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..."

rebalance himself, staring at the gun in his

"Bloody hell!"

right wrist, the one that

recoil on

go ask the dwarves for things

wasn't an expert with guns, I do think that the

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

time and keep your feet planted on the

of practice before using the gun properly. If every time he shot this happened, there was no use in him keeping the

massaging his wrist, Leopold nodded his head in

I need to

"...Mhm."

the barrier that had now enveloped the

the barrier, you've got

keeping the barrier, I estimated that

the

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

"…Thought so too."

small box in Leopold's

practicing, please don't carelessly treat the bullets as though they

converted into U, it

was a reason

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

a lot of bullets on me was because I traded them

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

though; after all, even I wouldn't be

could only be created by the dwarves as humans were incapable of creating them.

why humans didn't have

could at most create bows or other

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

humanity had only

on the

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

current suddenly ran through my body and head.

Leopold, who was next to me, caught

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

for him,

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

teeth, Leopold's voice was

vision blurred slightly as

my luck, this did not last for long as I

I reassured Leopold

"Ren, are you okay?"

but I'm

head,

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

gun away and

we have some time, you should probably get

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

forced a smile

as

Leopold no longer

looked at the entrance of the

check on

"...got it."

need anything,

a simple nod, Leopold soon

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

'What was that?'

due to what had happened at the Monolith,

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

in the

I thought about it, the deeper

something wrong with me? Or was this really something due

but I sure hoped that it

—Booom!

suddenly sounded. Following this,

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

waves appeared on the barrier before disappearing not long

barrier had absorbed the attack

of where the ripple centered, my brows furrowed

"They've started the siege…"

***