Chapter 41: Their Past
A look of bewilderment crossed Medusa’s face as the man’s sword clattered to the ground. She froze in a rather awkward pose, as she had been about to pounce on him and splash more of her poison on his armor.
‘His venom’s so potent… much more than mine… who is this man?’ Medusa cast a curt glance at Nith, her slit dark-violet eyes narrowing at his presence.
She didn’t linger on him for long as her opponent turned around, ready to flee the battle and return to his gang.
There was no way he could win against Medusa with his dominant arm rendered useless!
Plunging her upper body, Medusa slithered across the jagged forest floor, her well-endowed chest just barely avoiding contact with the ground. She crushed pebbles and anything else in her path under her weight.
Alas, her speed couldn’t match the bald man’s technique. After all, it was one of his specialties, and not enough of her venom had entered his system to slow him down significantly.
To her surprise, however, the hunched man she had come to scout barred her opponent’s path. He thrust his spear at the man’s legs, tripping him to the ground.
He then followed up with a second attack, driving his spear deep into the bald man’s right forearm. The spear lodged halfway in, much to the bald man’s shock.
If he wanted to escape, he’d have to rip off his arm!
With Medusa looming over him, that seemed like the only choice. Yet, if he returned to his gang without his sword and his arm, he’d be reduced to the lowest rank, forced to do humiliating tasks like polishing the boss’s boots.
How many times had he scorned those men doing such menial tasks? How often had he compared them to female slaves performing unspeakable acts for the boss and other powerful members?
Those weaklings would gang up on him… and shame him further.
The weight of those thoughts kept him distracted, and he hadn’t even noticed Medusa’s shadow creeping over him. It struck him as she widened her jaw and bit into his neck, tearing a chunk of soft flesh out.
She spat the flesh with utter disgust, her face contorted.
“It seems I’ve laid my… teeth on you first,” she hissed, her condescending tone clearer than ever.
Nith observed from nearby, taking in her appearance. She had long, light-violet hair that parted into two thick bangs. Unlike the Medusa he had encountered two thousand years ago, her complexion wasn’t as pale and seemed healthier than his own.
Her slit dark-violet eyes reminded Nith of the prestige of the snake tribe. Their eyes glowed brightly, especially when they were enraged or excited. Despite their beauty, Nith’s attention wandered to her chest, tightly held in a black dress with golden accents.
As she shifted into her full humanoid form, her dress unfurled, revealing thick thighs and long legs wrapped in knee-high socks. She stomped on the ground in heels.
‘Am I really in a prison?’ Nith thought.
Everyone here seemed to wear clothes he would expect to see on the surface world.
He didn’t particularly mind his black rags, but a proper black shirt and pants would suit him better. Those would match his appearance just as Medusa’s dress complemented her.
Ignoring the dying man, Medusa craned her neck toward Nith and hissed at him.
After an awkward staring contest, Nith hissed back at her.
He sounded like an idiot.
Medusa chuckled. “That confirms you’re not of my kin. I’m Medusa, not a human, as you can see.”
“Nightshade,” Nith replied.
All emotion drained from Medusa’s face as Nith introduced himself by his player’s nickname. She stood frozen, like a statue. However, deep within her, her bloodline boiled.
It boiled so intensely that the past resurfaced in her mind, along with the emotions her predecessor had felt during the disaster two thousand years ago.
In her vision, Medusa saw through her ancestor’s eyes, witnessing Nith at quite a high level at the time. Miraculously, his appearance back then was identical to his appearance now, as if he had been born of the same mother in both worlds.
He was surrounded by three NPCs: an archer, a maid, and a butler, all standing respectfully behind him.
The archer’s face twitched occasionally, but neither Medusa nor her predecessor cared much for her.
Their focus was on the hunched bastard who had started chaos at the feet of her throne! All the stone monuments—worthy existences every Medusa turned into exquisite trophies—had awakened from their eternal slumber.
The one who had cracked their stone coffins was none other than Nith.
All enemies left their slumber at once, and time had even healed their wounds, turning them into dangerous foes. Medusa could have only defeated them with the help of other players.
She had paid dearly for it… her vast collection, amassed over eons, was erased in mere months.
“NIGHTSHADE!” Medusa screamed.
“Yeah, more than similar traits, that scream confirms your identity,” Nith said, clicking his tongue as he conjured his spear.
At the same moment, Medusa lunged at him, her lower body transforming into a snake form as she slithered toward him. She extended her hands, her fingers sharper than claws.
Nith intercepted her charge with his spear, but Medusa parted her jaws wide, stretching her upper body toward him to clamp her teeth around his neck.
Recalling his spear, Nith summoned it again to defend himself from a more lethal attack, positioning the shaft of his spear between Medusa’s jaws.
As a result, her claws sank into his shoulders. Worse, she wrapped her tail around him and forced him to the ground, squeezing him so tightly that Nith felt as though his bones and flesh would soon burst apart.
His face reddened with each second as he struggled to keep this woman from killing him.
“HOW COULD YOU?! OUR TROPHIES! MY EFFORTS! MY PRIDE!” Medusa howled into Nith’s face, dark-green venom dripping from her mouth.
