Chapter 84.1

The Dawn of Renslet (1)

Divine power and dark magic are the ultimate opposites.

If dark magic is fire, divine power is water.

And now, holy water was pouring from the factory ceiling like rain.

“This… this isn’t just ordinary holy water!”

“The defensive charms aren’t working…!”

“Ughhh!”

“No… the shield… the shield is breaking!”

“Aaaaargh!”

“It burns! It’s burning!”

Whatever had been done to this holy water, it melted the dark sorcerers’ shields of darkness in an instant and began to burn their very bodies.

The stench of flesh and bone melting filled the air, chokingly foul.

Slash—

Urgh!

Thud—

Gah!

Astra, eyes tightly shut against the searing rain, could hear his subordinates being cut down and pierced by the northern knights.

“Arghhhhh!”

“Hyaahp!”

Clang! Clink!

Some of the Sigma agents, relying on their heightened senses from doping, tried to fight blind.

But even in optimal conditions, the northern knights were formidable opponents.

Victory was a hopeless dream.

“For honor!”

Crunch!

Refusing to be taken alive, the Sigma agents bit down on hidden poison capsules, choosing death over capture.

“So, this is what it’s like to use sprinklers. Amusing.”

Then, the mastermind of the entire ordeal stepped forward.

“You… you!”

The blinding flash had subsided, but Astra’s vision was still hazy.

He couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

‘Over there! It’s coming from there!’

Astra relied on his hearing to pinpoint where Arad was standing.

“Die!”

Capturing him alive was no longer an option.

Whoosh!

He hurled his sword with all his might toward Arad’s direction.

“Gah!”

“No!”

The northern knights, who had been effortlessly cutting down Sigma agents, let out genuine cries of alarm.

Hearing this, Astra felt a wave of triumph wash over him.

‘Soon… soon there will be a sickening thunk! and silence will reign.’

Claaaang!!

But the sound that followed was far from what Astra had hoped for.

“!!”

His eyes flew open despite his blurry vision.

Straining to focus on the hazy figure ahead, Astra could barely believe what he saw.

“……!”

Standing in front of Arad was a stunning woman with snow-white hair and deep gray eyes.

She held a sword, now broken from deflecting Astra’s attack.

Huff—

A short smoking pipe rested between her lips.

“Ah… it broke,” Mary murmured, looking regretfully at her shattered blade.

‘Could it be…?’

Astra instinctively realized the truth.

That woman—the one known as Arad’s secretary and rumored lover—was none other than the Northern Grand Duchess herself!

“Ha-ha-ha! It’s her!”

Beside Astra, a voice rasped out.

Despite the baptism of holy water, one dark sorcerer had miraculously survived.

His body had melted to the point of being unrecognizable, yet he clung to life with sheer willpower.

“Die! Let this be the final link of vengeance!”

The 6th Circle dark sorcerer chanted a spell with all his remaining strength, unleashing it upon Arina.

[Black Infer—]

Bang!

But the sorcerer’s final attack never reached its target.

Huff—

This time, it was Arad who acted.

Standing beside Arina, he raised an unfamiliar weapon in his right hand and fired, blowing the sorcerer’s head apart.

Huff—

I blew on the barrel of the magic gun I’d modeled after a magnum revolver, despite the lack of any actual gunpowder smoke.

It was just something I felt compelled to do, probably because Mary was constantly puffing on her mana-infused smoking pipe right next to me.

Click, clack.

I carefully examined the magnum, which I had properly used for the first time.

The magnum I held in my hands had consumed an absurd amount of money and effort to create.

Each shot I fired was nerve-wracking.

‘Every time I reload, I have to use a mid-to-high-grade magic stone. It’s like launching a Patriot missile on Earth.’

The cost of a single magic bullet was astronomical, comparable to a state-of-the-art missile in Earthly terms.

“What is that?” Mary asked, her eyes fixed on the magnum in my hand.

“Oh, this? It’s a magic gun,” I replied.

A signature weapon of the Arcane Punk era: the magic gun and its companion, magic bullets.

With the current infrastructure, producing these was an immense challenge.

BUT, immense challenges didn’t mean impossibilities.

“Will you mass-produce these magic guns? With just one of those, we could annihilate every monster in the North!”

Mary’s eyes sparkled with excitement, as though she’d already forgotten how close she had been to death moments earlier.

“It’s expensive.”

“How expensive?”

“About the cost of twenty mana potions—for the gun alone. That doesn’t even include the bullets.”

“Whaaaat?!”

“And every time you fire a few shots and reload, you need to replace it with at least a mid-grade magic stone.”

Despite being shocked by the staggering cost, Mary’s bright eyes remained fixed on the magnum.

“And right now, I’m the only one who can make it.”

“Couldn’t you just train others to make them?”

“Well, sure. But even if we mass-produce the guns, not everyone could use them. You’d need a minimum mana sensitivity equivalent to 1st Circle magic.”

In the Era of Silver 1, magic guns were weapons primarily used by low-to-mid-tier adventurers or junior mages who could sense mana to some degree.

“Why does a magic weapon, like the magic gun, require someone with mana?”

“To put it simply, magic weapons are akin to a mage’s staff.”

“Ahh…”

Mary nodded, immediately grasping the analogy.

Like a mage’s staff, magic weapons required precision and focus. The wielder’s intent and concentration directly influenced the mana’s operation.

Unlike ordinary magical tools, magic weapons required the wielder to act as the safety mechanism—channeling their killing intent and focus into firing safely.

“Still, someday, you’ll be able to mass-produce them, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then that’s good enough for me. There are plenty of people in the North who can sense mana, even just a little.”

Even after learning the magic gun was costly, difficult to produce, and not universally usable, Mary remained undeterred.

“Well, magic guns might be tough for now, but I can make crossbows that fire magic stone bolts.”

“Really?”

Her face lit up instantly, her smile bright as if the previous conversation had never happened.

As I watched her, a growing sense of unease began to form.

‘Mary… her swordsmanship is no joke. This isn’t just the level of a simple magic swordswoman.’