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

his cell, the area was far more secure, with thousands of different demons patrolling the area. They all emitted intimidating auras, and Ryan knew that even

to be caught

could only shudder at the

fine… It's fine… I can

around, his eyes paused on

and remained where he was

During that time, he made a concerted effort to eavesdrop on the conversations that were taking place and to assimilate all of the information

idea of how

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

useless, but that didn't concern

prepared to

some demonic energy covering me,

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

He was ready.

Tap.

foot stepped into the area, he felt countless eyes fall on

face, he continued to move toward where Leopold was being held.

to be

for

loud voice interrupted his thoughts, and Ryan's body froze on the spot. When he turned his head, he

overwhelming, and Ryan had a hard time keeping himself from passing out under his

that he wasn't dealing with just any regular demon but someone

"Y,yes?"

asked, his composure almost

are you

Ryan already had an

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

terminologies that Ryan picked up while

the term referred to those that were taken

"Which one?"

gaze of the demon, Ryan could only lower his

recall, that's where a human resides.

his head, trying

that's exactly where I

"Hmm, okay then."

quick to

go there, you can just tell them the reason

"Thank you."

went so smoothly. Things would've been troublesome if

Thankfully, he didn't.

'Okay, this is good.'

where Leopold resided, Ryan took

he touched his wrist and

***

an eye on him; don't make a

The commander said expressionlessly.

gaze fixed on a 'demon' moving toward door

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

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 whoever this "demon" was, they were merely pretending to be something

the demon right then and there was because he wanted

Their goal.