Otaku Witch

But unfortunately, the Fairy King was just an incarnation, and according to her original intent, she should have aimed directly at the snakehead, delivering a fatal blow immediately. However, she ended up temporarily adjusting her target and shooting at it.

Besides, she had already indulged, and was too lazy to care about what happened next.

At the moment the time stopped, Dorothy had regained control of her body.

She looked down at the snakehead in her hand, which was like a statue, and then frowned.

"Do I really have to kill it?"

She hesitated.

If it were a mindless Dragon Beast, she wouldn’t think much of it, but this was an intelligent Sub-Dragon.

If the killing is necessary for survival, she wouldn’t hesitate, but if it’s just for profit, she suddenly felt reluctant.

After all, one of the reasons she didn’t want to become an Armed Witch was because of this, as the transformation of the Witch Clan from Dragon Slayers to the new Evil Dragons began in such a manner.

So, is she about to repeat the same mistake?

Although it seemed somewhat hypocritical, considering she had happily indulged in various Dragon Meats before, most of the ingredients she saw were already dead, not many alive. But now this Chicken Snake Dragon Sub-Dragon was alive.

There is an old saying from her past life, gentlemen keep away from kitchens, and the meaning of this saying is not that gentlemen don’t cook but rather that if a gentleman sees the state of the ingredients while alive, they might be reluctant to eat them later, so they should stay away from kitchens, thus removing any psychological burden when eating later.

Currently, Dorothy’s mindset is very much in line with that of ancient gentlemen.

"Haha, in the end, it’s still the hypocrisy of humanity."

She mocked herself thusly and proceeded to "defrost" the snakehead in her hand.

Then, the snakehead, which had turned black and white, was restored with color, and it instinctively let out a desperate Dragon Roar, meaning it wanted the Dragon Swarm to scatter and escape, not to think of continuing to fight with this "monster."

But, after roaring, it noticed the anomaly around it.

As an Sub-Dragon neither very strong nor knowledgeable, it didn’t understand this was Time Magic, but its long life as a dragon made it aware of such formidable means, and despair flashed across its originally deep Snake Eyes.

It knew the entire Dragon Swarm was done for.

Having lived in this Ranch World for so long, it was naturally clear that the whole race was just livestock raised by the master’s world, ready to be harvested for goods and resources anytime.

And when it evolved from a foolish Dragon Beast into a Sub-Dragon due to a rare encounter and began having wisdom, it was haunted by this thought, unable to live in peace all day, and now the fear that plagued it for life has turned into reality after all.

Its swarm has reached the time to be released for slaughter.

It’s said that snakes don’t shed tears, but at this moment, from the Snake Eyes of this old, almost dying Sub-Dragon, tears fell nonetheless.

Alas, it has always painstakingly cultivated its swarm, only to end up hurting the children.

Enough, perhaps this is fate, and the natural law of survival of the fittest is most clear to these Sub-Dragons evolved from beasts than anyone else, but clarity doesn’t mean acceptance.

But what’s the use of being unwilling? This world is inherently ruthless, as it’s been since ancient times.

And from the ancient insights it received from the blood lineage of Dragon Blood upon becoming a Sub-Dragon, it’s known other worlds are alike, the entirety of the Western Universe is like this.

Weakness is the Original Sin, and the strong are supposed to trample upon everything.

However, it doesn’t wish to acknowledge such fate, being already an antique whose lifespan is about to end, with nothing left to fear.

Then, valiantly, it opened its snake mouth, and roared towards the formidable enemy ahead; it had cautiously protected the swarm its entire life, now that it’s at a complete dead end, it no longer wishes to be aggrieved in its final moments.

Dragons are the strongest combat race, even as a Sub-Dragon, it retained its pride, and hoped to die in battle as a Dragon Clan Warrior in its last moments.

It is a warrior, not livestock.

Yet, ideals are beautiful but reality is brutal.

As soon as it revealed its pair of poisonous Snake Teeth, it received a slap on its face.

"Behave yourself, I’m trying hard to convince myself, you’d best not give me a reason to take action."

Dorothy said to this old snakehead unappealingly.

Snakehead: "???"

Dragons may be killed, but not humiliated.

At this point, with nothing left to fear, the Chicken Snake Dragon Sub-Dragon naturally didn’t understand, and it was even angrier.

Anyway, unable to endure a bit more, it wanted to burst against this monster.

But as it prepared for a self-explosion of the Dragon Body, it saw the eyes of this beautiful monster ahead staring at it.

Following, the Chicken Snake Dragon Sub-Dragon also felt what other prey felt when being gazed at by their Pupil of Fear.

No, its Pupil of Fear was incomprehensible compared to this monster’s gaze at this moment; this beautiful monster’s Dragon Eyes truly held a Sun within them.

Being stared at, the Chicken Snake Dragon Sub-Dragon felt a blazing great sun rising right before it, the limitless light and heat made it thoroughly understand its insignificance, and clearer about what terrifyingly great being this beautiful monster really was.

No, it didn’t understand fully, because this illusory great sun was nothing like the ordinary Sun hanging in the sky of this Ranch World, it’s far more terrifying, transcending its understanding, an indescribable being.

Merely gazing at this great sun made its struggle seem laughable, how could it possibly have the Capital to explode against such an illustrious being, in the eyes of this existence not just it but even the proud Pureblood Dragons are no different from livestock, or rather, being noticed and treated as livestock is an honor.

The poor Sub-Dragon’s consciousness nearly scattered completely by this sun, its sanity was about to hit zero, it was nearly going mad.

Yet, just when it was on the verge of insanity of becoming a fervent believer of this sun, offering itself as sacrificial livestock to this great being to attain the supreme glory, this cold sun suddenly turned warm.

Yes, as if a rare warm sun during harsh winter, its light became gentle, the world turned beautiful, the Sub-Dragon’s consciousness seemed to return to its mother’s embrace, becoming peaceful and happy.

It was almost indulging in this supreme happiness, for in this harsh world there was no better place, this seemed like the unique Light of Redemption in the dark Abyss, it wanted willingly to eternally drown in it, not wanting to awaken.

But it did awaken.

"Alright, now are you willing to have a nice chat with me?"

It heard calm yet pleasant Dragon language next to its ear.

Regained consciousness, the Chicken Snake Dragon Sub-Dragon before the beautiful monster, its Snake Eyes became calm, and it nodded obediently and even somewhat devoutly.

It just said, how can a monster be so beautiful, this is undoubtedly the Incarnation of a great god in the Mortal Realm.

"I want some of your Snake Eyes, but I don’t quite want to kill you directly, so what should I do?"

It heard the Incarnation of god ask, somewhat puzzled.

Upon hearing the deity’s dilemma, the Chicken Snake Dragon Sub-Dragon carefully contemplated.

"I am willing to offer my Snake Eyes to you, and I would have some children equally offer theirs to you, just hoping you would leave some bloodline for the swarm."

It sincerely responded.

In its thoughts, sacrificing part of the members to secure the entire swarm’s future was a very profitable deal.

Its consciousness was very clear now, not brainwashed, this has always been its way of doing things.

Chicken Snake Dragons are not particularly powerful Dragon Beasts, living in this world often encountering various predators, in such times, sacrificing a few dragons to delay pursuers or lead away predators was quite normal.

However, after proposing this, it found the previously confused deity seemed suddenly enlightened, emitting a light, akin to that warm sunlight before.

"Never mind, how is this different from me taking action myself? I’ll release you later, but I might slightly disturb you next, I wish to study the mechanics of your Pupil of Fear, of course it won’t harm your Strength."

"Let’s exchange equally."

Dorothy said thus.

Yes, equivalent exchange, the foundation of Alchemy, also the truth of the world.

The answer to her troubling question has always been clearly present from the start, hasn’t it?

Why must it be life and death, master and servant?

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Let’s just exchange equally.

...Homebody Witch in realization...