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 noticed

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

he were to be caught by

shudder at

It's fine… I can do

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

time was ripe yet and remained where

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

useful as he started to get a better idea of how the system

none of them were going to be kept there

was rather useless, but that didn't concern him

was prepared to make

still have some demonic energy covering me, so

body was still stable,

He was ready.

Tap.

area, he felt countless eyes fall on him, and his entire back was

to move toward where Leopold was being held. He ignored the gazes and

to be

there for a

spot. When he turned his head, he almost fell to his knees. Towering over him was a large demon with a bulky build and a

presence was overwhelming, and Ryan had a hard time keeping himself from passing out

with just any regular demon but someone that seemed to be high up in

"Y,yes?"

his composure almost

you doing

One which Ryan already had an answer

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

terminologies that Ryan picked up while listening in on the demons

he knew that the term referred to those that were taken in by

"Which one?"

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

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

his head, Ryan cautiously nodded his head, trying

exactly where

"Hmm, okay then."

to agree and stepped

just tell them the reason why you're visiting,

"Thank you."

so smoothly. Things would've been troublesome

Thankfully, he didn't.

'Okay, this is good.'

the door where Leopold resided,

he touched his wrist and

***

him; don't make a

The commander said expressionlessly.

his gaze fixed on a 'demon' moving toward

the moment that he appeared, he knew that he didn't belong

energy that covered its body

only reason the commander hadn't stopped the demon right then and there was because he wanted to see what he wanted to

Their goal.