The Spirit of A Warrior

Nothing capped off a lovely afternoon like staring right into the eyes of a very angry snake that could spit venom, smash them with its tail and billow poisonous fumes. 

The Impert Snake was not at all happy with Xavier barging inside its house without knocking properly. It glared down at them with eyes filled with murderous intentions. 

Damien tried to be brave, he wanted to straighten his back and yell —'Let's chop this thing up.' But he couldn't instead all he could manage was, "Run." 

And so they did. Xavier bolted towards the snake while Damien ran away from it. He planned to hide until the snake was tired enough to fall back to sleep and deal with it while it was asleep. You know the usual nice and safe approach where no one gets hurt. 

But Xavier had other plans. That man charged forward, and Damien saw him pounce at the Impert Snake, for two seconds Xavier was the usual Xavier but then he shifted and changed. 

It was Damien's first time seeing a beastman shift and he did not know if he liked it. The sound of bones cracking and shifting echoed horribly in the silence where Damien could only hear the sound of the Impert Beast puffing out clouds of poisonous mist and the crackle of the ambers burning in the flowing magma. 

Fur erupted all over Xavier's skin. His muscles bunched and turned enormous. His feet and claws elongated and his ears shifted on top of his head as his face morphed and changed before turning into a long snout like that of a wolf. 

His sword glowed with a strange eerie glow before it morphed as well. It turned into a golden orb and went straight past Xavier's heart.

Two seconds later, Damien saw two fiery knuckles appear on Xavier's claws. And when he said fiery, he meant it —those knuckles had burning flames and yet somehow they didn't burn Xavier. 

HOWL. 

The wolf beastman howled as he unsheathed his claws and rushed at the Impert Snake beast. Damien saw Xavier charge at the snake, but of course, the beast was not going to sit back and get beaten up silently—so of course, it retaliated. 

Its tail with many spikes was aimed at Xavier causing him to fall back. 

And as the tail of that snake fell on the ground, the entire ground shook. Damien trembled and stumbled back while Xavier rolled onto one side when the Impert Snake took advantage of his momentary distraction and spat a mouthful of greenish-slimy gunk at him.

For a second Damien thought that Xavier was going to be doused with that thing but at the last moment, Xavier used his hands and pushed himself up. He jumped on his feet and turned to one side. 

The green slime fell on the ground where Xavier had been and thirty steps away Damien smelled the scent of the acidic smell of burnt soil. 

Acid. This thing could actually spit acidic venom.

If Xavier hadn't rolled to one side just now, he would have melted like the ground skin and bones together. 

"You need to go and help him, host," Dan said to him and Damien agreed. He needed to help Xavier, as it seemed like the man was getting pushed to one side. 

But how? How was he supposed to take down a snake as big as this one when he didn't have mana or beast nuclei?

Even Xavier with his beast form could not deal with that thing, so how could he? A human who only had little knowledge of how to deal with injuries and diseases? 

BANG!

A horrible sound echoed in the surrounding area and Damien raised his head. The Impert Snake had finally caught Xavier, its spiky tail smashed against Xavier's chest sending him flying across the other side of the ground.

Xavier crashed against a boulder, his features twisted into a painful grimace as he let out another furious howl.

"I am not going down so easily you flakey snake," was what he said and how did he understand this Damien had no idea about it, just like how he had no clue about why the heat of this forest covered in magma wasn't bothering him, even though it bothered Xavier who could use fire.

Xavier was still charging at the snake, even though he had almost been pulverized by that thing, it hadn't faltered his warrior spirit. 

However, this time around instead of attacking the front, Xavier attacked the back of the Impert Snake. With his fiery knuckles, he smashed down on the edge of its tail, right where the spikes grew before using his claws to slash down at the flesh of the snake. 

But the scales of the snake, whatever they were made of, must have been sturdy because the tail of the snake remained intact. 

Damien smelled the scent of burnt snake meat and the snake must have too, with the tiny sting of getting stabbed and burned by Xavier because it turned its ugly head and hurled another mouthful of acidic venom at Xavier. 

The man rolled to one side but just as Damien said, it was difficult to keep an eye on both ends of the beast. If one was paying attention to the front, they could never pay attention to its back and vice versa. 

The same thing happened again, while Xavier was paying attention to the front, the Impert Snake flicked its tail again sending Xavier flying. But this time he was prepared. 

He didn't go crashing this time around, instead, he raised his hands and covered his face. His elongated feet slowed down his fall as he dug the long foot nails into the ground leaving four deep gashes behind. 

Blood seeped from his arms where the spikes had slashed him.

Xavier growled as he charged at the thing again, and Damien noticed that he was much faster than before, with his agility and quickness he ran so fast that he nearly left his afterimages behind.

The snake spat venom and hurled its tail but he could not catch Xavier, and two seconds later Xavier appeared right behind his head. 

His claws unsheathed as he unleashed his fury at the impert snake.