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

it this

constant meddling was starting to get

But even as he did, he chose not to stop

have

"Be quick!"

stopped from eating, but since that was something he had gone through for

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

not only checked if the

wasn't the

Ding! Ding—

long before

everything came out clean, Angus finally

no poison in the food. Thank you for waiting,

"Tsk."

his tongue, Jomnuk picked the tableware and

of meat, Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the food, he looked at Waylan

is the situation

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

Jomnuk waved

knew the code that granted access to the defensive

under control as of right now. The dwarves have currently

"I see."

the

that, for now, things are

based on reports, the barrier is slowly running

will it last?

about six to eight

"...Mhm."

grumbled, frowning deeply while

From my initial calculations, it should've been far longer

there are a lot stronger

to original estimates, the troops sent by the

demons had sent a

weren't pulling any

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

The demons weren't dumb.

instantly attacked it with all

disrupted, making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it would last

kept going that way, there was a very

of the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a

each individual present

one spoke a word. Everyone just

till Jomnuk finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down

"Hmm! I'm full."

Jomnuk, showed a displeased

every person in the room was a little

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

at the food on the table,

there's still enough food, why don't you guys

"No sir, we can't—"

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

"Enough!"

voice echoed throughout the

since a while ago you've been constantly annoying me. Is that your new job? You already checked the food,

He lowered his head, not

it and it's going to waste, let the

the empty seats at the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone in the

plenty for

"Don't mind me."

who sat down on a seat

stabbed it towards one of the

the fork in his

"Not bad."

Good, good, I

Jomnuk looked towards the others and pointed at Ren in a

over here is

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and similarly sat down, much to

a small bite of the food, Waylan looked

Why don't you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm

table, Angus eventually gave up and sat