The dragon's harem

Chapter 1146: The Chained One

As the chains rattled, Nina opened her eyes with a tired expression. Standing before her was a tall woman in a purple robe. The womanʼs long, while hair seemed to radiate light in the darkness of the cell, and her eyes flashed with sparks of pink and blue magic.

Merlin slowly lifted one of her hands and waved it in the air, drawing a thin line of sparkling light. A second later, a voice rang clear in her head.

^Come to check on me again?^ Ninaʼs voice reached Merlinʼs head through the magic. They canʼt risk taking her muzzle off.

”Of course, I would come.” Merlin sighed and looked at Nina, ”How do you feel?”

^Hungry, and you look quite delicious to be honest.^ Ninaʼs eyes stared at her for a second as the chains groaned. A crack appeared on Ninaʼs muzzle with a loud shatter.

Merlin frowned and flicked her fingers. The muzzle shimmered with light and appeared to be fixed. Her magic had teleported a new one into Ninaʼs mouth and took the other.

The reason Nina was chained, the reason she asked to be chained, was that she was now plagued with an insatiable hunger. It grows day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute. At the start, she could withstand it, and then she had to eat, and eat a lot more. And then, it became uncontrollable.

Before she could lose control and start eating both people and monsters alike, Nina had the wizards of both the high elves and the dark elvesʼ kingdom create those powerful chains to hold her down. Right now, she had been locked down here for a few days, and since Merlin returned, she was the one in charge of repairing and maintaining her chains.

In her short time here, Merlin had found more about Ninaʼs problem than the wizards did. For two reasons, she was a better wizard and knew Nina better.

The first thing Merlin realised was that Ninaʼs strength seemed to be growing each day, based on the strain the chains were suffering from. This meant that even if she was extremely hungry, that didnʼt mean she needed to eat, or sleep for that matter.

The second thing that Merlin noticed was that Ninaʼs bodily functions seemed to have changed. Mainly the function of her bowels. No matter what she eats or drinks, or how much, nothing comes out of the other end, nothing.

That meant her digestive system and whole body had become far more efficient, if not perfect. Merlin suspects thatʼs an adaptation to starvation, where her body wonʼt waste anything.

The third thing that Merlin noticed was that Ninaʼs blood, nerves, and muscles seemed to have been changing as well.

Her blood is now ten times thicker than that of normal humans and highly volatile. The blood consumes and destroys anything that touches it as if it were some powerful acid. And whatʼs more terrifying, she no longer has a pulse. Her veins work like colons, pushing the blood through on their own without the need of a heart. And the blood itself seems to be able to move on its own even if the veins are severed, which means that making Nina bleed is hard. This also meant heart shots arenʼt fatal to her anymore.

Her nerves had changed the most. Her skull still has a brain in it, but her whole body seems to pulse with neurological activity. When Nina lifts her hand, the thought happens in the nerves of the hand instead of the brain or spine. This means Nina doesnʼt have a central nervous system anymore; her whole nervous system is a thinking brain.

That spread didnʼt seem to lower her intelligence or increase it, but she at least seems to be doing fine. This reminded Merlin of the time that Kayden slashed Ninaʼs head off, and she kept fighting. Thinking about it, that mightʼve been a sign for things to come. Beheading Nina now wonʼt kill her, destroying her head or spine wonʼt paralyze her, sheʼll just keep moving and regenerate.

Lastly, magic. Simple spells seem to be bouncing off her skin, not simply being unable to damage her, but getting reflected away. If Nina wished, she could reflect them at the caster. Currently, only simple spells are reflected, but Merlin is sure that with time, even the most complicated of spells will be reflected as well.

^How is he doing?^ Nina asked, and Merlin looked at her with a smile.

”Arad? Asleep like a baby, huddled into an egg, a black ominous one. Gaia is slowly filling his bed with those cursed ores.” Merlin sighed, ”And sorry about that… it mustʼve felt horrible.”

^Huh… it only stung a bit.^

A day ago, Merlin had suggested to Nina that they try and put a cursed ore at her side, see how sheʼll react to the curse. Mainly because that ore had killed Shi, Merlin wanted to see if it would be able to damage and weaken the more powerful Nina.

What they found… was horrifying. Even if the ore caused Ninaʼs flesh to rot and fall apart, she didnʼt die and kept regenerating. As if death itself refuses to take her. Of course, Merlin stopped the experiment after just a few minutes. The result: Nina was immortal as far as they could test.

Merlin had tried to put Nina to sleep using several methods. Poison, magic, curses, she even chanted a lullaby for her. Nothing seemed to work. But… Nina was sure of one thing. If she ate, and ate enough… sheʼll feel sleepy, search for a suitable rock underground, and slumber inside it until she feels hungry again.

”Are you sure Arad can fix this? No offence, but I still didnʼt get the chance to sleep with him. I canʼt have you eat him before that.” Merlin looked at her with a grin.

^That woman doesnʼt lie, she doesnʼt understand what a lie even means. A void dragon should have enough spare energy to feed me. I donʼt know how itʼll work, but weʼll find out when Arad wakes up.^ Nina looked at the room. Even with the terrible hunger, the raging bloodlust, she felt calm, collected, and more than ever, content. She finally doesnʼt need to think; all she has to do is sit and wait.

”There might be another solution.” Merlin looked at her, ”Weʼll try it when Arad wakes up. If all fails, you can start living inside one of my labyrinths. Iʼll be an infinite all-you-can-eat buffet.” She waved her hands with a smile and approached Nina, ”What do you say?”

^Iʼm more worried about falling asleep for a thousand years after eating my fill.^ Nina sighed.