The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 24: Everybody Gets Stuck

’No, that’s total bullshit!’

Reynard brought his hands to his ears, trying to not listen to the song.

’This song is good—this song is bad! This is a hypnosis!’

His hands offered no protection. Reynard felt the mana coursing through the air, and it was really the mana that had such an effect on him. It burrowed directly into his mind.

The spider slowly moved toward Reynard, moving slowly as if afraid to spook him. Despite that, long legs made it cross the distance much swifter than it seemed at first glance.

Even when he realized what was going on, Reynard found it hard to resist the song. The song was telling him to walk away, but he knew that turning his back on the giant spider would be the last mistake of his life!

Reynard breathed deeper to heat up his Inner Athanor and force the mana to circulate faster through his aura.

This helped, but only a little. Reynard managed to make a step back without turning away from the spider, but the beast was still getting too close. Too close!

’I can’t believe I’m going to die because I was trying to save one of the people who’d be the first to throw me under this spider. I’m not going to die because I will walk away—damn it! These are not good thoughts! These are bad thoughts! Bad! No! Bad! Fuck you!’

Reynard bit the inside of his cheek until he felt blood in his mouth.

The pain felt duller than it should have been—but for a moment, the song grew quieter.

Using this moment of clarity, he reached out for a gun.

The spider raised its abdomen and shot a stream of spiderweb at Reynard.

It hit him right as Reynard was aiming, pinning his hand to his gun with enough force that he staggered back a step.

The spider pounced at Reynard right after, moving faster than his eyes could track!

In an instant, Reynard found himself lying on the ground, pinned to it with spiderweb and the spider’s weight.

The beast’s head was so close to his face that he could see every hair on the beast’s iridescent mouthparts. The fangs that grew from their ends glistened with venom.

The song finally stopped, bringing Reynard the clarity of mind to fully understand the shittiness of his position.

He paled and struggled, trying to wriggle free of the spider. Reynard felt the spider move when pushed away—it was lighter than it looked, and Reynard’s aura made him strong enough to, perhaps, even lift it.

But more web was coming from the spider’s abdomen, making it harder and harder to move.

The spider raised its fangs, about to bite.

’Here it goes, my reincarnation reroll... But... I guess before I die, I can at least make sure that beast doesn’t eat Terence, too!’

Reynard knew that the boy would come to check on the fight even if Reynard stayed quiet. Then he would hear the spider’s song, and it would all be over.

But there were still over a dozen loaded guns on Reynard’s body and a baggy of Boom Powder on his belt. If all these guns went off at once, while being covered by all the spiderweb poured by the spider, there was a high chance of them misfiring.

And of course, there was pure Boom Powder... All it took was a single pulse of mana.

With any luck, this maneuver would gravely wound or even kill the spider, and not only Reynard.

One moment and—

"Carl?! Carl, where are—Carl?!"

Reynard recognized that voice immediately.

’The other crony of Markus! I should have expected that they would get together during the hunt, too! What a meeting...’

The spider jolted, turning toward the voice, and immediately began to rub its mouthparts together.

The song resumed, dousing Reynard in calm.

He bit his already torn cheek.

"The mouth! Hit the spider’s mouth! Stop this blasted song!"

The spider was still covering Reynard in spiderweb, but its head was turned toward the other magus. Now Reynard could see him too—the youth was shaking his head in a daze a couple of dozen paces away.

"You! Did you—No, wait..."

The crony had enough presence of mind to raise his hands in a spellcasting stance. However, no spell followed.

Reynard understood this feeling very well. After all, there was no danger present. Especially if the magus just turned around and walked away...

He bit his other cheek.

’This is how this thing hunts. It doesn’t spin a web, it’s an ambush hunter that jumps on you as soon as you show a moment of weakness. And it can jump really fast! Fuck... If I had one, just one free hand...’

Reynard’s legs were under a thick layer of spiderweb, and his left hand was pinned painfully under the spider’s foot. But his right hand, one that was holding a gun... 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

With an effort of will and even more wriggling, Reynard felt it slipping out of the spiderweb-covered sleeve of his robe.

The other magus dropped his hands to his sides and began to turn around. The spider put a globe of spiderweb on Reynard’s left hand, sticking it to his body, and turned away from him.

’It’s going to pounce. I don’t have any more time!’

The sleeve was half off his hand, but Reynard still didn’t have the full range of motion with it. He aimed his pistol as well as he could, although he had to do it through his sleeve, and fired.

BANG!