Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3853

Chapter 3853: Not Hungry (Part 2)

Her feet dangled in the air, the darkness making it impossible for her to tell whether the floor was just a few centimeters away or if she was suspended over an abyss. Xenagrosh flexed her limbs one at a time, counting at least a dozen of cuts and many more bruises.

Much to her surprise, the cuts started shallow on her face and the back of her head, becoming deeper as they moved down toward her navel. They stopped right below her right lung and extended all the way to her back.

The sense of smell that made her the best tracker in the Organization returned to her first. She smelled the sweet scent of fresh blood first, too much to belong only to her. Then, she sensed the acrid stench of rotten flesh and the metal sting of dried blood.

The air, instead, was fresh and carried no trace of dust.

’This is too dirty to be a slaughterhouse and too clean to be a tomb.’ She thought, squinting her eyes in an attempt to catch a glimpse of her surroundings.

The Shadow Dragon’s mystical and enhanced senses slowly returned to her, but for some reason, they lagged behind her consciousness. Everything came to her dull and muffled, as if she were trapped in an invisible cocoon and could perceive the world around her only through the vibrations in the silk.

The silence in the room was almost absolute, allowing Xenagrosh to sense the slow drip of something that her instincts told her was someone else’s blood. There was only one more noise in the room, but she couldn’t tell if it was a labored breath or a death rattle.

’This place looks familiar.’ She thought. ’Too familiar. I know where I am!’

The Shadow Dragon didn’t panic and started to weave a simple tier one Chaos Magic spell to free herself. Halfway through, however, the chains squeezed her wrists and turned Xenagrosh’s own mana into acid, burning her veins from within.

The sudden agony robbed her of her consciousness, her body too weak from its many wounds to endure more punishment. When the Shadow Dragon woke up again, she decided to test her strength and found it wanting.

’I’m not just in my human form. I’m as weak as a non-Awakened human!’ She tried to shapeshift, and the chains’ enchantments rewarded her with another lash of pain.

This time, Xenagrosh expected it, biting her lips to fight fire with fire.

’Whatever this thing is, it’s not very efficient. I got my claws out before the chains stopped me. Just like with the spell, I have a brief moment of freedom before the enchantment stops me.’ She called upon the deepest and truest part of her, her Eldritch form.

Xenagrosh shapeshifted only the skin on her wrists and only for the blink of an eye. The Chaos energy ate at the metal of the chains, sizzling against the magic coating them.

Xenagrosh’s attacks lasted little, and the chains self-repaired the moment they were damaged, but she felt their hold on her weakening.

Three pulses of Chaos later, she could already distinguish several shapes in the room hanging from chains no different from her own. Five pulses and Xenagrosh realized that less than half of the other inmates were still alive.

The rest were rotting, emitting the stench of decay that tormented her nose, or reduced to mummified corpses. At the tenth pulse of Chaos, Xenagrosh saw rivulets of blood flowing through furrows in the stone floor that formed pools right under the prisoners.

Something, most likely an enchantment, kept the blood from coagulating and the life force it contained from dispersing. That something also flooded the pools with the vigorous flow of world energy that only a mana geyser could provide.

The perfect meal for an Eldritch.

’I’m wounded and tired, yet I’m not hungry. Why don’t I feel hungry?’ Xenagrosh swallowed hard.

’No Phoenixes.’ She thought. ’The bastard is smart. He didn’t risk a Call of the Blood bringing Salaark to his doorstep.’

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