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,

"Bloody hell!"

right wrist, the one that held onto the artifact,

on this

we can go ask the dwarves for things that can be added to reduce

guns, I do think that the way that Leopold held

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

next time and keep your feet

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 keeping the

massaging his wrist, Leopold nodded his

right; I need

"...Mhm."

barrier that had

dwarfs are planning on using the barrier, you've got some

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

the weather cleared

the dwarves have chosen to erect the barrier because of the weather. So we've

"…Thought so too."

in

bullets as though they are

if converted into U, it would total around

expensive, but there was a reason

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

a lot of bullets on me was because I traded them for the core of the Baron ranked demon that I

but at the mere mention of it, she

all, even I wouldn't be very excited at the

by the dwarves as

didn't have guns

create bows or other relatively

but also advanced engineering skills that understood the core underlying principles of mana, which humanity

though. After all, humanity had only

Leopold on the shoulder,

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

an electric current suddenly ran through my body and head. My knees buckled, and

was next to me, caught me

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him, I couldn't

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

Leopold's voice

vision blurred

for long as I soon got myself

myself, I reassured

"Ren, are you okay?"

I'm

head,

suddenly started to hurt. Probably didn't have

put the gun away and

time, you should probably get

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

a smile and

as fast as

no longer asked about

he looked at the entrance of the

check on

"...got it."

need

me a simple nod,

the smile on my face

'What was that?'

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

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

what in

about it, the deeper my

was this

that it was the latter

—Booom!

then that an explosion suddenly sounded. Following this,

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

whole barrier, miniature waves appeared on the barrier

barrier had absorbed the attack from

direction of where the

"They've started the siege…"

***