A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Henry\'s advantage came from being at a distance because, in close combat, Orson\'s superior martial prowess proved a vital difference-maker that made victory difficult. Every shot Henry had fired when they were close together had gotten deflected or dodged while he was consistently on the receiving end of Mana-surge-imbued attacks.

While they fought, Orson\'s movements made it difficult for him to keep his wrists hidden and that was when Henry saw it; The Command Cuff used to keep the Captured Slaves bound and docile.

Had he not already made Orson a prime target, he certainly did now.

They had only been at it for a minute or two but, of course, Henry turned to the most recent addition to his list of attacks and one that did not require aiming beyond selecting a target.

[Activating <Abominable Curse>…]

The ribcage that hugged the sides of Henry\'s vest glowed a green hue and, in a second, Orson\'s eyes glowed a dimmer green and he froze in place as his face became twisted in reaction to the horror he was experiencing within the Abominable Curse.

With a smile playing at his lips behind his Mask, Henry pointed \'Violent Retort\' to fire a shot his opponent could not possibly deflect or dodge, but it was at this moment that Kayla\'s attention had been attracted, and of course, she interfered; Before Henry could pull the trigger, a tendril of water wrapped around him and yanked him out of Nyx\'s saddle.

"Ngh!" He let out as he hit the ground about a foot from Kayla who raised a hand and cast a spell circle that unleashed a powerful stream of water that descended with enough force to shatter Henry\'s bones.

With his eyes wide at the spell circle, Henry managed to direct \'Cudgel\' toward the tendril still keeping him tethered to the mage. He infused the weapon with his Mana and its weight increased so that it dropped hard and broke the tendril, freeing him to roll away right before the stream landed with a *Bang!*

Back on his feet, Henry tried to turn his sights toward Orson but he was unable to because Kayla started tossing out attacks that forced him to dodge and left no room for him to attend to the Fighter.

The Virtutis in his Hat was still recovering so Henry could not yet activate the shield again so running was his best bet. Fortunately, he had his Perception to rely on and had considerable agility to aid his dodges.

He rolled away once to avoid a water blast that struck the ground hard enough to crack it and turned his guns at the Mage to fire multiple shots.

He aimed for a singular spot. The two mana-infused slugs from \'Violent Retort\' hit first and hit with such bangs that they created a splash that resulted in less thickness on that part of the water shield. This was followed by multiple shots from \'Cudgel\'. It took two Mana-infused bullets from the magical Repeater, to complete what the Mana-infused slugs had started. The third shot from \'Cudgel\' went right through the hole that had been created in the shield and pierced the Mage\'s Shoulder.

"Ah!" Kayla yelled out with a hand flying to the wound and her eyes widening as though stunned that she had gotten injured. Her stunned expression became one of anger almost immediately after.

The next shots Henry fired from \'Cudgel\' went through the created Hole but missed as Kayla had quickly urged her horse to trot away. She urged the horse to charge at Henry next and he sidestepped and only barely managed to dodge it by an inch.

While he was in motion, and not at all settled, Kayla sought to take advantage. She went for a killing strike that Henry had no chance of avoiding. Even if he called Nyx, she would not get here fast enough to save him. If anything, she\'d just get caught up in it.

[The Virtutis has reset…]

\'Activate <Hat of Shielding>!\' Henry yelled in his head immediately after and was flooded with a feeling of relief when the shield appeared in a blue haze around him to intercept the attack that still sent him sliding many feet away.

Kayla\'s eyes were wide. She had seen him get struck for sure and yet, there he stood perfectly fine. With that strange blue shield around his body.

"Alright then," she said, "Let\'s see how long it holds!"

[0:58]

[0:57]

[0:56]

Watching as the Mage prepared another spell, Henry was not all that worried. He knew it would be useless against the shield but he was also very aware that he only had this protection for less than a minute. The timer ticking down on a miniature screen in front of him made this fact difficult to ignore.

And then came the water jets and Henry still dodged. Getting slammed would not kill or injure him at the moment but it would still push him away from her and distance or disorientation would do him no good.

Henry only dodged the first round of water jets and he already had both his guns pointed and fired. He had done enough tests with the <Hat of Shielding> in the past few days to know it wouldn\'t stop him from firing projectiles from behind it. It only stopped outside projectiles from hitting him.

Kayla saw the raised guns and erected her shield again. But Henry didn\'t aim for the shield. He turned the muzzles of \'Violent Retort\' downward and aimed for the knees of Kayla\'s horse which were still very visible and hardly protected.

Having her on horseback while he was on foot seemed too much of a disadvantage for Henry to let remain and with two shots from \'Violent Retort\', he destroyed the horse\'s knees so that, with a pained cry, it hit the ground, disrupting Kayla\'s spell cast.

With her water shield dispersing into blue Mana mist that melted into the air and the near-relentless stream of water jet attacks getting shut off, Kayla rolled for a few feet. She had no idea in which direction she was moving so her eyes got especially wide when she found herself lying beside a leather boot. .net

Cylindrical shadows were cast over her face next and she looked up to see the magical-metal muzzles of two guns pointed at her as Henry\'s fingers stroked their triggers. Sure to pull them the very next second.

Meanwhile, barely two seconds after Henry was pulled off Nyx\'s saddle, Orson finally shook off the effects of <Abominable Curse> and cast angry eyes at Henry who no longer had a horse to keep him constantly out of reach. Orson unleashed his Mana surge and prepared to swing his sword in an attack at Henry when he heard an angry whinny.

Nyx charged over at Orson from the side with her body covered in the shadowy mist of <Shadow Dash> that tremendously boosted her velocity.

*BAM!*

Nyx struck her head against the side of Orson\'s horse in a collision that caught the creature by surprise and sent it clear off its hooves to land hard on the ground.

Orson managed to get away and, gritting his teeth at the pain of his fall, he was quickly on his feet only for a large shadow blocked to descend upon him as Nyx rose on her hind legs and struck her hooves at him.

Orson leaped away and avoided the clobbering by inches. He retaliated with a violent Mana surge strike that charged toward Nyx in an arch. She dodged it and galloped at Orson to strike him with her head.

*Bam!*

"Oomph!" Orson let out as he hit the ground and rolled for a while but the moment he was stationary, and before he could nurse the pain in his chest, Nyx was back, rearing on her hind legs to stomp on him with her front hooves.

Lying on the ground, Orson realized he had no chance of getting away from the hooves by moving backward. So instead, he skidded forward and once he was lying underneath Nyx, he stabbed his sword into her abdomen and twisted.

Nyx let out a pained cry and dropped her front hooves to the ground before falling to her knees. Orson rolled out from under her then with a wide grin,

"How about that?" He asked with a bit of a yell, "You like that you dumb beast?!"

With a grin, Orson swung his sword at Nyx\'s neck. His weapon was coated with the aura of his Mana surge and being so close, with no activity from the downed creature, he was sure of making contact.

"Huh?" He let out a sound of surprise and his eyes bugged. The horse was no longer there. In her place was a large dark shadowy circle.

"Where\'d you—" Orson started to ask but was interrupted when Nyx charged out headfirst and slammed into him so hard, that he was sent at least four feet into the sky.

"Ahhhh—"

*BAM!*

*CRACK!*

When Orson hit the ground with multiple broken bones, Nyx was waiting. She rose on her hind legs and brought down her front hooves to complete the stomp the Fighter had avoided twice already.

She stomped four times;

The first stomp shattered Orson\'s sternum.

The second caused a piece of the bone from the shattered structure to pierce his lungs and fill his insides with blood.

The third stomp was the one that actually killed him.

The Fourth was just Nyx being petty.