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

is it

starting to get to

Angus apologized. But even as he did, he chose not

we have

"Be quick!"

from eating, but since that was something he had gone through for over a month, it had become a mild

it and proceeded to

whole table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also confirmed whether the tableware and glasses were

food wasn't the only means to

Ding! Ding—

before

everything came out clean, Angus finally took a

is no poison in the food.

"Tsk."

Jomnuk picked the tableware and finally started

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

the situation going

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

Jomnuk waved

the code that granted access to the defensive system's main database, Jomnuk held some curiosity for the situation

leisurely, "From what I've heard, the situation upstairs is under control as of right now. The

"I see."

another bite of the

for now, things

based on reports, the barrier is slowly running out

long will it last? Any

what Douglas said, about six to eight more

"...Mhm."

while chewing on

than I expected. From my initial calculations, it should've been far longer than

a

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

be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher

weren't pulling any

with the weather. Because of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely and

The demons weren't dumb.

barrier was set up, they instantly attacked it

making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it would last a lot less than originally

going that way, there was a very real

another bite of the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a gloomy tone, "This is quite

as each individual present couldn't help but frown

minutes, no one spoke

finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down

"Hmm! I'm full."

not far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression at the

wasn't the only one as every person in

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

the

still enough food, why don't

"No sir, we can't—"

but he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk.

"Enough!"

rough voice echoed

since a while ago you've been constantly annoying me. Is that your new

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

and it's going to waste, let the others eat

the empty seats at the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone

There's plenty for all of

"Don't mind me."

first one to move was Ren who sat down on a seat

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

fork in his

"Not bad."

Good, good, I like your guts,

looked towards the others and pointed at Ren in a provoking

human over here is the only one that has

"Don't mind me."

no longer stand it and similarly sat down,

the food, Waylan

eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm here, nothing will happen. Let loose

eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave up