A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"Defend the Clerics!" Boyle yelled out quickly.

The Mercenaries, whether wanting to be less active in this current fight or wanting to make themselves useful in other ways, took this as their task. They stood around the Clerics and the Slaves stood around them to defend them mostly with their bodies.

Henry had his Perception spread wide so the first few volleys of arrows that flew in his general direction, he dodged before he flexed his wrist and had both 'Violent Retort' and 'Cudgel' in his hands.

He pointed 'Violent Retort' and fired in the direction of one of the arrows that had been fired at him. His shot was mostly blind but he had enough of an idea of where his target was and he succeeded in a headshot.

"Ack…" The sound was low but it was followed by the fall of a figure out of the tree.

[Kill-Reward: 300 Exp]

Henry barely paid attention to the notification of his reward for a successful kill. His attention had been attracted by the falling creature and while the fall had been fast, he was sure he had caught sight of features that piqued his interest;

Slightly tipped ears and… extra-long canines?

Another Arrow volley flew into Henry's perception range and he swung 'Cudgel' in an arc that knocked them down while he retaliated with more blind shots of 'Violent Retort'.

He didn't manage a headshot this time but the force of the shot from 'Violent Retort' striking the shoulder of the creature he shot sent it toppling backward until it fell out of the trees.

The creature had retained a grip on its large bow and rose off the ground trying to resist the pain in its shoulder to fire another arrow.

"Devon…?" Henry paused to ask in a low voice but then shook his head. That was silly. This wasn't Devon… It couldn't be. And yet, there were similarities.

This creature had leathery skin as Devon did but its own was green and looked even thicker than that of the Half-Orc that was once Henry's fellow gang member. This creature had extra-long canines —even longer than Devon's— jousting out from its bottom row of teeth and away from its thick lips completely.

And there was the body size.

Devon had been over 6 feet which had been very tall to Henry's previous size and was still taller than Henry's current size (he was still growing) and this creature was about as tall. Give or take a few inches. It even had similar-sized biceps. Biceps that flexed as it struggled to pull the string of its bow.

Henry put an end to that struggle with a shot from 'Violent Retort' that blew a massive bleeding hole in its forehead.

[Kill-Reward: 300 Exp]

"Similarities… Huh," Henry mumbled to himself with a smile.

But of course, Devon was a Half-orc which meant this was the real thing. It dawned on Henry that he had never once thought to ask Devon about his conception and how he lived being half a monster.

Granted, at the time, Henry had been okay with thinking of Devon as a monster and while their relationship may have gotten eventually better, it had certainly not grown enough for them to be 'friends'.

'Wonder where he is now?' Henry wondered as he dodged another volley of arrows and made to retaliate only to have his kill stolen by an arrow fired by someone on the ground.

He looked to the side and saw a few Knights armed with bows of their own.

Most of them still had swords sheathed by their hips so Henry knew bow usage was forced by the current situation. It did make him glad to know they had come prepared to attack enemies from a distance. It made things possibly easier and less demanding on his inventory of bullets and slugs.

Sir Boyle was not as happy,

"Bows?!" He asked in a loud voice edging into an angry sneer, "You brought Bows?!"

Henry was about to ask why this seemed like a problem when he realized Boyle now had his sword sheathed as well and in his hands was a large crossbow that he had loaded with a bolt.

Even as he addressed his subordinates angrily, he pointed the Crossbow and fired a bolt that stabbed into an Orc's forehead and sent it to the ground instantly.

"You're supposed to be with your Crossbows," Boyle continued as he loaded another bolt onto the crossbow in seconds.

"Bows are just better, Captain," a Knight answered as he nocked his arrow and raised it to aim. His target dashed across the branch it was standing on and, with tension already placed onto the Bow's string, the Knight had to let his arrow fly towards a miss.

The Orc grinned as it pulled its spring and fired. Or at least it tried to before it was intercepted by a dagger stabbing into its forehead.

The dagger shook after it had punctured the Orc's brain and it ripped itself free to return to Eloise's outstretched hand controlled by her magical ability to recover objects within some distance from herself.

"Well done, Eloise," Boyle acknowledged while pointing his crossbow to get rid of another Orc.

Eloise gave him a nod and with a skillful spin of her dagger, she was picking another target to toss it at. The Orc she targeted dodged so her throw missed but that was fine. With a clench of her hand, she summoned the weapon back and the Orc's neck just happened to be in the way of its return.

"Ah—!" The Orc let out as the dagger's blade punctured through its neck. It let out a few choked sounds before falling out of the trees. Eloise retrieved her dagger before its back hit the ground.

Knights train in all manner of weapons. It's part of the requirement of the Citadel to never be caught lacking in battle because of lack of training. Now, this was essentially in principle because, more often than not, all Knights just resort to the default.

It's hard to resist the default.

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Swords are so ingrained into every grand ceremony in the Citadel that it's difficult for any Knight not to default to it. The 'Knighting' ceremony is even performed with a sword. Plus, there is also the propaganda (or maybe truth) that the Sword is the best of all weapons. Its blade gives you some range to overwhelm an opponent while also being capable of battling in tight spaces.

Anyway, while swords usually become a Knight's preferred choice, they must be capable with every other weapon as well. This of course involves range weapons like bows and crossbows because, in situations such as the one they were currently facing, the ability to battle from range was essential.

And when it comes to range weapons, Boyle and probably every intelligent Knight, believed Crossbows were the better choice.

With a bow, a Knight is given less time for aiming because once the string is drawn, it becomes more and more difficult to keep it drawn. Every facet of a second is essential to this. This is not an issue with the Crossbow.

With the crossbow, you can load your bolt and it becomes the weapon's duty to keep it loaded until you're ready to fire.

All in all, whether a Knight believes/is capable of holding the string for as long as they need to aim, it's a mostly unspoken rule to be armed with crossbows instead of bows.

Range weapons are looked at very lowly in the Citadel. They're believed to just be support weapons only to be used when the situation forces it so why expend unnecessary energy keeping the string of a support weapon pulled when that energy is better preserved to fight with your sword? Like a Proper Knight.

Already, Boyle had seen five Knights struggle due to their misguided choosing of Bows over Crossbows while loading out at the Citadel and he could only roll his eyes at them.

He believed he would have seen smarter reasoning from the more promising Knights of the Citadel but Doran had robbed him of that by pulling them into his squad before they could employ an even divide.

"Fuck you, Doran," Boyle let out under his breath before closing one eye to aim and fire.

Henry of course didn't quite understand the debate of Bow/crossbow but he also didn't pay too much attention to it because Eloise's display caught his eye.

The grey-eyed Mage-Knight was now armed with two daggers that she tossed wherever she could and always pulled back before they got too far away from her.

Henry studied her so much that it seemed foolish not to analyze what she was doing.

[Activating <Insight Lv.3>…]

[Analyzing Spell…]

Henry had to tear his eyes away from Eloise right after he used 'Cudgel' to again knock an arrow aside but when another arrow got close and he made to dodge, he gritted his teeth as it cut through the shirt over his shoulder and sliced through his skin.

[You have lost 20 Hit Points]

[Hit Points: 260/280]

"What?" Henry yelled out.

The wound he had received from the arrow did sting like a bitch but it was just a scratch. To have cost him so much Hit Points highlighted how dangerous they were and how he had to ensure he didn't get hit again.

As for the one that had shot him, Henry fired a shot from 'Cudgel' through its neck, and after a second of gurgling on its blood, it fell out of the tree. Dead.

[Kill-Reward: 300 Exp]

At the same time that notification arrived, another did.

[Spell Analysis complete!]

[Spell: Witch's Hold]