A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

The newbies didn't need the order yelled twice. One look at the coming horde filled them with dread and they tore right through the cover of trees to get on their horses and gallop as far away as possible.

Tony's horse whinnied as it pranced about in place for a while but remained steady and allowed its rider to face the oncoming attackers.

All of Tony's fired shots missed and as the Bounty hunters got closer, Henry, now turned as well did a quick count,

"Twenty… Twenty-Five," he said with gritted teeth.

"They banded together," Tony said as he put his revolver in his holster. He had fired all its bullets and they had all missed so while enduring the pain in his shoulder, he raised his rifle to try for better aim.

The Bounty Hunters broke into two groups. One group continued to charge forward while the other tore into the trees by the roadside with clear intentions to get the newbies who had only just gotten on their horse's backs.

Henry frowned. He wondered what had alerted this coalition of Bounty hunters to charge at them.

From his experience with Bounty hunters in his past life, —a large part of which was him acting as one for the reward money— Henry knew how they went to areas where news of their targets was most prevalent hoping to find them.

That tactic worked more often than not, but, twenty-five or more bounty hunters charging as one, —In unison— went beyond random scouring of hotspots.

'The Carriage,' he realized with only a few seconds of critical thought even as he raised his Rifle to welcome the coming attackers.

Of course, the trap with the Carriage was not as simple as five gunmen secretly hiding to jump out at the right time and gun down the notorious Gangbangers. The very first gunshot that killed the eager Gangmember, loud as it was, must have been the signal.

The subsequent gunshots furthered the call and now…

'Ah, Shit…' Henry thought with dismay and fired his rifle.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

He cocked the rifle and with a few seconds of critical aim, he fired two more times, killing two more.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

Three horses losing their riders caused a commotion in the riding formation and caused the trajectory to stagger a bit and give Henry time to call out to Tony,

"Come on!"

Tony was about to fire his rifle as well but after Henry's yell, he put that thought aside and gripped his horse's reins to follow Henry's lead.

"Wait, where are you going?" Tony asked, surprised.

"Where does it look like I'm going?" Henry asked as he directed Nyx to charge into the cover of trees by the roadside.

They arrived at the clearing where the newbies had hitched their horses and then followed the tracks to gallop after them.

"We need to get away, now," Tony yelled.

"We will," Henry yelled back but he didn't change the direction of his riding.

'I'm not losing 500 Exp because of a bunch of Bounty Hunters!' He thought and with a gentle but urgent nudge at Nyx's sides, he spurred her to run even faster.

Tony's horse struggled to catch up but the attempt at least kept him ahead of the Bounty hunters behind them who had now recovered from the commotion and were again galloping with purpose.

Half a minute of riding later, Henry could see the ends of multiple horses hot on the heels of the newbies whose faces were twisted in the horror of impending doom.

Henry raised his Rifle, horse reins dropped, and began picking them off one at a time.

"Ack!" Yelled out the first.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

"Ahh!" Yelled the second as he fell to the side, against a third who finally realized something was wrong and glanced back only to be greeted with a bullet in his forehead.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

"Behind us!" Yelled a fourth Bounty hunter calling the attention of his fellows.

While four remained intent on the chase before them, three turned around, weapons raised, to deal with the pursuers.

Tony fired two shots from his rifle, killing one of the three pointing their weapons at him and Henry.

"Ngh!" Henry groaned as a bullet, one of the many fired by the enemy, struck him but he retaliated with shots that killed the remaining two who had turned away from the chase.

[You lost 3 Hit Points]

[Hit Points: 77/80]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

Henry's next attempt at a shot was met with the annoying cocking sound of an empty barrel.

<Reload>

The blue light glowed along the length of the weapon, refilling it with rifle bullets directly from Henry's inventory but he didn't fire.

They were out of the cover of trees now and riding along a grassy plain. Nyx had outstripped Tony and caught up with the Four bounty hunters intent on their hunt.

Henry rode into a gap in their riding formation with a bounty hunter on each of his sides.

"Huh?" Said a Bounty Hunter in surprise at the arrival of an enemy but before he could even think to turn his weapon and shoot, Henry swung his rifle to the full extent of his strength.

*Bam!*

He hit the Bounty Hunter's neck…

*Crack!*

… And fractured it in that single hit.

The Bounty Hunter's head wobbled almost comically before he fell to the side, stunned, and hit the ground headfirst, completing the already horrible fracture and ending his life.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

"You fucker!" Called the Bounty hunter on his side. His revolver pointed.

Henry slammed the gun arm with his palm and the bounty hunter was shocked when his arm spun away so hard it fractured at two joints.

'What maniacal power is that?!' He wondered as he groaned in pain.

Henry's frame was lean and didn't appear capable of such physicality and yet, it managed it just fine. And why wouldn't it? With Henry's strength at 22 (he still hadn't allocated his 12 Stat Points but had received a +1 to his Strength after completing seven Physical Daily Quests), he outstripped normal people.

In all honesty, in a physical contest, none of the Bounty Hunters were a threat. Henry knew this even without using <Insight>. However, their guns were an equalizer. Unfortunately for them though, Guns were far more dangerous in Henry's hands than it could ever be in theirs, as evident by the many he had killed already.

But we digress.

With the Bounty Hunter's arm spun away and fractured, Henry pressed the muzzle of his rifle against the side of his head and blew his brains out.

[Kill-Reward: 10 Exp]

*bang!* *bang!* *bang!*

Three fired revolver shots from behind and one of the remaining two Bounty hunters focused on chasing the newbies fell off his horse, courtesy of Tony.

"Good shot!" Henry called out.

"I should be the one saying that," Tony grumbled with a smile. He wondered while shaking his head; When did the dynamic change so much that he seemed to be the less likely experienced one compared to this Nineteen year old?

Nyx was running right by the side of the horse being ridden by the last Bounty Hunter hot on the tail of the newbies and as she galloped, she looked to the side at it and whined with casual delight.

Henry heard what she was saying in his head;

"-Hey there-" she said, "-I'm just gonna nudge you a bit.-"

Henry wasn't sure if the horse could hear what Nyx was saying. He would have guessed it couldn't.

Either way, the horse whined loudly with its eyes bugged out in fear. Nyx had lied. She didn't nudge it 'a bit'. She nudged hard enough to send the horse careening at least five feet away and when it hit the ground, it fell on its rider, adding to the impact of the fall, it crushed him under its weight, killing him almost instantly.

[Nyx has contributed to a Kill]

[Nyx has received 5 Exp]