A Gunslinger's System in a World of Magic-Chapter 263: Precognition

[Nyx has been struck by Dimensional Energy]

[Strength: 110 ———> 125]

[Stamina: 105 ———> 120]

Right after the notification for Nyx's gains sounded in Henry's head, Marla stepped forward to retrieve the broken Altar when a light beam shot into the sky many kilometers away.

"No," Eloise said in a tone closer to a gasp.

"What is it?" Boyle asked but the wave of terrifying tremors spreading from the light beam already had him guessing. His guesses were confirmed by Eloise a second later,

"The Ritual is complete," she said, "A connection has been forged between the Dungeon Boss and the dimensional force that holds this Dungeon together."

While Eloise was speaking, everyone confirmed the very space began to deform and contract like it was about to fold up on itself.

"What do we do?" Henry asked, "Destroy the final Altar?"

Eloise had her sensory spell cast and, probably because of the intensity of the beam ahead, it was glowing and reading the magical signals better than ever.

Eventually, she shook her head and when she spoke, her tone was very bleak,

"It's too late for that. It would have been destroyed already. That beam of light is not anchored to any structure. To stop the continuous destruction of this space, we have to defeat the Dungeon Boss and we have to do it now."

"But won't it be super-powered now?" Andor asked.

Eloise nodded with a grim expression,

"It will."

"It doesn't matter how super-powered it is, we must fight it!" Boyle announced in a loud voice calling his Knights to order.

"Well, good luck with that," Marla said and gestured to her fellow Mercenaries,

"WE are leaving."

"We'll come with," Aaron said as the representative of the former slaves who had rallied to him. As they saw it, Marla and get group of Mercenaries were every bit as capable as Boyle and the Knights so they should be enough to protect them as they sought out the Dungeon Gate.

"You can't leave," Eloise said, "Look at this space… see how unstable it is, do you think the Gate will be stable enough for you to exit? Imagine it collapsed or constricted right when you're on your way out… you could be sliced in two and that's if it lets you pass through it at all."

"We'll take our chances," Marla said and Aaron's eyes gleamed in awe. He liked that she had not fallen for what he considered terror-farming from Eloise. Similar to what Henry had done to get them to come along with the expedition thus far.

Eloise shook her head again and when she spoke, she sounded very impatient,

"The energy from that beam isn't just enhancing the Dungeon Boss, it's empowering every creature in the Dungeon. It's speeding up the Dungeon's evolution so while it's heading very fast toward an implosion unless it's stopped, every creature you meet now will also be super-powered and charging in much more empowered droves.

You can join us to fight the one responsible so we can end this and all leave with our lives intact — granted our chances are currently not great— or you can walk away and very likely die still."

Marla stepped toward Eloise appearing unfazed by all she said,

"Listen here, 'Dame', don't think for one second your words scare me."

Eloise stepped closer to her as well and scoffed,

"Scare you? Please, like I have the time."

"Enough," Boyle said out an arm between the two to keep them away from each other before he directed his next words at Marla,

"You can leave if you want. No one is forcing you to be here. We are honor and duty-bound to see the expedition to the end. You are not.

None of you are."

The last sentence was also directed at the former slaves. It was clear that Boyle truly meant it. They truly could walk away if they wanted to. But Eloise's words had had far more of an impact on them than this benevolent offering so, silently and with very little fuss, they stayed.

Marla and her fellow Mercenaries did as well.

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Eloise still had her sensory spell activated but she barely studied it as she pointed in a direction and announced,

"This way."

Henry's perception was not quite as sophisticated as Eloise's spell but the intensity of the space rupture-causing incident made detection easy. He could tell something bad was up ahead in the direction Eloise pointed to even if the finer details were lost to him.

'32 to Agility, 20 to Stamina, and 20 to Perception.' He told the system in a quick allocation of his 72 Stat Points.

[Are you sure?]

'I am.'

[Agility: 106 ———> 138]

[Stamina: 60 ———> 80]

[Perception: 60 ———> 80]

[Perception is at 60]

[Conditions have been met]

[Insight is now Lv.5]

[You have acquired the <Insight> Passive effect; Precognition]

[Insight Lv.5

•Precognition: Your reflexes and instincts are boosted until your senses transcend time and detect coming danger even 'before' they are conceived or unleashed.

- This effect is subjective to the strength of your attacker. The stronger and the faster they are, the less effective your Precognition will be.

To overcome this, you must further improve your Perception Stat and thus, the <Insight> Skill. The better your Perception and Insight, the better your Precognition will be in predicting and alerting you to attacks.

Note: This effect does not cost Mana and is constantly activated.

—————

[Name: Henry Morgan]

[Level: 34 (10% Exp)]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Gunslinger]

[Title: Death's Bane, Vyker-Killer, Infernal Partner, Dungeon Raider <Novice>, Hunter]

[Hit Points: 340/340]

[Mana Points: 450/450]

[Strength: 31]

[Agility: 138]

[Stamina: 80]

[Perception: 80]

[Skills:

{Marksmanship Lv. 5 <Active Sub Skill: Quick Thinking> <Active Sub Skill: Reload> <Active Sub Skill: Guiding Shot>}

{Taming Lv. 2 <Active Sub Skill: Bonding>}

{Insight Lv.5}

{Raider's Intent}

{Hunter's Instinct}

[~Arcane Tapestry~:

Imprinted Spells: -Shocking Grip-. -Extra Arms-. -Witch's Hold-. -Kroa's Bolt-.]

—————

—————

[Name: Nyx]

[Creature: Shadow Mare]

[Breed: Valaeren Night-Mare]

[Level 16 (5790/6500 Exp)]*

[Hit Points: 260/260]

[Mana: 270]

[Strength: 125]

[Speed: 220]

[Stamina: 120]

[Skills: {Shadow Dash Lv.2} {<ShadowScape>}]*

—————

Henry paid very little attention to the stat screens the System presented because his eyes and attention were far more occupied by the description of the Precognition effect.

And then, Eloise yelled,

"Here they come!"

A second after she yelled, everyone heard the rumbling of thudding feet as a horde of Orcs came charging with their red eyes glowing even brighter with malice and a red mana aura hue rising from their large forms to show they had been empowered.

Amid the charge, an Orc drew the string of its bow, and before it released the arrow and let it fly, Henry's newly acquired Precognition alerted him and he leaned hard to the side so it went whizzing past him.

'Wow!' Henry thought with wide eyes.

You see, Henry had dodged Arrows and bullets well enough even without this effect but he always had to see his attacker or at least have a general idea of where the attack was coming from to react accordingly.

He usually managed this very smoothly because of years of practice at it. But the precognition effect seemed to have built on this years of experience and added an almost mystical edge where he didn't even have to pay attention to his attacker to be alerted.

Also, there are principles that have to be respected when Henry did this the normal way. He wasn't capable of mind reading so he could be tricked. His enemy might have the arrow pointed at someone else and change targets in a split second giving him no time to react. However, with Precognition, it didn't matter when or how fast or how frequently the enemy changed targets, the skill would always alert him in time.

Hence the reason it had been described as 'Transcending Time to detect attacks 'before' they are conceived or unleashed'.

Anyway, just this one demonstration of the Precognition effect had Henry very convinced of its usefulness. This went even further when judging by the trajectory of the arrow that just missed him, Henry pointed his gun and caught his attacker with a bullet before it could even acknowledge its attack had missed and before it could conceive to notch another arrow.

[Kill-Reward: 800 Exp]

The entire exchange was over in two seconds and by then, Boyle was dishing out orders to the only ones who would absolutely obey him; The Knights.

They were to provide as much protection as they could to the Clerics but, fairly determined to stay out of the worst of the battle, the former Slaves took over this task which freed up more Knights to become more focused on the battle.

For Henry, more arrows were fired in quick succession but with Precognition to guide him, he swung 'Cudgel' and struck down the arrows in a spinning move with the magical Repeater before retaliating with shots from 'Violent Retort'.

Shots that never once missed.

[Kill-Reward: 800 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 800 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 800 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 800 Exp]