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 well

it this

meddling was starting to get to

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

apologize, but we have to do

"Be quick!"

from eating, but since that

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

only checked if the food had

the

Ding! Ding—

long before the

everything came out clean, Angus finally took a

poison in the food.

"Tsk."

the

his fork on a large piece of meat, Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing

is the situation

Waylan

Jomnuk waved

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

"From what I've heard, the situation upstairs is under control as of

"I see."

the meat, Jomnuk nodded in

for now, things are

reports, the barrier is slowly running

it last? Any

about six to eight

"...Mhm."

grumbled, frowning deeply while chewing on

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

sent there are a lot stronger than we

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

The demons had sent a tougher task force than

pulling any

been set up prematurely and an extra bit

The demons weren't dumb.

set up, they instantly attacked it with all their might in

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

that way, there was a very real possibility of losing the

Jomnuk muttered

room as each individual present couldn't help but frown at

minutes, no one spoke a

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

"Hmm! I'm full."

Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression at

one as every person in the

a toothpick, Jomnuk asked the rest, "Now that I think

the table, Jomnuk

I've eaten my fill and there's still enough food, why don't you

"No sir, we can't—"

promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter

"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

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

table, Jomnuk looked at

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 surprise of the

his mouth,

"Not bad."

good, I like your

towards the others and pointed

here is

"Don't mind me."

could no longer stand it and similarly sat down, much

the food, Waylan looked towards Angus and helplessly shrugged his

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

eating joyfully at the dinner table,