The Reborn Witch had a nice 'Tea Time' with the Dragon Queen today
Chapter 100: Gunslinger in the God’s Temple (And the Witch Who Dodged Bullets)

Chapter 100: Gunslinger in the God’s Temple (And the Witch Who Dodged Bullets)

"Lots of pillars here, but no one hiding behind them..."

As Demond emerged to the temple’s steps (ignoring a clingy wife still on her waist), she glanced at the pillars standing side-by-side, in-between a stone pavement to the large entrance to the temple, towering at least 6 feet tall.

It was opened, the darkness within was like a gaping abyss that drew preys in, inviting those with the promise of treasures, and only treasures as if the others won’t ever turn back.

"Adrei, smell anything?"

"None, my wife." The Dragon’s nose perked up, there was a slight smell of oil lingering on the road, but no scents of anyone moving or hiding.

"Hm...." The Witch’s eyes glanced over the stone pavement, then surveyed the grassfields where those pillars towered over them, before frowning. "I would have thought this would be a great spot for an ambush."

"Then it would seem the hunter prefers to draw us in further." Adrei puffed a sigh into the Witch’s hair lock, earning her a cute purr.

"Seems like it, then shall we-"

The Witch’s tone stuttered, her eyes squinting as she swung her gaze over to the temple’s entrance, her staff raising at a moment’s notice.

"...I must apologize." The Dragon seethed as she let go of her wife, scales steaming. "It would seem the hunters themselves are impatient and ready to approach us."

A tingly sense of mana tickled on the Witch’s spine, her ice creaking a subtle change in the air, as her posture straightened itself, twirling her staff like a regular, warm-up exercise. "It is just one, however. Still, get ready."

The Abyssal gaping that is the temple’s entrance, once an inviter with deceit and false promises, now prompts its first amalgamation. A slight tinge of excitement cornered within Demond’s mind, her staff quivering at the nostalgia of encountering an enemy with her comrades, just like the old times.

Well, except that the comrade is a perverted Dragon who would one-shot anything coming their way, but she is allowed that slight leisure.

Then, the Witch’s ears pricked as she heard faltering steps from deep within the abyss. Each step was mechanical, methodical, and calculated.

The Witch’s neck craned a little as she raised her gaze, swirls of thoughts rippling a calm whirlpool as she expected a surprising assumption, yet an expected one nonetheless.

And so, the tension snapped as from the entrance’s shadows emerged a white-haired elf, her eyes hued a silvery indifference as she stared at the Witch and the Dragon’s cautious stances.

What a weird outfit. The Witch remarked as she swept her eyes over the elf’s gunslinger-like coat, a leather duster stitched with glowing runes.

The Elf tilted her head, her sparkly eyes still unsettlingly wide as her arm reached to the side...for a gun belt hanging just above her ragged trousers.

"Intruders...intruders..."

A voice sounded of nails clattering in the throat and thrummed the air, just as the Android tapped the handle of her gun on the belt.

The Witch furrowed her brows, her staff wavering before letting it down. She would have expected an immediate attack, but instead she merely stood still with weapon unsheathed.

"I thought she was <Drowned> like the others, but...maybe not?"

"Indeed. She would have attacked us immediately otherwise."

The Dragon cracked her knuckles, her claws sharpening even as her glare remained on the Android. Trickery by an Android is virtually impossible since it is ingrained within their program by <Motherbrain> to be completely and utterly honest even in their actions, but it is better to brandish their claw with wariness rather than idling away in carelessness.

"Then it is settled. This Android...is likely not a <Drowned>." The Witch’s staff thudded on the ground, as the Android’s body remained unmoved, undeterred, unyielded.

"However..." The Witch sighed before she yelled towards the Android, attempting to start a negotiation. "Hello! We stumbled in here accidentally! Mind telling me why you’re luring people in here with that half-ass fog you made?"

"Intruder...Intruder..."

"Ah." The Witch’s tone bared some disappointment as the Android’s mouth opened and closed methodically for one single word. "Seems like she can’t negotiate, huh?"

Silence drew upon a curtain of tension for the scenery, as the Witch and the Dragon stood off against the Android, one smooth hand grasping her staff, one scaled arm shimmering her claw, and one plastic finger lingering on her gun.

Then, the Witch smirked, before her bare step stretched and tapped on the ground.

A clink, then a bang. The Android hoisted her gun as she shot at them, but an ice wall sprouted before the Witch as the bullet blasted against the ice.

Shards of ice fell from the impact as the Witch grumbled, her ears drumming with louder bangs from the gunshots from the Android.

One shot after another, the Witch’s smirk faltered a little with each shard of ice drooping. The Android’s shots were so precise that they pinpointed the same spot she first shot at the ice.

More gunshots cracked, more shards dripped. The Witch groaned as a bullet among several gouged through the ice wall and aimed directly at her forehead.

Her head tilted precisely to dodge, then chortled as the bullet just...vanished, vanished into steams.

Her eyes tilted towards Adrei, who had a smoked palm, reached out to the witch.

A showoff, as always. The Witch mocked in her heart.

And with a nod from both the Witch and the Dragon, their steps immediately bolted for the pillar. Gunshots followed, bullets sprayed onto the stones, as the duo hid behind the pillar unscathed.

Another dead silence roped the air, as the Witch peeked from the cover, only to back up instantly upon another gunshot, the stone’s fragment trickling like dusts.

"So, this is confusing." The Witch’s back leaned into the pillar as the Dragon Queen crossed her arm beside her, their expression equally stern.

"Normally, I thought there would be an ambush waiting for us in this trap, but did I make a mistake? The Android was defending against us like they don’t want us here..." The Witch rumbled a little, her neck craning to prepare for another exchange.

"Hm. I wouldn’t assume so without even entering the temple first, my love." The Dragon growled, her flame writhing out from the scales.

"Right. Either way, we must figure out the mechanism of the fogs first before anything." The Witch’s staff flickered tints of blue before she leaped out of the pillar, swinging the staff to cast for another wall.

Bullet met the ice again, but this time, the Witch’s fingertip weaved iced birds to fly over.

The Elf’s eyes merely raised, before her gun whipped upwards and shot at each bird’s eye with precision.

Shots rang one by one, as the shattered ice bird fell one by one, yet...the Android’s eyes finally widened, her stomach suddenly felt like it was gnawed by something.

She glanced downwards, surprised at an ice bird’s beak biting into her plastic skin.

The Android’s muddled, confused thoughts sang a clarity, however, as the Witch called for another order.

"Don’t kill her, Adrei!"

"Of course!"

The Android’s eyes darted to the right, as her cluttering limb mustered all its strength towards the air, for a flying Dragonoid was now dashing with its claw out.

<Whip, Coil, Bind>

A whip of flame surged from the Queen’s palm as Adrei swung her arm, before the gun was flung aside, before the Android’s finger hooked on the gun’s trigger.

The flamed whip then swirled around the Android’s entire body, before hooking her arms into her waist, her indifferent look never leaving her face.

The Dragon descended with grace before a Witch jogged towards her. "That flame wouldn’t hurt, would it?"

"No, but-"

Her words were cut off, however, when a kick lashed through the air for the Dragon’s head.

Well, Adrei merely unfurled her palm as she caught the kick right before her face, the amber glare meeting the indifferent stare.

With a cute groan at the side, the Witch’s staff merely tapped the hovering plastic limb before ice shrouded the toes.

The ice spawned to the gunslinger’s waist as the Android’s body buckled, falling onto the ground with a thud.

Observing the flame whip coiling and the ice casing her like a twisted art piece, the Witch’s lips curled up to a wry smile. "Uh...I figure we may have gone too far on this..."

"She attacked first, it’s merely self-defense, as the Humans would call it." Adrei chuckled as she petted the Witch’s hat.

"That would only apply if we didn’t, sorta, kinda, burgled into her own home, you know?" The Witch whined as she leaned into the touch, before her diamond eyes slitted on the Android.

"Intruder...Intruder...Intruder..."

The Android’s repetitive, monotone words skittered the Witch’s sense of guilt further before the Witch heaved again a deep sigh, her head still swaying under the Dragon’s palm.