The Villain Professor's Second Chance

Chapter 145: The Elven Cry (End) The Quest Outcome?

"I bet you didn't see this," the voice, thick with malice, hissed behind us, freezing the air between us with its venom. I felt it before I saw it—an immense, crushing pressure that bore down on my senses, more powerful than anything I'd faced before. Time slowed, or at least it felt that way as my heart lurched into my throat.

"Your Majesty!" The words spilled out of me in a panicked gasp before I could stop them. Instinctively, I whirled around, my twin blades flashing as they met the incoming strike. Steel met flesh with a deafening clang, but even as I deflected the blow, I knew something was wrong. The force behind the attack was overwhelming, a tidal wave of raw power. My body buckled under the strain.

And then, the pain hit. Searing, blinding pain shot up my arm, and I felt it—felt the snap, the tearing of muscle and sinew. My arm was gone. Not just injured, gone. Torn from my body in an instant.

I stumbled back, breath hitching, vision blurring for a split second as I tried to process what had just happened. My arm, my right arm, the one that had held the blade—it was no longer there. Blood poured from the gaping wound, soaking my armor and staining the earth beneath me. The world seemed to tilt for a moment, a dizzying rush of panic threatening to consume me.

But I couldn't afford to give in. Not now.

I forced myself to stand straight, teeth gritted against the pain that threatened to drag me under. I had endured worse. My body was broken, yes, but my mind—my will—remained intact. And that was what mattered. I wasn't going to fall here. Not now, not ever.

The demon stood before us, towering, grotesque, its skin a mass of shifting, molten shadows. Its eyes gleamed with malevolent glee, the satisfaction of a predator who knew it had wounded its prey. But I could also see it—arrogance. The demon thought the fight was already over.

Big mistake.

"You think losing an arm is enough to stop me?" I hissed, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. I could feel the blood pooling in my boots, the cold sensation creeping up my side, but I shoved the pain to the back of my mind. I was too cold, too focused for pain to stop me. If anything, it only sharpened my senses, made me more aware of the battle at hand.

My mind raced, calculating every movement, every breath.

The queen—Aurelia—stood beside me, her eyes wide with shock. But it wasn't fear that filled her gaze. No, it was something far more dangerous: fury. The air around her seemed to crackle with raw energy as her rage boiled over, mana flooding through her veins like a storm barely contained.

Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword so tightly her knuckles turned white, and I could see the power building in her, coiling and twisting like a living thing, begging to be unleashed.

"Dravis..." she whispered, her voice low, dangerous. Then louder, "You... dare..."

The ground beneath her feet trembled, small cracks splintering out from where she stood, and then, with a roar of unbridled rage, she lunged forward, her sword igniting with a brilliant flash of light.

Her attack was ferocious—wild, unrestrained. A storm of energy that slammed into the demon with the force of a hurricane. She moved like a force of nature, her blade slicing through the air with deadly precision, each strike accompanied by an explosion of mana that rocked the earth. The demon staggered under the onslaught, snarling as it raised its own weapons to block her strikes.

But even as I watched her fight, I could see it—Aurelia was powerful, immensely so, but her attacks lacked the efficiency needed to land a decisive blow. She was wasting mana, pouring too much power into each swing, draining herself without realizing it. Her movements, though skilled, were erratic, uncoordinated. She was driven by anger, and while that gave her strength, it also made her vulnerable.

I had to act. Now.

Ignoring the pulsing pain in my arm—or lack of it—I pushed forward, sidestepping just as Aurelia's sword clashed with the demon's claws. My body screamed in protest as I moved, but I kept going, every motion precise, every calculation cold and deliberate. The demon was focused on her now, its attention locked on the queen as it tried to overpower her with brute strength.

And that was its mistake.

I surged forward, ducking under one of Aurelia's wild strikes as I slipped behind the demon. Its back was exposed for a split second, just enough time for me to act. I raised my remaining blade, summoning every ounce of strength I had left, and drove it into the demon's neck with a force that shook my bones.

The demon howled, its voice a guttural screech that reverberated through the clearing. Black blood sprayed from the wound, coating my armor and face in a sticky, burning mess. The force of the blow sent a jolt of pain up my arm, but I didn't let go. I twisted the blade deeper, feeling the crunch of bone as it sank further into the demon's flesh.

For a moment, I thought I had won.

But then the demon laughed.

The sound was low and cold, sending a shiver down my spine. The demon's burning eyes flickered with something almost resembling pity as it slowly turned its head toward me, the wound in its neck already beginning to close.

"All for nothing," it hissed, its voice like the rasp of rusted metal. "It's all for vain."

My breath hitched, dread creeping into the pit of my stomach.

The demon raised a hand, pointing past us, toward the heart of the elven kingdom. "Look."

I followed its gaze, my eyes widening in horror.

The kingdom. It was ablaze. Flames rose high into the sky, black smoke curling upward in thick, suffocating clouds. The forest, the trees, the homes of the elves—it was all burning. In the distance, I could hear the faint cries of the dying, the clash of steel, the roar of demons tearing through what remained of the elven defenses.

"It's all burnt now," the demon whispered, its voice filled with dark satisfaction. "All your efforts… wasted."

And then, before I could even process the gravity of what had just happened, a familiar chime echoed in my ears. My blood ran cold as a blue screen appeared before me, its words sharp and unyielding.

[The Quest Failed. Respawning the user.]

I blinked, my mind reeling. No. No, this wasn't possible. The quest—Aurelia—it wasn't over. It couldn't be over.

I glanced at her, and saw the same realization dawn on her face. Her eyes locked with mine, wide with disbelief, with horror.

[The Quest Failed.]

The words repeated in my mind, relentless. The weight of them crashed down on me, heavy and unforgiving.

For a split second, time seemed to stand still. The demon before us, the burning kingdom, Aurelia's shock—it all faded into the background. All I could see, all I could think of, were those words. Those damn words.

Respawning the user.

The screen flickered, and I felt it—felt the world around me start to dissolve. My body, my mind, everything was unraveling, being pulled apart by some unseen force. My grip on reality loosened, and before I could even react, I was gone.

Nothingness.

That's all there was. A vast, empty void that stretched out in every direction. No light, no sound. Just… emptiness.

I floated in the abyss, disoriented, unsure of where I was or what had happened. My thoughts scattered, my memories fraying at the edges as the nothingness swallowed me whole. For a moment, I wondered if this was death. If I had failed so completely that there was no coming back. No second chance.

But then, slowly, reality began to piece itself back together.

The void gave way to something more tangible. The cold sensation of stone beneath my feet, the faint smell of smoke in the air. My senses returned one by one, sluggish and out of sync, but slowly, they settled into place. I blinked, squinting against the sudden brightness that filled my vision.

And then I realized—I was back.

Back where it all began. Stay tuned for updates on m-v l|-NovelBin.net

The same forest clearing, the same burning kingdom in the distance. Everything was exactly as it had been before. But this time, something was different.

I could feel it. A shift in the air, a subtle but undeniable change.

The blue screen flickered in front of me once more.

[Respawn complete. Proceed with caution.]

I clenched my jaw, my mind racing. Respawn. That's what had happened. The quest had failed, and I had been brought back to try again. But how many times would this cycle repeat? How many times would I watch the elven kingdom burn before I figured out how to win?

Then the realization struck me.

"Does the queen,"

"Does the queen experience this every time she entered this kind of quest?"