A Gunslinger's System in a World of Magic-Chapter 259: Threat Assessment

Marla stepped away with her retrieved loot and left to confer with the other members of her group. Most had drunk healing potions or applied other means of first aid to be healthy enough to go about gathering the spoils of their wins.

The Knights did the same and Andor joined them, gathering for himself and Henry before handing them over to Henry who sent them all into his inventory. But throughout, Henry stayed close to Eloise.

She recast her sensory spell and bent low to study the inscriptions on the ground with it. The longer she studied, the deeper her frown became.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked.

"These inscriptions were transferring the absorbed dimensional energy to a particular location. I think I can trace it back to the source. We find the source, we find…"

"… The Dungeon Boss," Henry interjected slowly, "Seems like good news."

It certainly wasn't bad news. Henry would have preferred to go about amassing more stat points and getting stronger before facing the strongest being in the Dungeon but having a way to find the Dungeon boss without having to meander about with a very vague sense of direction was pretty good

Eloise still frowned,

"Yes, but if my analysis is correct, the signal is pinging at different locations," she looked up into Henry's face then to say what he had already guessed from her words and tone,

"There are more altars like this one. All empowering the Dungeon Boss even more than it already is."

She sounded so grave that Henry was confused. This was very good news to him. The destruction of one Altar had gifted him 24 Stat points and he wondered how many more he could gain from the destruction of the others.

Eloise saw the smile on his face and she realized he saw this as a good thing so she hurried to reel in his excitement and make him understand the urgency she was feeling,

"Henry, the Altar works by absorbing dimensional energy. The very dimensional energy that's keeping the Dungeon stable. That's keeping the Gate open.

If it all gets siphoned, the Gate will be closed."

"And we'll be trapped," Henry said a bit of understanding dawning on him.

"Worse. If the Dungeon becomes unstable, it could collapse upon itself in an implosion that'll kill us along with everything in here."

And now, Henry felt worried.

Already, the information on Evolving Dungeons was that there could be an eventual outbreak if left unchecked but by Eloise's analysis, they were more likely to get killed in the destructive implosions than the people outside were likely to get stomped in the wave of monstrous Orcs.

And then it dawned on Henry,

"Hold on, if that happens, doesn't the Dungeon Boss die too?" He asked, "That would be suicide."

"It probably plans to make it out before that happens. With how strong it will be, it just might be able to. It's still a stupid plan but intelligence in the face of slaughter and the ability to commit slaughter is not common among their race," Eloise said in a deadpan voice,

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"We'll have to destroy the other Altars as quickly as possible."

"How many are there?" Henry asked.

Eloise had stood up now,

"There are three more," she said,

"And we don't have much time. If we're too late, the Ritual either gets completed and the Dungeon Boss becomes too difficult to defeat or the absolute worse scenario happens and we are killed in the implosive collapse."

She relayed this to Boyle who was immediately gripped with the urgency of the situation. Rallying the Knights so they could travel to the first altar Eloise sensed.

"We're coming with you," Marla announced.

"Are you sure?" Boyle asked. It came out very offhandedly. Like he wasn't actually asking for an answer just an unconscious request for consent.

"Yes," Marla said, "But we get the halved-up chest…"

"It's not a chest. It's an Altar," Eloise corrected.

"Whatever, we get it," Marla said with a wave of her hand.

"Suit yourself," Boyle said and they began to move.

Henry hung back until he was close to the Clerics where he asked Meryna,

"Can you heal me?"

She looked surprised. Suddenly realizing this was truly the first time she had had Henry ask for Healing. She looked him over and there were holes where arrows had stabbed him but none bled. He looked healthy enough. Only Henry wasn't healthy. Or at least, he was down to 41 Hit Points and few stray arrows could kill him.

To her credit, Meryna didn't point out that he looked healthy. She just raised her hands and said the required prayers in a tongue that sounded like a spell cast. Henry was illuminated with silver light and it went on for five minutes —which they spent walking—, until it was over.

The session reminded Henry of back in the Hadron Mansion where Yelena would use her conditional immortality to heal wounds. This took longer than that and stressed Meryna more than it ever did Yelena but the effects were similar.

[You have recovered 289 Hit Points]

[Hit Points: 330/330]

"Thank you," Henry called back to Meryna to tell her it was enough and she could stop.

"Oh, alright," Meryna said, surprised. She looked him over and he didn't look much different from before but he looked so grateful she said nothing about it.

"We're close," Eloise said soon but having spread out his senses, Henry was already aware.

"-Nyx-" he called out through their telepathic connection and the horse rose out of his shadow.

"-I need you to level up as much as you possibly can-" he told her, "-Kill as many Orcs as you can-"

If there was to be one of the most powerful weapons Henry had in his arsenal, it would be Nyx even if he usually didn't like to think of her as such. She had the strength to contest with most of the Knights and Mercenaries on the scene with more speed than they could even dream of. She was absolutely an asset.

"-On it-" Nyx said.

"-And stick close to Andor-" Henry added while showing Nyx with his thoughts that he didn't plan on being on the ground much in the battle to come.

Nyx nodded and trotted to Andor who she nudged a few times to indicate that he should get onto her saddle so she could ferry him into the field where at least thirty Orcs were grouped guarding the altar.

"Henry?" Boyle asked slowly when he saw Andor getting onto Nyx's back.

"I can start things off if you want," Henry said, "But we won't be waiting."

The 'we' referred to him, Nyx, and Andor who were, by themselves, a group with possibly differing agendas on the pressing issues.

Without waiting for an answer, and while Marla and her fellow Mercenaries were especially looking confused at the exchange, Henry climbed up onto a tree and began running across the branches. As he ran, he retrieved 'Violent Retort' and 'Cudgel' spinning them expertly before cocking in preparation to fire.

He was at least ten feet away from the clearing when he fired his first shots from both guns. Piercing the head of an unaware Orc Caster and a warrior.

[Kill-Reward: 650 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 650 Exp]

"Let's go!" Boyle let out in yell and led his Knights in a forward charge. That gunshots were the signal to start and if there was going to be any element of surprise for them to take advantage of, it would only be open for a little while longer so they hurried to take advantage.

"Huh?" Marla let out at first and glanced up at Henry already who had gone far ahead and then at the Knights charging in too and then she narrowed her eyes,

"Hold it," she called out to one of her Mercenaries who was about to kick into a run.

"Why?" The Mercenary asked rocking on his heels.

"Why charge in when we can leave them to do the job for us? We're here for that Altar chest or whatever. Why should we risk death to get it?" Marla asked and the more she spoke, the wider her smile became.

She wondered how the Knights would react to her and her Mercenaries not charging into the field.

How was she to know they cared very little?

Henry didn't care at all. As it stood, there were too many to steal kills from him and Nyx anyway.

Speaking of Henry,

After his first two kills, the entire field became alert to the danger he presented. The Orc Casters raised their staffs and cast orbs and bolts of red Mana to strike him down.

'19 to Agility, 10 to Perception, and the rest to Stamina!' Henry told the System deciding this was as good a time as any to allocate his 48 Stat Points.

Understanding the urgency, the system allocated instantly.

[Agility: 87 ———> 106]

[Stamina: 41 ———> 60]

[Perception: 50 ———> 60]

The Stat increased just in time for Henry to kick off the branch he was on. Leaping from branch to branch too fast for the eyes of the Orc Casters to follow.

Of course, none of the figures Henry called out were at random;

A 19 increase in Agility was enough for Henry at the moment which allowed him to raise his Stamina to an even number because he just liked the look of it. It was for a similar reason he had his Perception at 60. Balance in all his stats.

There was another reason for Perception at 60;

[Perception is at 60]

[Conditions have been met]

[Insight is now Lv.4]

[You have acquired the <Insight> passive effect; Threat Assessment]