We have been traveling for a while. Let's just say it has been both smooth sailing and entertaining. On one hand, many people completely lost their shit upon seeing a dwarf, but they also ran as far as possible from the old mage.

For some reason, people are extremely afraid of acid. At first, I was really confused but then he explained it. Getting melted is the biggest shame there is. You know killing someone without leaving his body intact is an insult? Well, it is that same principle.

So most of the time the dwarf was just driving the carriage with the old guy throwing acid balls everywhere for fun. Mostly to scare people and animals. We barely stopped. The animals that are dragging our carriage are getting tired, but it should still be fine.

Somehow they too got intimidated by the acid. Every time they would look behind them they would drastically increase their pace.

We finally reach the Village of the End, we can see …nothing special in fact. That is actually a slight problem.

"Where's the barrier! It should be seen right now!"

The dwarf is the first to freak out. But there doesn't seem to be any damage done to the place. Seems we are just in time. Still, I wonder what happened to us having plenty of time?

I can't help but holler loudly.

[The Hero has victoriously returned from his quest! Where are you all!]

A few instants later I see Wolfie bolting out to receive us. She seems to be healthy and happy. I simply rush to hug her, disregarding my companions' puzzlement. They wouldn't get it!

[Anything special happened while I was gone?]

She gestures toward the barrier.

[Anything besides the barrier going down then?]

She shakes her head. Nice! I'm glad. Seriously, if anything had happened to Wolfie I think I would have used that Forgar's spell to rase this place entirely without caring about the consequences.

The dwarf and the mage arrive where the barrier should have been. The first is inspecting the area carefully, the second is just inspecting Wolfie curiously.

[I got you some really good food! Are you hungry? Eating carrots must have been a pain, right?]

I can see her salivating already. Wolves were not meant to only eat vegetables for sure. Well, these are magical carrots, so it's not bad for the health just very plain.

I unload a small portion of the Magma Lizard's meat. Then, she chows it down satisfied. I can see her eyes widen in astonishment when comes the spicy aftertaste. Still, she's handling it well haha. That's when the villagers finally come out a step late.

"You are back! Ah! You brought a dwarf master with you too! Nice! We were scared that you'd only come back with the core. None of us actually know how to create the barrier so…"

[So we would have been fucked, eh? I understand. Anyway, any trace of the Abyss Devourers?]

"None! But we need to hurry! They could appear out of thin air any moment!"

[How?!]

"Well, the entrance to the sub-realm is invisible once closed. It's only when it is opened that it will seem to appear floating in the air."

[Hopefully, it will do so really high up. Then whenever a creature passes through it will crash down on the ground and die. Then we'll be able to open an abyss devourer's meat restaurant.]

"There is no way that'd be possible…."

[I'm just joking, but are we sure it will open here?]

"Yes, the defense mechanism is actually double here. The first spell makes it so both we and the entrance are bound to this land. The barrier is to hide us from sight completely."

[Wait, so that pretty much means there is always an inactive portal in this place. But they have to activate it to invade and, for that, they need the barrier down?]

"Exactly!"

[Couldn't you guys just use some sort of spell to destroy it? Like a really long ritual? Or maybe even add formations to spawn kill them. Whenever they would teleport here, they'd be reduced to pieces or something.]

"Remember they can eat mana. They'll devour it before the trap can even close upon them."

[What if we use physical traps? We could use magic to build a huge pit with spikes at the bottom. Then whenever they would come they'd just fall and die.]

"It would work for a few hundreds of them maybe, but the scary part about these enemies are their numbers. They will just step on the corpses of their fallen allies and eventually break out."

[I see….]

That's when the dwarf comes nearby.

"Don't worry about it. I've checked it and while the barrier itself is gone the foundations are still there. It will just take me one day to repair it all. Then everything will be fine!"

*Mad cheers! *

"Wait, there is bad news. If even as little as one Abyss Devourer makes it through it could screw up the entire thing. So you guys will have to watch it carefully."

[Watch where?]

"Everywhere!"

[Gotcha, time to be on duty! Wolfie, I want you to use your acute sense of smell to be on scouting duty! Villagers, I want one every other meter! Get ready to shout if anything looks out of the ordinary! Old mage, you are on water duty!]

*Wolf nod*

"On it! X 50"

"What the hell is water duty?"

[You will be going around distributing water to anyone that is thirsty!]

"I'm a powerful acid mage why am I…"

[You mean a wannabe acid mage, right? All you can do is melt clothes! It is nice to have confidence in yourself but know your limits too!]

"*Grumble* Fine! What about you?"

[I'll be supervising everything.]

"Hey, that's just slacking with extra steps!"

[*Sigh* You don't understand. If a devourer appears, I will be the first one in its way. Can you say the same?]

"Of course not! These things eat literal mana, I…"

[See! Now, go grab some water.]

I can hear him grumbling about being a great mage and something about how he should be a leader. Poor dude is delusional, oh well.

But I really wasn't joking about planning to be the first one on the frontline. If an Abyss creature jumps on me trying to eat my mana…. well, I'll help it look! After all, I'm pretty sure I got none haha.

Anyway, time to get serious.