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 with

it

was starting to get to

apologized. But even as he did, he chose not

apologize, but we have to do our regular

"Be quick!"

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

and proceeded to take out the

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

the

Ding! Ding—

before

came out clean, Angus

like there is no poison in

"Tsk."

the tableware

of meat, Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the

the situation

mouth with a napkin, Waylan

that." Jomnuk

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

control as of right now. The dwarves

"I see."

the meat,

you're saying that, for now, things

But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly running

it last?

said, about six to eight

"...Mhm."

grumbled, frowning deeply while chewing

time than I expected. From my initial

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

by the demons should've been a

be wrong. The demons had sent

weren't pulling any

has been set up prematurely and

The demons weren't dumb.

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

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

kept going that way, there was a very real possibility of losing

muttered in a gloomy

atmosphere shrouded the room as each individual present couldn't

one spoke a word.

the silence by putting his cutlery down and burping

"Hmm! I'm full."

not far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased

person in the room was a little

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

the

and there's still enough food, why don't

"No sir, we can't—"

by Jomnuk. The latter glared at him, seemingly done with

"Enough!"

rough voice echoed throughout the whole

Is that your new job? You already checked the food,

Angus replied quietly. He lowered his head, not wanting to offend

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

seats at the table, Jomnuk looked at

plenty for all of

"Don't mind me."

who sat down on

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

his mouth, Ren smiled

"Not bad."

I like your guts,

Jomnuk looked towards the others and

here is the only one that

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and similarly sat down, much

food, Waylan looked towards

you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much.

at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave up and sat