Ch.136Gang Attack

~ ~ ~ Attacker’s Perspective ~ ~ ~

Typically, large-scale conflicts between outlaws and pioneer gunslingers are rare.

Especially when it takes the form of a siege battle around a town, the conventional wisdom is that the outlaws’ chances of victory are practically zero.

Not only is the defending side several times more advantageous than the attacking side from the start, but if the attackers cannot end the battle within five days, they will be annihilated by the influence of the black mana.

Due to this issue, incidents where “outlaw groups attack pioneer settlements with defensive forces” rarely occur, and even when they do, their purpose is usually to create chaos in the town to rescue their comrades who have been imprisoned.

No one ever thinks that outlaws would gather with the intention of destroying or occupying the town itself.

“Yeehaw! Destroy everything and kill everyone! Our target is the barrier tower in the center of the settlement!”

“Kill the women and ravage the men!”

“Isn’t that backward?”

The fifty or so outlaws galloping toward Northern Fortress with thundering hoofbeats all had black heart tattoos somewhere on their bodies.

It was the mark symbolizing their organization’s name, “Blackheart,” and also served as a rank insignia representing their position within the organization.

Newcomers get one black heart, regular members who have been with the group for three years get a double-layered heart mark, and executives get three layers.

But for the current Blackheart Gang, such distinctions held no meaning.

All that mattered was the “boss” and the “subordinates” who swore absolute loyalty to him.

Those gathered here were not the Blackheart Gang that had once been a political organization criticizing the power of the New Continent Pioneer Administration—they were merely a group of killers transformed into berserkers, pickled in drugs.

“…I don’t like this.”

“Everyone’s like that at first. The Blackheart Gang has never properly faced off against pioneers before.”

“Then why aren’t you fighting?”

“As I’ve mentioned before, I have severe myopia. If I were to wield a gun, I would only get in the way.”

Watching his fifty subordinates engage in a gunfight with Northern Fortress’s security forces, the boss of the Blackheart Gang was conversing with a masked man standing directly to his right.

This man was the mysterious visitor who had come to the Blackheart Gang years ago, enhanced the performance of their imitation barrier towers, and offered them his self-manufactured drug, “Black Wine.”

He was like a foreign substance whose race, age, and thoughts were completely unfathomable.

“If we retrieve Northern Fortress’s mana core, we can build a barrier tower of grand barrier scale… is this information reliable?”

“Of course. The imitation barrier towers that outlaws have been using until now have been significantly inferior to the originals, but no matter how secure a technology is, it cannot be hidden forever.”

“Create a barrier tower with performance equal to the western cities’ grand barrier and establish an outlaw western city. If that happens, the Pioneer Administration will no longer be able to monopolize the western pioneering project. Though I don’t like having to rely on your suspicious drug to get my hands on it…”

“Oh my? I’ve demonstrated multiple times that it has no addictiveness, dependency, or side effects.”

“I’m an old-fashioned man. I don’t believe there’s power that can be gained without a price. Moreover…”

Through his binoculars, the boss witnessed a mortally wounded outlaw causing a massive explosion in Northern Fortress.

Human bombs using magic rather than dynamite or gunpowder.

The fifty subordinates would not hesitate to become bombs and self-destruct if they judged they could not carry out the boss’s orders.

That twisted loyalty was also the sweet and deadly honey provided by the drug called Black Wine.

“A drug that makes people choose such a death without hesitation… you’re a devil. A devil who corrupts people with technology beyond comprehension.”

“Yet it was you who signed the devil’s contract, Mr. Duarte El Fiero Blackheart, leader of the Blackheart Gang.”

“…Tch.”

The boss did not trust this suspicious man who casually recited his full name that no one knew anymore.

But at 58 years old, he was in the twilight of his life, and it was true that to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, there was no other way than to borrow this man’s power.

In A.S. 42, after the completion of the first grand barrier, the New Continent Pioneer Administration had been excessively strict in managing the magical theory of barrier towers.

The existence of barrier towers that could survive the black mana was in itself an enormous power and asymmetric force. Outlaws who had turned their backs on the law for various reasons either gave up their outlaw life or collapsed, unable to endure living week to week.

As long as the New Continent Pioneer Administration held the technology to create grand barriers that perfectly covered city-scale areas, their leadership in the pioneering project would never be shaken.

That was until this man—the masked man using the blatant alias “Gentleman”—disrupted everything.

The situation where mediocre fighters clustered around crude imitation barrier towers was reaching its limit.

If they could steal a mana core from a pioneer settlement and get their hands on a grand barrier of western city caliber, even with the help of drugs, they could once again chase the old dream of a “Free Pioneer Era.”

It was the revival of youthful passion, too attractive to abandon.

‘I would have preferred to target a settlement that would be easier to conquer… but it can’t be helped.’

He hadn’t known that his last bit of conscience—withholding drug administration from children and pregnant women—would come back to haunt him like this.

Ultimately regretting only that, the boss of the Blackheart Gang once again raised his binoculars to observe the chaotic battle unfolding at Northern Fortress.

~ ~ ~ Protagonist’s Perspective ~ ~ ~

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

“Argh!”

A man who took three revolver shots to the chest fell from his horse and was thrown onto the stone pavement, trampled by his following comrade’s horse.

A fatal wound even excluding the gunshot wounds to his chest.

But the man, despite crying out in pain, slowly got up and picked up his gun that had fallen nearby.

“What’s with these guys? They don’t die no matter how much we shoot them.”

“Even shooting vital points has no effect. It’s like fighting undead monsters.”

“Here comes a big one~ Ka-boom!”

‘BOOM!!’

When a magical bullet fired from Mina’s large-caliber pistol caused a huge explosion and shockwave, outlaws caught in its range fell like autumn leaves.

Damage was clearly being inflicted, and some outlaws had stopped breathing, but reaching that result was far too difficult.

It was like watching zombies that stubbornly got back up unless their bodies were too mangled to function.

‘Bang! Bang!’

“Aagh!”

“Smith!?”

The problem was that the enemies we were fighting also had guns.

Equal in offensive power but vastly different in durability, and worse, if we failed to kill them outright and only incapacitated them, they would self-destruct on the spot, making them incredibly difficult to deal with.

While Northern Fortress had suffered 20 casualties, the outlaws had lost only 4, with 2 of those being self-destructions.

Before even considering the balance of power between both sides, we’d be lucky if morale didn’t collapse.

“Will! The right alley is breached!”

“Damn it!?”

When the guards defending one section of the alley fell with serious injuries, 6-7 outlaws rushed in through that alley.

Their gaze was fixed on the central control building, which housed the barrier tower protecting Northern Fortress from the black mana.

It wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen if these people who didn’t fear self-destruction burst into the control building.

“I’ll handle this!”

Jessica, who had been treating a seriously injured guard, activated her fragment of divinity, concentrated for about two seconds, and then drew the derringer from her thigh.

Vesper Model 7. The moment that self-defense pistol named “Hornet” transformed into a terrifying swarm of bees.

‘Ratatang! Tatang! Tatatatang! Tatatang!’

The common sense that a derringer pistol has only one round was shattered as magical bullets endlessly poured out of that small, insignificant self-defense pistol.

Even outlaws with drug-enhanced physical abilities had no choice but to halt their advance in the face of bullets pouring out like a machine gun.

This was especially true since Grantis didn’t yet have machine guns like the Maxim gun in circulation.

In the end, not a single outlaw managed to escape from there until new forces sealed off the alley.

“You monster woman!”

A dark-skinned female outlaw running across the rooftops lunged toward Jessica.

Judging by how she was diving in unarmed, she seemed intent on embracing Jessica and self-destructing, but we weren’t careless enough to allow such an atrocity.

“Lightning Bolt {Accelerated Thunder Bullet}!!”

‘Crackle’

“Aaaaargh!”

The female outlaw, pierced by white lightning while in mid-air, screamed and fell.

Thinking she might still be alive and could self-destruct, I immediately aimed my gun at her head, but Jessica raised a hand to stop me, then approached the female outlaw and activated her fragment of divinity once more.

“That’s dangerous, Jessica! She might explode!”

“It’s okay. I’ve completely mastered the spell formula in her body.”

Jessica, with her eyes closed, extracted the ominously flickering black mana from the female outlaw’s body.

The sinister black mana that escaped like steam through her nose, mouth, and ear canals was purified and dispersed by Northern Fortress’s barrier tower.

“Done. This person won’t explode now, and if it’s the fragment of divinity, I can remove other effects like sensory enhancement or defense too.”

“Good, then the others…”

With the abnormal durability and risk of explosion gone, it was time to launch a full counterattack.

Just as I made up my mind, a loud trumpet sound rang out, and the rampaging outlaws began to retreat.

As the tide of battle that had been against us suddenly turned, the scarred man commanding the guards rallied his subordinates and prepared to pursue.

“After them! Don’t let the outlaws escape!”

“Hey, stop! Don’t chase them!”

“Why are you blocking us? These bastards dared to plot the destruction of our barrier tower. We can’t let a single one live.”

“You saw them self-destruct. Anyone who chases them will die.”

I block the men who are about to ride out on horseback and try to convince them to give up the pursuit.

These outlaws who treat their own lives as worthless would have no qualms about having a few of their members self-destruct to shake off the pursuing guards.

“We have a captured prisoner over there. Considering they ran away as soon as we removed the bomb spell, they probably won’t attack again tonight. Why don’t we clean up the area first and then interrogate the prisoner?”

“…You have a point. Alright, let’s do that. I’d appreciate your help too.”

“Got it.”

The guard captain halted the pursuit and ordered his subordinates to tend to the wounded and transport the prisoner.

It seems we won’t be able to rest easy tonight.