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

starting to

even as he did, he chose

have to do our

"Be quick!"

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

Angus didn't mind it and proceeded to take out the same

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 were hygienic

all, food wasn't the only means

Ding! Ding—

wasn't long before

Angus finally took a

there is no poison in the food.

"Tsk."

the tableware and finally

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

the

a napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs? Do you mean the

Jomnuk waved

access to the

is under control as of right now. The dwarves have currently set up

"I see."

the

for now,

But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly

long will it

what Douglas said, about six to eight more

"...Mhm."

grumbled, frowning deeply while

From my initial calculations, it should've been

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

by the demons should've been

wrong. The demons

weren't pulling any

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

The demons weren't dumb.

they instantly attacked it

of that attack the barrier got disrupted, making it consume more energy

way, there was a very

the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a gloomy

individual present couldn't help but frown

no one spoke a word. Everyone just

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

"Hmm! I'm full."

Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression at the

the only one as every person in the room

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

food on the table, Jomnuk

I've eaten my fill and there's still enough food, why

"No sir, we can't—"

promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter glared at him,

"Enough!"

rough voice echoed throughout the whole

been constantly annoying me. Is that your new job? You already

replied quietly. He lowered his head, not wanting to

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

the empty seats at the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone

plenty for all

"Don't mind me."

Ren who sat down on

one

the fork in his

"Not bad."

I like your guts,

the others and pointed

seems like this human over here

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and similarly sat down, much to Angus's

bite of the food, Waylan looked towards

Angus. Why don't you have something to eat as well? Eating

everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus