The Author's POV

The internal structure of the underground cavern was massive. Ryan couldn't count the handful of times he had taken the wrong path and headed toward a dead end.

It was starting to get to him.

"Not this one either."

Staring at probably what seemed to be like the tenth dead end, Ryan sighed in frustration and glanced at his phone.

There was a single red dot displayed on the screen, and that was where Ryan was currently headed to.

That was where Leopold was being held, and while he knew the exact direction of where he was, finding him was starting to prove to be a more difficult task than he had anticipated.

In a maze, just knowing where someone was, wasn't enough.

'If only he was somewhere more open.'

The fact that he was inside a massive underground network made it hard for Ryan to find the correct path, but he wasn't completely hopeless.

When he reached a new one, his phone would trace his steps so that he could see exactly where he was going and the places he had been in the past. Although he did run into a lot of dead ends, this helped him stay on track and stopped him from going to the same places twice.

He was steadily making progress, but still...

"Ugh."

Ryan groaned out loud.

'This is so frustrating.'

Time was of the essence, and he was wasting a lot of time finding the right path.

When he looked at his body, the demonic energy that had been encircling him had practically disappeared, and he no longer felt like a demon.

If he were to meet a demon, he'd instantly be found out.

'How annoying.'

The situation was anything but pleasant.

Despite that, Ryan could only grit his teeth and take out another demon core. This one belonged to the second demon he killed.

Crack!

Crushing it in the palm of his hand, he repeated the process from before and once again trekked on.

'No point in complaining… If I don't hurry up, things might turn for the worst. I need to hurry up.'

*

'Bingo.'

Ryan didn't know for how long he had walked, but after a couple more dead ends, he finally found the correct route, and he was shortly exposed to a large opening that was filled with thousands of metallic doors.

He was still quite a distance away from it, but he was able to see everything properly with the aid of a certain device.

'Well… shit…'

face fell the moment he

with thousands of different demons patrolling the area. They all emitted intimidating auras, and Ryan knew that

were to be caught by

could only shudder at

fine… I can do

had already thought things through before, and what he was seeing was within his calculations. Scanning around, his eyes paused on a certain door in the distance, and taking a

time was ripe yet and remained where he was for the next couple

hours. During that time, he made a concerted effort to eavesdrop on the conversations that were taking place and to assimilate

idea of how the system over

were going to be kept there for long as he'd see demons

was rather useless, but that didn't concern him

to make a

some demonic energy covering me, so I should

demonic energy that surrounded his body was still stable, he nodded

He was ready.

Tap.

his foot stepped into the area, he felt countless eyes

with a stoic face, he continued to move toward where Leopold was being held. He ignored the gazes and continued

to be

there for

loud voice interrupted his thoughts, and Ryan's body froze on the spot. When he turned his head, he almost fell to his knees. Towering over

was overwhelming, and Ryan had a hard time keeping himself

with just any regular

"Y,yes?"

his composure

you

One which Ryan already had

coming here from another sector, and I need to meet one

was one of the terminologies that Ryan picked up while listening in on the demons for the past

what they meant, he knew that the term referred to those that

"Which one?"

demon, Ryan could only lower his head and

where a human resides. Is

nodded his head,

where

"Hmm, okay then."

to agree and stepped to

disturb you any further. When you go there, you can just tell them the reason why you're visiting, and they'll

"Thank you."

rather relieved that things went so smoothly. Things would've been

Thankfully, he didn't.

'Okay, this is good.'

over the door where Leopold resided, Ryan

he touched his wrist

***

on him; don't make a

The commander said expressionlessly.

his head, his gaze fixed on a 'demon' moving

he knew that he didn't belong

the fact that demons of its rank wouldn't show up in such a location, the fact that the demonic energy that covered its body was rather faint was a great indicator that

reason the commander hadn't stopped the demon right then and there was because he

Their goal.