A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Chapter 171: Lightning Is Key

The explosive shatter of the spell circles proved to be good enough of a counter against the pressure of the Lich's Authority. Albeit a temporary counter.

Without its grip on its throne's armrests lessening even by a fraction, the LIch was quick to reenact its Authoritative pressure and while it prepared to recast the large spell circles that would summon more spears to skewer Andor, Louis, and Eloise from below, it also granted its Mummies some reprieve from the Pressure of its dominance. Allowing them to attack the Dungeon raiders without restrictions.

"Move only when you have to," Eloise told the other two under her breath, "It'll be hard enough to resist the pressure. Unnecessary movements will weaken you faster."

Andor gritted his teeth with his grip on his Spear clenching and unclenching as he obediently listened and waited.

He let the Mummies get close which didn't take long and by mustering every bit of Physical might he could manage, all backed by a prompt Mana Surge, he was swinging and taking them down. With the restrictions to movement, he did suffer a few stabs but they were not life-threatening yet and he could still endure. At least for now.

Louis, the one with the weakest stamina in the group of three, had been unable to avoid falling to his knees. The pressure had weakened him so much that he hadn't gotten back to his feet when it passed. Now that it had returned, any attempt to draw on his magical energy and cast a spell was rewarding him with further fatigue.

He managed to get his Spear crackling with the Lightning of a spell but he couldn't even properly raise his head to aim at the contraption in the ceiling and was instead forced to face the immediate enemies.

Henry had 'The Hydra's Sting' in hand with Nyx patrolling across the Chamber and avoiding the area where Eloise, Louis, and Andor were because the Pressure of the Lich's Authority was most dense there.

Henry had the hammer of his gun cocked and was considering firing a few shots from the distance to lessen the burden of the three when his eyes fell on the back of his hand, at the representation of the only spell he knew; Shocking Grip.

Henry paused and maybe Nyx sensed his mind working or maybe she just needed a break from constant gallops as well as taking care to not get too close to be forced on her knees by the Lich's authority. Either way, she stopped.

The stability helped Henry think but there wasn't much need for it. In fact, he almost smacked himself that this had not occurred to him earlier.

If the contraption was weakest against Lightning attacks, Louis was absolutely the best man for the job but Louis was now under the unshaken focus of the Lich while Henry, at the moment, was not.

Henry looked up at the contraption and his eyes steeled with determination.

His idea was set. Now he needed a way to get there because Shocking Grip worked by touch.

The ceiling within the Chamber was fairly high but not too high. It was certainly not as high as the Hall where they had accidentally summoned the Monstrosity.

If Henry was to guess, it was about Nine Meters, give or take one Meter. Just about the height of the Monstrosity.

'Hmm,' Henry thought as he glanced over the Lich, 'Maybe that's why it hasn't summoned a Monstrosity. I doubt that thing could move freely in here.'

Henry only allowed this thought for a second before his focus returned entirely to the jump he had to attempt.

"-Nyx, you're going to need a running start-" Henry said.

"-What do you plan to do?-" Nyx asked in a suspicious tone.

Henry smiled wryly and when he gave her a mental representation of his plan, the horse flinched before she shook her head back and forth.

"-That's insane,-" she said.

"So insane that it just might work," Henry mumbled mostly to himself with the wry smile still on his lips.

"-No, just insane.-" Nyx reiterated but she didn't argue

Time was running out and the Lich's attention on Eloise, Louis, and Andor wasn't doing any of them any favors. Already, Louis' shoulder had been stabbed through and Eloise looked to be nearing her limit on just how many unending streams of enemies she could keep eliminating. Andor was even worse off than she was.

Nyx raised her head with her eyes on Henry's target and then she dropped her head down with her body exuding a feel of seriousness that had Henry steel up as well. This was his plan but this part of it was all Nyx. She had to determine her timing.

Nyx moved quickly toward the very end of the Hall, striking and knocking some Mummies away but uncaring for whether or not they were eliminated. They were not.

She then turned around, and with her body oozing the dark mist of <Shadow Dash>, she took off at the highest speed she was capable of with Henry standing in her saddle with his knees locked in for his part.

Nyx reached the point she needed to reach in about a second and then she jumped. Like taking a running leap, she got high off the ground, taking the burden of most of the jump distance from Henry who then kicked off her saddle (she could handle the force as she bolstered more strength than he could muster) and leaped off her back with his hands directed at the ceiling. Discover your next read on m_vl_em_p_yr

When Henry had come up with this plan, he had looked at more than the Contraption. He had looked around it and he saw constructs —hooks— that were indented into the ceiling and could provide him with something to hang on to.

Henry had sent 'The Hydra's Sting' into his Inventory just to ensure that both his hands were free to reach out and grab a hook.

His right hand missed it but fortunately, before he could let out a sound of despair and revert his focus to landing safely on the ground, three fingers of his left hand touched and curled around a hook.

With every bit of strength he had, Henry grabbed onto the hook with his three fingers and the way his body swung seemed to wrench them away and struck him with a straining pain but he held on.

"Hng!" He groaned as he wrapped all of his fingers around the hook and stabilized his swinging body.

As Henry reached out with his right hand to grab a second hook, his eyes were focused on the contraption that was about three feet away from him. Nyx had done so well to get him this close that he just had to express his gratitude,

"-Thank you!-" he told her.

"-Please don't fall!-" Nyx told him in return.

Henry would have chuckled but he didn't think it would bode well for his efforts at holding on to the hooks. Speaking of which, carefully, he began to move toward the Contraption. It took some groans but he was there in seconds and with his right hand —his dominant hand— retaining a grip on a hook, he stretched out his left hand and touched it against the Contraption.

It felt like solid metal but of course, the magical kind. Even without pulling at it, Henry could feel that it was sturdy. He found himself believing with certainty that no amount of strength, not even triple of Eloise's would be able to break it.

'Fortunately, there's a way,' Henry thought and a smile played at his lips,

'Lightning is Key.'

Shocking Grip!

The Lightning of the spell crackled around his hand and charged into the Contraption in a continuous pulsing steam of electricity that seemed to drive into its very core to short-circuit whatever magical engineering held it close.

Below, the Lich's hollow eyes appeared to widen and its jaw pulled apart as it yelled in a loud voice that resounded across the Chamber and thrummed with such authority and magical might, that the very ground shook,

"NO!!!"