Reborn As A Nephilim: The Rise of A Manaless Prince

"Hiss"

The snake towered above the group as it looked down on them.

Arvell felt a feeling of condescension emanating from the snake's demeanour.

It watched them as if it was looking at a couple of ants.

Arvell knew this feeling quite well…

After all, he'd seen the same expression in the eyes of those who ridiculed him.

The same look the countless nobles gave him as he left the throne room as an exiled prince.

Arvell's blood boiled.

Who was this oversized worm, and what right did it have to look at him that way?

'I'll just need to cut it into ribbons.'

He inhaled deeply in an effort to recompose himself.

'I can't lose my cool….'

Losing his composure was already losing half of the fight.

He needed to keep a calm and relaxed demeanour.

'Thinking about this rationally, I should first judge its capabilities.'

Arvell focused his attention entirely on the snake-like beast.

[Status Information]

Species: Rasian Python

Beast Rank: Early Second Rank

[A Large reptilian beast that is known to swallow its prey whole before digesting them while they are still breathing. Its scales are known to be as hard as steel.]

Arvell's eyes went wide at the revelation.

'Why is there a second-rank beast? Did the academy staff just gloss over a problem as large as this?'

While Arvell was confident he could fight with a second-rank beast, that was only if he could use 100% of his strength.

As for when he was in a constricted state like now?

That was a foregone conclusion.

He would be ruthlessly slaughtered.

Even more so, considering he burned through his Aether reserves, killing the Treant and saving the girl.

If he'd known about this, Arvell would have just ignored the Treant.

Now he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Furthermore, he couldn't even use the haste skill on the hasty iron sword since it was still on cooldown.

And to top it off, he had his swords stored in his inventory.

A blunder on his part, to say the least.

In other words… he was in no condition to fight the beast.

Having no other choice, Arvell turned to the girl.

"Break your crest right now; this thing is too strong for us."

However, Arvell didn't get any response from the girl.

"Hey, can you hear me? Break your crest!"

Arvell wanted to break his instead, but with how closely the beast was watching his movements, Arvell was sure that the instant he attempted to reach for his crest, the Rasian Python would use that opportunity to strike.

While the beast looked at them with pure unbridled condescension, he was still quite sure that the beast was treating them with some apprehension.

It was as if, deep down, it regarded Arvell to be somewhat of a threat.

But it refused to admit that such a small human child could be a threat.

The same applied to Titus as well.

Even though Arvell didn't want to put too much trust in another person, especially someone he only met yesterday, he was sure Titus would be able to pull his own weight if a fight broke out.

From what he'd seen so far, he'd be a powerful asset, to say the least.

So the person who could call for help was none other than the girl he'd rescued twice earlier.

"Hey? We might die here!"

Arvell was getting nervous.

He was confident he could still escape if they were pushed into a corner, but he would need to reveal the existence of his wings.

There was a high probability someone else would see if he tried to fly away.

It would only be downhill from there.

He would be kept as a lab rat and experimented on; that was only the best-case scenario.

The response that Arvell instead got from the girl was quite murmuring.

He turned in with his ears to try to hear her more clearly.

"...flower of burning…."

Arvell began to feel a heat emanating from behind him.

'Why the h*ll is she casting magic now? She's nowhere near strong enough to beat it!"

Arvell took a peek from the corner of his eye.

The girl had a somewhat crazed look as she stared at the beast.

'Sh*t, she lost her mind!'

"...crimson… Fire!"

The girl finished her chant and fired a fireball at the towering beast.

However, before the fireball could reach it, the snake tilted its body slightly, letting the fireball soar past it and hit a neighbouring tree.

Despite the tree being alive, the part it hit burst into flames.

Magical fires were generally more potent and hotter than typical fires.

While it might be hard for a newbie magician to do much damage from a wide-scale point of view, it was not too hard to burn a tree if hit.

This is why fire magic was usually not used in forests; after all, forest fires were a hazard to the caster and everyone in the vicinity.

'This stupid girl! We just got out of one forest fire, and here she goes starting another one!'

"No way… It won't hit… I-I will die…."

The girl collapsed onto her knees and looked at the beast with pure terror.

Using the girl's feeble state to its advantage, the snake tilted its head back and spat a green glob of goo at the collapsed female.

Watching the approaching green clump, Arvell felt a sense of immediate danger.

"Get out of the way!"

Arvell pulled the girl with him as he jumped back, letting the goo sail past his face.

The goo missed them and hit a tree behind them, melting a hole straight through it and the several other trees behind it.

'That looks like it's some kind of acid… Stomach acid, perhaps? It'll spell certain death if any of us get hit by it.'

Arvell felt sweat form down the back of his neck.

He turned his head to the snake, realizing it wasn't where it was before.

In fact….

All he could see was a black void.

'Oh, sh*t.' Arvell cussed inwardly

"Gulp"