Reborn As A Nephilim: The Rise of A Manaless Prince

"Haaaaaah"

Arvell exhaled deeply as he felt his strength leaving his body.

He felt a sharp pain emanating from his chest, but he was too weak even to move his arms at this point.

'At least that thing is finally dead.'

Arvell smiled softly at the realization of his victory.

"I won. I somehow won that."

Even if he voiced it aloud, he still found it hard to believe.

They really managed to take down a 2nd rank beast like that.

Arvell did it without expending any Aether nor Nether.

While he expended the remaining Aether in his systems, it was merely to escape in the end.

The actual act of killing the beast didn't require it.

His grade 1 'Limit Break' elixir seemed to do the job.

He only had one of these due to the immense rarity of the ingredients necessary to craft it.

After robbing bandits and finding the ingredients through pure dumb luck, he'd finally managed to craft one of them.

These elixirs were immensely hard to craft as well.

Using mana as a catalyst would never be enough to make one.

Only through Aether or Nether would an alchemist be able to craft it.

Due to this, knowledge surrounding this elixir was almost non-existent.

This is also why the ingredients are cultivated in herbal fields like many other alchemical herbs.

Arvell could only gather enough to create one of them, which he planned on using as a life-saving trump card.

He even debated using this in the Algreppian Mountain range, but the aftereffects would have almost guaranteed his death afterwards.

There was no way he could harm a rank 4 beast, much less kill it, so using it to become faster for only one minute was pure stupidity.

Arvell stared blankly as several clouds passed overhead.

'Seriously… The academy staff are so slow. It's been ages since I broke that insignia, but they still hadn't shown themselves yet.'

Arvell estimated it would have been around 5 minutes since he broke the insignia, but even so, he saw no signs of the academy staff.

'At this point, it's better they don't show up and fail me. Who knows? Maybe I can still sneak back into the exam by stealing someone else's insignia?' Arvell mused.

'There's no use in doing that; the insignia you used was bound to your blood. So no way taking another person's insignia would work.' Lykos replied.

'I regret breaking that insignia now…' Arvell sighed to himself.

He would have never broken his insignia if he knew he could take the python beast without the academy's help.

Sometimes being too cautious was a problem in itself.

'I'll need to talk to Wilfried about this later. Maybe he could pull some strings for me?'

'I don't think that's too far of a stretch,' Lykos agreed, 'you not only saved his kid but took out a beast which shouldn't have even been on the examination. I doubt the staff would be that ignorant with their faults, to the point where they make you shoulder the blame for their mistakes.'

'Let's hope so.'

*SHHHK*

Arvell heard a noise slowly getting louder as it slowly approached him.

A small smile formed on his lips.

"Titus, I see you made it out in one piece as well."

"Hsshurgle."

Arvell raised an eyebrow when he heard a guttural noise.

"Did your lungs fill up with blood or something? Are you okay?" Arvell asked in an uncertain tone.

'What's going on?'

Arvell was quite confused with the sounds that 'Titus' was making.

They didn't sound like something a human was capable of producing.

A black shadow appeared over Arvell, blotting out the sun.

Arvell's eyes widened.

"You've got to be kidding me… How the hell are you still alive?"

The visage of a giant python appeared over him, dripping blood and acid.

Its face was utterly burned, leaving only a mess of flesh and bone.

The Rasian Python was evidently on its last legs.

A single push was all that would be enough to kill it.

Even so…

Arvell was in no better condition.

All the python had to do was sink its teeth into Arvell's skull, and he was dead.

While he could regenerate most of his body using Nether, if he didn't have a brain, he couldn't control Nether to restore himself.

Meaning…

He would die in the truest sense of the word.

'How did it find me? It doesn't have eyes, nor does it have its tongue to 'smell' me,' Arvell questioned.

'You spoke loud enough for it to hear you,' Lykos responded with a worried tone.

'Ah… So I screwed myself over….'

Arvell wanted nothing more than to go back in time to punch himself in the face.

Why did he have to gloat like that?

Doing that was almost always a red flag.

Arvell glared at the python that was towering over him.

'Is this seriously how I go out? Hell, I've survived worse!'

Arvell tried his best to move his limbs, but the effects of the elixir he consumed prevented him from mustering even that much physical strength.

He was just a lamb under the meat cleaver, entirely at the mercy of the Rasian Python.

Or what was left of it.

Even so, Arvell knew it was implausible that it would have a sudden change of heart and let him go.

Meaning, he was dead anyway he put it.

Arvell didn't know where Titus or Lydia was, but he was sure they couldn't get there in time.

He was on his own for this one.

Arvell furrowed his brows in concentration as he used every ounce of his willpower to move his fingers.

His fingers twitched but ultimately still followed his instructions.

Arvell felt around the ground in his surroundings.

Biting his lip in frustration, Arvell slid his fingers around a pebble and grabbed ahold of it.

'Just a bit more!'

He mustered all of his strength in his condition and flicked the pebble as far as he could, making it land several feet away.

*Plop*

The rock landed a few feet away from Arvell.

'Please work!'

Arvell desperately prayed.

The python twisted its head to the left, in the direction of the sound.

As if trying to ascertain the cause of the sound.

It slothfully slithered to wherever the rock had fallen before smashing its head into the ground, sending a shower of dirt and pebbles towards the surrounding area.

Causing a cloud of dust to rise in the surrounding area.

"COUGH!"

Before Arvell could stop himself, he involuntarily gagged on a dust cloud.

'SHIT!' Arvell screamed inwardly.

Arvell's eyes shifted in the direction of the Rasian Python.

'Surely it didn't hear that, right?'

The Rasian Python raised its mangled head and turned in Arvell's direction.

'Sigh… Of course not.'

The python slowly slithered over to Arvell.

'Seriously? Why can't you just keel over and die already?'

Sadly no matter how much Arvell lamented, he couldn't do anything about it.

If he wasn't inhibited by the side effects of the Limit Break elixir, Arvell was one hundred percent sure he could have effortlessly killed the beast.

But right now, he was in a worse condition than even it.

Arvell stared in the direction of the beast with a look of indignation.

'Lykos, is there anything I can do?'

'No… If you were only a little stronger, there would have been a way to turn this around, but now you're far too weak to use it.'

Arvell couldn't even summon Sepis and Nord to fight for him.

He needed his hand to open his inventory where they were stored.

Arvell was pushed into a corner, in the truest sense of the word.

'There's got to be something, anything I can do!'

'I'm sorry, Arvell… Unfortunately, there's nothing else you can do.'

The python reached Arvell's side and assumed a striking pose.

Arvell resolutely glared at the beast's mutilated visage.

"Even if you kill me, you'll die in only a few minutes. So at least… this wasn't a one-sided loss."

The python lowered its head, fully intent on crushing Arvell to death.

At least that was what it intended.

*SLASH*

*PLOP*

Arvell's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the Rasian Python's bisected head fall to the ground.

"What!" Arvell yelled in surprise.

'It was too fast for my eyes to see; what happened?'

'It seems that help finally arrived.' Lykos answered.

Arvell shifted his eyes from the decapitated python to notice a familiar girl standing beside him.

"I found help!" Lydia smiled enthusiastically.

She pointed to the woman standing next to her, whom was none other than Professor Orfina!

"Hmm? Why is there a rank 2 beast here? Someone's head is going to roll!" Professor Ofina muttered to herself.

Turning around, she faced Arvell.

Her eye's narrowed when she saw Arvell, recognizing him from the incident involving Antoinette.

"Boy, were you the one who needed help?"

"Yes, that was me."

Professor Orfina looked at Arvell's beaten-up body with a scrutinizing gaze.

"You look much worse than the last time I saw you. Let's get you some help first."