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..."

was pushed back, he let out a groan. Once he managed to rebalance himself, staring at the gun

"Bloody hell!"

the one that held

recoil on

go ask the dwarves for things that can be added to reduce

I do think that the way that Leopold held onto the

his hand flung all the way up in

and keep your feet planted on

he still needed a lot of practice before using the gun properly. If every

massaging his wrist, Leopold nodded his

need to

"...Mhm."

glancing at the barrier that had now enveloped

on using the barrier, you've got

the dwarves were planning on keeping the barrier, I estimated that we had at least a day

until the

have chosen to erect the barrier because of the

"…Thought so too."

a small box in Leopold's direction,

don't carelessly treat the bullets as though they are

into U, it would total around 500,000U per

but there was a

be turned into powder which would in turn function as

on me was because I traded them

thought of giving it to Angelica, but at

wouldn't be very excited

created by the dwarves as humans were incapable

was also why humans didn't

most create bows or other

engineering skills that understood

all, humanity had only been exposed to mana for less

the

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

off, an electric current suddenly ran through my body and head. My

was next to me, caught me

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him, I couldn't

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

my teeth, Leopold's voice was faint

vision blurred

did not last for long as I soon

moment to rebalance myself, I reassured Leopold that I

"Ren, are you okay?"

I'm

my head, I painfully

just that my head suddenly started to hurt.

away and carefully looked at

some time, you should probably

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

smile and stood up

as fast as it

Leopold no longer asked

he looked at the entrance

go check on

"...got it."

you need

me a simple nod,

Leopold's back, the smile on my face disappeared as my brows knit

'What was that?'

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

somewhat familiar. Though I couldn't explain it, it

in the

about it, the deeper my frown

something wrong with me? Or was this really something due to

hoped that it was the

—Booom!

suddenly sounded. Following

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

the whole barrier, miniature waves appeared

barrier had

the direction of where the

"They've started the siege…"

***