The Author's POV

"That is all…"

Inside a spacious white hall, a dwarf put a small file on top of a desk and stepped back.

"Looks like the situation is still stable."

There were multiple people inside the hall; sitting on a large oval wooden desk. One of them grabbed the papers and read through them; he was a bald old dwarf. He wore circular black-framed glasses and had thick black brows.

"We've only suffered minor casualties so far, an' tha city hasn't been breached."

"…at least for now."

Someone else added.

With long hair cascading down his back and pointy ears, the man was an elf. His hair was primarily of golden color, however, if one looked closely, they'd noticed a few silver strands in his hair.

A regal aura exuded from his body.

Opening his mouth, his melodious voice rang throughout the whole room.

"Although the situation looks stable for now, we never know what might happen in the future. It's best if we don't get overconfident with the result of the first wave."

"I agree with Nasir."

A deep and powerful voice sounded, and the table slightly shook.

The voice belonged to an orc whose physique was at least double that of any of the individuals present inside the hall.

His terrifying eyes could make any regular person faint in fear.

"We should not be arrogant with our results."

Putting the papers down, the bald dwarf from before opened his mouth.

"Yroh, Nasir, although I understand what yer trying ta say, dinna be so pessimistic, we still haven't activated tha city's main defensive system yet."

A proud smirk appeared on the dwarf's lips as soon as he mentioned the city's defensive system.

And rightfully so.

Everyone in the room knew just how powerful the dwarves' defensive system was. That was because the dwarves never shied away from showing it off to the others.

Although they didn't know the full extent of its capabilities, from what they saw, it was no joke.

If not for the fact that it consumed a lot of energy, the dwarves would've already used it by now.

"Once tha system be up, we won't have ta worry aboot those demons for a while."

"…but don't you think that the demon's movements are a bit suspicious, Belgig?"

This time another person spoke up.

He appeared to be an old man well into his eighties. His long white hair gently cascaded down his back, and his long white beard reached down towards his chest. The only unordinary thing about him was probably his temperament. He wore a kind and warm smile on his face, making him look friendly to those around him.

He was Douglas, the headmaster of the Lock.

"They indeed be, Douglas, me best guess be that they're trying ta infiltrate tha defensive system an' shut it down."

"...That would be pretty problematic."

The bald dwarf's response caused Douglas to frown.

Belgig, which was the name of the bald dwarf, quickly reassured.

"Don't worry; we've already taken countermeasures for this."

"You have?"

"Yes, but I'll have ta apologise in advance for nae telling ye anymore than this."

Raising his brow slightly, a look of understanding appeared on Douglas's face.

"Understandable."

Smiling kindly, he stopped asking questions.

He understood what Belgig was trying to imply.

'No one could be trusted.'

For there could be someone present in the room that was secretly working with the demons. It was best to have the least amount of people know about the ins and outs of the defensive system.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tapping on the table, Belgig suddenly recalled something. A sly smile appeared on his face as he looked at Douglas.

"On another note, now that I'm talking ta ye Douglas, I want ta thank ye."

"Thank me?"

his head

anything notable

reaction caused Belgig to raise his

aware of

"Northern area?"

knit. After a while, he shook his

"No, I apologize."

"Is that so?"

the corner of

beckoned for him to come to

Douglas the video of the

"Yes."

middle of

the device, a

"Here you go, sir."

"Thank you."

seen this before, he couldn't help but

him, the other people also curiously

Furthermore.

head, Belgig amusingly looked at

to see

"Huh?"

happened in the northern tower. From how those at the towers beautifully defended the place with the

minutes, and by the end of

"Not bad."

bad at all. They

are quite

the battle wasn't anything in their eyes, it was still

the only one who wasn't was Douglas, who looked intently at a certain youth

I seen

***

"We're here."

from the others, I followed the orc from before down the stairs of the tower. Towards

the third level, and connects with each

the orc; named Ghorloz, he started explaining to me

spoke, his deep voice shook

orc knew the human

wars...krr...Especially since we're facing a lot of opponents...krrr...The Utility center is an area created with the purpose of providing a place for us soldiers to our weapons

only trouble was the slight nasal sounds that came from his nose whenever he

can also get a

the prospect of buying a new weapon rather than

Ghorloz nodded his head.

new one made,

"Achievement points?"

payment system used over

—Clank!

door. As soon as he opened the door, a wave of hot hair brushed past my skin. A

"Ugh."

the only one not used to the smell as Ghorloz continued to leisurely

used to reward those that contributed

up to him, I

do I check my

Ghorloz halted his steps.

at me, he

want to check your achievement

"Yeah."

I nodded.

he said, I should have some

I didn't know the exact number of demons I had killed, I definitely should've killed enough

"Follow me."

was about two or three of fine, making it hard for me

of a large board. From where

around the board, it was hard to see the full names of the people as they

and let other people

with his big body, I would've had a difficult time

and I was able to catch

list over here ranks individuals by achievement points...krrr...It goes from 1 to

hand on my shoulder, Ghorloz squinted his eyes

board to see whether my name

know how achievement

think...krr...Something as simple as counting

his eyes off of the

was trying to see if his

"I see..."

I silently muttered.

made sense. No, rather, my question

you see

"Give me a second."

the board. It didn't take me long to find my name,

17

that's

be ranked so highly if I had