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

is it this

constant meddling was starting to get

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

have to do our

"Be quick!"

the silverware down, Jomnuk grumpily leaned back on his chair. He was obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that was

behavior, Angus didn't mind it and proceeded

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

all, food wasn't the only means to

Ding! Ding—

long before the results came

everything came out clean, Angus finally took a step

poison in the food. Thank you for waiting,

"Tsk."

the tableware and

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

is the

with a napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs?

Jomnuk

to the defensive system's

upstairs is under control as of right now. The dwarves have currently set up the barrier,

"I see."

bite of the meat, Jomnuk

saying that, for now, things

on reports, the barrier is slowly

will it

about six to eight

"...Mhm."

frowning deeply while chewing on

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

forces sent there are a lot stronger

the troops sent by the

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

pulling

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

The demons weren't dumb.

it with all their

attack the barrier got disrupted, making it consume more

that way, there was a very real possibility

the meat, Jomnuk muttered in

as each individual present couldn't help but frown at the turn

couple of minutes, no one spoke

Jomnuk finally broke the silence by

"Hmm! I'm full."

Jomnuk, showed

only one as every person

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

the food on the table, Jomnuk

eaten my fill and there's still enough food,

"No sir, we can't—"

was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The

"Enough!"

rough voice echoed throughout

since a while ago you've been constantly annoying me. Is that

quietly. He lowered his head, not wanting

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

table, Jomnuk

Eat. There's plenty for

"Don't mind me."

to move was Ren who

fork, he leaned forward and stabbed it towards one of the

his

"Not bad."

I like your

towards the others and pointed at

like this human over here is the only

"Don't mind me."

stand it and

food, Waylan

let it go, Angus. Why don't you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much.

at everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually