Although she was only a snake and could not cast any magic, her speed was far beyond imagination, and she could attack her enemies with tremendous agility.
In several confrontations with wizards, she had been more than capable of maintaining her advantage.
Not only that, Nagini seemed to possess every characteristic and attack pattern of a snake.
She could use her thick, powerful body to coil tightly around her prey until she crushed it to death.
And that was not even her greatest weapon.
Her deadliest weapon was her sharp fangs, which could easily bite through tough hides, along with the highly poisonous venom they carried.
If one was careless enough to be bitten by her, the wound would heal extremely slowly, and the flesh would begin to dissolve.
If she bit a vital area, it could even cause fatal blood loss.
Of course, the most dangerous thing was still that terrifying venom, which was almost impossible to counter.
...
Whoosh!
The sound of something slicing through the air.
A black shadow flashing past the corner of his eye.
After dodging the attack just now, Lockhart looked at the small crater that looked as if it had been blasted open, his heartbeat quickening slightly.
That discovery made Lockhart's eyes turn a little more serious.
Because if he had not been prepared in advance, he might have been forced to leave this grand stage early during that attack.
"How fierce. Is it because I struck a nerve, my dear Madam Nagini?"
"Hissss~"
After her first attack missed, Nagini did not immediately continue pursuing him.
Now that she had become a snake, she seemed to possess the traits of a snake as well.
She was good at enduring.
And she had plenty of patience.
However, unlike dealing with a young wizard like Harry Potter, it was clear that Nagini would have a hard time escaping from a wizard like Lockhart.
So her only hope was Voldemort, who was currently confronting Draco not far away.
In other words, she had to stall for time and wait for Voldemort to come.
...
As mentioned before, perhaps because of the Horcrux, there seemed to be a kind of wordless understanding between Voldemort and Nagini that magic could not explain.
Therefore, although Draco had indeed drawn away much of his attention at first, Voldemort soon sensed that something was wrong.
More precisely, he noticed the situation on Nagini's side.
"So this is what you were planning!"
"You noticed?"
"You think this will stop the Great Dark Lord, Draco Malfoy?!"
From his earlier calm to his current fury.
The moment Voldemort realized Nagini was in danger, that relaxed ease vanished from his face.
Clearly, Nagini's safety had struck directly at Voldemort's nerves, and it was enough to show just how important Nagini was to him.
As for the reason...
"Just as I thought... that's the sixth one, isn't it?"
"Get out of my way!"
"As the saying goes, the safest place is the most dangerous one. Who would have thought that the snake at the Dark Lord's side was his sixth Horcrux?"
Boom!
A surge of magic shot up from Voldemort's body.
The thick Killing Curse blasted straight toward Draco, who stood in his way.
Unfortunately, Draco was not so easy to deal with either.
At the very least, he was confident he could keep Voldemort pinned here until Lockhart dealt with Nagini.