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!

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

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

would've thought I'd have to use

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

Tik! Tik!

the tooth had completely changed into a tiny black box. Tapping onto it with his tongue, Ryan was able to catch a glimpse

guess Ren's nagging

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

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

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

the items in his dimensional space and making sure that it didn't trigger the alarm, Ryan finally let out a

"That was nerve-wracking."

composed as he was, he had been nervous the entire

everything would go up in the air. Since he valued his life, during the process he found himself

everything worked out, and nothing

was what mattered the most, and he pressed his hands against

how they designed the

behind it was extremely important

circuit does? Is this the one that connects

next couple of hours just staring blankly at the bracelet in his

forced himself to understand everything that

"Hmmm "

took out a small artifact from his dimensional space.

may not

that it mattered since he had

a waste

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

formed on the artifact in his

"This will do."

between him and Leopold, it was a given that he had to

would never be able to make use of the artifact if it

'This way.'

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

above, and that was when he caught sight of two demons

'They look rather strong.'

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

'That's good.'

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

to place a small device over the top of it. The device's eight legs

Cl..Click!

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

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

door shortly after, and

like they

quiet and unnoticeable, Ryan was able to create a small opening on the door without being

a light knock, it would fall, and an opening

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

Tok!

"Hu?"

was a soft knock, it was enough to immediately draw the attention of the two demons who were

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

took notice of Ryan whose eyes were fixed on the two

How is this possible?