A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"GET THEM!!!"

The damage that had been done to the wall had opened the fight to the viewership of the newbies who had now risen from the rubble of bricks, grabbing hold of injured body parts while their lips were stretched into happy grins.

Their attention was mostly on Yelena and watching her shrug off a powerful attack and retaliate with a killing strike that instantly killed three enemies who all could wield magic themselves was a sight to behold.

To them all, this was a novelty. Magic was a luxury none of them had had the advantage of seeing up close or at all and to see it dished out over and over in an intense battle was definitely worth cheering for.

Meanwhile, Dana, Devon, Triss, and Charles were looking down from the hole in their room wall and while they clenched their fists in excitement at the death of their enemies, they also wondered why Yelena was on her knees and looked so out of it.

The Vyker Captain\'s eyes were widened. It didn\'t take a powerful analytical mind for him to see that against just two enemies, he had lost seven allies.

"Change of plans!!!" He called out to the Flame Vykers charging more fireballs,

"Kill them!"

Henry hardly paid attention to what was behind said many meters away from him. He hurried over to Yelena and grabbed her shoulder,

"Hey," he said.

She looked up at him with her eyes still wide but when she spoke, her voice was quite mellow and its tone was normal. She sounded almost resigned,

"I— did it again," she said.

Her wide eyes regained their normal sizes and she let out a sigh. Henry saw something die in those eyes and there was something about the way she was speaking now that caused his heart to ache more than screams ever could.

\'Is this how it looks to resign yourself to killing?\' He wondered.

Like he was being pulled through a pipeline of memories, Henry could soon see himself on the day of his first kill. A gory kill that had doused him with the blood of his victim. He could remember the warmth of the blood and how quickly he had pushed it aside and forged ahead.

\'Was this how I looked that day?\'

The rushing of flames toward him and Yelena pulled Henry out of his thoughts and he looked up to see the fire mere inches from his face. Traveling faster than he could react to.

But then, Yelena was suddenly there. Her brown hair blocking his view as she stretched out her hand and in her fastest casting time yet, she charged dark tendrils and shot that at the fireball.

*Kraka…!*

*BOOOM!!!*

Reacting violently against each other and trumped entirely by the sheer might Yelena put behind her magic, the fireball imploded just as it enveloped the Witch\'s outstretched arm.

When the smoke cleared, Yelena\'s arm was shrunken. Like it had been dried of all fluids and the flesh had been so badly burned. If anyone cared to look hard enough, they would have seen her bones charred from the explosion and cracked by its force.

But in that very second, the cracks mended. The flesh returned to its rightful fullness and there was no longer a sign of injury.

With her hand still outstretched, Yelena called forth her tendrils and let them loose in the absolute might she was capable of, prepared to obliterate the enemies in an instant.

And then, Henry\'s hand returned to her shoulder.

He said nothing. He had nothing to say. It was not his place to tell Yelena whether or not she should let herself be seduced by the desire to kill. He was the worst person to tell her not to do it and he felt that if he did tell her not to do it, he would have been doing it selfishly.

When he offered to help her and take the kills instead, he had meant to truly be helpful but the System presenting him with an Optional Quest with such wonderful incentives made him sure his decision to help was the right one.

However, if Yelena no longer had any qualms about killing, what right did he have to change that?

Yelena paused her focused attention on her spell and took a deep breath,

"The Flame Bastards first," she said as the intensity of her tendrils began to lessen to a more manageable degree.

Henry smiled,

"The Flame Bastards first."

He took his hand off her shoulder and took his guns out of their holsters.

"Go," Yelena said and Henry left her side to charge forward.

\'Allocate 6 Stat Points to Agility!\'

[You now have 12 Stat Points left to allocate]

[Agility: 16 ———> 22]

Henry\'s body felt lighter and his feet moved even quicker.

As he ran, he shot two bullets from \'The Hydra\'s Sting\' at the cost of 10 Mana points each to \'Test the waters\'.

Just as expected, having already seen what it could do, the Vykers didn\'t rely on just the defense of their flame magic to meet the bullets. And once the bullets sailed harmlessly past them, they retaliated with smaller fireballs.

Their conjured fireballs were smaller now as they sacrificed spectacular explosive power for quicker casting times and easy dispensing of attacks.

Henry was forced to dodge but as he did, he still charged forward and adopted a zig-zag running pattern that, added to his improved agility, allowed him to avoid most of their attacks.

Most.

"Ngh!" He groaned as two fireballs hit him in quick succession and almost disrupted his running pace.

Almost.

[You have lost 10 Hit Points]

\'That much?!\' He asked only to be bathed with a green nourishing light the very next second.

[You have recovered 10 Hit Points]

\'From that far away?\' He thought while allowing himself a glance at Yelena from out of the corner of his eyes,

\'Incredible!\'

He was almost at the Flame Vykers when three Feral Meister Vykers blocked his path charging at him with their speed boasted by their no doubt impressive strength stats.

Henry knew he was not going to win a contest of strength against them and if he did manage to shoot one, the others would just clobber him before he could finish the job. But he also knew he didn\'t have to do anything except dodge.

He heard the crackle of Yelena\'s tendrils right before he ducked and was not graced with the sight of the tendrils striking the Feral Meisters.

"ARGH!"

They yelled in unison and the various defenses they were afforded thanks to their mutations began to show signs of breaking apart even as they hurried to circulate their mana to reduce the way the energy of the tendrils wracked through them.

They were still quite alert and Henry was almost sure he would manage to shoot one of them down but that was not the plan

The Flame Bastards were first.

Leaping to the side gracefully, Henry went into a slide and shot a bullet so close to his target, that there was no way it could possibly miss. Not with him at least.

The Feral Meisters might have protected the Flame Vykers with their bodies but they had blocked their views as well and with everything happening in so quick succession, they hardly had the time to react. This was especially the case for the unlucky one Henry shot.

Costing the last 20 Mana Points Henry still had, the <Acidic Conbustion> shot tore through the Vyker\'s Flame field of protection and struck him with an impact that caused him to jerk back a step or two.

The flames burned out some of the bullet\'s effect, but it was still enough to cause rapid poisoning as the Vyker grabbed his heart with his mouth open as all life left him.

Henry was still sliding and jammed his bronze and gold gun into his holster before pulling two Mana Potions from his Inventory and downing them in two gulps.

[You have recovered 20 Mana Points]

[You have recovered 20 Mana Points]

[Mana Points: 40/100]

[Kill-Reward: 100 Exp]

[Vyker-Killer Bonus: +1 Agility]

[Agility: 22 ———> 23]

[Kill Steal Count: 5]

The moment Henry\'s slide stopped, he pointed his gun to shoot the last bullet still in \'The Hydra\'s Sting\'s\' Cylinder and his eyes widened when he saw two columns of fire roaring over at him, unleashed by the two Flame Vykers who just watched their comrade get poisoned to death.

Henry leaped to safety but a fist struck his head the very next second, causing his head to ring not just with the impact of the blow but the notification from the System.

[You have lost 20 Hit Points]

[Hit Points: 70/90]

*Bam!*

*Bam!*

*Wham!*

*Crack!*

The one who was hitting Henry was one of the three Feral Meisters Yelena had struck with her tendrils and his two other fellows were charging over at the Witch, managing to dodge her tendril shots with their eyes glowering with rage.

Yelena was not physically capable of avoiding their approach or the punches they came with and not once did she consider trying.