A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

When his eyes fell on the Vykers and he watched as Angus sailed away and struck the wagon to become buried by its splintered wood, Henry was not all too surprised that he received a notification from the System.

What did surprise him was the content of the Notification;

[Evolutionary Quest: Nyx has been Updated!

The System has detected Five Evolution-Friendly ingredients that can allow your tamed Horse to step onto the Evolutionary Path.]

Blue lines began to radiate around the bodies of the four living Vykers and Angus. The lines moved like scanners before centering at the hearts of the targets and after another second of scanning, a screen appeared in front of Henry with five notifications listed as follows;

[Fiery Heart]

[Feral Heart]

[Fiery Heart]

[Shadow Heart]

[Spellbinding Heart]

'Two Fiery Hearts,' Henry thought, 'And I suppose the Spellbinding Heart is for Angus.'

Henry clicked on the first on the list and it opened up a description screen;

[Flame Heart:

While this Vyker's abilities stretch all over his limbs and saturate his entire being, his heart is the core of his abilities. The center of all that makes him the Vyker he is.

The Core is still open to further Evolution and while it is weak because of its dependence on its creator, it can still be used as an Ingredient for the Evolutionary path.]

Henry clicked on the others one by one but the descriptions were essentially the same so when he eventually dropped his hand, he was frowning slightly,

'Their Hearts?' He thought, 'I'm supposed to use their Hearts?'

[Vykers might be mutated but they are still magical creatures. Their very creations require magical ingredients usually harvested from Magical creatures who come about their abilities more naturally.]

[Note: As mutations that they are and because of their dependency on their bonds with their Creators, Vyker Hearts do not hold their power for long after the body's death.

I.e The Hearts will only remain viable for two minutes after the Vyker's death.]

"Henry."

The sound of a voice calling his name from behind pulled Henry out of his thoughts.

"This is no time to be out of it, boy," Tony said.

"Of course," Henry said with a nod, and with a final glance at the notification screens, he finally returned his full attention to the Vykers.

Speaking of which, the two Flame Vykers (The ones with Fiery Hearts) that had delivered the explosive blow that sent Angus into the wagon approached him with assured steps.

The smiles on their faces were almost gloating at their successful strike as well as their resistance to Angus' Spellbinding.

"Your power is strong and… unpleasant. But it relies too much on hearing and taking advantage of a weak will. We'll be much better at resisting it now."

The two powered their fists with their flames again in preparation for another strike but then their instincts warned them of impending danger so they channeled their flames into defensive fields around their bodies.

A shotgun blast sounded barely a second later and struck the Flame field around one of them.

The force of the shot and the sheer unexpectedness forced the Vyker back a step.

"Stupid Vyker Magic," Devon mumbled at the flame field defending against the shot so he cocked his shotgun and fired another shot.

Everyone else followed his lead as well. They all pointed their Repeaters and Rifles and fired at the Vykers who defended themselves in different ways.

The second Flame Vyker deflected with his already cast Flame field.

The Scaled Vyker simply raised his arms over his face so the shots could spark harmlessly off his scales.

The Shadow Vyker dissolved into a dark mist so that shots went right through him and out the other side to strike the Mansion's walls.

Henry retrieved 'The Hydra's Sting' from his Inventory and looked from one of the Vykers to the other while calling magical energy up into his eyes,

<Activating Insight Lv.1>

—————

[Name: Unknown]

[Race: Human (Vyker)]

[Class: Fire Mage]

[Health: 150]

[Mana: 180]

[Strength: 30]

[Agility: 45]

[Stamina: 30]

*[Remarks: A Vyker fuelled by his desire to serve his Creator, and will stop at nothing to retrieve what was lost. Can be killed but you must be wary of his Stats that currently outclass yours.]

——————

——————

[Name: Unknown]

[Race: Human (Vyker)]

[Class: Fire Mage]

[Health: 140]

[Mana: 160]

[Strength: 25]

[Agility: 46]

[Stamina: 32]

*[Remarks: A Vyker fuelled by his desire to serve his Creator, and will stop at nothing to retrieve what was lost. Can be killed but you must be wary of his Stats that currently outclass yours.]

——————

——————

[Name: Unknown]

[Race: Human (Vyker)]

[Class: Feral Meister (Wyvern)]

[Health: 150]

[Mana: 180]

[Strength: 50]

[Agility: 30]

[Stamina: 35]

*[Remarks: A Vyker fuelled by his desire to serve his Creator, and will stop at nothing to retrieve what was lost. Can be killed but you must be wary of his Stats that currently outclass yours.]

——————

——————

[Name: Unknown]

[Race: Human (Vyker)]

[Class: Shadow Mage]

[Health: 180]

[Mana: 200]

[Strength: 30]

[Agility: 60]

[Stamina: 35]

*[Remarks: A Vyker fuelled by his desire to serve his Creator, and will stop at nothing to retrieve what was lost. Can be killed but you must be wary of his Stats that currently outclass yours.]

——————

[Class: Fire Mage

A Class that grants the ability to manipulate the element of fire with Mana.]

[Class: Feral Meister

A Class that thrives on abandoning Human features and instincts for the feral ones of a specific Beast. In the case of this Vyker, it's a Wyvern.]

[Class: Shadow Mage

A Class that grants the ability to manipulate shadows with Mana.]

Meanwhile, while Henry's eyes roamed the Stat screens, his fellows were still firing every bullet their guns held at the enemy who avoided it all with their various defenses.

Devon's Shotgun cocked with the sound of a lack of bullets and he let out an annoyed grunt,

"Ah, fuck it!" He said and charged.

He wasn't all that fast but he covered the distance nicely until he was within range to leap and collide his large body against one of the Flame Vykers.

By the look on the Vyker's face, he could have moved out of the way and avoided the slam but he wanted to meet it. He wanted to meet this large moron that saw fire and was stupid enough to charge at it.

*BAM!*

The impact let loose quite a sound.

There was a field of fire around the Vyker's body that stopped Devon from making direct contact with him but the Half-orc wasn't dismayed. He locked in his knees, pushed against the ground, and struck his fingers against that field.

The heat seared him and scorched his leathery fingertips black but Devon persisted. The Vyker watched as Devon, aided by his thick skin and his almost feral physicality, created an opening in that field and thrust a blow through that opening to strike with a powerful punch.

*Bam!*

"Umph!" The Vyker let out as he went slamming back and into the Mansion's wall.

At the time Devon and the Vyker were having their collision, the second Vyker with a Fiery field protecting him met the Dionisio Gang's shots with confidence. He smiled, satisfied as their guns cocked with empty cylinders and barrels and his eyes taunted them to come at him as Devon had gone after his comrade,

"You'll find you won't be so lucky to get a shot in."

It was then that Henry took his chance and his shot. He pointed 'The Hydra's Sting' and fired the Acidic shot.

[-20 Mana Points]

For a second, the Vyker seemed confident enough to meet that shot like he had met the others but sharpened instincts warned him otherwise.

It was like an alarm went off in his head yelling;

'This bullet is not like the others!'

He moved.

He aimed to move out of the way of the shot completely. Alas, the bullet traveled fast and although he had reacted, he had still not reacted quickly enough.

The sickly green bullet tore through the Fiery field and although the magic of the flame burned away some of its acidic goodness, it still managed to strike the Vyker's shoulder all the same.

As horrid veins began to bulge all over the Vyker's arm, a shadow suddenly dashed over, and out of it came the flashing of a blade as it sliced through multiple horses' legs, crippling them and sending the Dionisio Gang members who were on horseback to the ground with hard *Thuds*.

The Horses whinnied in pain as they lost blood and eventually went silent as they died.

The Shadow solidified into the Shadow-mage Vyker who held his sword in a calm readiness to slice through the Dionisio Gang members.

Two things happened at the same time;

One. Nyx, the only horse in the courtyard to have escaped the crippling was back, rearing on her hind legs to stomp on the Vyker.

Two. Henry's eyes fell on the Shadow-Mage Vyker's sword and Elminster's brand in his right Palm began to burn.