A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Watching the dispelling of a Red Spirit happen right in front of him, Boyle's eyes went wide and he pulled his sword back as the de-possessed Mercenary stood up off the ground.

Henry and Andor were already on the move again.

Extra Arms!

All five arms of the spell thrust off from behind Henry's back and slammed into the Knights battling the possessed Mercenaries. Some reacted quickly enough to either leap to avoid getting swatted or swing their swords to slice through the tentacles before they touched them. The others got smacked away which the possessed Mercenaries hurried to take advantage of but Henry was faster.

Shocking Grip!

Shocking Grip!

The lightning crackled from both his hands and struck the chest of the first two Mercenaries he came in contact with before he launched himself at two more to recast the spell again on both hands and exorcise them.

Andor was right behind him.

He stabbed his Spear into the first and destroyed it with a bang before sliding to the next and kicking up into a leap right when it was about to start coming to its senses, destroying it.

When his feet touched the ground, he launched at the two Henry had exorcised next, flowing between them with such fluid motion that they were both destroyed at almost the same time.

Most of the Knights paused, blinking at the turn of events and then they heard a yell from Boyle,

"Go on the defensive!!!" He said, "Don't attack to kill!!!"

When there was no chance and it was a matter of survival, Boyle's conscience as a Knight had no qualms about out maiming or even causing death but watching the repeated exorcisms, his oath would not allow him to just watch and end up causing an accidental death.

But he didn't just yell. He moved too. He parried two sword attacks that aimed at Andor just after the Fighter destroyed another ejected spirit. With relative ease considering he was parrying two weapons from two Fighters who were being controlled not to hold back, Boyle sent the two Mercenaries staggering back where Henry slid to meet them and slammed their chests to send the Spirits screeching and flying out.

Andor took care of them quickly.

Eventually, they exorcised the final spirit and could finally rest easy…

"Henry," Andor called to get his attention while pointing with his Spear towards the far side of the field.

The Four clerics stood in a tight formation with Eloise fending off attacks from the possessed Former slaves. Eloise's sword blazed with the serene energy of pseudo-divinity but she couldn't bring herself to wield it against the possessed.

The energy piercing through the Former slaves might destroy the spirits inside them but it was also likely to kill the hosts.

Worst yet, more spirits were circling them and any attempt to swing her sword at them would only expose the Clerics she was protecting to harm.

As for the Clerics, there were only so many exorcisms they could perform at a time. The act required concentration which was difficult to attain with so many striking at them from all angles.

It was a difficult battle.

Meryna could create shields to repel the spirits but it didn't work against the physical attacks and even if it did, it'd get broken soon enough anyway. Case in point was Eloise's shields getting shattered five times already and worse yet, she couldn't effectively keep the shield cast and swing her sword to parry attacks at the same time.

She had just erected her sixth shield when it was almost instantly shattered. She raised her sword but attacks were coming from various angles. She was sure she would get stabbed still. She steeled herself for it and planned how she would use it to her advantage.

Then she felt an arm wrap around her waist while she heard the crackling of lightning as it struck the chest of one of her attackers and sent him flying as the red spirit within him was ejected and swiftly destroyed by Andor.

And then, Eloise knew whose arm was around her.

Her face flushed when Henry pulled her harder against his body. She looked into his face and he was looking away from her with his teeth gritted.

[Activating <Hat of Shielding>]

Henry had never cast the shield around himself and someone else. He knew the shield was fairly flexible because his hands could extend outside of its default sphere of protection whenever he had to shoot his guns and it would still protect them.

He believed the shield had enough room for them both but also knew —with even more certainty— that casting it before grabbing Eloise would only lock her out of it.

'Work—!' He thought almost like he was willing the shield to comply.

It did.

When it appeared, the blue hazy sphere wrapped around his and Eloise's body. In his excitement at succeeding, Henry gripped her even tighter against his body causing Eloise's already flushed face to become even redder.

The weapons of the Former slaves harmlessly glanced off the shield as Henry swung 'Cudgel' to slam a few in the chest and send them flying just to create space.

"Eloise, you need to keep close but you can still attack," Henry told her and gestured upward at where multiple red spirits were circling and especially targeting Meryna who was behind her silver dome.

Embarrassed that she allowed herself to be wrapped up in the way his voice vibrated through his side and against her body, Eloise steeled herself, wrapped one arm around him to secure contact so the shield didn't break (she could tell that was the reason he asked her to keep close) and swung her sword while extending the glowing the Mana glowing of serene pseudo-divine magic beyond the shield and destroying multiple Spirits in an arc. Lessening the load Meryna had to keep out.

The Possessed Former slaves attacked still but Andor was suddenly there, using the long length of his Spear to hold multiple weapons at bay before heaving them away from himself.

And then he got stabbed.

"Ah," he called out and swiveled around to see who had stabbed him. It was a Possessed Aaron.

"Andor!" Meryna cried in concern.

"I'm fine," Andor said, spinning his Spear and stabbing the blunt end at Aaron while looking like he wouldn't have minded using the sharper end.

Aaron parried and when Andor made to try again, other Former slaves were quickly in the fray. But the Knights arrived just then. Unleashing Mana surges at specific spots on the ground so the force would push the Possessed Fighters away and give them room to create a circle around the Clerics.

Henry and Eloise were outside the circle but they were fine with that. Eloise had destroyed two more clustered groups of Spirits but they were paying her attention now.

The shield's minute of activation was gone so she and Henry let each other go but they stayed close together and both witnessed the Spirits act smarter and stop flying right at Eloise and the reach of her sword. They spread out and Henry could tell he was the target. They were trying to possess him.

Henry didn't doubt the possession would be successful if they got the chance and, worse yet, he was so low on Hit Points that using [Shocking Grip] to free himself from a Spirit's grip would likely kill him. Actually, it'd definitely kill him.

And then he had a lightbulb moment.

'Why didn't I think of it earlier?' He asked himself and quickly realized now was not the time to beat himself up on his stupidity.

[Activating <Raider's Intent>]

The wave of fear spread from him and his lips stretched into a grin when the Red spirits crowding in from all angles froze in the air.

The Skill only worked on Dungeon Residents and Henry had naturally only thought of the ones with a body as such, but of course, the spirits counted too. They were inhabitants of the Dungeon. Hell, the System had referred to them as Orc Spirits.

Eloise was amazed watching Henry exude a red aura that caused the Spirits to freeze in place but she didn't let her amazement impact her ability to swing her sword.

In two quick spinning arcs, she destroyed every single spirit which meant the only ones left were the ones inside the Possessed Former Slaves who the Knights were Keeping away from the Clerics who had only managed a few Exorcisms so far.

One of the so far exorcised was Aaron who Meryna might have exorcised quickly partially because he had forced Andor into a focused duel that could not possibly end well seeing as one was fighting to kill and one was only being defensive and quickly getting forced into changing his mind.

She stopped that quickly before it became a mess and Andor's attention was directed at the others that also needed to be fended off.

And then Henry was there. His hands crackled with the electricity of [Shocking Grip] with every purposeful stretch. Eloise was close behind and with her sword still glowing with the serene energy of pseudo-divinity, she cut through every spirit Henry ejected almost faster than Henry could eject them.

Soon, the former slaves were all de-possessed and lay on the ground groaning with pains and aches but still very much alive and free of their unwanted guests.