A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Henry brought his eyes down from the sky at the same time the last clicks rang out and the complicated lock holding the cage's door in place finally broke free.

"Alright then," Andor said and grabbed the door to pull it open.

Within the cage was a man on his knees with his head bowed. His hair was long and unkempt maybe from the time he had spent within the cage or maybe from a time before that. The hair cast a curtain over his face and hid it from view. But as the rays of the moon hit the inside of the cage, he looked up and smiled.

The smile was unsettling. The man didn't look relieved like the other slaves had been. He seemed more curious.

"We're there already?" He asked in a hoarse voice and Henry understood. This man wasn't captive. Not really. So why would he have been kept so tightly sealed?

"You're free now," Andor said.

"Free?" The man asked with his face cloudy with confusion,

"Wait, you're different from the other ones. What— Ack!"

The man broke off mid-sentence and fell forward on the cage floor. A shiver ran down his spine and he twitched.

"Are you alright?" Andor asked with concern.

"Andor, stab him!" Louis yelled suddenly with his eyes even wider than normal, "Kill him now!"

As he spoke, Louis was already harnessing his Mana and conjuring Lightning in preparation to attack.

"What? Why?" Andor asked.

"There's a full moon," Louis said and his noise sounded closer to a gasp. It seemed he was finding it difficult to complete his spell cast because of how scared he was.

"So?" Andor asked, confused.

But Henry knew why Louis was concerned. Full moon… intense shivers… He had never seen one and in his past life, he would have sworn such things didn't exist but this world is different. Nothing is quite impossible here, is it?

"Are you blind?" Louis asked, his voice sounding anxious, "It's a Werewolf!"

He finally completed his spell and he fired multiple streaks of Lightning that went absolutely nuts within the cage.

A bunch of streaks struck the cage and electrified it…

"Ah," Andor let out and took his hand off the door he was holding.

… But the majority of the streaks struck the prone man who was bowed over and twitching.

"ARRRGGGHHH!!!"

He rose off the ground and raised his head toward the ceiling of the cage while yelling at the top of his lungs. His hands were curled tight and looked more like talons. Black fur was sprouting on them but they were all singed by the Lightning. The lightning also caused cracks to appear all over his body and when the cracks broke and he bled, the blood was also dried up.

It was a horrifying sight but Louis didn't look guilty. If anything, he felt worried.

While the cage was still electrified, he grabbed the door and endured the electrocution of the lightning, as only he could, to slam the door shut.

He grabbed the lock he had just opened and snapped it back in place while trying to infuse it with Mana to seal it off.

And then…

*BANG!*

… The lightning was no longer crackling around the cage beyond a few stings, and the creature wanted out hence its aggressive slam against the cage door.

The slam tossed the door open by a foot. It would have been open even wider had Andor not slammed against it with as much strength as he was capable of.

An arm thrust out of the foot of space. It was large. As large as two of Andor's arms put together which is substantial because Andor is quite a muscled man.

The claws that tipped the black-furred hand glinted like metal. They reached for any of the two trying to keep the door shut.

*Bang!*

The first shot Henry fired was from 'Violent Retort' and it struck the creature's arm with the two Mana-infused slugs within the weapon.

"RARRRRRR!!!" The creature yelled in pain but Henry was not at all relieved. A shot like that would have blown a disastrous hole in any human victim and likely rendered the arm useless, but on this creature, it had only resulted in a wound. And the wound didn't even bleed for longer than a second.

So of course, he shot again. This time, he shot with 'Cudgel'. Not as 'explosive' as 'Violent Retort' but certainly boasted more attack power.

Henry didn't fire once. He fired again and again and only when 'Cudgel' gave the click of an empty barrel did the Creature stop reaching around and finally retreat into the cage to avoid getting more shots.

All those shots hit the very same spot, and yet, the hole created was barely two inches deep. Considering the thickness of the creature's arm, that was nothing.

*BANG*

Louis and Andor finally got the door closed and with Andor keeping his weight against it, Louis sealed the latch again and began to infuse the lock with Mana.

Henry stepped forward as well to assist the effort.

"I knew we shouldn't have opened the damn thing," Louis said.
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"The man did warn us," Henry agreed with regret.

"How good are our chances of getting it sealed in there again," Andor asked.

"Probably not great," Louis answered honestly, "He- It was touched by the light of the full moon. From what I know of werewolves, that's very bad. But, we have to try. We don't know him so we don't know how bad this could get if we tried to fight him off."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

Louis frowned but even as he continued to fiddle with the complicated locks and get it sealed again, he managed to explain,

"Werewolves are just like us outside of the 'curse'. They can get stronger, get better just like everyone else but we don't know who this man was.

We don't know how strong he is normally which is important because during the full moon, when Werewolves shift and transform, that strength becomes greater. It could be double what they'd normally have. It could be triple. It depends."

"Depends on what?" Henry asked.

"Depends on what sort of werewolf it is. Is it a Lone Werewolf or is it a Pack wolf? And if it's a Pack wolf, is it just a member or is it a Beta or (shudders), is it an Alpha?"

"Let's not find out," Andor said with a nod. He was not as knowledgeable as Louis in the matters of Werewolves but it didn't take a genius to know that, as long as the enemy's original strength was unknown, any of those scenarios did not bode well for their group.

"Yeah, let's not," Louis agreed and then groaned, "It's frustrating how much easier it is to unlock the stupid thing than to seal it. But I got it now."

"Thank heavens," Andor said and then mused, "A bit silent in there though. Think you killed it, Henry ?"

"I did not kill that thing…" Henry said and his words trailed off as he listened.

"Done—" Louis announced and then…

*BANG!!!*

… With a near-deafening sound of impact, a force from within the cage struck against the door and shattered the lock Louis had only just managed to seal. The door tore right off its metal hinges, slammed into Henry, Louis, and Andor, and sent them all flying at least six feet away. Hitting the ground to bounce and roll for another four.

[You have lost 40 Hit Points]

[Hit Points: 240/270]

Henry felt like his face had been smashed in. Blood flowed from the center of his forehead which was significant since the System's way of calculating injuries always made this a rarity.

He had hit the ground hard and his back ached but after a few groans, he was relieved of the pain enough to stand and stare at the cage. A creature that looked far too big for it was stepping out.

The werewolf was fearsome. Halfway between man and wolf;

Its snout was half as long as that of a real wolf but its canines extended from its mouth like fangs. Glinting with the intent to rip and tear.

The arms looked like those of a man. Large and bulging as they were but they were covered in thick black fur. His legs had been transformed to look more like wolf paws and the way he stood made it look like he was standing on his toes.

His back was hunched as he sniffed angrily. He twitched and leaned forward with every heavy step he took. Almost as though he was on the brink of bursting into a run on all fours.

"Hng," Andor groaned from a few feet from Henry as he rose off the ground too.

Louis stirred last and even as he shook his head, his body seemed to have taken the hardest hit of the three.

The Werewolf growled. The clothes of the man he used to be were already ripped to shreds by the significant increase in size. Its red eyes glared and it sniffed long and hard three times.

Henry didn't know why but he was sure it was taking in their scent. No matter where they ran, it would follow.

And then an alert from the System rang in his head;

[You have triggered an Urgent Quest!]

[Quest: The Werewolf Hunt.]