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 sit well with

it this

meddling was starting to get

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

apologize, but we have to

"Be quick!"

chair. He was obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that was something he had gone through for

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

table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it

all, food wasn't the

Ding! Ding—

long before

came out clean, Angus finally took

like there is no poison in the food. Thank you

"Tsk."

his tongue, Jomnuk picked the tableware and

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

the

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

Jomnuk

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

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

"I see."

another bite of the meat,

you're saying that, for now, things

reports, the barrier is slowly running

long will it last? Any

Douglas said, about

"...Mhm."

while chewing

less time than I expected. From my initial calculations, it should've been

probably because the forces sent there are a lot stronger than we

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

wrong. The demons had

pulling any

of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely and an extra bit of energy was used

The demons weren't dumb.

they instantly attacked it with all their might in hopes

disrupted, making it consume

things kept going that way, there was a very real possibility

the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a

the room as each individual present couldn't help but

one

the silence by putting his cutlery

"Hmm! I'm full."

was not far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression

one as every person in the room

everyone, taking a toothpick, Jomnuk asked the rest,

on the table, Jomnuk flashed a

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

"No sir, we can't—"

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

"Enough!"

echoed throughout the whole

been constantly annoying me. Is that your new

Angus replied quietly. He lowered his head, not wanting to

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

table, Jomnuk looked at

plenty for

"Don't mind me."

who sat down on a seat close to

stabbed it towards one of the dishes, much to the surprise

his mouth, Ren smiled in

"Not bad."

good, I

towards the others and pointed at Ren in

seems like this human over here is the

"Don't mind me."

the others could no longer stand it and similarly

a small bite of the food, Waylan looked towards Angus and

you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm here, nothing will happen. Let loose a

joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave