The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 88: Intruders!

"Will you join me, Reynard?"

"Yes..."

Reynard barely noticed himself speaking. But no, here he was—signed up for a coup.

And with how Amelia was smiling at him, he couldn’t even regret it.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me," she said sincerely and stepped away.

Her smile turned slightly mischievous.

"There are many people who are easily manipulated. But in my experience, there are very few who are actually WORTH manipulating. Oh, by the way!" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

She pulled a handkerchief and a handheld mirror from her purse and offered them to Reynard.

"You should wipe your face..." She gestured around her smiling lips. "And then I will have to return to the other guests. I have already signed for several more dances..."

***

At least twenty minutes had passed by the time Reynard rejoined Marien. He had to down an entire glass of wine and half a plate of stuffed eggs before he calmed down.

Marien tried to get more juicy information about Amelia out of him, but he refused to speak in public about this.

Reynard and Marien had nothing else to do but to enjoy the party. And even with most people avoiding them as much as possible, there was still plenty to enjoy.

The wine was delicious, although the enhanced physique of Albedo magi prevented Reynard and Marien from getting tipsy even after several glasses. The food was also not bad. And the dances were entertaining to watch, even if Reynard and Marien didn’t join any more of them.

There were also other entertainments in nearby rooms: card games and poem recitals. The latter were all of a patriotic type, but still interesting.

The novelty of it all eventually wore off, and for Reynard this happened earlier than for Marien. He was thinking of leaving the place.

With this plan, Reynard walked over the main hall of the mansion, searching for Marien, who had separated from him at some point, to tell her about it.

A sudden flash of magic from outside was Reynard’s only warning.

CRASH!

The large windows leading to the garden had exploded, showering the guests inside the main hall with glass and ice shards.

People screamed in pain and fear.

"GUARDS! GUARDS!"

"Aaaaah!"

Eight magi in white robes and with cloth masks covering their faces jumped into the building through broken windows. Each of them was at least Final Cycle Nigredo, with the two strongest being somewhere in the middle Cycles of the Albedo stage.

All this Reynard evaluated while already casting Spirit Armor on himself.

Around him, chaos was spreading. Forgetting all about their manners and dropping wine glasses on the ground, nobles were stumbling to get away from the intruders.

Reynard had to press himself against a nearby column to avoid being pushed away by the maddening crowd.

"An attack!"

"Servants! Help!"

Reynard tried to see Marien and Amelia in this stampede. Marien’s aura flared on the other side of the hall; Amelia was nowhere to be seen at all.

"We have two magi here!" one of the intruders shouted. "Make sure they don’t interfere!"

’Interfere with what?! What is going on?! Maybe I didn’t want to interfere in the first place... Ah, who am I kidding? What have all these noble ladies done to you, party poopers?’

As soon as Spirit Armor shimmered around him, Reynrad pulled out the Golden Gun.

A second later, it almost fell out of his hands as two enemy magi swung their hands at him, and a blizzard of ice shards flew in Reynard’s direction. The third one was too weak to join, but he fired small ice arrows, which blended with the blizzard almost seamlessly.

The blizzard was a spell Reynard had seen many times already, and it was still as unpleasant to deal with.

The violent wind threw everyone away in its path. At least a dozen people were thrown aside like rag dolls, while their skin was torn and frozen by the ice. In a way, this partially protected Reynard, just like the wall he was clinging to.

Thanks to them, he didn’t fall. But every one of his movements was now straining against the wind, and his Spirit Armor was rippling from the larger shards of ice that occasionally hit it.

"You want a fight? You will get it!" Marien shouted in the distance. Reynard could barely hear her over the howling of the wind.

Five of the magi separated from the blizzard-channeling group and ran deeper into the building, shoving aside the guests and guards that were too slow to move away.

Reynard raised the Golden Gun and aimed the best he could.

At least the channeling magi weren’t moving targets, even if he could barely see them through the ice sticking to his Spirit Armor.

A screaming nobleman thrown by the blizzard slammed into Reynard’s body, throwing his aim off just as he fired.

BANG!

The shot missed entirely—Reynard heard it making a hole in the wall somewhere.

Cursing, Reynard freed himself and tried again.

BANG!

It worked. An enemy magus stumbled on his feet, holding a hole in his side, and the blizzard weakened.

Just as Reynard aimed for the second one, the blizzard suddenly stopped entirely, throwing his aim off again.

BANG!

The shot blew into pieces a large decorative vase that somehow survived until now.

At this time, one of the enemy magi created a large ice owl that swooped at Reynard. Not about to waste a 15mm bullet on this one, he pulled out one of his smaller revolvers and aimed at it.

Reynard almost forgot about the Nigredo magus.

Now, he created a cloud of thick frozen mist, obscuring the bird, just as it made a sudden maneuver, avoiding Reynard’s aim. The mist disappeared within a second—it was just a Nigredo spell—but the bird had time to reach Reynard.

It clawed at its spirit helmet, trying to claw its transparent visor off. Cursing, Reynard shot at it point-blank, crushing the ice.

When the bird fell, the trio of magi was nowhere he could see.