A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Following his experience with the Vinculum, Henry had good reason to look at the orange sphere in his hand with caution but it didn't seem to possess a mind of its own. It didn't try to tempt him with thoughts or visions of grandeur and power of control. It just pulsed with energy. A lot of energy.

"I'll take this," Henry mumbled and with a slight sleight of hand, he sent the sphere into his Inventory with plans to inquire about its uses or properties from someone who could explain it.

At the moment, the only person that came to Henry's mind who would be capable of that was Elminster and he certainly considered it as he put the matter aside for now.

"What was that?" Louis asked and Henry looked back at him with a raised brow,

"What was what?" He asked.

"That sphere… It was in your hand just now and it vanished," Louis said.

"Oh," Henry said in the realization that his sleight of hand had not been smooth enough to avoid detection.

"Hold on," Louis said almost studiously as he raised his hand, tapped a finger against his lips, and added,

"I've just realized I haven't seen your guns either. Where are you keeping them?"

Andor was no longer looking through the loot inside the Sarcophagus and was now looking at Henry with as much curiosity as Louis.

Henry looked between the two. He came up with a few lies and even decided he didn't have to explain himself to either of them to assuage any suspicion and could simply have decided not to say a word.

Eventually, he just let out a sigh as he raised and twisted his right hand to smoothly pull 'Violent Retort' out of his Inventory and into his grip to the gasps of everyone in the room who was paying attention.

Another twist and Henry replaced 'Violent Retort' with 'The Hydra's Sting' before he raised his left hand, and twisted it to pull out the Orange sphere to the 'oohs and ahhs' of the admiring crowd.

"How…" Louis started to ask.

"Trade secret," Henry said with a smile as he sent the gun and the sphere into his Inventory and started picking out items from the Sarcophagus to eye them better.

Louis kept watching him. He looked at Henry's fingers searching for a ring and then at his wrists for a bracelet. All in all, he was simply looking for an object, any object, that could have explained the storage and how quickly Henry could retrieve anything he stored.

He saw no object. Henry's fingers were bare and now that he no longer had a Control-cuff, so were his wrists. But Louis did notice something at the back of Henry's right hand though;

'Is that a tattoo?' He wondered.

Louis scratched his head wondering if the Tattoo had always been there but the magical energy it gave off and the minute Arcane knowledge that seemed to have been etched right into the skin assured him the tattoo was relatively new.

Plus, a clenching hand with spikes of lightning around it…

"Shocking Grip?" Louis mumbled as he was reminded he had seen Henry cast the spell a couple of times and the one time he asked how Henry had been able to cast the spell, he hadn't gotten a clear answer.

'What exactly is he?'

Meanwhile, the loot within the second Sarcophagus was divided with Henry securing most of it to be stored up inside his Inventory.

"Alright, that's all of it," he said.

"What now?" Andor asked.

Henry shrugged,

"We're free," he said, "Let's get the hell out of here."

"I don't think we can," said a member of the raiding party standing in front of the door they had all walked through to enter the room.

"Why not?" Henry asked as he approached the door.

For an answer, the member of the raiding party tried to pry the door open but it remained sealed up.

Andor walked up the door and joined in the effort. Putting his superior strength into action but while it had succeeded with Sarcophagi lids, it failed here.

"We're locked in," he eventually announced.

Henry frowned and looked over at Louis who looked to be deep in thought,

"Louis."

"Hmm?"

"Can you help open the door?" Henry asked with a thumb pointed at the locked door,

"Where strength fails, I assume we should try magic."

"Oh," Louis said shaking himself out of his thoughts, "Of course. Let me try."

Louis walked up to the door and spent a few minutes running his hands all over it trying to find some trigger or some phrase written in Arcane scripts that was waiting to be decoded. He found none so he infused Mana into the door just as Doherty had done to get it opened. The door did not respond to the Mana and remained as sealed as ever.

"I can't open it," Louis admitted as he stepped away from the door and turned around to glance over at the door on the other side of the room.

He pointed at it,

"That one is open though."

Henry glanced over at the door too. It had opened with a click after he defeated Echo. It was one of the last sounds Henry had heard before he was pulled into that Undead Woe of sadness.

"I think that'll lead us deeper into the Dungeon though," Henry said.

Louis nodded,

"Yes, it will," he said, "And that's the point. I don't think this door will open until the Dungeon Boss has been defeated."

"Dungeon Boss?" Henry asked.

"Every Dungeon has a boss. All that we meet on the way are basically minions. If the boss isn't defeated, the Dungeon will remain open and in this case, we'll also remain trapped." Louis explained with a smile.

Henry's brows furrowed. He remembered the powerful figure he had seen in the Undead Woes and also remembered Echo talking about serving an Existence it didn't even quite understand. He realized that had to be the Boss.

Plus, Echo had repeated that it was testing their mettle to know if they had what it takes to move on. Clearly, it had meant 'what it takes to move on and face the Boss'.

"But do we have to face the Boss?" Henry asked.

"I'm not sure," Louis said, "I suppose we could stay here and wait for others to defeat it. The door will open after that and we can leave."

"Oh, alright. Since we don't have to—" Henry started to say before he was interrupted.

"We don't have to but we should," Louis said with a grin and that familiar crazed twinkle in his eyes,

"I mean, we can't enter a Dungeon and not face the Boss. It's not proper."

"Proper? You got winded facing the Decaying Undead," Henry pointed out.

"Oh, but I'll do better," Louis said and gripped his Staff tighter while nodding over and over,

"I promise."

"Why are you promising me?" Henry asked, confused.

"I'll come with, too," Andor said suddenly.

"Why?" Henry asked him.

"Well, you freed me and you saved me…" Andor said.

"Not intentionally," Henry said.

"… So I'll pay you back by coming with," Andor continued like he hadn't been interrupted.

"I'm not sure I'm going," Henry said.

"Oh, but you have to. We have to," Louis said.

"I'll wack anything you ask me to wack," Andor said solemnly like a vow while gripping his Spear tight,

"Stab anything that tries to hurt you!"

"Stop talking like that," Henry said.

"We won't even have to do much," Louis said.

"How do you figure?" Henry asked.

Louis looked surprised that Henry didn't understand,

"We didn't come in here alone. Remember the Knight Lady and the Knight Guy. They're in here too. Also, there are a bunch of other Fighters and Mages. I doubt we even get a crack on the boss.

But it would be so fun just to be there and watch it."

"I don't think it'll be fun…" Henry said slowly and cracked a smile. Dangerous as it might be, he was actually a bit curious. And he also didn't mind the idea of putting a face to the Powerful figure he had seen many times in the Undead Woe visions.

Eventually, Henry let out a sigh as he caved in and said,

"… But fine. Let's do it."