Chapter 51: No More
A wave of hisses hit Nith from either side.
He stood still, his hands in his pockets, and stared at Medusa. “I was reincarnated into this world… to be abandoned by my family again. No one cared about me or wanted to invest in me. I lived with them until I could finally be free, toiling around while waiting for the day I could start dragging myself to the top again.”
There was so much more he wanted to tell her, but his experience from both lives told him it would be a mistake.
He asked again. “Do you need me to stop this sacrifice nonsense?”
As much as she disliked this man because of the turmoil of emotions he had evoked in her, those emotions were not hers. It was not her in the past, either.
She could tell, therefore, that Nightshade was much different now and that there was no ounce of lie in his words.
The answer to his question was also… all this time within her.
She needed no one to stop this sacrifice.
The key to this hall had been within her all along.
She never dared to confront other Medusas because she doubted herself. That part of her searched for ways or confidence to save herself from this act of sacrifice.
The accursed world, however, proved to be more challenging than she thought, to the point where the only way to protect her people was to enter the prison along with a group of them.
But…
“I don’t need you or anyone, for that matter,” Medusa replied, her eyes darting across the hall to the oldest Medusa. “I appreciate your efforts to keep our tribe and the royal blood alive. Your noble sacrifice, along with the sacrifices of other Medusas, worked to some extent. I believe it’s been nothing more than a pointless sacrifice for many generations now!”
“It is hard to fathom that this treason is coming from the royal one who shares our name!”
Countless Medusas screamed this sentence from the depths of their lungs. Their screams hurt Nith’s ears so much that he insulted all the yappers.
Meanwhile, Medusa began her march across the violet carpet. No snake dared to hiss at her as she walked past them. There was more to her gait than allure and royalty. It was as if she danced or slithered like a true snake queen as she approached Nith.
“All of you have facilitated my venom. It is thanks to you that I can stand strong, but our potential lies beyond a mere Third Grade! It’s been two thousand years of sacrifice, yet none of us has gone beyond that level!” Medusa shouted. “I swear on my name and the very core of my existence that I will achieve the peak of our potential and bring our tribe to its former glory! I hereby cease the tradition of sacrifice!”
As her words boomed across the hall, all Medusas glanced at each other before hurling their insults at their only living blood. They rose from their thrones and stood tall, glaring at Medusa as if she were not welcome in her own heart.
All except the oldest one, who still warmed the most prominent throne, gazing at her youngest descendant from afar. She wore an absentminded expression, not allowing anyone to peer into her heart.
Without her consent, the other Medusas ordered their snakes to attack the pair. Their forms elongated and thickened, their heads reaching far over Nith and Medusa. The rest slithered on the ground, threatening to attack from below.
Each snake grew over an adult human’s height, and their thickness matched the trunks of trees!
Amidst this chaos, Nith conjured his spear, much to his pleasant surprise. He couldn’t use his poisons in Medusa’s heart, but the same seemed to apply to others.
“Nightshade.”
“What?”
“Don’t die.”
Before Nith noticed, Medusa had taken a half-snake form and stood like a lamia ready to kill anyone breaching her space.
He sneered at her. “Seems like you’ve learned a lesson.”
“Opportunities are to be made,” Medusa replied. “I understand this much, so I need you alive.”
Nith scoffed and turned his head to the side. The first wave of snakes zoomed toward him, their shadows climbing up on him. There was no longer any room to speak, and only weapons could make any noise, or fangs, for that matter.
Thrusting his spear and piercing through the first snake, Nith threw himself into the battlefield, taking over the left flank. On his right, Medusa did the same, clawing through snakes and wrapping at least three of them at once in her tail, crushing them into a pulp.
She was faster and nimbler than them, her human part not putting her at a disadvantage at all. She could twist her torso so well that even her ample chest didn’t hinder her. Her flexibility and range truly excelled now!
At the same time, Nith’s Venomous Spearmanship formed a bubble around him in which he could strike all his opponents, regardless of his posture. His range and flexibility matched that of Medusa’s, though he lacked her speed and experience.
Nonetheless, neither seemed to have any trouble with the snakes. Medusa twisted around like an athlete, and Nith slashed through enemies like a cutter.
Blood, chunks of flesh, and fangs quickly littered the violet carpet. None disturbed the pair as they left the mess in their wake, steadily advancing toward the oldest Medusa.
It was strange that none of the Medusas had entered the battle so far, but perhaps their pride didn’t allow them to, or no one simply wanted to be the first to make a move.
With their lives sentenced to end at age thirty upon their birth, it wasn’t that bizarre for them to lack confidence or a trait for taking matters into their hands.
Nith also lacked something important to his style—stamina.
He couldn’t cover this gap through Kyouka’s potion here, which made him slow down as time passed. At some point, he created too many gaps that the snakes didn’t miss.
That was when things turned dangerous, and his life was in jeopardy.
A huge snake rose before him and lunged like a spear, its jaw wide enough to swallow an adult human in one go.
Nith… didn’t seem to stand a chance against that!
