Chapter 12: Dead water

"When I grow up, I want to be like you, dad."

"My son, the world is not always kind as you might think"

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Status:

- HP: 5M/5M

- Sta: 90/100

- State: Cursed(all stats are 20% lower except health and stamina)

Days left: 24

"Shah sea, sil sorak sak seisaw"(Junior, someone is here)

"Som, sap sal. Syser sak sil sorak, sak salk sim"(Yes, elder. Indeed, there is someone, is human)

"Saik shah sea, safsol satsu salk sim"(All juniors, kill that human)

Despite not understanding what those nagas just said but the anger is very clear as day, They will look for that human. They will butcher him to vent the anger but not for the sake of hunger. They know human doesn't taste great when it is tainted with their kinsman's blood.

Hivon read the situation so he moved away from that tree to another. He readies the hook on his right hand and on his left hip is a leather ball which is stuffed with flash powder. He uses <Mark of prey> on a naga then he steps down and quickly garrote it. While he is doing it, the others notice him right away. He reaches for the leather ball and rip it with the blade of the strangled naga then

Only black mist. It is kind of hard to see for a short moment. Since these nagas don't bring a mask for this case, they have a hard time breathing through this dust. He makes a spark with the fire starter. A light.

It brightens the whole scene

Hivon quickly takes the chance while they are dazed. Before the battle, he had covered his ears with moss to soundproof a bit. When he struck the spark, he closed his eyes.

He grabs the blade of that dead naga and quickly slices the arms of the nearest naga. He couldn't swing for the head because the effect of the sound of flash powder is not really neutralized by the moss. He quickly casts the hook at the naga on his left and uses him as a meat shield for an incoming arrow.

**Thump! Thump!**

There is a naga archer nearby but it is not here. Both arrows' tails point at a bit to the right. Quickly, he drops the blade then grabs a pellet from his pouch and flicks it at the target.

"Safsol saik salk sim! Saght saik salk sim!" (Kill all the humans! Curse all the humans!)

He heard it right. Although not understanding what it just said, the fury is not in just one arrow, three arrows with some kind of green liquid. He evades them. The other nagas seem to come back to their senses.

"Salk sim! Salk sim!" (Human! Human!) They point at him with their blades.

'I think it is their cry against humans. They often say salk sim toward humans when they fight us' Hivon readies his hook.

When nagas rush toward him, he quickly goes up to a tree nearby with his hook. He opens the scroll container and tears it.

Suddenly, the water is frozen. They can't move. To make their matter worse, he throws tacks right on their eyes to bleed them out. Nagas are weak to cold since they are reptiles. Along with bleeding, they will get hypothermia to death.

There is one archer that is not yet to be found. Where is it?

This water is frozen so it won't be able to move for a while. Possibly, when it is inactive, Hivon will hunt it down and bleed it to its death.

After a few seconds, he has found that archer. Ambushing from the tree, Hivon takes its head with his hook and his strength.

What's left of it are its bow and arrows, dagger, a sack of green liquid and a few dried rats. Nothing surprised here, until he sees …

A paper issues something, but they wrote something along the same words all over again.

Perhaps, he should bring this back to get someone to decipher this thing out. He puts the paper into his scroll container.

Night falls, the village of nagas are set bright. They are on guard and wary of those intruders. Although they are more snake than human, they still have poor vision at night. The torches are burning and a figure dashes through the bushes

Two black pellets falls into the torches at the entrance.

**Pew! Bang!**

It is so bright and loud that it wakes the entire village and dazes guards nearby.

**Thack!**

He quickly slits the naga's throat and uses it as a shield.

**Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!**

A rain of arrows. Thankfully, the naga body can withstand it. Hivon quickly prepares another flash powder pellet on his hand.

"Salk sim! Salk sim!" (Human! Human!) The nagas draws their swords after regaining their senses

'Well damn it. I should have bought more tacks' Hivon grabs his last tacks.

He throws it on the ground quickly before they reach him. While their eyes are fixed on him, he quickly runs further until

"Salk sim sliar!" (Damn human!) The nagas stop after one gets hurt from the tacks and then swipes them into the other nagas.

"Soselk shah sea"(Incompetent junior)

Hivon keeps on running. Until they lose track of him, he can finally feel relieved that he can go back to the village.

At the guild, he quickly puts the paper down. Then he points at the entrance

"What does salk sim mean?"

"Naga?"

"Yes"

"It means human I think. Because I once witnessed a fight between nagas and orcs, they said something different. So I assume that it means human"

"Do you know anyone who can decipher this paper?"

"For now, we will keep this paper. How many did you see?"

"A village and a hunting group"

"This is a call for fire mages and militias"

"More than that. Nagas don't usually use paper for something small like hunting. This could be a letter to someone"