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

"Bloody hell!"

his right wrist, the one that held onto the artifact, he softly

on

go ask the

an expert with guns, I do think that the way that Leopold held onto the gun was

hand flung all the way up in the air, and

and

properly. If every time he shot this happened, there was no

his wrist, Leopold nodded his head in

right; I need

"...Mhm."

and glancing at the barrier that had now enveloped

the barrier, you've got

long the dwarves were planning on keeping the barrier, I estimated that we had at least a day to

until the weather cleared

to erect the barrier because of the weather. So

"…Thought so too."

small box in Leopold's direction, I

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

U, it would total

but there was

and monsters could be turned into powder which would in turn

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

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

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

the dwarves as humans were incapable of creating them. At least not

why humans didn't have

bows or

also advanced engineering skills that understood the core underlying

After all, humanity had only been exposed to mana for

the shoulder,

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

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

next to

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him, I couldn't

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

teeth, Leopold's voice was

blurred slightly as

did not last for long as I

moment to rebalance myself, I reassured Leopold that I was

"Ren, are you okay?"

but I'm

my head, I painfully

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

the gun away and carefully looked at

you

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

forced a smile

pain left as fast

Leopold no longer

looked at the entrance of the tower

on the others

"...got it."

you need anything,

a simple nod, Leopold soon

smile on my face disappeared

'What was that?'

still messed up due to what had happened at the

it

what in

I thought about it, the deeper my frown

there something wrong with me? Or was this really something

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

—Booom!

was then that an explosion suddenly sounded. Following this, the

of where the sound originated from,

barrier, miniature waves appeared on the barrier

to me that the barrier had absorbed the attack from

in the direction of where the ripple centered, my brows furrowed

"They've started the siege…"

***