A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"NO!!!" Eloise yelled witnessing the fate of her fellow Knights. Fueled by her anger, she unleashed her Oath Charge, channeling its righteous vindication into her physical might while calling upon her godly patron to infuse her mana with the serene energy of divinity that always gave her attacks that extra edge. An edge she needed right now.

When Eloise swung her sword while still in Nyx's saddle to unleash a mana arch that burned with that divine edge, there was something almost personal about the attack.

Calling upon Divine intervention was an ability Eloise sought but was so far unqualified to receive. She had apparently not pleased her patron enough to be blessed with such a boon; To be stamped with a divine charge that would mark her as one to bear the title of a Holy Paladin and smite evil in her god's name.

Faced with the strength of the Orc Priest which was made even more stifling by its murder god's blessing, she felt like, in a way, she was looking at what she would have been capable of if her Patron was not such a stickler.

This feeling of hers was only made worse when the Orc Priest swung its staff and destroyed her Mana surge attack. The bit of divinity Eloise had been blessed with was nothing against the true intervention of a god.

Once the Mana surge attack was destroyed, the Orc Priest swung its staff as well and unleashed an arc of its own. It traveled faster than Eloise's brain could but fortunately, she was on top of Nyx whose undeniable expertise was speed.

With a whinny, Nyx leaped out of the way of the attack and dodged the subsequent orb strikes and lightning bolts much to the Orc Priest's annoyance. Once Nyx did stop moving, Eloise was revealed to be forming a seal with her free hand and she thrust it forward to yell out a spell whose words were carried away by the whoosh of the wind caused by Nyx's gallop.

Fortunately, the spell didn't have to be heard to be effective and a spell circle appeared immediately and spread so wide it blocked Eloise and Nyx from the view of the Orc Priest before glowing bright as though priming for a detonation.

"BOOM!!!*

A massive beam fired from the spell circle. The extent of Eloise's Intelligence was put into the spell and faced with it, the Orc just smiled. It twirled its staff and stuck it into the ground to use it as a conduit for its red liquid mana that swam to meet the beam and destroy it.

"What?!" The Orc's smile slipped. The beam didn't touch the liquid mana. In fact, it wasn't a beam at all. It was a construct of light that separated from the spell circle it had been conjured from to surround the Orc Priest in a tight circle before unleashing multiple beams that primed and fired to create a collections of explosions.

*BOOMMMMMMM!!!*

The grass around the Orc Priest incinerated and when the dust settled, it was there, still standing, surrounded by a concrete shield of magic circles. It still looked surprised but the surprise only became shock when it realized the explosion was not the end of it.

The light spell had left little miniature spell circles all over the concrete magical circle shield. The miniature spell circles were exact replicas of the large one Eloise still had in front of her and as they primed for a second detonation, the Orc Priest canceled its Shield. It believed the miniature spell circles were only able to exist because they had clung to its shield. Take away the shield and they will fizzle out.

Blame it on the Orc Priest's lack of understanding of the magic of the people outside the Dungeon like Eloise, or blame it on the inevitability of the spell Eloise had decided to cast. Or blame it on the Orc Priest's stupidity borne out of arrogance.

Either way, the shield vanishing did not stop the miniature spell circles from priming for an explosion, and with its eyes widened in shock, the Orc Priest had no time to even attempt to move away before all circles targeted him and created a second explosion almost as powerful as the last.

When the dust settled, the Orc Priest was within a depression in the ground caused by the explosion. Its shroud was completely incinerated. Its body looked charred by the burns of the explosion but it was smiling.

Insidious as it was, it had had a plan of its own.

You see, Nyx stayed in place to allow Eloise to cast her spell and the Orc Priest believed that, for as long as it looked like the sequence that followed was to its disadvantage, its targets would remain in place. And hence, would be very prone to a sneak attack.

Why chase them around with spells and attacks the horse was capable of outrunning when it could lay a trap?

Of course, the Orc Priest would have preferred not to have been burnt in the process of this sequence but,

"A worthy sacrifice," it crooned with delight as one drop of its red liquid mana hit the ground and completed a carefully placed spell circle formation.

The appearance of the circle was instantaneous and by the time Nyx's senses picked up on what was coming and her muscles bunched to move, chains charged out of the circle and wrapped her legs to hold her to the spot. Icicles formed off the liquid red mana followed and stabbed Nyx from below.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

[Nyx has lost 50 Hit Points]

[Nyx has lost 50 Hit Points]

[Nyx has lost 50 Hit Points]

[Nyx has lost 50 Hit Points]

[Nyx's Hit Points: 30/230]

Letting out an anguished whinny, Nyx managed one last move which was to send Eloise out of her saddle so the Mage Knight landed at least three feet away.

When Eloise hit the ground, she was already whipping around, charging her sword with divine light and mana as she struck toward the channel that connected the spell circle to the Orc Priest.

The first swing broke threads within the channel but it would take another swing to break it completely.

The Orc Priest watched with a grin, conjured a spear, and tossed it at her to interrupt her sword swing. But, right before the spear hit, Henry was suddenly there, swinging 'Cudgel' at the spear and increasing its weight just before there was contact.

Henry had watched Eloise seemingly gain the upper hand against the Orc Priest with her masterful use of magical detonation but the spell circle rooting Nyx to the spot was where he realized things were very much still in favor of the Orc. He aimed to shoot when a series of notifications of Nyx's lost Hit Points hit his ears and in just a few seconds, a few things happened. Henry saw the channel that needed to be destroyed, he saw Eloise swing for it once, saw the Orc Priest grin and conjure a spear to kill her with before she could strike it a second time.

If Eloise failed to destroy the spell circle formation, the next round of icicles formed out of it were sure to kill Nyx. So he moved.

He ran as fast as he possibly could the moment the Orc Priest began conjuring the spear.

'Just let me make it in time!' Henry thought fervently and he couldn't help the feeling of relief he felt when 'Cudgel' made contact with the Spear and its increased weight proved enough to deflect it off to the side.

The force of the attack still caused him to slide a few feet but he controlled the movement enough to not impact Eloise's second sword swing which she unleashed then to destroy the channel.

The chains melted from around Nyx's body and she promptly escaped the scene with <ShadowScape> right as the next volley of attacks arrived from the Orc Priest. A volley targeted Nyx but she was gone. The rest targeted Henry and Eloise.

Eloise stepped in front of Henry and cast multiple shields that were all shattered in turn. Her defenses were lacking against the Orc's barrage and a few cuts through her armor drew blood when the barrage suddenly stopped.

The Orc's attention was drawn away when its slightly tipped ears twitched and its eyes widened.

"You—!" It started to say but an arc of Mana struck it in the chest then. Rotating like a saw blade, it cut right through its skin and hit with enough force to send it sliding away.

It stopped the movement and the liquid red mana around its body took multiple shapes that struck all over to attack the one that had attacked it with a mana surge arc.

Boyle, his eyes seeming to glow due to his intense focus, avoided most of the attacks, deflected others, and unleashed another Mana surge arc that was intercepted by the Orc's shield. Find exclusive stories on empire

And then the Orc Priest detected a coming projectile which caused it to summon a shield in defense. The shield blocked a mana-infused bullet fired by Henry. That was followed by a forceful Mana beam fired by Eloise that was also blocked by the shield.

At the same time, a dark shadow appeared underneath the Orc Priest and Nyx charged out of it letting out a gallant whinny as she struck her hooves at the surprised Orc Priest. Her attacks were blocked by the shield that had blocked a bullet and a mana beam already.

'All pointless,' The Orc Priest thought calmly, and then its eyes narrowed as it felt a sudden chill,

'Wait— That Knight… I don't sense—'

"Ack!"

The Orc Priest's thoughts were interrupted when a sword stabbed through its back. Its liquid red mana wrapped around it to stop it from sinking any deeper but it was too late.

This time, the blade actually stabbed through its heart.