Chapter 10: A Bullet

I looked around my surrounding. Using my sharpen senses, I tried to analyze the full structure of the trap . I guess right now me and Maria were approximately around the edge of the trap. That was reason the tree that I shoot break like a mirror because of the barrier and if we walked a step forward now the scenery would change. Most of the metal dolls appear behind and to left of me. There must be a converging point.

"Hiyah" Boom! " Haiyah" Boom! " Urryah" Boom!

"Have you found the core yet, Faust? I'm losing a lot of Vestia here!"

Maria suddenly get on one knee and started touching the ground. The ground vibrated faster and faster until the ground become so soft that it started to collapsed under the metal dolls. Huff.. hufff ... huff.

"How many seconds more can you fight?"

"Huff guhh 10 seconds max."

"Got it."

Maria then continues giving straight punches. The sound of explosions keep ringing around me. Having my senses sharpen, my ears hurt from the booming sound. Maria stood up straight, opened her arms wide and clap her hands in front of her chest. A high pitch sound came out and all the metal dolls in a fan shaped are blown to smithereens. That was terrifying.

"I'm out!"

"Alright. Got it."

I empty my revolver by shooting a few metal dolls. Reloading my revolver back with special bullets. I found the core. A house. The house somehow seem misplace. I remembered there was no house there when I walked here before. Irregularity. That was the weakness of any trap type Artifact. They always leave some sort of irregularity somewhere for the core.

Is a regular bullet enough to disturb the core? No of course not. The core is a part of Artifact and Artifact cannot be destroyed. Regular bullet cannot do anything not even a scar. But how about a bullet filled with liquid Vestia? That would surely done the job. It still cannot destroy it but it at least can disturb it. And that was enough for me.

I take aim. Deep breath. Steady breathing. Stable hand. The target was quite far but I would get this no problem. I hold my breath and pull the trigger. Bang! The bullet move smoothly straight to the core. Thunk! The scenery around us started to vibrate, become blurry and then crack! It shatters.

The metal dolls started to disappear one by one by turning into dust.

"Huuuuu..... ahhhhhh I'm tired as fuck. That fucking old man. If I fucking get him. I will shove his butt on burning rock and cut his dick off!"

Maria fell on her butt. Looked like she was very tired.

"I'm sorry for troubling you."

"Nah that's fine. If you are not here I might just be dead right now."

"I won't give me too much credit. I must say though your Vestia burst have quite improve."

"Yeah I have been practicing. Come piggy back me to your agency. I'm tired~"

"Sigh~ alright. Here."

I showed my back to her. S-s-s-s-soft. Something soft on my back. Ughhh and the effects of Candy Gum were still there. My favorite Artifact right now just become my worst enemy.

"Let's goooo!"

Sigh~~. Maybe I should plan an early retirement.