Chapter 69: The Witch And Her Partner (2)

Henry raised 'The Hydra's Sting' and in a flow of shots, he shot three bullets into the skulls of three Flame Vykers while their eyes were bugged out in pain and right before the explosive force of their imploding fireballs knocked them too far back.

[Kill-Reward: 100 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 100 Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 100 Exp]

[Vyker-Killer Bonus: +1 Agility]

[Agility: 15 ———> 16]

[Vyker-Killer Bonus: +1 Stamina]

[Stamina: 12 ———> 13]

[Vyker-Killer Bonus: +1 Strength]

[Strength: 22 ———> 23]

[Kill Steal Count: 3]

Every Kill was backed with the {Marksmanship} Skill and rewarded him with [Skill Exp] but those were the notifications that spammed Henry the most without actual concrete values so instinctively, he shut them out.

He was going to be doing that for every kill he made from then on.

As for the Notifications Henry did see, he still ignored them and just turned his eyes to other enemies. The commotion was perfect and there were at least five others who had been affected by Yelena's tendrils.

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Yelena had summoned more tendrils and readied herself to fire them when the Vyker Captain leaped off his troubled horse and called his fellows to arms.

"Get a hold of yourselves!" He yelled at them when he noticed them twitching as they battled the tendrils in their bodies.

Henry shot at him next and with a superhuman awareness, the Vyker Captain leaned away and then turned his eyes to Henry as he flashed a wicked grin.

His canines began to stretch until they looked more like Fangs. The tips of his ears grew longer and fur began to grow out of his body as his back became hunched. Despite the distance between them, Henry could feel an intense aura from the Vyker's body. An aura that caused the hairs on his body to stand on end.

A Feral Meister!

Having used insight on the last Vyker he had seen who had displayed similar abilities, Henry knew what the Vyker Captain was and he could also tell the materials used in this mutation were not harvested from a Wyvern.

The Vyker Captain, limbs looking ready to spring and pounce, let out a feral growl that sent the already distressed horses into a skitter but even as they tried to move, they found that they could not.

A green gas had lifted from the bodies of the three Flame Vykers that had fallen to Henry's shots and it had now permeated that entire region of the Hadron Mansion compound.

Shaking off the fear the Vyker Captain's growl had forced him to feel, Henry let a smile onto his face feeling quite proud of himself.

The Flame Vykers had no defenses in place. And thanks to Yelena, they could not erect any so a normal bullet shot from a normal gun would have worked just as well. But that would not have been smart.

Secretly paralyzing them and taking away all chances of Yelena making an unintentional kill by stealing it all in one fell swoop was far better.

But then, even as the gas saturated their surroundings, the Vykers moved. Their limbs twitched and they showed the slightest signs of struggle but they moved.

"Pesky thing," the Vyker Captain said as he and the others stepped out of the cloud.

"How?" Henry found himself asking.

The Vyker's captain's long-tipped ears twitched as he caught Henry's question and he regained his feral grin as he said,

"Mana circulation, you moron!"

They had all indeed breathed in the gas whether in small or large quantities but there were ways to overcome something as pesky as paralysis. The stronger the Mana, the easier it was to get rid of the effects.

"Don't tell me those who came before fell to cheap tricks like this," The Captain said with a snigger.

Henry's mind worked fast.

'Actually,' he thought, 'I've never used the <Numbing Gas> on anyone who has Mana.'

The only person he had used it on was Urn the Flame Vyker and that had been a headshot so the bullet striking through his skull likely had more to do with his death than the paralysis of <Numbing Gas> did.

'Okay then,' Henry said with a nod to himself as he raised the gun again, 'New plan!'

The Vykers moved then. Six of the twelve still alive charged. Of the six that stayed behind, Three showed themselves to be Flame Vykers who, like the three who had now lost their lives, charged up fireballs.

Yelena shot out dark tendrils but scaled Vykers already charging leaped into the shots and took it instead. Allowing the flame Vykers to successfully charge their fireballs and launch them at the Mansion.

*BOOM!!!*

Yet another explosive impact and the destruction of another section of the Mansion. Within, Gang members standing too close to the destroyed wall were launched away yelling and slamming into structures.

Yelena doubled over in pain and in that moment, a scaled Vyker approached her and hit her with a blow so powerful, that after-waves of the impactful sound could be heard.

*BAM!!!*

"No!" Henry yelled almost instinctively but a Vyker, scaled from head to toe, was already in front of him, and before he could even think to react, claws ripped through his skin drawing blood while striking him with enough force to slam him away and into the wall.

[You have lost 25 Hit Points]

[Hit Points: 65/90]

Before Henry hit the ground, the Vyker stretched out a leg and struck with a kick so powerful, that he heard his ribs crack and splinter into pieces. With an aggressive cough, he spat out blood.

But the Vyker wasn't done. He grabbed Henry's head and slammed it against the wall a few times with *Bang* after *Bang* before letting him go so he could slide to the ground. His blood marked the wall in a gory trail as he did.

Henry's eyes stung. His head felt like it had been split open which was actually very likely indeed the case. His grip on 'The Hydra's Sting' loosened.

Of course, thanks to the System, the intense pains of every strike he suffered, were temporary even if his eyesight still swam with lights and shapes that had no meaning. However, his ticking-down Hit Points were far more serious.

[You have lost 20 Hit Points]

[You have lost 10 Hit Points]

[You have lost 10 Hit points]

[You have lost 10 Hit Points]

[Hit Points: 10/90]

The scaled Vyker leaned closer to observe his handiwork and listen to Henry's weak breathing.

And then, Henry felt it. The wave of life-nourishing energy that eclipsed anything Elminster's Healing Potions were capable of, flowed into him. Healing his wounds and recovering his Hit Points to their maximum in seconds.

At that very moment, he tightened his grip on 'The Hydra's Sting', raised it, and fired an acidic shot into the Vyker's chest.

The bullet pierced the Vyker's protective scales and cracks appeared and began to spread all over his chest before they exploded in a *Bang* that launched the Vyker many feet away where, despite the pain wracking through him and his blood mixing with sizzling acidic horror, he remained on his feet.

Henry knew from his experience with Rena the Scaled Vyker that a single shot was not enough to both break through the Vyker's scales and kill him and with that information at the ready for his use, he was ready.

With a quick draw, he pulled his bronze and Gold painted gun from his holster and fired a shot before the Vyker could recover and restore his damaged scales.

"Ack!" The Vyker let out with wide eyes before he fell to his knees and keeled over, dead.

[Kill-Reward: 100 Exp]

[Vyker-Killer Bonus: +1 Strength]

[Strength: 23 ———> 24]

[Kill Steal Count: 4]

*KRAKA* *BANG!!!*

The sound called Henry's attention he saw Yelena on her knees with three bodies all charred and smoking laid out in front of her.

In a momentary outburst and retaliation from attacks she repeatedly suffered from Vykers, she had lost control of her tendrils and fired hard enough to kill three Vykers in a single move.

Now she had her hands over her face, looking wide-eyed through the gaps in her splayed fingers, in horror at her victims.