A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"Participation huh?" Henry mumbled with a smile, "In other words, I have no shot of defeating that thing myself."

Henry looked from the screen with the quest details to The Monstrosity as he stretched his hand to the side and grabbed Nyx's reins.

"Come on," he said as he hoisted himself into her saddle.

Nyx let out a few delighted whinnies as she pranced from side to side,

"-What are we doing?-" she asked not because what Henry was about to do wasn't clear already but because she wondered how it was going to be done.

"Probably the only thing we can do," Henry answered as he spiked the reins and yelled,

"Hya!"

Nyx took off in an excited gallop.

Now that she had regained the Monstrosity's attention, it began taking heavy steps toward her and every contact its foot made against the ground slammed Eloise with a focused blast of pressure that consistently smacked her back into the wall.

When she managed to cast a shield, a wave of pressure cracked it and the next was sure to destroy it.

Then she heard the clip-clop sound of horse hooves and looked to the side to see Henry galloping over on the back of the Black horse that started this whole mess.

Henry took his hand off Nyx's reins and with a twist, he retrieved 'The Hydra's Sting' from his Inventory and pointed it at the Monstrosity along with 'Violent Retort', firing shots from both.

The Mana-infused slugs of 'Violent Retort' struck with a *Bang* and punctured a hole through the Monstrosity's large bandaged leg but with not nearly enough of an impact as it had had on the many enemies Henry had struck down so far.

However, the shot from 'The Hydra's Sting' was fired with the activation of <Acidic Combustion> and <Numbing Gas> into that single bullet. It was a combination Henry had never made. The only time he had seen it used was back when the gun was wielded by Mr. Grant.

The combination shot was what killed Kirk on the Train Job and whether Mr. Grant had fired the combination because he didn't know the magical shots could be separated or because he wanted to cause Kirk the most possible agony, Henry just knew the combined Magical shots would made for a greater effect.

He was right.

The bullet made contact and the green veins of the attacks spread with a greater concentration than Henry had ever seen <Acidic Combustion> or <Numbing Gas> managed to do individually.

Green paralytic mist rose from the bullet hole and when the veins had extended all around the width of the foot and connected in a sickly network of acidic horror…

*BANG!*

… There was a destructive blast sound that increased the Concentration of the green mist.

"RAARRRRR!!!*

As though it could feel pain, the Monstrosity paused its attack on Eloise as it turned its violent eyes on Henry whose attention was on the damage he had caused.

When the Green mist dissipated, it revealed shredded bandages that exposed the unholy mashup of bones that made up the creature's legs and while there was some sign of cracking on those bones, they gave off the look of sound structure all the same.

Certainly not enough to break the leg free of the construct that was the Monstrosity.

'To destroy that leg, I'll have to fire more combined Magical shots. Probably tens and tens of them. My Mana and my Mana Recovery Potions might not keep up, I fear.

Plus…' Henry thought as the Monstrosity raised its leg in readiness for a powerful stomp against the ground,

'… Will I even get the chance to make the shots?'

"Nyx, get ready!" Henry yelled as the horse drifted.

Throughout the shots Henry had fired and the results of those shots, Nyx had never stopped galloping and now, in accordance with a plan Henry had only briefly filled her in on, she made a complete turn around to gallop away from the Monstrosity.

When the creature brought its leg down to unleash a forceful wave as it had done many times before, Nyx was already riding away and that momentum boosted her leap.

"You have to time it right," Henry had told her when they were riding over for him to shoot.

Henry had witnessed the forceful wave the Monstrosity could create enough times to know that, like any wave, it was stronger and faster the closer one was to the epicenter.

Closer to the epicenter that was the Monstrosity, the forceful wave spread like a wall and the farther away from the epicenter it spread, the lower the wall became. Despite that, Henry knew he lacked the jump force to get clean over the wall no matter how low it became. That was just how powerful the Monstrosity's wave attack was.

Nyx, however, could do it.

Beyond the fact that she was stronger than Henry, she was also faster.

She got as far away as she could and with a patience Henry cautioned her with, she picked just the time to leap. She picked just when the wave had managed to travel to where she was.

*Neigh!!!*

Letting out a proud sound, the Shadow Mare got clean over the wave and the moment her hooves hit the ground again, she was turning around for Henry to target the Monstrosity's leg and fire another combined Magical shot.

*BANG!!!*

"RARRRRRR!!!"

As its leg suffered yet another blow that cracked the bones and tinged them with Acidic sizzles, the Monstrosity yelled and charged at Henry and Nyx. Every step unleashed a wave targeted at them.

Nyx had to remain constantly on the run. Every step the Monstrosity took was covering multiple of hers. She also had to make well-timed leaps to keep from getting slammed by the focused waves.

All the while, Henry fired two shots at the Monstrosity.

He was unable to aim at its legs because those were the epicenters of the focused waves that chased him and Nyx down so he targeted the creature's torso instead. Damaging the bandages and exposing gory bony combinations that lay underneath.

Henry was disappointed that he couldn't continue what he had started with the Monstrosity's leg but he was able to shrug that away. After all, this was going to be a team effort.

All that he and Nyx had done so far was fairly calculated by him just to draw the Monstrosity's attention to himself and alleviate Eloise's burden.

Henry glanced at where she had been against the wall and he smiled lightly when he saw she was no longer there. Clearly, although he had not been able to tell her he was simply providing a service, she knew what she was meant to do.

Sure enough, a blade glowing with Mana and the inexplicable energy backed by that strange serenity from earlier pierced through the Monstrosity's leg from behind.

With her brows furrowed in her focus, Eloise had directed her attack at the same leg Henry had shot a few times already, and with every bit of strength she could muster, she managed a swing that cut through the gory combination of bones in an attack that caused the Monstrosity to roar…

"RARRRRR!!!"

… and turn its attention from Henry and Nyx to her.

Eloise leaped back and as the Monstrosity made to strike down at her with its fist, Henry fired two shots of combined magical attacks with 'The Hydra's Sting', targeted at the gap that Eloise had made with her sword.

The shots hit their targets. They spread veins of combined acidic might before exploding in a magnificent blast of acidic spittle and numbing gas.

The Monstrosity buckled and fell on what could best be described as its knee and when the green gas dissipated, its foot was revealed to have been detached from its leg. Leaving behind a bony stump sizzling with the magical acid of 'The Hydra's Sting'.