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

"Bloody hell!"

that held onto the artifact, he

recoil on this

it wrong? Perhaps we can go ask the dwarves for things

I do think that the way that Leopold held

a shot, his hand flung all the way up

try using both hands next time and keep

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

his wrist, Leopold nodded his head

need to

"...Mhm."

my head and glancing at the barrier that had now enveloped the whole mountain, I

the

barrier, I estimated that we had at least a day to

until the weather

not wrong, the dwarves have chosen to erect the barrier because of

"…Thought so too."

in Leopold's direction, I

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

that if converted into U, it would total

there was

powder which would in turn

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

thought of giving it to Angelica, but at the

all, even I wouldn't be very

created by the dwarves

why humans didn't

most create bows or other relatively simpler

engineering skills that understood the core underlying principles

only been exposed to mana

on the shoulder, I

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

ran through my body and head. My

to me, caught me

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him, I couldn't

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

Leopold's voice was

blurred slightly as

not last for long as I soon got

myself, I reassured Leopold that I was

"Ren, are you okay?"

but I'm now

my head,

head suddenly started to hurt.

gun away and carefully

you should

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

a smile and stood

as

no longer asked about my

he looked at the entrance of the tower in the

on the

"...got it."

need anything, tell

simple nod, Leopold soon walked

my face disappeared as my brows

'What was that?'

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

Though I couldn't explain it, it felt as though I had a similar headache

what in

I thought about it,

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

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

—Booom!

then that an explosion suddenly

in the direction of where the sound originated from, I saw a faint ripple appear on the enormous barrier enveloping the

appeared on

me that the barrier had

direction of where the ripple centered, my brows furrowed

"They've started the siege…"

***