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…'

moment he

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

he were to

shudder at the

fine… It's fine… I can

and what he was seeing was within his calculations. Scanning around, his eyes paused on a certain door in the distance, and taking a deep breath, he

was ripe yet and remained where he was for the

that time, he made a concerted effort to eavesdrop on the conversations that

he started to get a better idea of how

the reason they were gathering prisoners, he knew that none of them were going to be kept there for long as he'd see demons routinely approaching the cell doors

rest of what he heard was rather useless, but that didn't concern him as he had

was prepared to make a

still have some demonic energy covering me, so I should

surrounded his body was still stable, he nodded his head with

He was ready.

Tap.

area, he felt countless eyes

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

seems to

there for a

body froze on the spot. When he turned his head, he almost fell to his knees. Towering over him was a large demon with

hard time keeping himself from passing out

dealing with just any regular demon but someone that seemed

"Y,yes?"

asked, his composure

you

which Ryan already

here from another sector, and I need to meet one of the

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

he wasn't sure of what they meant, he knew that the term referred to those

"Which one?"

the scrutinizing gaze of the demon, Ryan could only lower his head and

9862? …Hm, last I recall, that's where a human resides. Is

nodded his head, trying not

exactly where I

"Hmm, okay then."

was quick to agree

can just tell them the reason why you're visiting, and they'll

"Thank you."

relieved that things went so smoothly. Things would've been troublesome if the demon had noticed that something

Thankfully, he didn't.

'Okay, this is good.'

gaze over the door where Leopold resided, Ryan took a deep

touched his wrist and tapped on it

***

eye on him; don't make a

The commander said expressionlessly.

gaze fixed on a 'demon' moving toward

appeared, he knew that he didn't belong

demonic energy that covered its body was

stopped the demon right then and there

Their goal.