Reborn As A Nephilim: The Rise of A Manaless Prince

'Are you an idiot?'

Arvell was snapped out of his thoughts by a familiar voice.

Lykos, materializing next to Arvell, glared at him as if he wanted to slap some sense into him.

'Who are you, and what did you do with Arvell? The last time I checked, the kid I trained was as fearless as he was intelligent. He certainly wasn't some mopey idiot.'

Arvell felt enraged at Lykos's words.

First, he had to hear Lillianna's words, but now he had to deal with Lykos verbally blasting him?

If Arvell wasn't pissed before, he indeed was now.

'What the hell are you talking about, Lykos?'

Lykos slapped his palm onto his forehead and glared at Arvell.

'The fact that you can't even tell this much is beyond pitiful. To think that someone I personally taught ended up this stupid.'

'Stop dodging my question and going in circles! Just tell me what you're talking about!'

Arvell Glared at Lykos, but Lillianna wasn't looking at him at the moment, so she didn't quite catch that.

She was looking at the wall on the other side of the hallway with a forlorn expression.

Knowing that his words were going nowhere, Lykos decided that the only way to get through to Arvell was, to be frank about the whole situation.

'If you take one good look at her, you can tell just how true her words are. Arvell, your countries had a war, for crying out loud! If it was known that she still cared about a prince from an enemy country, what would happen to her image as royalty? Serious, the normal you would have already thought of something this simple ages ago.'

Arvell paused briefly as he cleared his mind of his residual thoughts.

After thinking about Lykos's words, Arvell couldn't help but agree with his mentor.

It was so obvious it was practically glaring him in the face, but his emotions had clouded his judgement.

Arvell wanted to punch himself.

'You're right, Lykos… I-I don't know what happened to me.'

Lykos's rigid eased a little as he shook his head.

Despite berating Arvell quite harshly, Lykos could understand where he was coming from.

For someone who had pretty much closed off his heart like Arvell, the thought that one of the few remaining people he cared about hated him was too hard to bear.

One of the few remaining reasons for him to live would have disappeared as if it was a lie.

Arvell could still remember the moment he was stabbed by the assassins and his undying desire to see her once more.

Although he knew the chance still existed that she might have changed entirely from the Lily he once knew, he wanted to reject that possibility no matter what.

But instead of using his brain, he let his emotions do the thinking.

'To think I of all people had a weakness like this… I who wouldn't bat an eye when slaughtering countless lives.'

Lykos smiled slightly.

'Remember, you're still just a 13-year-old kid. While you've been acting like an idiot, this is normal for people your age. But, unfortunately, you can't live out your childhood like an ordinary kid. You simply don't have that kind of liberty… Every moment is precious.'

Inwardly Lykos thought to himself, 'after all, you need to be ready for when 'they' come….'

Shaking off his rambling thoughts, Lykos continued.

'You can't let your heart be rattled that easily... Furthermore, believe in Lily. You two used to have an unbreakable bond. I personally witnessed it from the amulet. Is that really all the faith you have in her?'

Arvell froze at Lykos's words and looked at Lillianna, and noticed the pained expression she was hiding beneath her smiling facade.

What seemed so confusing and complicated then suddenly felt so clear.

Forming a fist with his hand Arvell punched himself in the face.

(SMACK)

Arvell didn't hold back either, leaving a red knuckle-shaped imprint on his cheek.

"Eh?"

Lillianna snapped her kneck at the loud bang, only to see Arvell's slightly swollen cheek.

"A-are you ok?"

Lips curving up slightly, Arvell nodded.

"I am now."

Lillianna looked at him with evident confusion.

"Why did you punch yourself? That looks like it stung quite a bit."

"I needed to focus my thoughts. Something like this was needed to wake me up."

Before Lillianna could continue asking him questions, Arvell decided he might change the topic.

"By the way, do you know any beast tamers with slimes as pets?"

Lillianna tilted her head, perplexed by Arvell's question.

"A slime? I don't. Why do you ask?"

"I thought that it would be nice to have one… Their immense vitality would be quite helpful for combat," Arvell lied.

Lillianna nodded her head in understanding.

"Yeah, I could see their value as pets, but sadly I don't know anyone like that. Sorry about that," Lilianna replied in a slightly apologetic tone.

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

'It seems she doesn't know who the person attacking us is. Either that or the person didn't make their beast pet public knowledge.'

Arvell had hoped to get at least a suspect from Lillianna, but his attempts were futile.

"By the way, on to more pressing matters… We need to find a way out of here."

Arvell pointed down the way he came.

"I saw some strong-looking beasts as I ran down this path, so frankly, it's best to go in the opposite direction."

"Do you think we could climb back up the hole we fell from?" Lillianna asked while trying to hide her quivering hands behind her back.

Arvell could tell she was nervous about climbing due to her fear of heights.

Shaking his head, he replied, "the beasts chasing me might still be there. So it's probably not safe."

"I-I see…"

Lillianna wanted to breathe out a sigh of relief, but the thought of being stuck with no way out forced her to hold it in.

"We should just head down that pa-"

Just as Arvell was about to finish speaking, he felt Sepis trying to communicate with him.

Connecting his senses with his summoned skeleton, Arvell's eyes narrowed.

He could see a giant blob and many smaller blobs rapidly hopping their way over to Sepis.

'It's already made its way here….'