Escape from an Ancient Civilization Ch 110

Chapter 110

The incoming arrow shafts moved like waves in slow motion.

I had to stop it — fast.

Nataek’s body felt as if it were swaying underwater.

It wasn’t really so — it just felt like it.

A mere instant played out in his vision as though slowed in playback.

Even as the world rippled around him, Nataek threw himself forward with all his strength.

He hurled his whole body into Medeus, wrapping him in an embrace and twisting them both to the side.

Thud—!

6,600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 66,700)

The arrow buried itself into the pillar just beyond the spot where they had been standing.

Seeing its placement and confirming that the Medeus in his arms was unharmed, Nataek exhaled in relief.

The archer who fired it was swiftly captured and bound.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Medeus’s voice rang out, tight with fury as he grasped the situation.

“You were nearly hit by that arrow.”

“I never told you to—..! Hah… Don’t ever do something so dangerous again!”

As Nataek rose, his brows furrowed.

“I dodged the arrow. Neither of us is hurt. Isn’t that good enough?”

“I never asked you to throw yourself in front of me to save me.”

Why was he so angry about being saved?

Even as he pressed his sword once more to Luhal-Zagesi’s throat, Medeus seemed unable to cool his temper.

Saved him and got scolded for it… What’s his problem…?

Then, that prickle of wrongness came again — the sensation of a cold gaze stabbing into the back of his skull.

Nataek spun around.

In a spot beyond the Kish soldiers’ watch, thought to be covered by the fallen rubble, one Uruk soldier still lived.

He was clutching a bow that had fallen to the ground — the same one dropped by the second-floor archer earlier.

Whish—!

Before Nataek could shout or stop him, the bowstring was released.

The arrow came cutting through the air like a shark moving through water.

Nataek knew instinctively — no matter how fast he moved, he couldn’t block this one in time.

“Lord Lion, do you know what it means to shield something on the battlefield?”

The memory of the cedar forest flashed through his mind —

Medeus taking an arrow square in the body to protect the kunga, their only path of escape.

For Nataek, in the blurred but vivid flow of time, there was only one thought:

Medeus must not be harmed.

Nataek spun sharply and wrapped his entire body around Medeus’s back again, shielding him, twisting them aside to dodge.

Thunk—.

11,000 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 55,700)

He heard the sound of an arrow piercing flesh.

Thud—!

Their bodies, already leaning to avoid the shot, slammed into a pillar.

The number flashing in point deduction made Nataek’s heart sink.

“Are you all right?!”

From the barrage of arrows targeting Medeus, Nataek’s gut told him this, too, was part of the increased difficulty of the scenario.

Pale-faced, he scanned Medeus’s state.

The arrow was lodged along the outer edge of Medeus’s upper left arm.

Because he had reacted so quickly, the fatal spots were spared — but Medeus getting hit had been unavoidable.

Nataek’s eyes burned with anger.

“Damn it! You’ve been—”

“…Tch.”

Swallowing a groan, Medeus immediately rose and drove his blade against Luhal-Zagesi’s throat with even more aggression than before.

The incident was finished in moments, and the Kish soldiers dealt with the Uruk archer who had fired.

Even while keeping Luhal-Zagesi under guard, Medeus glanced at Nataek with concern.

“Teresi. You’re unhurt?”

“How could I be hurt? You’re the one—”

Medeus looked as though he would examine Nataek from head to toe on the spot, disregarding his own injury.

Nataek pressed his lips tightly together.

“I’m fine.”

…I was trying to stop you from being hit.

No one had noticed the archer hiding behind that pillar, just as no one had realized the “dead” Uruk soldier was only feigning death in the rubble.

No one had predicted he would grab the fallen bow from earlier and use it.

It was all outside anyone’s calculations — unpredictable, yet unfolding in sequence like something pre-planned.

There was only one explanation: a difficulty spike.

Or perhaps, it was the gap created by sheer carelessness among those inside the temple.

The only consolation for Nataek was that Medeus had been hit in a place that wasn’t immediately life-threatening.

“Bind the prisoners!”

Medeus’s command rang out again, the Kish troops moving in perfect order.

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 45,200)

The dawn of the first day of Nisannu³ was breaking.

Nataek bit at the inside of his cheek as he saw Medeus’s points tick downward.

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 44,600)

With every drop of blood that fell to the ground, Medeus’s luck points shrank.

It seemed… the points were offsetting some of the damage from injury.

But with no way to replenish them immediately — what would happen if they ran out?

The execution ground, now in orderly control, was caked in a crimson mud of blood and dust.

Dragging the bound Agadis out was enough to shatter the last of the Uruk army’s morale.

As the noise outside started to die down, Gup-Anu entered from the stairs to the second floor.

“Uruk’s forces are subdued!”

Without their incompetent ruler and with Agadis — their strongest remaining figure — captured, surrender had been their only option.

Kish had won.

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 44,000)

The plan’s objective had succeeded without incident, Uruk fully captured — yet Nataek’s mind was heavier than ever.

His eyes fixed on the arrow still lodged in Medeus’s arm.

He couldn’t tend it until Luhal-Zagesi was secured.

“Restrain Uruk’s ruler.”

At Medeus’s order, Nataek bolted toward the soldier holding the rope binding the prisoners.

Taking it, he stepped directly before Luhal-Zagesi.

“I’ll do it.”

He bound the man’s arms without mercy, pulling tight.

“You… You dare, you low-born slave worth less than a dog…”

Even now, Luhal-Zagesi clung to pride.

Nataek yanked the rope even tighter, glaring at him — it was the first time he had met the man’s gaze so squarely.

“Do you realize? There’s no one more vile or degraded right now than you.”

Memories flickered through his mind —

sending venomous snakes at Medeus, pouring Geshtin⁴ onto his own head, bringing the Gutians to kill Medeus.

When Nataek lifted his head, his eyes traveled up the sword blade leveled at Luhal-Zagesi’s neck — to Medeus’s bleeding arm.

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 43,400)

Looking at it only made Nataek angrier.

He raised the last short length of rope before Luhal-Zagesi’s eyes.

“…Less than a dog. You’ll never receive the mercy of the gods.”

Like fastening a dog’s leash, he wound it around the man’s neck.

As long as Luhal-Zagesi lived, there would be no such thing as unity or peace in Sununki.

Mercy must never be granted to such a man.

As Nataek tied the final knot, Gup-Anu came up beside him.

“Ensi of Uruk — as of today, you are stripped of your title.”

Nataek straightened, handing over the leash like a collar.

“Show him exactly what it means to be treated as less than a dog.”

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 42,800)

His voice carried no attempt to conceal either his restrained rage or his personal resentment.

The soldiers Medeus had trained and commanded had won the fight.

With the temple taken per plan by the third unit, Uruk’s fall was swiftly sealed.

Leaving the cleanup to the second unit that had arrived later, Nataek, Medeus, and the vanguard began the return to Kish.

Shedding their filthy, foul-smelling Uruk uniforms, they donned fresh clothing from the supply troops.

When the arrow was pulled from Medeus’s arm, the bleeding was considerable.

For now, bandaging with linen and basic first aid was all they could manage.

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 23,800)

Even in victory, Nataek’s nerves were taut.

The march back seemed more than twice as long as the advance had been.

“Can’t we go any faster?”

“With the wounded and prisoners, this is as fast as we can move.”

The speed of Kish’s forces had been possible only by minimizing supply troops and reducing the marching number — the focus was on maneuverability rather than sheer force, a gamble on the success of Nataek and Medeus’s infiltration.

Naturally, that meant far too few hands to carry wounded and prisoners on the return.

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 23,200)

But what truly had Nataek on edge was the shrinking point total.

The bleeding seemed to have stopped for now — yet the steadily decreasing luck points brought back the memory of the cedar forest.

“Are you… feeling all right?”

Medeus’s reply was calm.

“Since it missed the vitals, it’s not as bad as it looks. Once we reach home and treat it properly, I’ll be fine.”

“No throbbing? No heat in your body?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

600 of Medeus’s luck points are consumed. (Remaining: 22,600)

…Yeah. No matter how I look at it, you’re not fine.

If you were, your points wouldn’t still be dropping.

The points used to deflect or mitigate threats to Medeus’s life were continually dwindling.

Nataek began mentally reviewing the antidote herbs he had stored and the symptoms Medeus might manifest.

Once we get there… the first thing I’ll do is check his condition.

The unease refused to fade.

Footnotes:

3. Nisannu — The first month of the Babylonian calendar, corresponding roughly to March/April in the modern Gregorian calendar.

4. Geshtin — Sumerian for “wine” or “grapevine,” likely used here in a symbolic or ritual context in the story.