A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Chapter 63: Bounty Hunters (3)

"Well done," Henry said gently.

Nyx said nothing and just whined smugly as she continued her gallop.

And then shots were fired from behind as well as from the sides. With his eyes widened Tony looked around and saw the rest of the horde of Bounty hunters converging on them. A group came from behind while two other groups came at them from the sides, all with their rifles raised and pointed.

"Ahh," a newbie yelled as bullets struck him, killing him and knocking off his horse.

"Ack!" Cried out a second as he suffered the same fate.

'That's 200 Exp gone!" Henry thought with a deep frown as he raised his rifle and began to fire. Killing two Bounty hunters before they were able to converge on the newbies.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

With eyes widened in his fear of death, Tom the newbie looked back at two more of his fellows falling out of formation and to their deaths.

"Go!" Henry called out, snapping Tom out of whatever depressed thought he was having,

"Split up! I'll keep them away from you!"

The newbies separated and went toward different paths which forced the Bounty hunters on their tail to separate as well but of course, Henry had his rifle at the ready to pick them off one by one.

"Nyx, to the side!" He called out first.

He wasn't holding Nyx's reins and could not direct her in the direction he wanted her to go but his order was well received and Nyx knew exactly what he meant. She deviated from the path she was traveling, causing many shots that were getting fired at Henry from behind to miss.

She went a step further with her obedience to Henry's order as dark mist began to rise from her body and her legs sped up and her speed increased.

<Shadow Dash>

She seemed to blur from the sight of the Bounty hunters and their attempt to move their rifles and target him failed all the more.

In the past week, Nyx had practiced with her <Shadow Dash> skill and she knew better what her limits were now. She didn't use the skill for a lengthy run and only used it to facilitate a perfect dodge. When she returned to her normal galloping pace, Henry was ready with his rifle.

He already found it difficult to follow Nyx's 'normal' speed and it always impacted his shots. Although he had grown better accustomed to it, the <Shadow Dash> skill took it all a step further and he had to wait for the dark mist to fizzle away from her body before he was again confident in his shots.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

With four more biting the dust, the three newbies were far more free to gallop to safety. A few more meters and they tore into woods to vanish from the road being traveled.

Henry expected more of the bounty hunters chasing from behind to break off and chase after but none did.

"Forget those!" said one Bounty Hunter in a deep authoritative tone, "Let's focus on getting one of them!"

The 'Them' were obviously referring to Henry and Tony.

"Right!" The others called out loudly before following up with charging cries as they fired their guns.

"Try to keep one of them alive!" Yelled another Bounty Hunter different from the first.

"Don't you think we know that?!" Yelled a third.

The others grumbled in agreement but really, even the most foolish among them knew how easy it was for a shot to go awry. They were in the midst of a high-speed chase shooting indiscriminately and were far more likely to kill the ones they were chasing than to convince them to stop.

Henry noticed that there was no camaraderie in their tone. No feeling of togetherness and certainly no tone of anger or loss despite the many Henry had killed already. But of course that was expected. These were bounty hunters going after the largest gang in the countryside. A Gang that seemed to be growing by the day and had no issues making themselves known.

A Gang so notorious, that the prize for their Leader's head was a quarter of a Million Verlans.

Anyway,

'They'll probably target the horses next,' Henry thought, 'I won't be surprised if they already had and Nyx's dodge has just helped avoid it.'

"Ah— Fuck!"

The sudden cry of pain caused Henry to look back and he saw Tony had not been as lucky as him and had not managed to dodge the bullets he had. The man's shoulders were bleeding. He had multiple bullet holes in his back and also had a bullet lodged into his side having broken past his ribs and punctured an organ.

However, the many shots he had suffered were not why Tony cussed out loud but rather, it was a particularly impactful shot that struck him very close to his spine and caused him to arch before he slumped forward onto his horse.

His breathing came out in weak wheezes but he sucked in a hard breath and managed to recover his bearings enough to raise his revolver and fire every bullet he still had in its cylinder.

One of those shots hit a Bounty hunter's forehead, knocking him off his horse, and with a smile at the successful shot, Tony allowed himself a bloody smile as he managed to retake his horse's reins and regain control of it.

Henry frowned and raised his rifle to make a shot in retaliation but his aim was knocked off course when Nyx suddenly pulled to a stop and reared on her hind legs while letting out whines of distress.

"-Cliff!-" she yelled in Henry's head.

Henry looked forward and realized they were indeed now at the edge of a cliff with a drop of at least 50 meters.

Tony's horse reacted to the cliff as well and with even more aggressive and horrified whines, it stopped in place as well but fortunately, it didn't rear on its hind legs. Henry doubted Tony would have been able to remain on its back if it had.

Henry turned Nyx around to face the coming Bounty Hunters who stopped their gallops feet away and slowly trotted closer to force a tight semi-circle, cutting off all routes of escape.

They all raised their guns and the smiles on their faces had Henry suspecting they had herded them in this direction on purpose.

Whether it had been on purpose or not, there was no way out but through so Henry pointed his rifle as well but the cocking of six guns trained on him caused him to reconsider.

His Hit points were quite high and as long as it was not a headshot, Henry was confident in enduring a few shots but facing and enduring a firing squad of sorts— Well, that was bound to round his Hit points down to 0 pretty quickly.

With a cliff right behind and the Bounty hunters closing in, there was very little room to move and even if Nyx used <Shadow Dash>, there was a limit to her Mana reserves.

'I suppose I could have Nyx charge forward,' Henry thought,

'She can probably slam one of them aside and clear a path to escape through. But then, what about Tony?'

Henry glanced to the side and saw Tony watching him through heavy-lidded eyes, losing more blood by the second. Henry could tell, He was dying.

"Hey!" One of the Bounty Hunters called out, "Don't think about doing anything stupid. Drop that rifle!"

Henry eyed him for a second and dropped the rifle to the ground.

"Now get off your horse."

Henry got out of Nyx's saddle and took three short steps forward.

"Take out your guns too," the Bounty Hunter ordered with gestures at the two revolvers Henry had in his gun belt.

Henry took his hands to them and the Bounty Hunter glared as he said with intensity,

"Slowly!"

Henry grabbed the handles of both revolvers with his thumb and index fingers to show he had no intentions of shooting.

He dropped the guns to the ground too.

The Bounty Hunter raised a brow at one of the revolvers,

"Fine weapon," he said with a gesture at the gun painted bronze and gold that Henry had claimed from the dead Doran Langlot,

"You're not Angus Dionisio, are you?"

"I'm not," Henry said.

"But to have that and shoot as well as you have, you must be pretty high up in the Dionisio gang. what's your name, boy?"

"Henry," Henry said in the first introduction of himself he had ever made since he arrived in this world,

"Henry Morgan."