A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Boyle charged at the Orc Priest and swung his sword in an arc that sent a mana surge attack charging at the Orc who reacted quickly enough to erect a shield to defend itself.

But this shield was different from the sort Henry had seen the Orc Casters cast before. Those had been translucent red screens that put up a divider to defend against attacks whether physical or magical. It had certainly been effective. It had, at the very least, worked as intended when Henry faced off with the Orc Casters.

The Orc priest's shield however was a collection of magical circles that came together in a far more concrete-looking protective divider. But that was not all.

When Boyle's arc of Mana hit the shield, it didn't dissipate. It just stayed in place and within the space of a second became corrupted by the red mana to charge right back at the sender.

Boyle was taken by surprise but he dashed to the side and managed to avoid the arc only to realize the very next second that although he had survived, he had essentially left the arc as a problem for someone else to deal with.

Had the corrupted arc been charging toward an Orc, this would not have been an issue. But it was charging at a Knight instead. It interrupted the Knight's string of weapon swings and by the time he was alerted to the coming danger, it was far too late to completely avoid it.

"AHHHH!!!" The Knight yelled as the corrupted arc cut through his shoulder. The gash was so deep that his arm was almost completely torn off his body.

As the Knight was in pain, he had hardly the presence of mind to react to the attack coming from the Orc he had been battling.

The Orc's ax was barely an inch away from the Knight's arched neck when a string of mana wrapped around him tight with deliberate care to ensure the arm that was barely hanging on to the body didn't detach as the Knight was yanked back and out of the reach of the Ax blade.

The string had, of course, been cast by Eloise. It was fortunate that she had been able to pay attention to Boyle's altercation with the Orc priest which let her interfere in time to save the Knight's life.

She dropped the Knight close to the Clerics,

"Can you heal him?"

"We will try," Meryna said as two of the four clerics joined their hands together to chant the prayer/spell required to mend the damage before it became unmendable.

Meryna and the other Cleric not involved in that healing continued to pay attention to the fights. Already, there had been Knights and other Former Slaves who had gotten injured and the Clerics had delivered as much healing as they could from a distance while also bolstering weakening stamina so the battles could continue.

Eloise gave a nod and looked over at the Orc that had been jilted of a kill. It huffed at her and air blew out of its nostrils violently. It made to charge but Eloise was already on the move and she was faster.

They met in a powerful clash of weapons that Eloise won.

"Ugh!" The Orc let out as it staggered backward but even as it tried to regain balance, its eyes flashed in knowledge of what was coming. It made to move its neck away and only managed to avoid Eloise's sword swing by an inch.

It was then it noticed that Eloise's hand was now against its chest.

"Huh?" It said in surprise.

At the same time, Eloise lowered her voice to a whisper to chant,

"Ekrion!"

A spell circle appeared where her hand was against the Orc's chest and glowed brightly within a second before erupting into a blast.

*BANG!*

The Orc was knocked at least ten feet away trying and failing to ground itself. When it finally succeeded, its legs wobbled and it realized its chest felt ruptured. Looking down, the Orc found unnatural cracks all over its front and the more seconds ticked by, the weaker it felt. Every strength it should have had, all of its stamina, was sapped by Eloise's magical attack.

When she strode toward it, the Orc tried to move but could not. Its body would not obey it. Its knees hit the ground and the last thing it saw was the steel of Eloise's sword swinging and then… Nothing.

Eloise barely spared the body a second glance. She was already moving away and back into the fight. There were still Orcs to kill.

…

Listening to the yell of one of his men practically injured by his attack turned against him and his allies, Boyle was not sure how to feel but he was forced to rally when a spear of red violent mana came charging at him.

He parried with such force that he split it in two but even as it dissipated into harmless red mist, more spears came at him. All, of course, conjured by the Orc Priest in a relentless barrage to riddle him with holes. At least that was what it looked like on a surface level.

As Boyle deflected spear after spear, either by knocking them aside or cutting them in two —and while a good bit of them managed to cut him—, the Orc Priest was chanting a different spell.

It was a thought it had set the Spear-spawning spell circle on automatic fire to free his mind and attention to prepare something else.

When Boyle finally cut through the last spear, with blood dripping from wounds he had sustained from the barrage, he yelled and launched a powerful mana surge attack at the Orc Priest who intercepted it with its shield.

Just like before, the arc was corrupted by red mana and charged back at Boyle. Clicking his tongue and feeling foolish for trying what had already failed once to the detriment of one of his men, Boyle didn't leap out of the way. He met the corrupted arc with his sword.

He charged the sword with his Mana and it glowed subtly to reinforce its magical steel as it fought against the corrupted arc of mana. Boyle was forced to slide back a few feet but finally managed to split the corrupted arc in two.

By then, the Orc Priest had completed its mysterious cast. A large cloud formed above Boyle's head and crackled with red lightning. As his eyes widened at the sight, the first bolt was fired striking down at him.

*Crackle!*

*Kraka- Bang!*

Boyle swung his sword to intercept the first bolt and the contact of weapon and spell caused an explosive reaction that blasted the Knight Captain many feet away but he remained on his feet which was fortunate because he needed balance to face off against the next bolt that fired out of the cloud.

This time, much more prepared, Boyle didn't intercept any of the bolts but tried to outrun them. They struck the ground around him, creating explosive blasts as they destroyed it but Boyle just rode the blasts to use to dodge the next volley.

No matter how fast he moved, however, he couldn't shake the cloud. He could attempt to dodge the fired bolts but had to remain constantly on the move because, like a curse, the cloud remained above him. Ready to strike him down with a relentless barrage whenever it could.

"How long will you run?" The Orc Priest asked with a hand stretched out and the spell circle responsible for the red cloud projected in front of it.

It was the first time it had spoken. Or at least, the first time it spoke words and not muttered spell chants under its breath. Its voice was just as anyone would have expected. Deep, harsh, and dripping with an intent, a desire, for violence.

"Not long," Boyle said grimly.

He was very aware that luck was the only reason he had not suffered point-blank blasts from the lightning bolts so far but there was only so long his luck could last.

Fortunately, he had a plan.

He charged his sword with Mana, stopped short of attempting another dodge, and turned around to strike the arc of mana at the red cloud. Slicing it in two.

"You fool, what good would that do?" the Orc priest said and laughed. With prompt manipulation of the red cloud's magic circle, the two halves of the sliced cloud came back together and were fed even more mana from their caster so they swelled and crackled with even more intense lightning charges.

Boyle was not too bothered.
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You see, every step he had taken so far, every dodge, had been to get closer and closer to the Orc Priest who still had its shield of magical circles floating and ready to intercept any attacks.

Sending out another mana surge at the Orc Priest would have seen it corrupted and sent back to the sender. But what would happen if the shield was forced to defend against a different attack?

"Wait— What are you—?" The Orc Priest paused to ask as it only now realized Boyle was a foot away from it.

The Knight Captain launched himself and landed within a foot of the Orc Priest just as the red above him rained down its barrage in an Area of Effect (AOE) attack that would not leave the Orc Priest unscathed.

"You—!!!" The Orc Priest managed to say…

*CRACKLE- KRAKA- BANGGGG!!!*

… Right before a massive wave of red lightning struck down.