Startled by Nataek’s voice, the intruder dropped the jar.
Smash—!
The jar shattered into pieces on the ground. The man swiftly darted toward the window.
“Hey!”
Nataek also ran to the window. Although Nataek was able to catch a glimpse of the man’s profile, most of his face was unrecognizable because of the mask over his mouth. Whatever it was that this man came to do, it was certain that it could only be something bad.
“Stop right there!” Nataek shouted.
Despite the window being small, the man slipped right through without making a single mistake as if it were an escape route planned ahead of time. Surprised, Nataek turned back to Medeus, who was sitting quietly in the bathtub with his eyes closed.
Could it be… that he’s… dead?
The tension made his throat tighten. But then, Nataek saw Medeus’s chest rise and fall.
“Ha… You’re alive.”
So, he wasn’t dead. But Medeus didn’t open his eyes even once amidst the chaos. Like… Like someone who fell asleep after taking sleeping pills.
As Nataek tried to approach Medeus, a long, slender silhouette slowly moved on the floor next to the bathtub. The light was too dim to make out what it could be.
With widened eyes, Nataek took a step forward. From the hole left in the bottom of the broken jar, two large snakes slithered out. Nataek froze in place.
“What is that…”
The snakes attempted to slither towards Medeus’s arm which was dangling over the edge of the bathtub. Nataek quickly looked around, but he couldn’t find anything he could use as a shield. Without any better options, he pulled down the cloth that had been hanging from the wall for decoration.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Nataek stomped his feet to gain the attention of the snakes. It worked. The snakes turned around.
The two reptiles raised their heads straight at Nataek, looking as if they were angry by how roughly they were treated being thrown down with the jar. However, the shape of their heads didn’t resemble typical snakes. Snake heads shaped like triangles…
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Glvc’a atja wfjc atfs kfgf qblrbcber?
Jtliir gjc vbkc Rjajfx’r rqlcf. Lf cfnfg atbeuta tf’v wffa nfcbwber rcjxfr ilxf atf bcfr tf’v rffc bc KN.
Rjajfx rqgfjv atf mibat klvf lc tlr tjcvr, wjlcajlclcu j vfofcrlnf rajcmf. Ca atf rjwf alwf, ybat rcjxfr delmxis gertfv ja Rjajfx.
Thud, Thud–
Nataek covered the snakes with the cloth and jumped onto a nearby table. He grabbed one of the chairs and frantically pressed down on the cloth with the chair to stop the snakes from escaping the fabric’s clutches.
“This is crazy! Don’t move, don’t move!” Nataek shouted, biting his lip. His heart was pounding and it was difficult to regain composure. One of Nataek’s most feared creatures in the world were snakes.
How can he get rid of them?
Nataek struggled as the two snakes tried to escape. He frantically looked around the room for anything that could be used as a weapon against them. At the same time, he looked at Medeus. The man’s eyebrows twitched, but he remained sound asleep.
“I’m going crazy…”
Suddenly, another snake slithered out from behind the bathtub. Its appearance was just like the other two snakes.
Nataek’s eyes widened in alarm. There were three snakes in total. The one that made a late appearance slithered toward the bathtub. Its head slowly began to rise. The bathtub wasn’t that high. If the snake striked now, it could easily bite Medeus.
At that moment, Nataek remembered what Dudu had told him earlier in the day.
‘I don’t think his position in this family is very good. It’s said that there were many cases in which his life was threatened.’
‘Don’t listen to what the other attendants say! Remember this one thing! Where did it all go wrong?’
If Nataek gets bitten by a poisonous snake, there’s a good chance he’ll die in this damned ancient civilization. However, he couldn’t just leave the snake as it was. Medeus was in a situation where he couldn’t even defend himself.
Nataek hurriedly tore off another piece of cloth hanging on the wall. He waved it tauntingly at the snake near the bathtub, and the snake lunged at Nataek with a hiss.
Fwump—!
Nataek threw the cloth over the third snake, pulling the fabric to overlap it on top of the cloth that was trapping the other two snakes. Then, he pressed down on all three snakes using the chair.
“Medeus!”
In the face of an emergency, labels such as master and servant didn’t matter. Nataek jumped off the table and ran to Medeus, grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him.
“Wake up! Wake up!”
Medeus’s eyebrows twitched.
One of the poisonous snakes that had been trapped by the cloth escaped. The snake raised its head and glared at Nataek.
Except for the table, there wasn’t a place off the ground that Nataek could escape to. Moreover, it was three snakes against one man. With dead weight as an added bonus.
Technically, the ratio would be three to one-half counting the disadvantage.
Nataek had to quickly wake this bastard up.
“Wake up already!”
When shaking him didn’t work, Nataek violently slapped Medeus on the cheek.
“Medeus!”
The freed snake lunged at Nataek. Nataek didn’t have a shield or weapon, not even a cloth to defend himself with. There was no time to hesitate. Survival instincts came first.
Nataek jumped into the bathtub where Medeus was sitting.
Splash!
The water inside the bathtub, now containing two sturdy men, swashed violently. Water overflowed, hitting the poisonous snake in the head. The snake, whose head was lowered momentarily after being sprayed with water, raised its head with a ferocious look. It was a reptile that couldn’t speak, but Nataek could tell how genuinely angry it was just by looking at its eyes.
The snake opened its mouth wide with a gasp. Its head quickly darted forward. Nataek tightly closed his eyes and instinctively raised his arms to defend himself.
So, this is how it ends.
Feeling resentment and fear, Nataek lost sight of everything he had been working for up until that moment.
Thud!
A squelching sound was heard. There was no pain in Nataek’s arms. Slowly, Nataek opened his eyes. The snake that had been attacking him was now gone without a trace.
Medeus staggered to his feet from the bathtub. Surprised, Nataek turned his head to Medeus. However, there was a snake attached to Medeus’s body.
Why is there a snake in the bathtub?
For a second, Nataek’s mind recognized it as a snake. Then, after two seconds, the gears in his head started turning again.
Nataek had no choice but to close his eyes even more tightly than before. Something that shouldn’t be seen… There was an unprecedented sight right before his eyes.
Medeus stood up with a sword in his hand. He didn’t allow Nataek to touch it when he took off his clothes earlier, but he seemed to have left it by the bathtub instead. The poisonous snake that had charged at Nataek earlier was sprawled beside the bathtub, split in half.
After the first crisis was over, the two remaining poisonous snakes emerged from underneath the cloth. They also seemed to be enraged. Sharp fangs glistened in their wide-open mouths.
Both snakes lunged at the bathtub, but they fell to the floor after being struck by Medeus’s sword.
“…”
Only then did Nataek slowly peek his head out of the bathtub. All three snakes were split in half and dead on the ground.
Medeus staggered, dropping the sword to the floor. He rubbed his eyes as his body swayed. Nataek quickly stood up to support Medeus. The sensation of wet skin against wet skin was strange. Medeus’s head leaned against Nataek’s shoulder.
“Are… Are you okay?” Nataek asked.
“…The incense burner.”
“Yes?”
“Turn off the incense burner.”
Edited by An Zheee
Oh wow, this novel is so good so far— I’ve read others that also had action and fighting scenes, but oh man this one is so good. So far while reading these chapters, I haven’t had a moment where I went, “Oh I know what’s going to happen next.” Or a moment where something does happens and; you end up not really surprised that it did.
But this one seems different so far, I can’t wait to be surprised again 🤩
It’s a very active novel, I really like the fast-paced plot and development of the story :>
Ahh is that why he was so kind explaining the incense burner (‘◉⌓◉’)
they’re surrounded by enemies :0