A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Chapter 195: The Slave Caravan (1)

The hours dragged on…

The sun began to grow lower and was beginning to cast a reddish-orange glow in the horizon to announce the start of evening and only then did the group of three hear the sounds of wheels turning and dragging across the rocky floor of the path below.

"They're here," Henry said quietly, and 'Cudgel' was immediately in his hand.

"Masks on," he said as he pulled his mask from his Inventory and put it on. The Mask covered the entirety of his face with holes cut in for the eyes. Having tested it already, Henry knew his aiming would not be impacted.

Andor pulled his Mask on as well and went even lower in precaution with his hand clenching as though he was itching to pull his weapon out of his storage bracelet.

Henry pointed 'Cudgel' down into the ridge and looked down the barrel to aim just as the caravan pulled even more into view.

He had practiced this a few times already in the few days they had spent on a stakeout. He knew the Repeater's range was more than enough for this task. In fact, its firing capability was so powerful that the damage it caused against the rocky targets was incredibly substantial.

He cocked the gun's hammer just as Louis crawled over to lie down by his other side with his Mask securely over his head but his wide blue eyes staring down at the Caravan.

"They sure are slow," he said in a voice barely a whisper.

"You kinda have to be for a company of that size," Henry said.

The slave caravan comprised three carriages and three independent riders.

Two of the carriages carried a metal cage each with bars wide enough to show that there was a clear view of just how many Cuff-wearing spaces were within. Each cage held at least ten of them. All packed tight with barely any room to move their arms. Their eyes looked defeated. It wasn't difficult to imagine what they had faced from the cuffs and the slave-catchers throughout the last few days.

The third carriage carried a different cage. It looked similar to the one that had brought Henry to Alvareen. No bars and old metal walls on all sides. So small that its occupants could not possibly go beyond three but Henry had a feeling only one person was in there.

The cage was a bit different from the one that had brought Henry in though. Or at least, as far as Henry could see so far, there were no openings for the one inside to look outside. Strange but not quite important at the moment.

The two carriages holding the largest cages were manned by four men each. All were bearing hard expressions and their leather armor had signs of recent combat. They were quite alert but no matter how they observed, Henry knew they wouldn't see them.

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The carriage holding the cage with no openings was manned by three men who occasionally cast shifty looks at the cage behind them whenever the carriage so much as twitched. They looked quite on edge.

The independent riders were so clearly leading the operation and at the forefront of the formation was a robe wearer whose head was covered by a hood with hands gripping onto the reins of their horse.

"A mage," Louis said.

"Could be a wizard or a Warlock," Henry pointed out yet to use <Insight>.

"Nah, it's a Mage. I can tell," Louis insisted.

"Can you aim for the shafts attaching the carriages pulling them?" Henry asked.

Louis shrugged,

"If I toss a bunch of streaks, I should hit more than I miss, I suppose," he said sounding only slightly confident.

"The riders won't run as they have to protect the caravan but if we aim for them first, the caravan can get away and we could get too bored down by combat to chase after.

We need to ground the caravan first."

"I understand," Louis said with a solemn nod. He gripped his newly-gotten staff and sounded more confident.

"Alright, then," Henry said with a nod as he aimed 'Cudgel', "I'll aim for the riders then. They'll pose the most threat and should be taken down now. Also, we need the one wearing the Command cuff to go down first."

"When should I attack?" Louis asked.

"Hold on," Henry said and took one hand off 'Cudgel' to raise it in a signal.

He wanted the carriage to pull even further into the ridge. The precession was slow but eventually, the caravan was right where Henry wanted them so he gave Louis the signal to cast his spell by dropping his hand.

It appeared as though Louis had been chanting the spell in secret already because he just completed the last few words out loud as a massive spell circle took shape above his head.

From the moment Louis completed the spell, Henry saw the head of the robe-wearing rider twitch in reaction. They should not have been able to hear them especially with Louis speaking in a whisper. He had run enough tests to be relatively sure of this fact.

Henry noticed no one else had reacted like the robe-wearer so he concluded it wasn't that Louis's voice had been heard but rather that his magic had drawn a reaction.

And then the massive spell circle stretched so large, it was gathering all attention from all over but the deed was already complete.

*KRAKA— CRACKLE— KRAKA— BANG!!!*

The sounds were powerful as the streaks fired down into the ridge and struck the ground between the horses and the carriages they pulled. The caravan moved relatively in a straight line which made aiming a bit easier for Louis.

Plus, he just made sure he aimed for the space between so that if the streaks ever erred, the damage would only strike at those manning the carriages or the horses which would force a dead stop anyway.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

The shafts shattered one after the other. Some of the horses got electrocuted but whatever damage it caused them seemed on pause as they skittered away letting out whinnies of pain.

The erring of the damage the spell caused struck the fronts of the carriage and even struck a few of the men manning them but besides yelling out in pain and leaping out of their seats to hit the ground hard and nurse their injuries, they appeared like they'd survive.

All eyes were already turned in their direction but Henry did as he had said he would and aimed at one of the Individual riders. He pulled the trigger but his shot was blocked by a circular shield.

The shield ebbed and flowed and when the Mana-infused bullet from 'Cudgel', there was a violent splash from the point of impact but it absorbed the worst of the bullet's impact and left the target safe.

Just as the robe-wearer cast the protective shield to protect their colleague, they cast a look at where Henry, Louis, and Andor were. The direction from which the two recent attacks had come.

The hood pulled back as the Mage-wearer eyed them and Henry saw what was undoubtedly a feminine face. It was even pretty despite how hateful it looked as she glared at them.

This observation lasted a second at most because she took one hand off her reins and stretched it toward their direction. Henry took note of her hands, thin, delicate, with long sharp nails extended from each finger and he wondered how he hadn't seen she was female earlier.

He concluded he must have just been too focused on the task ahead to pay attention just as a blue magic circle appeared in front of the nail-tipped fingers and out of it unleashed a powerful stream of water.

The water-blast was so wide that it blocked the Mage from view and even before it even struck, it packed a forceful wind that blew Henry's hair back. Had his Hat not been so magically attached to his head, it would have gotten blown off.

"Take cover!" Henry had yelled from the moment the spell circle appeared.

Andor already had his shield out of his storage bracelet and held it in front of him at the same time that Louis managed to conjure a shield of lightning that crackled to meet the coming danger.

[Activating <Hat of Shielding>]

As he selected the option the System had presented him to activate his Hat's effect, an oval shield appeared around Henry's body in a blue haze.

All this was done a split second before the water blast struck. In the direction it came from, the attack shot upward and ended up mostly hitting nothing in the sky above.

However, it did strike against the formation of rocks the Gang was hiding behind so, besides the fact that it packed enough force to slam them all away, it also unearthed chunks of rocks that put their varying shields to the test.