The Author's POV

"I thought that it might come in handy to you."

After having witnessed the prowess of the dwarves with their gun-like artifacts, I thought that it would've been a perfect fit for Leopold, who usually always helped out from the back.

This way, he wouldn't need to join the fights when commanding the others directly.

Aiming the gun around, Leopold asked.

"What are the requirements for using this little thing?"

"Just inject some mana, and it'll work. It's a ranked artifact."

The artifact was something that only dwarves could create and essentially worked as a gun.

Upon injecting mana into the device, the artifact would activate, releasing the bullets that were loaded inside.

Well, that's how it should work. Never used it, so I didn't know.

"Take good care of it; it cost me quite a lot."

Aiming the gun towards the distance, Leopold put his finger on the trigger.

"Sounds easy enough."

"Well, I still think you need time to get used to it."

Just like any weapon, it needed time to be mastered, and although Leopold was already good with the sword, at the end of the day, his talent did not lay in swordsmanship but in commanding.

Plus, just because he was now using a gun, it didn't mean that he couldn't use a sword.

He could very well use it during short-range fights and then replace it when he's helping out from the back; after all, the gun would be more useful when he's commanding a lot of people at once.

Looking through the status of the gun, Leopold suddenly asked.

"How's the recoil on this thing?"

"…how about you try?"

I also was curious about this.

Raising his brow and looking around, Leopold picked his ear to ensure he didn't hear wrongly.

"Try? Here?"

"I don't think anyone would mind being honest. Just shoot the air."

We were in the open, and most likely, the sound that would come out from shooting the weapon would get drowned out by the sound of the rain.

Furthermore, I don't think the dwarfs would mind this.

"Guess you're right."

Leopold was a simple person. At my words, he stopped thinking too much and put a bullet inside of the gun-like artifact.

Chi Chak—

Loading the artifact, Leopold aimed towards the distance with one hand.

His semi-long hair was already wet from the rain.

Closing one of his eyes and aiming towards the barrier in the distance, he softly muttered.

"I'm going."

Looking at him and taken aback by the fact that he was only using one hand, I blurted out.

"Wait, why are you using only one hand?"

"...just cause."

As soon as his words faded, a gentle hue shrouded his hand, directly entering the artifact.

Click—!

Leopold then pressed on the trigger.

—Booom!

Accompanied by a thunderous sound, a blue ball of energy shot out from the gun, directly aiming for the barrier in the distance. Travelling at incredible speeds, the blue energy travelled through the air, splitting the rain apart.

Before long, it appeared right before the barrier.

However, right as the energy was about to hit the barrier, something miraculous happened; the blue ball stopped mid-air before suddenly disappearing out of thin hair.

On the other hand, while the energy ball shot out from the gun, Leopold, the one responsible for the shot, was sent a couple of steps back.

"Uukkk..."

he managed to rebalance himself, staring at the gun in his hand,

"Bloody hell!"

right wrist, the one that held

recoil on

the

wasn't an expert with guns, I do think that the way that Leopold held onto the gun was

shot, his hand flung all the way up in the air, and he was

next time and

of it, he still needed a lot of practice before using the gun properly. If every time he shot this

wrist, Leopold nodded his

need

"...Mhm."

my head and glancing at the barrier that had now enveloped the

the barrier, you've got

the barrier, I estimated that we had at least a day

the weather

have chosen to erect the barrier because of the weather. So we've got till it stops

"…Thought so too."

a small box in Leopold's direction,

as though they are

into U, it

expensive, but there was a reason for

into powder which

lot of bullets on me was because I traded them for the core

first, I thought of giving it to Angelica, but at the mere mention

I wouldn't be very excited at the prospect of

could only be created by the dwarves as humans were incapable of creating them. At least not

was also why humans didn't have guns as

most create bows or

require a skilled blacksmith but also advanced engineering skills that understood the core

understandable, though. After all, humanity had only

on the

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

electric current suddenly ran through my body and

was next to me, caught me

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him,

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

Leopold's voice was

blurred

luck, this did not last for long as I soon

moment to rebalance myself, I reassured Leopold that

"Ren, are you okay?"

but I'm

onto my head, I

suddenly started to hurt. Probably didn't have

away and carefully looked at

we have some time, you should probably get

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

forced a smile and stood up

left as

no longer

away, he looked at the entrance

on the

"...got it."

need anything,

me a simple nod,

smile on my face disappeared as my

'What was that?'

because my head was still messed up due to what had happened at the Monolith, or was

Though I couldn't explain it, it felt as though I

in

thought about it, the deeper my

Or was this really something

that it was the latter and

—Booom!

an explosion suddenly sounded.

my head and staring in the direction of where the sound originated from, I saw a

barrier, miniature waves appeared on

appeared to me that the barrier had

the ripple centered, my

"They've started the siege…"

***