A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

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A female fighter had her sword holding an Orc's Ax in place and right when she made to shove it aside, it endured that force with some weird maneuver and slammed her in the side of the head with the end of the Ax handle.

*Bam!*

Stunned, she staggered back and the Orc stepped closer to take advantage only for a string of mana to wrap around its wrist and pull it away.

"Hm?" It let out and cast its eyes about in search of the source of the Mana string. The female fighter did the same but Eloise moved faster than either of them could have expected and took a massive leap to stab her sword into the Orc's neck, pulling the weapon free and landing on the ground a second before the Orc's body fell with a thud.

"Who—?" The female Fighter started to say and then her eyes roamed Eloise's armor and she sneered,

"Oh, it's you."

Her voice, although not yelling as it had been when Eloise and the other Knights had been out of sight, identified her as the one named Marla but when she looked at Eloise with some kind of familiarity, it caused the Mage Knight to look at her closer and soon realize she knew the Fighter as well. Sort of.

She was one of the three Mercenaries their group had met outside the Dungeon who were just about to enter the Gate.

Eloise smiled lightly,

"Hello. And you're welcome," she said gently causing the Fighter to frown.

"I didn't need your help—" Marla said and then cast her eyes all over to see Eloise was not the only one to interfere. The entire group of Knights had joined the battle.

Casting her eyes wide, Marla even saw the Clerics with their hands pressed together in prayer, releasing streaks of silvery light that healed any overly injured Knights although that rarely happened.

Not all of the interferers were Knights though. There were those wearing Leather Armor and fighting with more unorthodox techniques but those were very few in the fray. The most eye-catching of those was a Spear-Wielder who stood not far from—

'Are those guns?' Marla paused her survey when her eyes fell on the vest and hat wearer who was locked in range combat against the Orc Casters that had been the worst of the enemies her group had had to face.

Providing support from a distance, the Orc Casters had only made the threat of the Orc warriors all the more prevalent but, as though there was some existing history, all the Orc Casters were focused on the Gunman who dashingly and promptly gunned them down.

"Huh," Marla said not sure what to make of him. He only gripped her attention even more when five watery tentacles struck out of his back and extended from him for at least 8 feet to cause havoc and destroy defenses so he could pick the Casters off one by one.

Maybe it was the novelty of the guns, maybe it was his unerring precision but Marla was impressed. Only slightly of course. This was still a group that had horned in on her group's raid. To even think of how she would have to share the gained loot…

"Ugh," she groaned and ripped her eyes away from Henry, ignoring Eloise and charging at an Orc Warrior who swung its weapon to intercept her charge. Explore more stories with empire

She ducked low and jabbed her sword into its large thigh and while it cried out in pain, she continued her slice until she was opening up the flesh and exposing the bones underneath which she blasted with the full might of her Mana surge.

The Orc yelled and swung down low but she was already gone and with a yell of her own, as she put almost as much strength as she was capable of exerting, into that swing, she sliced a vertical line through its face.

The line spewed blood and then the Orc's head fell apart from those seams before the large body fell to the ground.

Marla's senses warned her of another Ax swing and she made to leap a step away but Eloise was suddenly between her and the creature with a shield conjured.

*Bang!*

The Ax struck the shield and it absorbed the damage with no physical crack. Any more of such attacks would likely have shattered it though but Eloise didn't give the Orc the chance. She canceled the shield and tossed out her dagger into the center of its head.

It struck, the Orc yelled but was still very much alive. Stretching out a hand and pulling it back suddenly, Eloise used her spell <Witch's Hold> to reclaim possession of the dagger at the same time she charged forward and slit her victim's throat.

"Constantly 'saving' me won't get you a share of our loot by the way," Marla said in a scathing tone.

"Your Loot?" Eloise asked.

"It's ours!" Marla insisted, "And we don't need your help getting it."

As she spoke, the female Fighter's eyes were fixed on a certain far-off spot in the field. There was a violent red Semi-Sphere created through the concrete collation of red spell circles. At the center of the Semi-Sphere which was only slightly translucent, was a chest. It looked crude but there was no way something so protected was anything but good. At least that was what Marla thought.

Of course, Eloise knew about the Semi-Sphere. She would have been blind both physically and with her sensory spell not to have sensed such a powerful collection of Magic but it had certainly not been what inspired the interference. That was because Henry convinced Boyle that they all needed more fights and needed to get stronger to face the Dungeon Boss.

Marla pushed past Eloise and charged toward the Semi-Sphere.

When her group came across this field, they had tried sneaking in toward the Semi-Sphere but the Orcs were so alert to its wellbeing that the attempt failed almost as quickly as it was conceived and so things broke out into a battle.

She was a few feet away from the Semi-Sphere when she was intercepted by an Orc Warrior. She almost let out a sigh at how expected this was. The Orcs were protecting the Semi-Sphere so much that any attempt to approach would be met with interception.

But as she swung her sword to meet another Ax swing, Marla had a lightbulb moment;

After her entry into the Dungeon, she had met up with the rest of her group who had gone on ahead of her —Well, the ones who had survived their bullheaded decision to go on without her— and so their force was not small but they had still been outnumbered by three/four to one.

She still believed she and her fellow Mercenaries did not need this interfering bunch but since they were here anyway, they were taking care of the Orcs for them. The dashing Gunman had already gotten the Casters down to less than half. With the battles raging on, she could leave the fight to the interfering bunch and advance on the Semi-Sphere.

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*

Again and again, her sword clashed with the Orc's Ax, and in a bid to make herself look as pathetic as possible, Marla allowed herself to lose the contest of strength to very little pushback. She was knocked back again and again and stumbled a few times only to, at the last moment raise her sword in defense to just barely parry a strike.

'Come on!' She thought fervently, 'Take the bait!'

She was, of course, referring to Eloise who was still a few steps behind her and not yet engaged in another battle.

Sure enough, the Mage Knight charged and in, and the moment, Eloise was conjuring shields and unleashing Mana arcs, Marla rolled out of the way and continued her journey to the Semi-Sphere.

There were still a few Orcs not yet engaged in battles and still sticking close to the Semi-Sphere and in a masterful gambit, she lured two more to join Eloise's already ongoing fight with one.

How she slunk away and diverted their attention had to be a testament to some scheming and sneaky skills she possessed. She replicated this a few times and pawned off Orcs on Knights who had just completed their battles. She played the role of 'damsel in distress' so well —for someone with so much of a tough exterior— that they always stepped in to 'save' her.

Hyper as they were, it didn't take much for the Knights to take up a chance to kill more Orcs, and eventually, a few minutes later after the instigation of more intense fights here and there, there was no one left between Marla and the Semi-Sphere.

Seeing how capable the Knights were, she knew it wouldn't take long before they were done. The battle-field would be devoid of fights soon and all attention would be on the Semi-Sphere. On her loot.

She had to act fast. So she did.

Unleashing her Mana surge in a violent display, she charged her sword with it so it blazed with a magical intensity and then she swung at the Semi-Sphere with all her might.

*BANG!!!*