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.

not sit well

is it this

meddling was starting to get

as he did, he chose not

we have to do our regular

"Be quick!"

being stopped from eating, but since that was something he had gone through for over a

Jomnuk's behavior, Angus didn't mind it and proceeded to take out the same device from

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

wasn't the only

Ding! Ding—

wasn't long before the results

clean, Angus

no poison in the

"Tsk."

his tongue, Jomnuk picked the

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 of

is the situation going

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

Jomnuk waved

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

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

"I see."

another bite of the meat, Jomnuk nodded

saying that, for now, things are still

based on reports, the barrier is slowly

will it last?

said, about six to eight more

"...Mhm."

frowning deeply while chewing on the

lot less time than I expected. From my initial calculations, it

probably because the forces sent there are a lot stronger than

the troops sent by the demons should've been a tad

turned out to be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher task

weren't pulling any

barrier has been set up prematurely and an extra bit of energy was used

The demons weren't dumb.

the barrier was set up, they instantly attacked it with all their might in hopes

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

kept going that way, there was a very real possibility

of the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a gloomy

the room as each individual

no one spoke a word. Everyone just silently

finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down and burping

"Hmm! I'm full."

not far from Jomnuk, showed a

person in the room was a little

rest, "Now that I think about it, you

at the food on the table,

and there's still enough

"No sir, we can't—"

tried to refuse, but he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter glared at him, seemingly done with his guard's

"Enough!"

echoed

me. Is that your new job?

He lowered his head, not

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

the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone in the

There's plenty for all

"Don't mind me."

move was Ren who sat down on a seat close to

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

the fork in his mouth, Ren smiled in

"Not bad."

Good, good, I

and pointed at Ren in a provoking

human over here is the only one that has

"Don't mind me."

could no longer stand it

food, Waylan looked towards Angus and helplessly shrugged his

don't you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much.

everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually