Chapter 206: The Test of The Fortress
Chapter 206: The Test of The Fortress
The ten of us pushed open the gate, and for the first time, stepped into what was known as the Magic Capital. Of course, right now, this place didn’t look all that fancy. Instead, it looked like a cyberpunk-themed urban city from some video game. I assumed The Fragment, which was where we were trying to get to, would be different.
Come to think of it…Xiang Peng did mention this place was like a video game when she first described Shanghai to us.
“So? Where do we go first?” I asked Xiang Peng.
“Hey, it’s my first time doing this too! Why are you asking me?” she replied, walking casually. “But for starters, we should probably avoid running into any gangs. Actually, just avoid everyone, for that matter. Hm…what else…oh, right! You all need weapons.”
“Weapons? Don’t we already have our magic?” Feng Mian asked.
“Oh no no no,” Xiang Peng wiggled her finger in disapproval. “That won’t do. You can’t say you’ve been to the Magic Capital without touching a gun first.”
“A gun…hehe~” Qing Yue giggled dangerously. I was a bit creeped out and concerned by her eagerness to obtain a deadly firearm, but I didn’t say anything out loud.
“So, how do we get these…guns?” Yu An Yan asked, getting to the main point.
“Hm…well, we look for a gunsmith shop, of course!”
“And…where is the gunsmith shop?” Yu An Yan continued, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t know!” Xiang Peng exclaimed in a carefree manner.
“…” the rest of us collectively sighed and facepalmed.
“Yeah…should’ve known…can’t rely on this girl,” I muttered to myself.
“H-Hey! It’s not my fault! I’ve never been here before either!” Xiang Peng retorted.
“Master,” Mei Gui suddenly interrupted. “Detecting activity up ahead.”
“Oh…?” I raised an eyebrow. “The Third Eye, perhaps?”
Mei Gui nodded. “I thought it would be a wise choice to turn it on here.”
“And wise it was,” I agreed.
The other girls just looked at us, confused.
“W-Wait, is this Third Eye thing the radar spell Mei Gui used back in the Infinite Forest in Huizhou?” Feng Mian asked for confirmation.
I nodded. “It’s another Forbidden Magic spell.”
“Oh…I see,” Feng Mian murmured thoughtfully.
“Ooh, Forbidden Magic…hehe, this big sister wants to learn some Forbidden Magic as well!” Xiang Peng said, putting her hands on her hips proudly.
“Denied,” Mei Gui and I immediately said in unison.
“Aw…” Xiang Peng’s shoulders dropped, dejected.
“Anyway. Mei Gui, what’s the situation up ahead?” I asked.
“People…seem to be fighting. It is a 3 on 1.”
A 3 on 1…isn’t that just bullying, now? Heh. I kinda want to check this out.
“Alright…let’s go take a look,” I decided.
*****
– Meanwhile, Around a Kilometer Ahead of Where Xuan Kai and the Girls were… –
(?’s Perspective)
One…two…three. Hm…they rrrrrrrreallyonly sent three people afpurr meow? Nyaa, that’s just looking down on meow. They rrrrrreally need to try harder than that to catch mya, meow.
“Hmph. We’ve got you now, you damn cat…” a man stepped out of the shadows behind me, pointing a gun in my direction.
I looked around. There were three paths for me – one, charge directly through this man, back in the direction where I had came from; two, turn to the left; and three, turn to the right at this intersection. But options two and three were both quickly crossed out as the man’s two companions appeared as well, one on either side of me. I was cornered…
…Or am I? Nya~
Just as they pointed their weapons at me and shot, I leapt upwards. I used my gloves – a pair of sharp claws – to scale up the building’s stone walls, and combined with my intrinsic catgirl agility, I was able to climb up with ease. Seeing this, my three pursuers cursed in fury. I stuck out my tongue at them for a taunt, but then, to my surprise, they pressed some button on their belt, and two hooks shot out from each of their girdles, attaching to the roof of the building I was on. Immediately after, the hooks retracted, quickly pulling them upwards towards the roof.
“N-Nya~!”
Sensing danger, I immediately turned tail and ran, jumping from roof to roof with my agility and speed. My pursuers did the same, but using their hookshots from their belt. I felt a bullet coming my way, so I dashed slightly to the right just as the bullet flew past me.
“W-Woah! Nyat was close…”
“Damn it…she’s so fast,” the man who had shot the bullet complained, gritting his teeth.
Nyahaha, they can’t catch meow-woah!
I skidded to a stop, nearly falling off this 200 meter tall building. I had insanely fast reflexes and agility, but I couldn’t fly! The next building was around 50 meters away…I couldn’t make that jump! I spun around, sensing that my pursuers had caught up.
“Hah…hah…finally…caught you…” one of the three men panted, clearly exhausted. “Damn you…and your demihuman agility…”
“Nya…” I looked around for an escape route, but there was none. In front of me was 3 trained Advanced Mages out for my blood, and behind me was a 200 meter fall I had no chance of surviving.
The man in the middle of the three, sensing my helplessness, smirked, and raised his gun, a shining silver revolver. “This is the end for you, damn cat. Any last words?”
Nya…am I…rrrrrrreally going to die here? Purrhaps…there is some way nyout? Hm? Paws. I sense…another few people nearby?
*****
“So…do we save her or not?” I asked, trying to get the other girls’ opinions.
We had tracked these four people all the way over here, on the rooftop of an abandoned building. And as it turned out, Mei Gui’s information was correct – it was indeed a 3 on 1. But what I didn’t expect…was for that ‘1’ to be a demihuman – a catgirl, in particular.
“Hm…let’s save her,” Xiang Peng decided. “Within Fragment, no race is discriminated against, but outside it, Demihumans especially are looked down upon by others. The catgirl here most likely hasn’t even done anything wrong, but instead is just being hunted down simply because of her background.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t care about all that. I’m asking what benefits would I gain from saving her here?”
“Uh…an extra ally?” Yu An Yan suggested.
“Not needed,” I replied. “We already are big enough of a group.”
“Er…who knows? Maybe if we win her, we can gain the favor of the Demihumans? That might come in helpful in the future,” Feng Mian proposed.
I fell into thought. “That is possible, but…is it worth the trouble? We might make ourselves the enemies of whatever gang those three men belong to.”
“Big Brother Xuan Kai, save her,” Qing Yue suddenly said.
I raised an eyebrow. “But…why?”
“Instinct,” Qing Yue replied simply. “My intuition is that saving her now is a good idea.”
“…Okay, that’s not very convincing, but sure, why not?” I said in reply after some slight hesitation, then turned back to look at the situation. The man in the middle is pointing his gun at the catgirl, ready to fire.
Hm…let’s try this.
Level Two Psychic Magic – Telekinesis.
I focused my mind on the gun within the man’s hands, and concentrated. The gun slowly began wobbling in his palm, and then flew directly out, heading towards my direction. I caught in my hand with ease, and the man looked around, dazed.
“What the hell?! Where did my gun go?” the man exclaimed angrily.
“Back there!” another yelled, spotting where the girls and I were hiding, perched on top of a roof. He pointed his rifle in our direction, but I knew he wasn’t going to shoot. Even if he did, we could just duck down. Since our building was higher than the one they were on, if we were to duck down, they would lose sight of us.
“Hm…a revolver, huh?” I mused, spinning around the gun in my hands.
“Who the hell are you?!” the man who I had stolen the gun from demanded.
But I merely ignored his question, and pointed the gun towards him, and called out. “Hey, I’ve never used a gun before…mind if I use you for target practice?”
“W-Wha-“
I pulled the trigger, and let the bullet fly.
“NGH!” the man screamed, and fell backwards onto the floor of the roof.
I looked between him and the gun in my hands. “Huh. That actually hit?”
“Looks like you’ve got a talent for using guns,” Xiang Peng said with a wink.
The bullet had hit directly into the man’s right thigh. Not quite enough to kill, but certainly enough to immobilize. Exactly what I had been going for.
“Hey, I think I’m going to keep this gun!” I hollered, further distracting the three of them. In the corner of my eye, I saw the catgirl slip away nimbly, down the stairs of the abandoned building.
The injured man cursed. “D-Damn it…get them!”
“Y-Yes!” the man with the auto rifle pressed the trigger, and dozens of bullets headed our way.
All of us, however, merely ducked, and the bullets flew by, hitting nothing but our afterimages…but we didn’t actually have afterimages.
After that, we just retreated, seeing no further reason to stay. The catgirl had gotten away successfully by now, and I got myself a brand new weapon – a silver six-shot revolver.