A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Chapter 200: And For What?

[Extra Arms:

Conjure a maximum of five 'Extra arms' to be wielded as genuine extensions of your body.

- The Arms cannot be extended more than 10 meters from your body.

- They will only remain cast for ten minutes and will have to be recast after.

- If any of the arms is destroyed, it will be recovered at the cost of 40 Mana points.

Cost to create all five Arms at once: 200 Mana Points.]

Henry kept most of his attention on Kayla but had an eye on the description skill of his newly acquired spell and at the sight of the cost, he understood why he had felt like he lost more than half of his Mana points to cast it seeing as his Mana Point Maximum at the moment was at 370.

"How are you doing that?" Kayla asked with her mouth contorted into a hard frown.

"How am I doing what?" Henry asked mockingly and bent low to grab his guns where they lay on the ground after they dropped when he couldn't maintain a grip on them.

"This?" He asked and thrust all five of the tentacles at her to slam her away as he had done once before.

"Idiot!" Kayla yelled, "Like that'll work on me a second time!"

Along with her yell came the completion of a spell circle that created a shield to deflect the impact of the tentacles while her tentacles struck out from behind her, to strike at Henry in a counterattack.

"Tell me how!" Kayla let out in a voice tinged heavily with anger and just a bit of curiosity. Somehow, Henry knew she wanted it to be the other way around.

He rolled to the side and the tentacles struck the spot he had been just a second ago but Kayla was relentless. Just as Henry was pulling out of the roll to return to his feet, she was already striking at him with water jets.

He managed to avoid the first volley and before Kayla could adjust her aim to attack him with the next barrage, Henry pointed 'Cudgel' and fired eight shots at her shield.

"Another idiotic attempt to penetrate my shield?" Kayla asked and let out a cackle, "You fool!"

Her shield began to rotate in an obvious attempt to knock off Henry's aim. Reinforcing her shield would cost Kayla Mana and would also take her attention from other spell-casting attempts she had ongoing but she already decided she did not have to. Not right this instant anyway.

The last time the bullets had made it through her shield, it had been due to relentless barrages on specific spots that wore them down and let the bullets in. This time was different because, with the shield constantly in motion, the enemy could not aim for the same spot.

Or so Kayla thought.

You see, manual aiming had temporarily lost its appeal on Henry. Why bother to be deliberate about aiming when he had a skill that could help with that?

<Guiding Shot>

The first shot fired out of 'Cudgel' was imbued with the homing signal that led the next to where it should hit. The next bullet followed the homing signal while still imbued with another <Guiding Shot> that ensured the next shot struck that very spot and on and on.

It only took four of the shots to puncture a hole through the shield and that fourth shot managed to strike into Kayla's side marking her with the homing signal of <Guiding Shot>.

As she let out a surprised sound of pain and grabbed her side as it bled, Kayla pulled her shield closer to her body and the closeness allowed it to intercept the next bullet that had followed the homing signal that had been placed on her.

But that bullet also carried <Guiding Shot> so the just concluded process began again and the next three bullets created another hole with this penetrating shot stabbing into her stomach instead where it undoubtedly punctured an organ.

"Ack!" Kayla let out and spat out blood.

Almost like they were acting of their own accord, the tentacles behind her back struck at Henry but he commanded him to smack hers aside in defense.

They didn't get smacked far and, only when he felt something slippery and strong wrap around one of his legs, did Henry do a quick count and realize only four tentacles had come at him for a frontal attack.

The fifth had attempted a sneaky move for the only part of his body that his tentacles were not actively protecting as much as the rest.

"Fucking Hell!" Henry yelled and swung 'Cudgel' downward to increase its weight right when it was about an inch away from the tentacle and he watched as it struck and broke through it.

"Huh," Henry let out in surprise. He had expected a favorable outcome but had not truly expected 'Cudgel' to prove so sound as a blunt weapon.

His 'Extra Arms' were still in a tussle against the four remaining but besides smacking each other aside while the enemy tentacles tried to slam him and send him flying, there was very little the opposing tentacles could do against each other.

"Alright then," Henry said and he was already swinging 'Cudgel'.

With his 'Extra Arms' to keep the enemy tentacles busy, he could get in and destroy them with the weight increase of his Magical Repeater.

It was over in seconds and Kayla had used the time she had been bought to down some potions. Henry knew this because he saw her discard the empty bottles right when he looked at her.

"You surprise me," Kayla said, "I really want to kill you but I want to study you almost as much. Never considered myself a researcher but I find myself so curious now."

"A speech before you unleash your greatest spell?" Henry asked with a smirk.

"Maybe," Kayla said, "And yet, I'm worried it still won't be enough to kill you."

"You never know," Henry said. His Hit Points had not really been ducked so far so he was quite healthy. What he had lost were Mana Points and those would he recovered with Mana potions.

Besides, he could also do without Mana Points since he was armed with two magical guns that did not require Mana to be fired. He had prepared for this Quest by stocking up on bullets and he was ready to use them. He also now had an interesting and useful spell etched onto his back on his ~Arcane Tapestry~ so he felt quite calm.

Kayla could tell. Hence her confession of doubt.

She glanced around. She saw Orson's body with its chest caved in. Henry followed her glance and saw the sight. He recognized that wound so he knew what had caused it but he couldn't see Nyx anywhere close to the body.

And then Kayla's shadow started getting larger. Getting darker.

The eventful evening had turned into Night now. The moon was starting to rise in the sky so darker shadows compared to the daytime were not at all strange. At least, it shouldn't have been strange. This shadow's thickness, however, was unnatural.

Ever-sensitive to magical changes in the atmosphere, Kayla's eyes twitched and her eyes began to roll to notice the darkness surrounding her so Henry, knowing what was coming and being a firm believer in the element of surprise, fired shots from 'Violent Retort' and 'Cudgel'. All of which were intercepted by a shield Kayla managed to erect.

"An obvious distraction," Kayla said, "And for what? Another trick?"

Her words were interrupted by an aggressive whinny that came from the darkness that had now surrounded her.

Kayla's eyes widened at the black horse that had completely ignored her defenses and now had its head slamming at her.

This was why Nyx had chosen <Shadow Scape> as her mode of travel. Kayla had proven capable enough to erect shields at the last moment and while she was confident her speed could outrun the time it would take for the shield to appear, why bother?

Why bother when she could just get past it simply because no matter what projectiles Kayla's shield could defend against, her Shadow would always follow.

*BAM!*

*Crack!*

With the sound of an undoubtedly broken sternum, Kayla spouted liters of blood, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head following the impactful contact. Only the whites were visible and she looked completely out of it. But only for a second.

While still in the air, she completed a spell cast she had already begun in her head before this surprise attack. It was among many others she had prepared but was best for this task.

A spell circle appeared. It was small and out of it came a small tendril to match, it wrapped around Nyx's neck. Strong as she was, the horse was capable of resisting the choking that followed but that had never been the intention. Kayla used the Tendril to make Nyx her anchor and stop herself from flying too far.

"Ngh!" She groaned and gritted her teeth before unleashing a powerful force of Mana that could as well have been all she had left. It coalesced into a massive Mana circle and out of it charged a spell the mage had only cast once so far.

A powerful water-blast attack that had been strong enough to cause a landslide.

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It struck Nyx point blank and sent the horse flying. Her whinny of distress was drowned out by the rushing water.

"I won't forget this…" Kayla said in a croaking voice that she barely managed and only then did Henry notice the spell had also been a distraction.

The force had launched Kayla at least three meters away and from there she unleashed another stream. Less powerful and less focused to send her onto one of the many mountain peaks that bordered the path and soon, she was out of sight.