"Whimper..."
Moving close to the giant beast, the little Chimaera painfully nuzzled its mother's neck and licked its cheek.
But the giant beast still showed no movement. If not for the few weak flames still on its tail, anyone would think this was just a cold corpse.
The darkness in his eyes gradually faded, and Evans's pupils showed some confusion.
"How is it?" Hagrid also moved closer, his expression full of worry, his large hands not knowing where to place themselves, appearing somewhat helpless.
"Looks a bit like a curse, but how could a Chimaera get cursed?"
Staring at the giant beast lying on the ground, Evans fell into contemplation. He was very familiar with Chimaeras. Back in Egypt, he had dealt with several Chimaeras.
Although those giant beasts looked down on human wizards somewhat and hadn't become true friends with him, due to spending enough time together, he had heard those beasts tell many stories about themselves.
According to them, their ancestors had once received some kind of blessing that gave their bodies extremely high curse resistance and brought them Fiendfyre that could burn all magic.
Logically, they should be the nemesis of all curses. Why would this Chimaera be afflicted by a curse?
Moreover, he had never seen this form of curse before.
Although it looked like a Weakening Curse, the Weakening Curse could only make people weak enough to be bedridden. It didn't have such strong effects that could make a Chimaera so weak it had trouble even opening its eyes.
"A curse?"
Hagrid's face also showed confusion. He also knew that Chimaeras had extremely high curse resistance. Basically no curses could affect them.
Even if some curses with very harsh generation conditions could affect them, the effects wouldn't be too strong.
After pondering for a moment, Evans shook his head. "Let's first try to restore its condition a bit. Having it explain would be much better than us guessing blindly here."
With that, he reached into his pocket, searched for a moment, and pulled out a potion emitting pale yellow fluorescence, bringing it close to the giant beast.
Extending one hand to support the giant beast's head, Evans slowly poured the potion into its mouth.
A few seconds later, pale yellow light began appearing on the giant beast's body. As the potion gradually took effect, the giant beast finally opened its eyes a crack. Feeling the moist sensation on its cheek, it gently turned its head to look at the child before it.
Then, its peripheral vision caught sight of Hagrid and Evans behind the little Chimaera. Its gaze instantly became alert as it struggled to stand up.
But it was really too weak now. Even though adult Chimaeras had the ability to shatter mountains and rivers with every move, this was no help for its current situation.
It could only do its best to make the flames at its tail tip flare up, trying to scare away these two sudden intruders.
"Don't be nervous; we mean no harm."
Holding the glass bottle and stepping back two paces, Evans spread his hands, indicating he had no weapons.
After confronting for about five or six seconds, perhaps smelling Evans's reassuring scent, the giant beast finally slowly nodded and closed its eyes again.
It was really too tired. If it hadn't just received some strength, it wouldn't even be able to open its eyes.
Moreover, that human gave it a very comfortable feeling. Surely he wouldn't harm it and its child?
Seeing the giant beast close its eyes again, the confusion on Evans's face deepened.
What he had fed the Chimaera was a vitality potion he had obtained from the big bat at great expense. Even someone close to death could recover some vitality after drinking it. At least enough energy to leave final words.
But this giant beast had drunk the entire bottle and only opened its eyes briefly before falling unconscious again?
After hesitating for a moment, Evans crouched down and looked at the somewhat anxious little Chimaera.
"About when did your mother become like this? Were there any signs before this happened?"
He had never heard of this curse's effects and needed some circumstantial evidence.
"Whimper..."
It was half a month ago. Mum went to the big lake to catch fish for me to eat. After she came back, her body started feeling wrong.
The little Chimaera sobbed as it recounted what happened.
At first, Mum was just a bit tired, sleeping longer each day, but her body grew weaker and weaker until three days ago when she completely couldn't stand up anymore.
It's all my fault. If I hadn't wanted to eat fish, Mum wouldn't have gone so far to find fish for me...
Eyes misty with tears, the little Chimaera moved close to its mother again, gently shaking her body.
"Mum, wake up, Mum..."
After listening to the little Chimaera's description, Evans stood up again.
A very distant place, big lake...
Chewing on these words, his eyes turned black again as he looked at the giant beast lying on the ground.
He couldn't detect any water-blue radiance within the black mist enveloping the giant beast, which meant the curse affecting it was unrelated to water.
But this also meant the curse could have been encountered at any location on the giant beast's journey to the big lake.
Since the giant beast hadn't awakened, he had no way to confirm the curse's specific location. Moreover, he hadn't brought other companions on this trip. A curse that could weaken even a Chimaera to this extent would probably kill him instantly if he carelessly contracted it.
He could only wait for the giant beast's condition to improve somewhat and get specific information from it before making plans.
"What do we do now?" Hagrid looked pitifully at the Chimaera lying on the ground, as if looking at a poor child.
Even though that child lying down was almost as tall as he was standing.
After lowering his head in thought for a moment, Evans said softly:
"Let's put it in a case and take it back first. After we return, we'll see if we can find a trustworthy curse specialist to study the curse on it."
Neither of them was particularly skilled with curses. If the curse on this Chimaera was water-related, he could try using Sossia's blessing to see if he could break it, but since this curse was unrelated to water, he could only seek help from others.
Hearing Evans's words, Hagrid's eyes immediately lit up, but he still hesitantly said: "I remember Chimaeras are forbidden to keep; even their eggs are Class A prohibited trade items."
"You're already keeping a dragon. What's one more Chimaera?" Evans shook his head helplessly. "Come give me a hand. Levitation Charms don't work on their bodies, so we need to carry it into the case."
After both the giant beast and little Chimaera had crawled into the case in Hagrid's hands, Evans and Hagrid left the rock cave and returned to Norbert's back.
"Let's go build your nest first."