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.

did not sit well

it this

meddling was starting to get

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

but we have to do our

"Be quick!"

obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that was something he had gone through for over a month, it had become a mild annoyance by

mind it and proceeded to take out the same device

soon enveloped the whole table. The device not only checked if the food

food wasn't the only means to poison

Ding! Ding—

long before the

came out clean, Angus finally

there is no poison in the food. Thank

"Tsk."

the tableware

on a large 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 of meat

the situation going

with a napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs? Do

that." Jomnuk

he was the only one who knew the code that granted access to the defensive

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,

"I see."

of the meat, Jomnuk nodded in

for now, things are still

But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly

will it

what Douglas said, about

"...Mhm."

deeply while chewing

a lot less time than I expected. From my initial

sent there are a lot stronger than

by the demons should've been a tad

out to be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher task

weren't pulling any

problem with the weather. Because of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely and an extra bit

The demons weren't dumb.

attacked it with all their

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

there was a very real possibility of losing the

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

the room as each individual present

no one spoke a

by putting his

"Hmm! I'm full."

was not far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased

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

look given by everyone, taking a toothpick, Jomnuk asked the rest, "Now

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—"

but he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter glared at him, seemingly done with

"Enough!"

rough voice echoed throughout the

annoying me. Is that

He lowered his head, not

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

empty seats at the table,

There's plenty

"Don't mind me."

who sat down on a seat close to

stabbed it towards one of the dishes,

in his mouth, Ren

"Not bad."

Good, good, I like your guts,

Jomnuk looked towards the others and pointed at

here is

"Don't mind me."

could no longer stand it and similarly

a small bite of the food, Waylan looked

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

joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave