Chapter 090: Fire and Cold Blood

What spell was she casting? Invisibility?

Even if you turn invisible, you'll still have to come out and attack me.

Jess kept his eyes on the room ahead, ready to strike the moment a figure appeared.

He didn't remember seeing a weapon in the naga's hands. Was she really planning to fight him barehanded?

She was a snake-woman, so what? He'd cut off her tail. It wasn't as though she could wrap around him and squeeze him to death now.

Oh, right. She still had claws.

But the image he expected never appeared. Instead, a sudden crackling explosion made his entire body jump.

He looked toward the doorway. The second-floor passage, black a moment ago, was suddenly lit by fire.

The naga began laughing wildly.

Jess understood. She meant to burn the house down!

She had water magic to protect herself and escape, but Jess had nothing to shield him. All she had to do was block the exit...

Yet the flames didn't spread immediately. The house was terribly damp. It probably wasn't as easy to set alight as an ordinary building.

Sure enough, the naga began casting again. Jess had no idea what kind of fire magic she was using. Whatever it was, black smoke was already filling the house. The place would catch fire sooner or later. Even if he wasn't burned alive, the smoke would choke him to death.

Following the sound of her incantation, Jess located the sea witch. He rushed out of the room, splashed through the blood covering the floor, and charged straight toward her.

The moment he entered, the naga turned from where she'd been facing away. Her expression was frighteningly calm.

She'd picked up a rusty fishing spear from somewhere. Now she aimed it at Jess as he came through the door. The black smoke rising from the flames around her made her look like a fire demon climbing out of hell.

“Fuaiket!”

Jess spoke the incantation with perfect speed and precision.

The naga had already begun throwing the spear, so she couldn't react in time to counter him. Her calm expression shattered.

She whimpered and fell backward. Even with four arms, she couldn't keep hold of the spear.

Crying out, she crashed against the wall behind her and tried to escape, but couldn't. Blood pouring from the severed end of her tail put out several small flames, filling the building with an even thicker, fouler smoke.

“Hiss... hiss!”

The sea witch's arms clawed frantically at the wall. Jess gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay calm. He rushed forward and kicked her in the back, knocking the already unbalanced creature onto the floor.

This chapter was taken from the place the author publishes without permission, and readers at the author's page support the creator.

He planted a foot on her head and brought his knife down on the back of her neck.

It didn't cut all the way through.

With a burst of strange strength, the naga tore free. Her head hung from her half-severed neck as she fled madly downstairs, weeping and trying to scream. But all she could force out were broken, rattling noises.

Jess wanted to chase her, but his feet felt filled with lead. A powerful urge to vomit washed over him.

Fear. Terrible fear.

From the start, he'd forced himself to ignore the horrible things he saw, to push aside every negative feeling so he could fight this creature at close range and survive.

But when he saw the naga staggering through the flames with half her neck cut through and her head hanging by strips of skin, trying desperately to cry out as she fled downstairs, Jess felt his will nearing its breaking point.

Was this the effect of Fear? Or his own fear? Did the naga's cries carry some magic that caused terror?

Or was there no difference between them at all?

One thing he did know was that the Shadow Protection Potion had definitely worn off.

He couldn't let the naga escape. At the very least, he had to get out of the house quickly. Fire was spreading across the second floor.

Jess shut his eyes for a moment, then ran down the stairs. He followed the trail of blood lit by the flames and reached the ground floor.

About fifty or sixty yards away, in the open space outside, the naga was twisting madly on the ground.

No. Her body was twisting.

Her head had shaken loose during her violent movements. It lay at an awkward angle a short distance away, its horrible expression frozen in place.

Jess's fingers went slack. The knife fell to the ground.

He walked to a nearby stone slab, sat down, and kept rubbing his face, trying to calm himself.

The naga's damaged body lay not far away, still twitching. Her well-defined muscles, full chest, smooth scales, and slick skin gleamed faintly in the moonlight, streaked with blood.

Jess stared at the body and thought of only one thing: he couldn't risk his life for nothing. He had to take something with him. He couldn't simply walk away because he was frightened of the corpse.

He fought down his nausea and waited until the body stopped moving. Then he approached and nudged it with his foot.

To his horror, the naga's hand seized his ankle.

Jess jumped in fright and kicked wildly several times before finally breaking free. He'd kicked hard enough to break her arm.

The naga seemed to be some low-ranking sea witch. She wore no ornaments or staff. Her body was bare except for a string of beads on her head.

“Beads...” Jess murmured, trying to approach the severed head.

But the head was staring straight at him.

Was she looking at him? Or had she simply died facing his direction?

Jess took a step to one side. Her eyes moved to follow him.

He swore, rubbed his face, and looked again.

She was still watching.

It wasn't an illusion.

“Why won't you die? Can't you just stay dead for once?”

After thinking for a while, he suddenly remembered that he hadn't come alone.

“Saeno! Get out here.”

Only then did the imp poke his head out of the bag and look around.

“That's scary, Master. What is that thing...?”

“So even you know how to be afraid?”

“If Master isn't afraid, I'm not afraid!” The imp jumped out. “What do you need me to do?”

“Here.” Jess picked up the knife and tossed it to him. “Cut off her fins and get those beads for me.”

“As you command!”

Using all his strength, the imp dragged the knife toward the naga's head. Halfway there, her eyes suddenly shifted and fixed on him.

“Why is she still alive?!” Saeno muttered, stopping dead.

“Are you even more of a coward than I am?”

Jess took a few deep breaths, spat into his palms, puffed out his chest, and marched forward to snatch the knife back.

He shut his eyes and chopped down at the naga's forehead.

Thunk!

The blade sank in but didn't split her skull. At last, though, the magical light in her eyes went dim.

Both human and demon relaxed considerably.

Looking at her head from above, Jess saw that the strand of jewels could simply be removed. There was no need to cut anything off.

He kept watching the naga's eyes as he slowly lifted the beads away. This time there was no movement at all. She was truly dead.

It was a pity Gred hadn't witnessed any of this. He'd have been impressed.

No. Jess had to bring back something that proved he'd killed a naga. The string of pearls alone wouldn't be enough.

He couldn't bear to touch the head again, much less carry the whole thing home.

Maybe he'd take some scales.

Then another thought occurred to him. Could naga scales be used in medicine?

“Saeno,” Jess said. “Time to get to work.”