The Author's POV

[Northern tower.]

"How long do you think they will keep the barrier this time?"

Leopold asked Ava, standing next to her. He glanced at her for a moment, wondering what was going through her mind.

"I don't know."

She replied in a soft tone, her eyes transfixed, gazing into the distance. She seemed preoccupied, an endless stream of thoughts rushing in her head.

From time to time, ripples would appear on the barrier. Whenever that happened, waves would form around it, enveloping the mountain.

Ever since a week ago, the situation was getting more and more out of hand.

The attacks of the demons were more ruthless and relentless than ever before. The lower-ranked demons even threw themselves at the barrier, turning into a mush of blood and gore. It was honestly gruesome.

If not for the barrier that had been activated, things would've been extremely dire for everyone.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Hein asked from the side.

Lifting her head and looking at Hein, Ava nodded.

"Yeah."

"Where are you going?"

"To fix this."

Ava lifted her hand, in the middle of her palm lay a pale green flute.

"You're fixing that?"

"Yeah."

It became apparent to her from the last fight that the flute had some serious flaws.

If she did not fix it, once the barrier stopped functioning, she would be in big trouble.

"Great, I'm coming with you, I've got to fix my shield too."

He raised his shield, showing it to Ava.

"Oh, wow. You fought with that?"

She was surprised to see it. The state of the shield was quite bad. Not only was it filled with cracks, but it was also marked with numerous indentations.

In its current state, Ava wouldn't be surprised if it would break at a simple touch. It made her wonder if buying a new one would be better.

Putting the shield away into his dimensional space, Hein looked towards the barrier in the distance.

"Yeah. I need to get it fixed before the barrier goes down."

"You guys planning on going to the utility center?"

Disrupting their conversation was a familiar, tired voice.

"Hua~ If so, I'm coming too."

Yawning, Leopold walked over to them and flashed his gun.

"I've run out of bullets."

***

"Ah, I'm starving!"

Sitting on a round table, Jomnuk, alongside Waylan and a few other individuals, stared at the beautiful dishes presented in front of them. It looked sumptuous, to say the least. Meanwhile, Ren remained standing. He kept his back straight and stared intently at the food on the table.

"Shall we get straight to eating?"

Pulling his sleeves up, Jomnuk eagerly looked at the food in front of him. His eyes shone brightly. Picking up the silverware beside him, Jomnuk prepared to dig into the food.

"Please wait, sir."

But just as he was about to eat, he was once again stopped by Angus, one of the dwarven guards assigned to him, and the one that had previously checked up on him.

obviously did not sit

it

meddling was starting to

But even as he did, he chose not to stop

but we have to do our regular

"Be quick!"

with being stopped from eating, but since that was something he had gone through

didn't mind it and proceeded to take out the same device from

a red glow soon enveloped the whole table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also

food wasn't the only means to poison

Ding! Ding—

before

Angus finally took a

is no poison in the food. Thank you for waiting,

"Tsk."

Jomnuk picked the tableware and finally started to

a large piece of meat, Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the food, he

the

Waylan inquired,

that." Jomnuk

access to

of his things, Waylan replied leisurely, "From what I've heard, the situation upstairs is under control as of right now. The dwarves have currently set up the barrier,

"I see."

of the

that, for now,

But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly running out

long will it last?

about six to

"...Mhm."

grumbled, frowning deeply while chewing on the

I expected. From my initial calculations, it should've been

there are a

by the demons

to be wrong. The demons

pulling any

Because of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely and an extra bit of energy

The demons weren't dumb.

attacked it with all their might in hopes of

got disrupted, making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it would last a lot less than

there was a very real possibility of losing

muttered in

individual present couldn't

minutes, no one spoke

broke the silence by putting his cutlery down and

"Hmm! I'm full."

not far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased

every person in

given by everyone, taking a toothpick, Jomnuk asked the rest, "Now that I think

food on the table,

still enough food, why don't you guys have

"No sir, we can't—"

he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter glared at

"Enough!"

echoed

ago you've been constantly annoying me. Is that your new job? You already checked the

replied quietly. He lowered his head, not wanting

Since you've checked it and

the table, Jomnuk

plenty for all

"Don't mind me."

Ren who sat down on

leaned forward and stabbed it towards one of the dishes, much to the surprise of the

his mouth, Ren smiled in

"Not bad."

Good, good, I like your guts,

and pointed at Ren

human over here is

"Don't mind me."

it

a small bite of the food, Waylan looked towards

Angus. Why don't you have something to eat as well?

joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually