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 well

it this

was starting to get

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

but we have

"Be quick!"

not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that

mind it and proceeded

the 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

food wasn't the only means

Ding! Ding—

before the results came

came out clean, Angus finally took

poison in the food. Thank you for waiting,

"Tsk."

tongue, Jomnuk picked the tableware

any reserve. Chewing on the

is the situation going

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

Jomnuk waved

was the only one who knew the code that granted access to the

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, and

"I see."

the meat,

saying that, for now, things

the barrier is slowly running

long will it

about six to

"...Mhm."

frowning deeply while chewing on

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

are a lot stronger than we initially anticipated,"

to original estimates, the troops sent by the demons should've been a

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

weren't pulling any

with the weather. Because of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely and an extra bit of energy was used

The demons weren't dumb.

instantly attacked it with all their might in hopes of consuming

because of that attack the barrier got disrupted, making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it would

there was

muttered in a gloomy

each individual present couldn't

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

finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down

"Hmm! I'm full."

who was not far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression at

the only one as every person in the room was

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

food on the table, Jomnuk

my fill and there's still enough food,

"No sir, we can't—"

tried to refuse, but he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The

"Enough!"

echoed throughout the

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

replied quietly. He lowered his

you've checked it and it's going to waste, let

at the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone in

plenty for all

"Don't mind me."

Ren who sat down on a seat close to

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

in his

"Not bad."

I

towards the others and pointed

this human over here

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and similarly

a small bite of the food, Waylan looked towards Angus and

well? Eating won't hurt them much.

the dinner table, Angus eventually gave