptor, or is

spent the next couple

within his mind, and he forced himself to understand everything that was going on inside of

"Hmmm "

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

may not have stolen it from

mattered since he had several spare

what a waste of a

he placed it over the

formed on the artifact in

"This will do."

him and Leopold, it was a given that he had to use a core to supplement the use of the

able to make use of the artifact if it

'This way.'

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

the small gap above, and that was when

'They look rather strong.'

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

'That's good.'

they been stronger than him, then the situation would've been

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 the metallic door in a manner that was eerily reminiscent of

Cl..Click!

the least sound possible, the gadget activated, and the eight legs clamped

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

small red circle formed on the iron door shortly after, and once the legs

they

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

knock, it would fall, and an

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

Tok!

"Hu?"

was enough to immediately draw the attention of the two demons who were standing guard. Both of their heads

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

whose eyes were

move? How is this possible? Did the band