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

anything notable enough to warrant

Belgig to raise his

of what happened in

"Northern area?"

a while,

"No, I apologize."

"Is that so?"

corner of the room where

for him

Douglas the

"Yes."

middle of the table and a holographic

on the device, a video

"Here you go, sir."

"Thank you."

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

other people also curiously watched the video that was

Furthermore.

Belgig amusingly looked at

to

"Huh?"

at the towers beautifully defended

by the end of

"Not bad."

bad at all. They also look quite

quite the talented

eyes, it was

everyone was lightly praising the youths, the only one who wasn't was Douglas, who looked intently at a certain

have I seen him

***

"We're here."

before down the stairs of the tower. Towards

the third level, and connects with each of the towers

the orc; named Ghorloz, he started explaining to me the ins and

spoke, his

the orc knew the human language, I would've had trouble

strange for weapons to break during 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

slight nasal sounds that came from his nose whenever he

get a replacement

about the prospect of buying a new weapon

Ghorloz nodded his head.

new one made, or replaced...krrr...You must use achievements points to pay for anything

"Achievement points?"

payment system

—Clank!

As soon as he opened the door, a wave of hot hair brushed past my skin. A strange pungent smell also lingered in the air, prompting my nose to involuntarily close up and my face to grimace

"Ugh."

one not used to the smell

points are used to reward those that contributed a lot

up to him,

do I check my achievement

Ghorloz halted his steps.

looking at me,

want to check your

"Yeah."

I nodded.

I should have some points,

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

"Follow me."

size, each step he too was about two or three of fine, making it hard for me to keep up. But this was nothing

front of a large board. From where I was, I could

hard to see the full names of the people as they obstructed

aside and let

path for me with his big body, I would've had

I was able to

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

hand on my shoulder,

to see whether my name was on it,

do they know how achievement points we

dwarves' technology is much more advanced than you think...krr...Something as simple as counting how many

without taking his

trying to see if his name was

"I see..."

I silently muttered.

said made sense. No, rather, my question

you see

"Give me a second."

checked the board. It didn't take me long to

17 kills - 574 achievement

209, that's not

be ranked so highly if I