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

it this

starting to get to

head, Angus apologized. But even as he did, he chose

but we have to do our

"Be quick!"

chair. He was obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that was something he had gone through for over a month, it had become a mild

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

table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also confirmed

all, food wasn't the only

Ding! Ding—

wasn't long before

clean, Angus finally took a step

there is no poison in the

"Tsk."

his tongue, Jomnuk picked the tableware and finally

meat, 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 meat

is the situation going

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

Jomnuk waved

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

control as of right now. The dwarves have currently

"I see."

bite of the meat, Jomnuk

now, things are still under

based on reports, the barrier is

it last? Any

Douglas said, about

"...Mhm."

frowning deeply while

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

probably because the forces sent there are a

estimates, the troops sent by

wrong. The demons had sent a tougher

weren't pulling

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

The demons weren't dumb.

up, they instantly attacked it with all their might in hopes of

got disrupted, making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it

going that way, there was a

meat, Jomnuk muttered

solemn, tense atmosphere shrouded the room as each individual

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

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

"Hmm! I'm full."

Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression

person in the room was a little

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

the table, Jomnuk

and there's still enough food,

"No sir, we can't—"

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

"Enough!"

rough voice echoed

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

Angus replied quietly. He lowered his

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

seats at the table, Jomnuk

Eat. There's plenty for

"Don't mind me."

who sat down on a seat close

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

the fork in his mouth, Ren smiled

"Not bad."

good, I

looked towards the others and pointed

over here

"Don't mind me."

no longer stand it and similarly sat

the food, Waylan looked towards Angus and helplessly shrugged his

let it go, Angus. Why don't you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm here, nothing

eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually