The Author's POV

"Shit!"

Maylin's eyes widened the moment she witnessed the hand come down to crush the human's body.

Although she didn't want to believe it, Maylin knew that it was impossible for the human to dodge the attack, and in the last moment, she saw him give up and sit down cross-legged on the bridge of the Princess's nose.

Then…

As if swatting a bug, the Princess's large hand came smacking down against her face.

Smack—!

Shockwaves spread across the land as a result of that smack, sending all the nearby people scattering into the distance.

Maylin included as her body flung into the air several times. When she stabilized herself, a curse slipped from her mouth.

"Shit. Damn it!"

'Damn it, I had already warned him before hand that this was dangerous… why did he have to go ahead and kill himself like that?!'

Maylin was understandably angry at the situation.

It was never easy to see such a talented individual die, and the fact that this could've all been avoided made her even angrier.

'What am I going to do when he comes and finds out that his comrade has died?'

Staring at the Princess who towered over her, Maylin felt helpless by the enormous power gap between the two of them, but she could only grit her teeth and channel all of the mana inside of her body.

Knowing of just how wide the gap between the two of them was, Maylin could only use her most powerful move.

One after another, green magic circles appeared behind her.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The land beneath started to tremble, and out of nowhere, thick vines that numbered in the hundreds sprouted out and made their way toward Maylin.

The speed at which the vines were moving was extremely fast, and upon reaching her, they twisted and bent around her body.

Glowing with a yellow light, power started to filtrate Maylin's body as her silver hair fluttered forward and runes appeared all over her body.

Power that was unlike any other surface within every corner of her body. Letting go of Maylin, the vines around her turned around and pointed directly at the Princess whose attention was now focused on her.

"What powerful energy."

Princess Adephagia muttered, her deep voice rumbling throughout the rotten land.

She seemed rather impressed… perhaps even salivating at the power as she brought her arm to her mouth to wipe the saliva that leaked down from the corner of her mouth.

One after another, magic circles appeared at the tips of the vines that were pointed at the Princess, who once again swallowed a mouthful of saliva at the sight.

"A lot of energy…"

The sight of her thirsting after her attack made Maylin frown, but she didn't let that get into her head, and within the span of half a second, the energy that had gathered at the tip of the vines burst forth and covered the entire land in green.

Grass and flowers germinated all over the land, and the once dry world seemed to come to life for a brief moment.

Maylin's hair fluttered upward, and she pointed her hand at the Princess.

"Go."

Her soft voice echoed throughout the land for a brief moment, and the power she had gathered burst forth and headed directly for the Princess with unbelievable might and momentum.

The world seemed to come to a sudden stop at her attack, and even the Princess seemed to be rather taken aback by the power of the attack.

"That's... more than I thought..."

Despite that, she didn't seem to be scared in the least bit. In fact, she seemed even more excited as she pressed her foot forward and opened her mouth widely.

Ooom—!

A humming sound came forth from her mouth, and Maylin's attack started to twist in the air before directing itself toward the Princess's mouth.

WOOOOM—! The attack soon reached her mouth, and when it did so, the Princess was forced to take several steps back.

Thump! Thump!

ραпdα -n?νe| , c?m With every step that she took, the terrain beneath her began to crumble, and all of a sudden, her cheeks began to swell up to an enormous size.

Her cheeks had swollen to such an extent that she resembled a hamster that had overindulged in seeds and nuts.

"Haaa.. haaa…"

During this time, Maylins's figure gradually descended toward the ground as she struggled to maintain her breath. Her expression was completely pale, and she struggled to keep herself from vomiting.

"I… I…"

She could barely formulate a single word, and when she looked in the distance, her gaze seemed to fog up out of tiredness.

Despite all of this, she forced herself to look in the distance, and that was when, to her horror, she witnessed the Princess slowly coming to a halt and closing her mouth as she sucked her attack in one go.

Her cheeks squirmed for a couple of seconds before the power that was contained within them calmed down, and Maylin's heart dropped.

"I,impossible…"

She wasn't sure how to feel at that moment. It felt as though the entire world had crumbled before her very eyes, and something sweet lingered at the back of her throat.

"Pftt."

Unable to hold back, she spat a mouthful of blood, and her already pale face paled even further.

"Damn…"

Maylin felt indignant at the situation. She thought she had grown stronger over the past five years… strong enough to perhaps fight against one of the seven heads of the demons—but how wrong she was.

They… They were monsters amongst monsters, and they weren't something that the likes of her could even deal with.

"Cough. Cough."

Coughing several times, she raised her head in resignation, but just as she thought everything was over, her expression changed.

"W.. what? H,how?"

Her expression was unable to betray the utter shock she was feeling at the moment. With her gaze directed at the Princess, she watched as a figure appeared right next to her open eye, and thrust his sword at it.

It all happened so fast that she barely had time to process it, but she didn't need to.

Moments after witnessing the scene, black blood spurted into the air as a muffled wail echoed in the air.

"Mhhhhhh!"

The Princess's head flayed from left to right as the figure that stood atop her eyes clung onto the bridge of her nose with dear life.

The power that she was trying to suppress inside of her mouth once again became wild, and her cheeks trembled.

Instantly, the situation reversed, and Myalin found herself staring at the scene in the distance with her mouth wide open.

"H… how is he still alive?"

***

'Hmm, that works too, I guess…'

Clinging on the bridge of the Princess's nose, Liam found his vision blocked by his hair, which fluttered in front of him and hindered his sight.

He didn't particularly mind since he didn't need his sight, but at the same time, he felt that it was a pity that he couldn't see the expression that the Princess was making.

'Ahhhh… how sad.'

It was a gamble, but it paid off in the end. Just before the hand was about to smack him, he used the move that he had been trying to perfect over the course of the last five years.

Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!

Liam was able to directly phase through objects as if he were a ghost by vibrating every inch of his body.

The move was extremely risky since just a single mistake could cost him his life, but at the same time, it worked perfectly, and he was able to pass through her hand and narrowly avoid death.

Furthermore, he would've died anyway, so he didn't really have an option and just took the risk of using the move.

'It's good that it worked out in the end.'

After giving the demoness the impression that he had died, he didn't attack immediately and bode his time for the right time to attack.

When he saw Maylin's attack, he understood when that moment was, and he struck right when the opportunity was ripe.

In the end, his gamble paid off, and the Princess found herself in a rather unfavorable situation.

Rumble! Rumble!

"Hmmmmmm!"

The princess continued to trash around in pain as she covered her eye with her hand.

Because he was right on the top of the bridge of her nose, she couldn't see him, and thus was able to avoid getting smacked again by her.

Of course, he knew that he didn't have that much time left.

"Hmm, but now, what…"

He… he had pretty much exhausted all of his means, and for the first time, he was unsure of what to do.

Sure… he had dealt significant damage to her, and if she lost completely control of the energy in her mouth, she'd get heavily injured, but that was where the problem lay… how was he supposed to make the energy inside her mouth go crazy?

What was he supposed to do next?

"Is this your doing?"

All of a sudden, a voice reached Liam's ears, and when he turned his head, he was surprised to see Ren standing next to him, completely unphased by what was happening around them.

Well... he sounded like Ren, and his outline looked like Ren, but he was a bit weird...

Opening his mouth, Liam tried to say something, but he eventually nodded his head and smiled.

"Oh, hey Ren. How have you been?"

I guess Liam now knew what he had to do next.