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?"

tilted his head

notable enough to

Belgig

perhaps not aware of what happened in

"Northern area?"

a while, he shook

"No, I apologize."

"Is that so?"

and looked towards the corner of the room where another dwarf

for him

Show Douglas the video of the

"Yes."

placed it in the middle of the table and a holographic projection

a video

"Here you go, sir."

"Thank you."

at the video. Although he had already seen this before, he couldn't help but

curiously watched the video

Furthermore.

head, Belgig amusingly looked at

wanted to see

"Huh?"

those at the towers beautifully defended

video lasted a total of ten minutes, and by the end of it, some couldn't help

"Not bad."

they aren't bad at all. They also look quite

quite

battle wasn't anything in their eyes, it

that moment, whilst everyone was lightly praising the youths, the only one who wasn't was

have I

***

"We're here."

from the others, I followed the orc from before down

the third level,

Ghorloz, he started explaining to me the ins and outs of

spoke, his deep

the orc knew the human language, I would've

of opponents...krrr...The Utility center is an area created with the purpose of providing a place for us

was the slight nasal sounds that came from

also get

prospect of buying a new weapon

Ghorloz nodded his head.

can have a new one made, or

"Achievement points?"

system

—Clank!

a wave of hot hair brushed past my skin. A strange pungent

"Ugh."

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

reward those that contributed a lot during the war....krrr...Also a great way to

to him,

do I check

Ghorloz halted his steps.

at

to check your

"Yeah."

I nodded.

I should

demons I had killed, I definitely should've killed enough to

"Follow me."

Because he was at least twice my size, each step he too was about two or three of fine, making it hard for me to keep up. But this

we soon stopped in front of a large board. From where I was, I could see

hard to see the full

let other people

not for Ghorloz paving a path for me with his big body, I would've had a difficult

appeared in my vision, and I was able to catch

ranks individuals by achievement points...krrr...It goes

large hand on my shoulder,

the board to see whether my name was on

do they know how

much more advanced than you think...krr...Something as simple as counting how many

taking his eyes off of

trying to see if his name

"I see..."

I silently muttered.

he said made sense. No, rather, my

see your

"Give me a second."

board. It didn't take me long to find my name, as it was quite

209 17 kills -

209, that's not

to be ranked so