The Second door opens

Then there was a loud hiss and the second door opened.

Haze panted as he watched the door.

"What now". Elena complained beside him, she was a very skilled fighter with incredible stamina and could hold her own in the battle but the last battle was too tasking even for her and she could feel her stamina dropping every minute.

Unlike Haze, she didn't have a system to heal her and so she had to depended on her demigod regenerating ability but it was still not fast enough.

Haze wiped off a dribble of blood from his chin and stood tall, it took a great amount of effort but he did it regardless, it was better if whoever came in through the door thought he was ready to fight, it would give him more time as the person would not want to attack a fully fit demigod instantly.

A shadow emerged from the doorway and a female guard stepped out. She had a scaly skin that had horny projections at different parts, as she got closer to them, Haze could see her eyes and they were most unusual, they was no trace of humanity in her eyes, instead they were cold, yellow and completely serpentine. They flicked from Haze to Elena and relish spread over the guard's face.

She smiled and Haze could see had fangs in her mouth instead of teeth, she was almost completely serpentine.

"I've come to finish the job". She hissed and licked her lips with an unusually long tongue.

"You've come to die". Haze retorted and tightened his grip on the sword.

The guard laughed and her eyes flashed. "Before I kill you, I'll like you to know my name, it's the last name you'll ever hear".

"We don't care about your name old hag!" Elena yelled.

The guard looked at Elena with an expression of mock hurt. "Now that's not very nice. Her gaze became stony. Maybe I will kill you first".

[Enemy attack detected]

[You have a new mission]

[Mission: Defeat opponent]

[Reward 1: +10 Exp]

[Reward 2: New skill, Seer]

Two rewards? Haze thought. This can't be good, it means she's too strong.

The guard lunged at Elena but Elena was ready, she shot two blasts of flame at the guard who had to move back to avoid being burned.

The guard's eyes flickered with interest. "Fire huh".

Elena didn't stop there. "Flame whip!" She shouted and a thin cord of flame extended from her hand and stretched towards the guard.

She dodged it and began to laugh. "That is the extent of your power? I am going to crush you both like a pile of soil, then I'll gorge myself on your souls".

Haze raised his sword. "Enough talk!" He shouted and charged at her.

He swung his sword hard and fast, aiming it for the guard's head but she dodged it and moved out of the way in time.

"Too slow". She taunted.

"You can't run forever". Haze replied and swung at her again.

The guard moved so quickly, it was like she teleported. One moment she was at arms length of Haze, the next she standing directly beside him.

Then Haze felt an excruciating pain in his abdomen, he looked down and saw her fist buried into his stomach.

He flew back from the impact and crashed into the wall. When he tried to stand up, he realized he couldn't, his limbs felt like they were lodged with fluid, his throat began to burn.

Poison! He realized. She poisoned me!

He looked at the guard and indeed, where her wrist was supposed to be, there was a miniature snake head with exposed fangs that had no doubt been buried in his gut a few moments ago.

It's over. Haze thought bitterly, how on earth was he going to fight with venom in his system.

[Poisonous substance detected]

[Initiating neutralization]

[Poision neutralized]

Immediately, Haze felt his insides become clearer, his limbs returned to normal and the burning sensation in his throat disappeared.

Haze smiled and got to his feet but the smile was short lived, it faded as he saw Elena run at the guard.

"Be careful, she can inject venom!" He yelled to her.

Elena had been watching the battle between Haze and the witch, she saw how fast she had been as she dodged Haze's attack. The witch had been even faster when she moved close to him to attack him, Elena had almost not seen her move, one moment she was away from him, the next, she was beside him.

She watched as Haze tried to stand and collapsed so she already deduced that there must be some type of venom in her strike.

The key to fighting her therefore will be to maintain distance and use long range attacks.

She shot three blasts of fire at the witch, timing them properly. The witch dodged the first two but she wasn't fast enough to dodge the third one, it caught her just below the rib, sending flying back into the wall.

The witch staggered to her feet, her smile was gone and so was any trace of amusement on her face.

She grimaced. "I thought we could do this the easy and peaceful way, I guess not".

She closed her eyes and with a sudden movement, planted her palm on the ground.

"Summoning sorcery!" She shouted and a puff of covered her.

When the smoke cleared, Haze could see three giant snakes standing in front of the witch.

He looked at Elena, just as she looked at him.

"She can summon spirit animals too?!" He complained.

Elena shrugged. "All witches can".

"Great". Haze muttered.

"You two are weak and sloppy, yet you're annoying". The witch said, her creepy grin had returned. "I'll show you true power".

Then she raised her hands at the snakes. "Attack!"

****

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