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.

did not sit well

it this

starting to get

his head, Angus apologized. But even as he did, he chose not to stop in his

have to do our regular

"Be quick!"

back on his chair. He was obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that was something

it and proceeded to take out the same device

whole table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also confirmed whether the tableware and glasses were hygienic

wasn't the only means

Ding! Ding—

wasn't long before

out clean, Angus

no poison in the food. Thank you for waiting,

"Tsk."

picked the tableware and finally started to

fork on a large piece of meat, Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the food, he looked at Waylan and loudly asked, almost spitting saliva and pieces

the

Waylan

Jomnuk

was the only one who knew the code that granted access to the defensive system's main database, Jomnuk held some curiosity for the

the napkin on top of his things, Waylan replied leisurely, "From what I've heard, the situation upstairs is under control as of right now. The dwarves

"I see."

of the meat, Jomnuk

saying that, for now, things are still under control,

But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly

it

about six to

"...Mhm."

deeply while chewing on the

a lot less time than I expected. From my initial calculations, it should've

the forces sent there are a lot stronger

by the demons should've been

to be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher task

pulling any

problem with the weather. Because of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely

The demons weren't dumb.

set up, they instantly attacked it with all

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

kept going that way, there was

of the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a gloomy tone, "This is quite

tense atmosphere shrouded the room as each individual

the next couple of minutes, no one spoke a word. Everyone

till Jomnuk finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down and

"Hmm! I'm full."

Jomnuk,

one as every person in the

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

food on the table, Jomnuk

fill and there's still enough food, why

"No sir, we can't—"

promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter

"Enough!"

voice echoed

ago you've been constantly annoying me. Is

his head, not

the fucking problem? Since you've checked it and it's going to waste, let the others eat

the table,

There's plenty for

"Don't mind me."

first one to move was Ren who

stabbed it towards one of the dishes, much to the

the fork in his

"Not bad."

Good, good, I like your

Jomnuk looked towards the others and pointed

over here is the only one that has

"Don't mind me."

could no longer stand it and similarly sat down,

bite of the food, Waylan looked towards Angus

well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm here, nothing

at everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually