A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

A few minutes earlier,

Aurelius the Knight awoke. Or more accurately, he awoke again.

You see, after he had gotten smacked aside by the Monstrosity while trying to defend Eloise, Aurelius had been knocked out for a few minutes and when he did manage to stir, he witnessed the end of the sequence that caused the creature to lose its foot right before it unleashed the double-fisted slam that unleashed the wave that hit everyone in the hall.

Aurelius had \'seen\' the wave coming and was probably the only one to raise a shield in defense. Of course, the shield didn\'t stop him from getting slammed into the wall for the second time that day but it had to have reduced some of the impact because Aurelius woke up before anyone else in the hall besides Henry.

Awake, Aurelius saw the Monstrosity take steps toward Eloise and felt buoyed to help her only for such thoughts to be interrupted when a Mummy picked up its Spear and ran at him to run him through with it.

The Mummies that had been summoned before the arrival of the Monstrosity and the disappearance of the symbols were not all dealt with and while Henry was gunning down some on the other side, Aurelius had to temporarily abandon his thoughts of helping Eloise to remain alive.

He shifted out of the way of an oncoming spearhead and leaned forward to retaliate by slamming his shield into the Mummy\'s midsection.

*Bam*

The force was so great that the Mummy was sure to be sent flying many feet away but Aurelius grabbed the shaft of its spear and used it to pull the creature closer before wrenching the spear out of its hold and stabbing it through the Mummy\'s head.

More Mummies came close and Aurelius used the Spear to attack, eliminating some of them and bashing others aside while lamenting the \'feel\' of the Spear in his hand.

As a Knight, Aurelius had trained in various weapons and was capable with a Spear but the sword was his Weapon of choice and his sword was perfect for him so he cast his eyes around in search because, like everyone else —Humans and Mummy alike—, he also lost his weapon due to the forceful wave\'s slam.

"Ah!" Aurelius yelled and stomped a heavy armored foot against the ground as his Mana surged and he used the wave to force his way through the crowd of Mummies attacking him.

He ran toward his sword then, threw the spear in his hand so that it stabbed through the head of a Mummy and eliminated it, right before he bent low, grabbed his sword, and did a spin to slash through the first five Mummies to surround him after the recovery of his weapon.

As the five fell, all cut in half, Aurelius saw Henry with Eloise on his horse and his expression twisted in annoyance.

Whether Aurelius\' expression was because he still saw Henry and the horse as the reason all this was happening or because he felt he should have been the one to pull Eloise away from the path of the Monstrosity\'s attack, was unclear. It could also have been both. In fact, it was very likely both.

Either way, Aurelius used that anger to bolster his Mana surge in a wave of righteous conviction that had his body slightly illumined by some honorable sanctity that had him cutting through the Mummies in a whirlwind that would have had them all in a whiplash had they had enough sentience to comprehend what was happening.

Aurelius was so locked in that the faces of the Mummies sometimes morphed into Henry\'s and he just cut through them all the same. In fact, in those cases, he cut with even more vigor.

Meanwhile, Nyx, with Henry in her saddle, was avoiding every sporadic wave that the Monstrosity let loose as it stomped around on its foot and stump while in distress by Eloise\'s sword in its neck.

"It\'s not going down," Henry mumbled, "It\'s not even slowing down."

The way Henry saw it; If losing its head was enough to stop the Monstrosity, then it should not be as energetic as it was when Eloise had sawed through about half off its neck already.

"If it\'s not its neck, then it must be its chest," Henry mumbled and then glanced over at Louis standing a few feet away.

"Louis, can you cast?" He asked.

Louis had been watching the developments with his ever-wide eyes while avoiding getting slammed by the sporadic forceful waves and now looked at Henry before he nodded while gripping his staff tight.

"Good," Henry said and pointed to the Monstrosity which, in all its distress had been so turned around it was now facing Louis at enough of a direct angle to aid him in aiming.

"Shoot it down."

"Alright," Louis said and held out his staff in front of him as he closed his eyes and chanted a spell Henry had heard him chant a few times since they had been in the Dungeon but it felt different this time.

This time Louis was infusing the spell with every bit of Mana he still had. After all, preserving some of his reserves seemed pointless in the current climate.

As lightning began to spark around Louis\' body and a spell circle began to take form in front of the staff he held out, Eloise\'s sword was forced out of the Monstrosity\'s neck. She left the creature only an inch of bony connection and although its head now wobbled, she also came to the same conclusion Henry did and realized this would not take it down.

And then she heard Henry yell at her from below,

"Hold on!"

"What?" Eloise asked in confusion and then her eyes widened when she saw the lightning congealing in front of Louis.

A second later, he fired.

*BRRZZZZZTTTTT*

*KRAKA-BANG!!!*

The lightning struck with an almost deafening bang. The bandages were shredded and a layer of the unholy combination of bones was broken through to reveal another below. The Monstrosity let out a deep roar as it was forced to lean back on an already shaky foundation because it lacked a foot.

Eloise was shaken and almost toppled but stabbed her sword into the Monstrosity to slow her fall. Her sword stabbed into the creature\'s front. It broke past the second layer and as she slid lower, she cut a long gash that opened up a glow within; The source of the Monstrosity\'s many roars and its ability to move and ravage.

Eloise\'s sword got shaken loose finally and she fell…

"Ahh… Umph!"

… into Henry\'s arms as he sat her into Nyx\'s saddle while charging Mana into \'The Hydra\'s Sting\' to complete what the others had started.

Henry fired three shots that all combined <Acidic Combustion> and <Numbing Gas> to explode in a sequence of impactful explosions…

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

… That broke past the final layers of unholy bony combinations and shattered the far more fragile power source beneath.

The glow in the Monstrosity\'s \'eyes\' on its nearly severed head mellowed instantly and it immediately fell to the ground with a massive *THUD*…

… Defeated.