Chapter 42:

Henry glanced over at Devon and saw the Half-orc with his shotgun pointed with its muzzle smoking from the recent shot.

"You're welcome," Devon said in a voice that made it sound like Henry now owed him a favor.

Henry just rolled his eyes and looked away until his eyes fell on the last two members of the Second Langlot base. They had no more fight in their eyes. There was also no escape open to them and so, with an impassive gaze, Henry raised his revolver and ended their lives with a bullet to each head.

[Kill-Reward: 7 Exp]

[You have gained Skill Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 7 Exp]

[You have gained Skill Exp]

[You have received a bonus of 100 Exp]

[Skill Level Up!]

[Marksmanship is now Lv. 3]

[You have acquired the sub-skill <Reload>]

[Sub-Skill: <Reload>

Description: Say goodbye to the worries of manually filling your guns with bullets. With this Sub-Skill —That works in tandem with your INVENTORY—, your gun is almost instantly filled to its brim with bullets you hold. Leaving you more time to gun down your enemies.

*Your Inventory must contain the bullets your gun requires for this Sub-skill to be activated.

*This Sub-Skill does not require Mana to activate.]

Henry read the description of <Reload> before his eyes went to the empty Repeater in his hand.

He turned it slightly as though to look at the part of the weapon where the spring load that fires the bullet could be seen through a small window that only ever opened when a bullet casing was dislodged from the weapon.

<Reload>

Henry brought the name of the Sub-Skill to his mind and watched, in marvel, as a blue light glowed over the rifle and its cocked spring snapped back into place ready to fire the bullet that had just entered the barrel.

'The reload took all of three seconds,' Henry thought with a small smile playing at his lips,

'I've been able to reload a weapon that fast at times, But this is good and does free me to worry about other things.'

Of course, Henry was only trying to downplay the <Reload> Sub Skill. Sure, he was a fast weapon reloader, but different weapons cost different seconds to reload. To have a Skill that rendered all of that varying and sometimes substantial reload time to a mere three seconds was not only 'good' but also incredible.

Henry knew this too and that was why he thought of his {Marksmanship} skill with more fondness,

"I wonder what more I can get if I keep leveling up the Skill."

"Mumbling to yourself after showing off your magic? Typical," Devon said with a snort, calling Henry out of his thoughts.

"What?" Henry said, "What do you mean?"

"I mean you're an insufferable show-off. You think you're all that just because you can make your weapon glow for a few seconds?"

"Oh," Henry said when he realized Devon was referring to the light of the <Reload> Sub-skill. The Half-orc must have seen it.

"You were the same way with that evil gun too. Pathetic." Devon added with a bit of spite.

'So the glow is visible to everyone then?' He thought with a smile, 'I think I like it even more now.'

Devon wasn't wrong. Henry was a show-off indeed. Showing off his skills was how he had made many enemies in his past life… Of course, it had also made him 'friends'. Either out of respect or fear. Sometimes both.

"What are you smiling about?" Devon asked with a frown.

"Nothing really," Henry said and then, immediately burst into a hearty laughter that carried to the other end of the Gang camp where the rest of the Dionisio gang were.

"What in the devil, are they doing?" Charles asked as he looked out from behind the rock cover. It was starting to set in that there was no more shooting. The battle had been won.

"They're laughing," Tony said with the corner of his lips twitching with the showing of a smile, "At least Henry is."

"Lunatics, the both of them," Triss said with a small note of anger, "To charge like that. Stupid and reckless."

"Devon can take care of himself," Dana said with a proud *hmph* before she glanced at Henry, "It's that idiot we should condemn for acting like a gallant moron."

Everyone voiced opinions and Henry's ears caught some of them but he mostly didn't care. Just went about looting the wealth of the Dead before calling up his Status to look at his progress thus far,

—————

[Name: Henry Morgan]

[Level: 7 (887/1500 Exp)]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Gunslinger]

[Title: Death's Bane, Gangbanger, Vyker-Killer] Sёarch* The nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

[Hit Points: 68/70]

[Mana Points: 80/80]

[Strength: 20]

[Agility: 15]

[Stamina: 12]

[Perception: 10]

[Skills:

{Marksmanship Lv. 3 <Active Sub Skill: Quick Thinking> <Active Sub Skill: Reload>} {Taming Lv. 1 <Active Sub Skill: Bonding>} {Insight Lv.1}]

[You have 6 unallocated Stat Points]

'This hunting Quest is incredible. I've already leveled up once and I stand to level up again by the time we are done with the Third Base.'

—————

Henry glanced at his wound —a small wound that no longer bled and had only cost him 2 Hit point—, and smiled wryly,

'I won't allocate my Stat points. I don't need them. Not for Langlot Gang members, at least.'

A whinnying sounded out as Nyx galloped down the hill and hurried to Henry's side like she was eager to be complimented. She ducked her head in front of him and Henry hugged it.

"You did good." He said.

"She did more than good," Devon said with a snort and his eyes narrowed in curiosity.

He wasn't the only one.

The others paused their scouring of the Second Langlot base to glance over at Henry and his horse.

"The way she felled those horses with her collision. I've only seen Workhorses do the same and not one has ever looked as effortless or… graceful as she did while doing it," Charles said.

Tony nodded,

"Yes, how is she that strong?"

Henry looked from one of them to the next. His eyes looked like he was questioning their reasoning for looking at Nyx with so much scrutiny,

"What are you all talking about? Does it matter how she can do it?"

Everyone watched in silence for a few seconds before Charles let out a laugh as he walked to Henry's side and clasped his shoulder,

"Haha, of course, it doesn't matter how she can do it. What matters is that she CAN do it."

The matter was brushed aside after that.

The Dionisio Gang did not leave the Second Langlot base that day. They found the loot the Gang members had stashed away but it was smaller than what they had gotten from the first base so they decided they might as well keep it for the Gang collective.

They decided unanimously to spend the rest of the day at the enemy base. It was as secure as anywhere else and they were going to need their strengths for the third base. Especially with almost all of them having gotten shot.

It took a long time but they were able to clear the bodies of the dead Langlot Gang members far enough away from the base to not be bothered by the sight or even the smell. After that, they cleared an even smaller space in the base, free of blood, and brain matter cleaned enough Enemy tents to serve as cover for the night.

They performed first aid on each other's wounds (Henry didn't need any and neither did Devon), and then brought out rations to eat while seated around a fire and sharing stories and laughs before eventually going to sleep for the night.