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.

interruption obviously did not sit

it this

meddling was starting to

he did, he chose not

we have to do our

"Be quick!"

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

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

glow soon enveloped the whole table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also

food wasn't the only

Ding! Ding—

before the results

clean, Angus finally took a step

poison in

"Tsk."

Jomnuk picked the tableware and finally started

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

is the situation

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

that." Jomnuk

access to the defensive system's

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

"I see."

the meat, Jomnuk nodded in

now, things are still

But, based on reports, the barrier is

will it last?

Douglas said, about six to eight more

"...Mhm."

deeply while chewing on the

time than I expected. From my initial

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

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

be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher task force

weren't pulling any

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

The demons weren't dumb.

it with all their might in hopes

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

was a very

the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a gloomy tone,

shrouded the room as each individual present couldn't

one spoke a

the silence by

"Hmm! I'm full."

from Jomnuk, showed a

only one as every person

the rest, "Now that I

the food on the

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

"No sir, we can't—"

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

"Enough!"

echoed throughout the whole

Is that your

quietly. He lowered his

and it's going to waste, let

seats at the table,

Eat. There's plenty for all

"Don't mind me."

to move was Ren who sat down on

towards one of the dishes, much to the

the fork in his mouth, Ren

"Not bad."

good, I like

towards the others and pointed

human over here is the only

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and similarly sat

of the food, Waylan looked

as well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm

everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave up and