The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 77: Consequences

The recoil was strong enough that, even though Reynard was prepared for it, his hand was thrown far back.

The 15mm bullet flew at speeds too fast even for a high-stage magus to track. Norton had no chance to dodge.

It hit him directly between the eyes. The impact smashed the bullet into a flat lump, but that lump still went through the magus’s skull. Even a bone enhanced by the aura of someone at the very top of the Albedo stage couldn’t withstand the force of the Boom Powder Reynard crammed into those bullet cartridges.

An empty ammo casing fell to the ground at the same time Norton’s body fell to the table.

The next moment, there was angry and alarmed shouting from the other rooms.

Reynard acted quickly. He grabbed a seal of the Snow Trade House that was lying on the table and stuffed it into his pocket to serve as proof of the kill later. If that would be necessary, that is.

Then he grabbed a pair of vials from the bag, shoved them into his belt bag together with the seal, and threw a fire bolt at the rest.

It hit with enough heat and impact to ignite the easily flammable mixes and potions he created just for this moment.

In the past five days, Reynard got really inventive, gathering the remains of his stashes and buying cheap herbs off the market to make his current concoctions. From the utility standpoint, they were worthless. But for his goals, they were working great.

As soon as they started burning, the chemicals began releasing massive amounts of dark but colorful smoke. Reynard immediately stepped back as the smoke began to rapidly spread over the room.

He feared to imagine what might happen to his lungs and Inner Athanor if he breathed this thing for too long!

Rushing stomping came from the hallway outside. The door burst open as the two Snow magi came in.

Through the clouds of smoke, they could barely see inside the room. And before they fully realized what was going on, Reynard had already smashed through the window and jumped outside.

More shouts followed him. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Master Norton!"

"He—quickly, we need a healer!"

"The attacker is escaping! Quick, follow him!"

A magus tried to run through the smoke, but was attacked by a cough halfway in. Another cast a freezing wind spell to blow the smoke out, but more of it was coming from the burning vials.

Just a single glance back was enough for Reynard to be sure that he wouldn’t be followed from there. However, he wasn’t out of the hot water yet.

The window in Norton’s office led to the garden, and the guards patrolling it were already running toward Reynard. He recognized the shocked and outraged face of the one who checked his bag earlier.

As he ran toward the fence that separated the garden from the city, Reynard pulled out his saved vials and threw them under the guards’ feet, followed by a bolt of fire.

The less resilient guards—those on the lower refinement stages, or not magi at all—were forced to stop as the smoke began spreading around. But on the open, and with a relatively small amount of fuel, it was much thinner than in Norton’s office.

The two stronger magi ran through it without even getting tears in their eyes, and they were already aiming spells at Reynard’s back.

He stopped near the fence, knowing that he would be a perfect target while running through it, and pulled out his golden gun again.

BANG! BANG!

It was like heaven and earth compared to his weaker revolvers. Each shot made Reynard’s wrist ache with recoil, and the sound of shots made Reynard’s ears ring from how loud it was, but the people hit by the bullets just... fell.

One hit to the chest, and an Albedo magus’s Inner Athanor was shattered. One hit to the hip, and the other one was lying on the ground, screaming and bleeding.

And now Reynard climbed over the fence in a single jump and began running earnestly.

With every passing second, the number of magi pursuing him only grew. No amount of smoke could negate the sheer volume of his shots—half of the city must’ve heard them!

Reynard was running faster than a horse, diving in and out of alleyways, jumping on the roofs, and shortening his path over people’s yards, but his pursuers were always somewhere he could sense them.

Citizens screamed in fright and moved out of the way of the running magi. Ice birds were sent after Reynard, and he had to run even faster to avoid their claws or slow down to shoot them down.

A couple of times, he paused in place and grew Thornshooters to surprise and slow down his pursuers. But mostly he just ran.

All the way until he saw a group of magi wearing symbols and colors of the Order of Winter standing on the street ahead. Among them were also a couple of people with different clothing—mercenaries. One of them gasped at the sight of Reynard and waved her hand.

"You are here!" Marien shouted as Reynard came up to the group. She turned to its leader. "See? I told you he would do it. So you will do as we agreed, right?"

The Winter magus in charge looked from Marien and Reynard, frowning. He opened his mouth, but Reynard interrupted him.

"No time!" he exclaimed, panting. "John Norton is dead, and I have his seal if the people chasing me aren’t proof enough. I know he has, like, a fifteen hundred bounty on his head. Well. I’m on your side, and I will give you, uh, a third of that if you don’t just leave me on my own here."

The Winter magus grinned.

"I didn’t bring my squad here because I planned to AVOID a fight! No... You did more than kill Norton, foreigner. You let plenty of snowflakes right into the palm of my hand! Help me kill them, and the reward for Norton’s head is all yours."

Reynard grinned back.

"Works for me!"

And then, the enemies were here.