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

is it this

starting

But even as he did, he chose not to stop in his

have to

"Be quick!"

obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that

Angus didn't mind it and proceeded to take out

enveloped the whole table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also confirmed

the only means to

Ding! Ding—

wasn't long before

clean, Angus finally

no poison in the food. Thank you

"Tsk."

his tongue, Jomnuk picked the

reserve. Chewing on the food, he looked at Waylan and loudly

is the situation going

napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs? Do you mean

that." Jomnuk

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

top of his things, Waylan replied leisurely, "From what I've heard, the situation upstairs is under control as of right now. The

"I see."

another bite of the meat,

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

But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly running out

it

what Douglas said, about six

"...Mhm."

while chewing on the

I expected. From my initial calculations, it

sent there are a lot stronger than we initially

original estimates, the troops sent by the demons

be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher

pulling any

weather. Because of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely and

The demons weren't dumb.

they instantly attacked it with all their

barrier got disrupted, making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it

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

of the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a

solemn, tense atmosphere shrouded the room as each individual present couldn't help but frown

one spoke a word.

by

"Hmm! I'm full."

far from Jomnuk,

person in

taking a toothpick, Jomnuk asked the rest, "Now that I think about it, you guys also

at the food on the table,

my fill and there's still

"No sir, we can't—"

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

"Enough!"

echoed throughout the whole

me. Is that your new job? You already checked the food,

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

problem? Since you've checked it and it's going to waste, let the others

seats at the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone in

plenty for all

"Don't mind me."

move was Ren who sat down on a

forward and stabbed it towards one of the dishes,

the fork in his mouth,

"Not bad."

good, I like your

others and

human over here is the

"Don't mind me."

no longer stand it and similarly

bite of the food, Waylan looked towards Angus

well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm here, nothing will happen. Let loose a

eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave up and sat down, joining