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

is it this

constant meddling was starting

his head, Angus apologized. But even as he did, he chose not to stop in his

but we have to do our regular

"Be quick!"

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

Angus didn't mind it and proceeded to take out the

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

wasn't the only

Ding! Ding—

long before the

everything came out clean, Angus finally

poison in the food. Thank you for waiting,

"Tsk."

the tableware and

in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the food, he

is the situation going

a napkin, Waylan inquired,

that." Jomnuk waved

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

of his things, Waylan replied leisurely, "From what I've heard, the situation upstairs is under control as of right now. The dwarves have currently set up the barrier, and so, for the moment, things are quite

"I see."

another bite of the meat, Jomnuk nodded in

you're saying that, for now, things are still under

the barrier is slowly running out of

will it last? Any

what Douglas said, about

"...Mhm."

deeply while chewing

less time than I expected. From my initial calculations, it

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

troops sent by

that turned out to be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher

weren't pulling any

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

The demons weren't dumb.

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

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

way, there was a very real possibility

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

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

minutes, no one spoke a

finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down and

"Hmm! I'm full."

far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased

the only one as every person in the room was a little grossed

asked the rest, "Now that I think about it, you guys also seem to be

the food on the

and there's still enough food, why

"No sir, we can't—"

was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter glared at him, seemingly

"Enough!"

echoed throughout

Is that your

his head, not

problem? Since you've checked it and it's

empty seats at the table, Jomnuk looked

There's plenty

"Don't mind me."

who sat down on a seat close to

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

fork in his mouth, Ren

"Not bad."

good, I like your

the others and pointed at Ren in a

human over here is the only

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and

the food, Waylan looked towards

as well? Eating won't

the dinner table, Angus eventually gave