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

more secure, with thousands of different demons patrolling the area. They

he were to be caught

only shudder at the

fine… It's fine… I

Scanning around, his eyes paused on a certain door in the distance, and taking a

that the 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

started to get a better idea of how the system over here worked, and what

were gathering prisoners, he knew that none of them were going to be kept there for long as he'd

he heard was rather useless, but that didn't

to make a

some demonic energy covering me,

his body was still stable, he nodded

He was ready.

Tap.

he felt countless

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

to be

for

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

a hard time keeping himself from passing out under his enormous

moment that he wasn't dealing with just any regular demon but someone that seemed to be

"Y,yes?"

asked, his composure

you

One which Ryan

and I need to meet one of the 'sources' that we've

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

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

"Which one?"

demon, Ryan could only lower his head and point toward

where a human resides.

his head, trying not to

that's exactly where I need

"Hmm, okay then."

demon was quick to agree and stepped to

any further. When you go there, you can just

"Thank you."

Things would've been troublesome if

Thankfully, he didn't.

'Okay, this is good.'

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

he touched his

***

on him; don't make a

The commander said expressionlessly.

he turned his head, his gaze fixed

he appeared, he knew that he didn't belong in

location, the fact that the demonic energy that covered

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

Their goal.