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

it

meddling was starting

his head, Angus apologized. But even as he did,

have

"Be quick!"

his chair. He was obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that was

Angus didn't mind it and

device, a red glow soon enveloped the whole table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also confirmed whether the tableware and

wasn't the only means to

Ding! Ding—

before the results came

out clean, Angus finally took a step

is no poison in the food. Thank you for

"Tsk."

Jomnuk picked the

Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on

the situation

a napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs?

Jomnuk

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

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

"I see."

the meat,

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

reports, the barrier is slowly running

will it

about six to eight

"...Mhm."

while chewing

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

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

original estimates, the troops sent by the demons

The demons had sent a

weren't pulling

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

The demons weren't dumb.

attacked it with all their might

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

there was a

bite of the meat, Jomnuk muttered in

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

no one spoke a

lasted till Jomnuk finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down

"Hmm! I'm full."

Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression

person in the room was

Jomnuk asked the rest, "Now that

food on the table, Jomnuk

I've eaten my fill and there's still enough food,

"No sir, we can't—"

to refuse, but he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter glared at him, seemingly done with his guard's

"Enough!"

rough voice echoed

constantly annoying me. Is that your

his

checked it and it's going

the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone in

plenty for all of

"Don't mind me."

to move was Ren who sat down on a seat close

towards one of the dishes, much to the surprise

the fork in his mouth, Ren

"Not bad."

Good, good, I like

looked towards the others and

human over here is the only one

"Don't mind me."

longer stand it and similarly sat

bite of the food, Waylan looked

as well? Eating won't

everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave up and