A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"Quite a bit," Henry said, "But first— were you just in my shadow?"

Now that the excitement of her return was wearing off or at least mellowing out, Henry found how Nyx made her return to be worthy of questioning. However, before Nyx could answer, symbols on the ground glowed even brighter.

Henry looked down with widened eyes and only now realized, upon her exit from the Shadow, Nyx had three of her hooves atop three squares with green symbols.

"-What's this?-" Nyx asked with a bit of worry in her voice as she raised her hoof and made to place it somewhere else.

"Don't move!" Henry called out. Knowing that whatever she had caused was only going to get worse if she accidentally stepped on more green symbols.

Speaking of what she had caused.

At the very end of the Hall, on the very last row of squares, all symbols vanished and were replaced by strange spell circles, and out of those spell circles rose Mummies wrapped up in bandages and with their arms crossed against their chest while they held on to various weapons; Spears, Swords, and a good few even dual-wielded sabers and scimitars.

All at once, their eyes all lit up in violet glows and they dropped their arms from against their chest, got into stances, and then stepped forward.

"Get into Formation!" Aurelius yelled as he drew his sword from its scabbard by his side and produced a brilliant Shield from out of nowhere.

"Try to only step on the white squares!" Eloise yelled, "This will only get worse if you don't."

"How will we fight if we can't move freely," a Squire asked with her sword in hand.

"Probably very badly," Eloise admitted in a low voice, and then her eyes widened when she realized the problem was only just beginning.

After the summoned mummies began to step forward at a pace not too fast and not too slow, the squares they stepped off regained their symbols only to lose those symbols and replace them with the strange spell circles from before to summon yet another line of Mummies armed with various weapons like the first line.

After the second summoned line stepped forward, the process was repeated a third time.

Three times for the three squares Nyx had accidentally stepped on.

"-Did I cause that?-" Nyx asked.

"Yes, you did," Henry answered.

"-Oops-" Nyx said and did look somewhat abashed, "-I'll help get rid of them.-"

"I don't imagine you'll find that easy to do," Henry said with the corner of his lips twitching at the mess the situation was quickly becoming.

"-How so?-" Nyx asked.

"You heard the pretty Knight Lady, didn't you? We can only step on the white squares." Henry said.

"-Those things are stepping on them just fine-" Nyx pointed out.

Henry looked at the many Mummies shuffling over and saw she was right,

"Well, it appears they don't count and don't activate the squares which is good. But any more misplaced steps from you and you'll bring more of them." He said.

"Hey, Henry?" Louis called to him.

"Hmm?" Henry answered.

"You're talking to the horse?" Louis asked.

"I am," Henry answered. He had slipped into talking to Nyx with words and decided there was no need to be all that bothered. After all that Louis had witnessed and knew, a man talking to an animal should not be all that strange.

"This is Nyx," he added in introduction.

"Hello," Louis said and raised a hand in a wave.

Nyx let out a snort which Henry interpreted with a smile,

"She says Hi."

"-No, I said his eyes are so wide,-" Nyx said in Henry's head with another snort and when Henry didn't answer and just kept on smiling, she looked over at the Mummies whose first line of attack was now mere feet away,

"-I'm gonna go attack now-"

"Be careful and avoid-" Henry started to say but his Shadow became larger right then and Nyx vanished from sight.

Henry expected his Shadow to return to normal but it continued to expand until it touched the Shadow that one of the Mummies had cast and then, Nyx leaped out of the shadow and struck her front hooves into the Mummy's dried chest.

*Bam* *Bam*

The force of her strikes sent the Mummy to the ground and Nyx followed up with her go-to move of powerful stomps until the Mummy's chest caved in and it stopped moving.

[Nyx has made a Kill]

[Nyx has received 250 Exp]

While Nyx was in action, a Mummy close by stabbed its Spear toward her but with her incredibly high agility, she slunk her neck out of the way of the spear jab before slamming her head into the mummy to send it flying a few feet away.

Nyx followed her victim. She leaped out of the Shadow which allowed it to snap back to normal under Henry. Her body was coated with the shadowy mist of <Shadow Dash> and she was upon the Mummy before it hit the ground.

She stomped her front hooves against its chest to avoid stepping on a problematic square and activating its symbol. She also avoided touching her hind legs to the ground and kicked them hard against the head of a Mummy close by. Caving its bandaged skull in and sending it flying into the wall where its bones cracked and it promptly stopped moving.

[Nyx has made two Kills]

[Nyx has received 500 Exp]

Four Mummies struck their weapons at Nyx then. Attacking her from all sides and sure to get at least one weapon to stab through her before she could attack them.

*Clang!*

With the sounds of metal against metal, the Mummies clashed their weapons together as Nyx vanished into the Shadow they cast before the blades cut through her.

The Mummies drew their weapons back and looked around searching for their target. The very next second, Nyx thrust half of her body out of the shadow, her mouth opened wide until she closed it around one Mummy's neck.

She clenched hard and cracked the Mummy's neck bones before tossing it aside so that it went slamming into the wall where it met the same fate that three Mummies had met at Nyx's metaphoric hands so far.

[Nyx has made a Kill]

[Nyx has received 250 Exp]

Henry blinked as he watched Nyx's display and watched her vanish into shadow again to avoid getting stabbed.

'<ShadowScape>?!' He asked in his head in awe at what Nyx was capable of with it.

To idea that a skill that had only been given a single line of description was this versatile was incredible to think about.

And then Nyx made another kill.

[Nyx has received 250 Exp]

[Nyx has Leveled Up]

[Nyx is now Level 9]

[Nyx's Hit Point Maximum increased to 155]

[Nyx's Mana is now 165]

[Strength: 70 ———> 75]

[Speed: 130 ———> 140]

[Stamina: 65 ———> 70]

As she leveled up, Nyx's eyes gained a fervency as she let out a long gallant whinny while kicking out her two front limbs with an eagerness the Mummies were bound to feel in brutality.

Meanwhile, Henry couldn't just stand by and keep watching. He, Louis, and Andor had to act as the Mummies were shuffling closer to them.

"So no moving unless it's on a white square?" Andor asked.

"That's right," Henry said.

Andor nodded and reached into the bag he had on his back to pull out the Shield he had managed to stash in there. He strapped the Shield on one arm and had it pointed toward the approaching horde. If movement was restricted, it was good to have even better defense.

Louis began a long chant. He was clearly aiming to use his most powerful spell right from the start.

Before the spell was completed and unleashed lightning upon their enemies, Henry pointed 'Violent Retort' and shot a Mana-infused Slug that blasted the head of a Mummy apart. Stopping its movements immediately.

Henry steeled himself for the Undead Woe…

[Kill-Reward: 200 Exp]

… But it never came.