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

"Bloody hell!"

wrist, the one that held

on this

you held it wrong? Perhaps we can go ask the dwarves for things that can be added to reduce the

do think that the way that Leopold held

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

using both hands next time and keep your feet planted

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

massaging his wrist, Leopold

I need to

"...Mhm."

head and glancing at the barrier that had

are planning on using the barrier, you've got

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

until the weather cleared

to erect the barrier because of the

"…Thought so too."

box in Leopold's

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

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

there was a

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

reason why I had quite a lot of bullets on me was because I traded

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

after all, even I wouldn't be

dwarves as humans were incapable of

also why humans didn't

create bows or other

skilled blacksmith but also advanced engineering skills that understood the core

humanity had only been exposed to mana for

on the shoulder, I

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

my body and head. My knees buckled, and I almost tripped on

who was next to me,

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him,

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

voice was faint in my

blurred slightly as

not last for long as

I

"Ren, are you okay?"

but I'm

my head, I painfully

my head suddenly started to hurt. Probably didn't have

away and carefully looked at

some time, you should probably get some

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

forced a smile

as

longer asked about

looked at the entrance

on the others

"...got it."

you need anything,

simple nod,

Leopold's back, the smile on my face disappeared

'What was that?'

because my head was still messed up due to what had

it felt as though I had a similar headache in

what in the

thought about it,

there something wrong with me? Or was this really

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

—Booom!

an explosion suddenly sounded.

of where the sound originated from, I saw a faint ripple appear on the enormous

whole barrier, miniature waves appeared on the barrier before disappearing not

that the barrier had

direction of where the

"They've started the siege…"

***