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..."

a groan. Once he managed to rebalance himself, staring at the gun in his hand, he couldn't help but

"Bloody hell!"

that held

on this

go ask the

guns, I do think that the

flung all the way

try using both hands next time and keep your feet planted

still needed a lot of practice before using the gun properly. If every time he shot this happened, there was no use

massaging his wrist, Leopold nodded his head

need

"...Mhm."

glancing at the barrier that had now enveloped the whole mountain,

planning on using the barrier, you've

how long the dwarves were planning on keeping the barrier, I estimated that

the weather cleared

because of

"…Thought so too."

small box in Leopold's direction, I

planning on practicing, please don't carelessly treat the bullets as though they are as easy to get as water.

expensive that if converted into U, it would

was a

cores gained from beasts and monsters could be turned into powder which would in turn function as gunpowder. In

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

of giving it to Angelica, but at the mere mention of it, she threw me a

I wouldn't be very excited at the prospect of

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

also why humans didn't have

most create bows or other

guns didn't only require a skilled blacksmith but also advanced engineering skills that understood the core underlying principles of mana, which

understandable, though. After all, humanity had only been exposed to mana for

Leopold on the shoulder, I

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

me off, an electric current suddenly ran through my body and head. My knees buckled, and I almost

Leopold, who was next to me, caught me

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

for him, I

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

Leopold's voice was

blurred

for long

rebalance myself, I reassured Leopold

"Ren, are you okay?"

I'm now

my head, I painfully

head suddenly started

away and carefully

have some time, you should probably

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

forced a smile and

left as fast

longer asked

he looked at the entrance of

go check on the

"...got it."

you need

nod, Leopold soon

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

'What was that?'

up due to what had happened

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

in the

more I thought about it, the deeper my

Or was this really something due to my

wasn't sure, but I sure hoped that it was the latter and that this was just a

—Booom!

then that an explosion suddenly sounded. Following this, the whole city

sound originated from, I saw a

miniature waves appeared on the barrier before

barrier

of where the ripple

"They've started the siege…"

***