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

is it

meddling was starting

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

have to do our

"Be quick!"

eating, but since that was something he had gone through for over a month, it had become a mild annoyance

mind it and

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

the only means

Ding! Ding—

long before the results came

out clean, Angus

there is no poison in the

"Tsk."

tongue, Jomnuk picked the tableware and finally started to

devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the food, he looked at Waylan and loudly asked, almost spitting saliva and

the

his mouth with a napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs?

Jomnuk waved

knew the code that granted access to the defensive system's main database, Jomnuk held some

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, and so, for the moment, things are

"I see."

another bite of the meat,

you're saying that, for now, things are still under control,

But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly

it

Douglas said, about six

"...Mhm."

frowning deeply while chewing

my initial calculations, it should've been far

the forces sent there are a lot stronger than we initially anticipated,"

by the demons should've been a tad

to be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher task force than

weren't pulling

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

The demons weren't dumb.

instantly attacked it with all their might in hopes of consuming

making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it would last a

kept going that way, there was a

Jomnuk muttered in a gloomy tone, "This is quite

room as each individual present couldn't

no one spoke a

by putting his

"Hmm! I'm full."

from Jomnuk, showed a displeased

only one as every person in

everyone, taking a toothpick, Jomnuk asked the rest, "Now that I think about it, you guys also seem to

the food on the table, Jomnuk flashed a

and there's still enough

"No sir, we can't—"

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

"Enough!"

echoed throughout the whole

annoying me. Is that your new job? You

Angus replied quietly. He lowered his head, not wanting to

and it's going to

the table,

plenty for all of

"Don't mind me."

who sat down on a

leaned forward and stabbed it towards one of

in his mouth, Ren smiled

"Not bad."

I like your guts,

others and pointed at Ren in

like this human over here is the only one that

"Don't mind me."

it and similarly sat

food, Waylan looked towards

you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm here, nothing will happen.

everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave up and sat down, joining