On the other side,
Maui rummaged through the bottles and pouches that were scattered on the ground. "Why are all beastmen so chaotic? Couldn't they put things in order?" He muttered angrily as he threw another vial on the side before picking up the small greenish one.
"Oh this is stupid," Maui muttered as he threw the vial that he had picked up before looking around. He rolled his eyes before snapping his fingers. "Heed my command."
The ground under his feet trembled lightly and four to five dolls made from mud spurted out of the surface.
They turned to look at Maui collectively with a servile attitude on their faces. "You called, prince?"
"I am no more of a prince than you are the spirits of the underworld," Maui scowled as he refuted. "Anyway, I didn't call you here for that, I want you to look for the Healing sap. The thing that beastmen drink to heal themselves from normal injuries. Find it for me."
If he was to look for it alone then who knows when he would be able to rescue Damien. That Impert Snake Beast looked old and ancient, that thing was big enough to kill Damien in one hit —he didn't have the time to play search and hunt.
The mud dolls nodded as they scattered around looking for the healing sap. For another wasted four minutes, they looked around before one of the ground spirits finally found the hexagonal-shaped bottle that was sitting on the side.
Maui glanced at it, sighed and then stood up from the ground before flying over to the spirit that was holding the bottle.
"You have done me a favour," he said to the four spirits before snapping his fingers again. The four spirits melted and turned into crumbles as soon as he revoked his mana. "Let's hope this works."
Maui flew over to Xavier's side and poured the healing sap inside of his mouth, it was a difficult task as his instincts yelled at him to run and hide when he saw the overly large fangs pointing out of Xavier's mouth.
However, he thought of Damien and the reason he had come to this world of beastmen and gritted his teeth.
Once the healing sap that smelled sweet like nectar and honey trickled down Xavier's throat, leaving his lingering scent behind, the beastman on the ground finally moved.
The fur on his body receded followed by the fangs and claws.
He scrunched up his brows and let out a moan but other than stirring slightly, Xavier didn't make another move.
"What the—" Maui frowned as he raised his front paw and kicked Xavier in the face. "I didn't go through all of that for you to fall back asleep again!"
There was a thud, a yelp and Xavier sat up straight. His eyes were two chips of ice as he stared at Maui, "I hope you were not the one who kicked me?" The way he spoke made Maui tremble in fear as if Xavier would throw him in the flowing magma if he dared to say 'yes'.
And as Maui loved his life way too much to become roasted instead, he shook his head and answered, "Not at all, master Xavier."
"I thought so too," Xavier said before letting out a groan, he raised his hand and held his injured arm. The cut on his right arm was way too deep for the feeble amount of healing sap to heal.
He studied the wound on his arm before looking around and that was when he noticed the mess on the ground. "What happened here? Why are my things just lying on the ground like that?" He sounded angry and upset with what he was looking at.
"I had no choice, you were knocked unconscious and Lord Damien was taken away by the Impert Beast Snake—"
"What!?" Xavier screeched jumping on his feet. For the first time, he didn't care about modesty. He didn't care about his birthday suit and turned to look at Maui. "What did you say? Who took who away?"
Heaving a sigh of relief, Maui replied, "The Impert Snake Beast, it took Lord Damien away and I was in a hurry, you couldn't possibly think that I would take my time to look for healing sap?" He was more than happy to change the topic.
Xavier cursed aloud. He took a whiff of the scents in the air but nothing. There were too many beasts and monsters in this place, he couldn't trace Damien's scent at all.
Even that Impert Snake Beast's scent was mingled with many others.
"Where did that thing take, Lord Damien?" Xavier asked as he looked at Maui. He was angry and frustrated at himself and his failure. If he had been a bit more skilled, and had more control over his mana, then he wouldn't have fallen like a loser.
He was entrusted to keep Damien safe and he had gone down so embarrassingly like that. It was humiliating for Xavier who had always prided himself as a strong beastman.
Turned out that he was nothing.
"There," Maui pointed to the mountains with rocks protruding out of them like jagged teeth and Xavier shifted back to his beastman form.
He let out a roar before rushing in the direction that Maui had pointed at. He had to save Damien, no matter what he —he had to! If something was to happen to that man then what was he going to tell Wistoria or the rest of his family?
'Stay alive, please stay alive Lord Damien,' thought Xavier as he ran past the flowing rivers of magma and craters.
Inside the cave,
Damien had finally shifted enough to bolt out of the cave. He glanced at the snake beast before smiling at him and said, "Well I am flattered and everything but--"
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Please leave some powerstones or golden tickets to motivate the author, dear readers. Snore Lax needs motivation to keep working hard or else he would eat and sleep, lol.