The Naga turned William around to see his face, while all William first saw was its visible forked tongue. The serpent man had the upper body of a good-looking, grey-skinned young man with hypnotizingly greenish-yellow eyes, but its lower body was almost impeccably snakelike.
'That's… that's a Naga…' William thought, shivering.
"Hm… You're the same human that the crystal ball showed to us, but you don't have the same aura that the crystal ball depicted. You're akin to a child." The Naga asked, staring fiercely while their tail's grip started to tighten.
It was as if the Naga was about to eat him for some odd reason, which spiked William's fear by 100%!
"Crystal… crystal ball…? What are you talking about…?!" William asked in return, beginning to fear for his life.
"Heh. The king has been watching you for quite a while. For one day and a half, even. Even he was surprised that you were unconscious for so long." The Naga said, smirking.
"And, it seems he has taken an interest in you. But, I don't believe you're all that special. You don't even seem interesting enough to fight."
As the Naga said that, their tail's grip slackened a little as they looked uninterested. From anyone else's point of view, it was almost like they were struggling to even see any worth in William.
However, William interpreted something much, much different from that due to both the absolute domination that the Naga displayed and the fear that overwhelmed him.
From the Naga's deep and frightening stare, William felt as if this Naga, and possibly other members of its species, weren't like other ordinary creatures. They had a natural ability to instil fear in others, judging from William's current state.
And, amid his fear, William assumed that they wouldn't ever yield their "prey" easily, which he thought was him at the moment.
'This serpent man… no, this Naga, it doesn't even think I'm worth its time! It might even try to eat me now!'
But, unlike what he thought the Naga was going to do, they dropped him on his head, causing him to lose focus.
"Don't do anything funny, since I need to take you to him."
William garnered a completely befuddled and bewildered look on his face as he was forcefully dragged away from the strange statues and the stone chamber by the Naga.
Soon enough, William had convinced himself that he was dreaming. He had been captured by a serpent man and was soon going to be brought to some other place so he could die and have his remains feasted on! That's what he thought, at least, although he didn't yet know that the Naga did not have ill intentions.
It sure felt like it though, with how the Naga dragged him by the leg with their tail and led him through a secret passageway that spiralled downwards through an endless flight of stairs. The narrowness of the passageway caused the stone bricks and stray rocks to graze and bruise his naked body.
'…Damn it… I can't believe I'm in such a horrible situation, and, to top it all off, I'm still naked!' William cried out internally.
'I can't even fight this thing off, the grip it has around my body is too strong! I can barely even breathe, and my sword was broken in half too!'
'I'm going to die!'
William mostly suspected the Naga of being a man-hunter, half because of the fear he felt, and half because of the way they looked at him, with a gaze that penetrated his soul with the intensifying need for something, and William had to assume the Naga wanted to eat his flesh.
But, he hadn't noticed the fact that the Naga had already lost their complete interest in him.
This was because the Naga thought of him as physically weak, and this meant, according to their innate personality, that was a human not even worth fighting.
The Naga belonged to a specific category of animals that didn't exist on Earth. They weren't Magic Creatures either, since they couldn't freely control Mana. They were instead under the category of anthropomorphic species.
Such animals that existed in other worlds had evolved differently from animals on Earth, and there were intelligent creatures among them, like the Werewolves, the Elves, Mountain Orcs, even Elemental Spirits, and also the Naga, who all had an intense desire to battle.
So, with how you could even say they were born to fight, it made sense why it had such a burning desire in its eyes.
After some time, the Naga finally dragged William down the flight of stone stairs that spiralled downwards, and after pushing through, the two of them found themselves in a small hallway leading to two grand stone doors, adorned with all kinds of rare stones like emerald and gold.
"Ouch!" William exclaimed as the serpentine's tail flung him towards the direction of the doors.
"Open it!" It roared as it continued to stand there.
"Rude…" William whispered.
He dusted himself off and did as he was told, summoning all his strength to push the great doors open. The doors opened with a loud bang, and William was surprised to see a stone chamber that seemed more like a grand hall, with about a hundred more Naga, and all of them looked quite similar in terms of overall looks, although that wasn't a bad thing.
At this point in time, William was deeply regretting not taking the time to find some clothes to put on. This whole situation was now very weird! But, at least the Naga had no concept of genitalia, from what he could see.
"He has come!" A voice suddenly declared.
This came from the old Naga dressed in tattered, black robes, sitting on a cold stone throne, who wielded a bone staff like he was a sorcerer or something of the sort. However, William could immediately tell that he was the one in charge.
The Naga in robes slid down from its throne and approached him.
"I have been observing you ever since I learned of your unconscious self through the sorcery of the crystal ball. And, I can tell, you have a certain air about you as if you were gazed upon by a being beyond this world. A deity, perhaps?"
William stepped back, as he was made severely uncomfortable by the Naga's piercing gaze.
"What are you? Who are you?" William asked, finally able to stand his ground.
"The Sorcerer King of this Naga Tribe. I have had such a title ever since I gained this crystal ball from the mysterious statue of the Catastrophe around one hundred years ago now."
"But anyway, I am interested in you, boy."
"From what I can see with the naked eye, the power of the divine has been guiding you. It is doing so in ways I cannot understand, but perhaps they have led you to us for a reason. Perhaps you will be the one to save our tribe!"
Upon hearing those words, the other Nagas erupted into exhilarating cheers. But, William had to understand the Sorcerer King's words first.
"What do you mean?"
"Well… a group of Werewolves, an opposing species to us Nagas, have recently occupied a certain place around here, a place that is vaguely attached to The Abyss."
"You know what The Abyss is, correct?"
William shook his head, and the Sorcerer King nodded.
"It is the darkest place to exist among worlds. The realm in which daemons, Catastrophes, Demonic Creatures and all other sorts of demonic entities are chained to."
"And, I think the Werewolves are planning something quite unorthodox in the underground depths, while shrouded in the veil of Karmic Debt."
"So, if you can do something about that, I will help you out of here in an instant. I promise you that upon the essence of my very soul, young man."
William saw no reason to refuse. If he didn't make it out of here, he would die anyway, so if the Naga ended up tricking him, there would be no way for him to survive, unless he grew stronger. He also had a bone to pick with a specific Werewolf he met not too long ago.
"I accept."
The Sorcerer King smiled and then came waves upon waves of cheers and exclamations.
"Now, young man, before we do anything else, let me scry you with the crystal ball, and give you a true insight into everything that's happening to you and around you."