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..."

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

"Bloody hell!"

right wrist, the one that held onto

on

ask the dwarves for things that can be

guns, I do think that the way that Leopold held onto the gun

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

try using both hands next time and keep your feet

lot of practice before using the gun properly. If

wrist, Leopold nodded his head

need to practice

"...Mhm."

and glancing at the barrier that had now enveloped the

the barrier, you've

keeping the barrier, I estimated

until the weather

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

"…Thought so too."

box in Leopold's direction,

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

converted into U, it would

but there was a reason for

turned into powder which would in turn function as gunpowder. In fact, demon cores

because I traded them for the core of the

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

enough, though; after all, even I wouldn't be very excited at the prospect

note, the bullets could only be created by the dwarves as humans were incapable of creating them. At

was also why humans didn't have

bows or other

but also advanced engineering skills that understood

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

Leopold on the shoulder,

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

electric current suddenly ran through my body and head.

to me, caught me by

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him, I

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

my teeth, Leopold's voice was faint in my

vision blurred

luck, this did not last for

I reassured

"Ren, are you okay?"

I'm now

onto my head, I

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

gun away and carefully looked

you

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

forced a smile and stood up

as fast as

no longer

the bullets away, he looked at the entrance of the

go check on the others

"...got it."

need anything, tell

simple nod,

the smile on my face

'What was that?'

messed up due to what had happened at the Monolith, or was

explain it, it felt as though I had a similar headache

in the

about it, the

me? Or was this really something due to my

I sure hoped that it was the latter and that this was just

—Booom!

an explosion suddenly sounded. Following

from, I saw a faint ripple appear on the enormous barrier enveloping

waves appeared on

me that the barrier had absorbed the attack from

of where the ripple centered, my

"They've started the siege…"

***