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.

not sit well

is it this

constant meddling was starting to

Angus apologized. But even as he did, he chose

we have to do our

"Be quick!"

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

it and proceeded

only checked if the food had poison, but it also confirmed whether the tableware

the only means to poison

Ding! Ding—

wasn't long before the results came

came out clean, Angus finally took a

like there is no poison in the food. Thank you for

"Tsk."

tongue, Jomnuk picked the tableware and finally started

piece of meat, Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the food, he looked at Waylan and loudly asked, almost spitting saliva and pieces

is the situation going

napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs? Do you mean

that." Jomnuk

granted access to the defensive system's main database, Jomnuk held some curiosity

on top 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

"I see."

bite of the meat, Jomnuk nodded

now, things are still under control,

barrier is slowly running

will it

about

"...Mhm."

frowning deeply while

expected. From my

the forces sent there are a lot

troops sent by the demons should've

The demons

pulling

has been set up prematurely and an extra bit of energy

The demons weren't dumb.

was set up, they instantly attacked it with all

attack the barrier got disrupted, making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it would last a lot

was a

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

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

one

till Jomnuk finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery

"Hmm! I'm full."

from Jomnuk, showed a displeased

wasn't the only one as every person in the room

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

the food on the table, Jomnuk

still

"No sir, we can't—"

refuse, but he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The

"Enough!"

voice echoed throughout

annoying me. Is that your new job? You

his

what's the fucking problem? Since you've checked it and it's

table, Jomnuk looked at everyone in

There's plenty for all of

"Don't mind me."

move was Ren who sat down on a seat close to

towards one of the dishes,

his mouth, Ren

"Not bad."

I like your

the others and pointed at Ren in a provoking

here

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and similarly sat

a small bite of the food, Waylan

to eat as well?

at the dinner table, Angus eventually