The SSS Ranked Villain's Return - Chapter 141

Chapter 141: New Skill And Changes
“This is…” Neraxis turned toward her as she teasingly smiled at him.

“You guessed it.” Evangeline shrugged before standing up and putting on a robe. “It’s a skill that will allow me to be with you more often.”

[Body Manifestation {B}]

[Skill Description: Allows the wielder to manifest any soul into being temporarily.]

[Skill Effects (1/1): Manifest Body (Active): Manifest the soul’s true body into existence for a short duration. The predetermined soul is (Evangeline Noctis) and will be summoned if the wielder uses the skill.]

– Cooldown: 7 days

– Duration: 12 Hours

“I know… but—”

She cut him off. “You can’t bring me back fully just yet. You would need to find my body first, and that’s nowhere to be seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s burned…”

“I see…” Neraxis replied sourly.

Nonetheless, with this skill, even if only for 12 hours every week, he’d be able to be with Evangeline in the outside world.

“Does this summon the body you had right before you died?” Neraxis asked.

However, she merely shook her head. “If you mean strength-wise, then it’s a big no. I’ll be around the same strength as you, C+ rank. Just think of it as either summoning a decently strong ally… or, well…” She looked him up and down teasingly. “For other purposes…”

[Time Until Forceful Ejection: 15 Seconds]

“Looks like our time is nearly up,” Evangeline said with a sigh, her legs still wobbling. “For someone who’s never done it before, you sure can move your hips, can’t you?”

Neraxis chuckled and did a short stretch.

“I’ll see you later, Evangeline. I need to go clear the 10th floor now,” he said, and she merely waved at him before, finally, he reappeared back in Celina’s hiding place, sitting on the mattress.

He was half-expecting it to be soaked, as though from a wet dream, but thankfully, that was not the case.

Therefore, he slowly made his way toward Dreamspire again.

Yet his thoughts were still a little shaken from what he had seen earlier.

Since if Lagus had indeed destroyed the tower and now it was merely holding on by a thread, then what would await Neraxis once he finally climbed to the very top?

Even more so, why did Lagus not use those Administrator Edicts to bring himself back to the past and fix all that could have gone wrong himself?

After all, he was able to come back in his true form when he went back in time, which should likely not have been possible.

Either way, as Neraxis approached the tower once again, he realized he had nearly forgotten about his main skill. Therefore, he swiftly checked it out.

[Eve of Ruin {E}] → [Eve of Ruin {B}]

[Skill Description: Harness the power of Ruin. Some options have been unlocked due to the user gaining access to their origin.]

[Skill Effects (1/3): Mark of Destruction (Active)]

[You can mark up to 3 → 5 enemies within a 50 → 100-meter radius. Each marked target is inflicted with the Decaying debuff.]

[While the mark is active, all damage dealt to marked targets is increased by 20%.]

– Detonate Mark of Destruction: Instantly triggers the cumulative damage from the 5 most powerful attacks inflicted on all marked targets. The detonation also applies a secondary explosion, dealing 50% → 75% of the total damage dealt to all other enemies within a 15-meter radius. The mark ends immediately after detonation.

– Mark Cooldown: 15 Minutes (5 Minutes per Charge)

– Detonate Cooldown: 6 Hours → 2 Hours

[(NEW) Skill Effects (2/3): Dawn of Ruin (Active): Take the form of absolute ruin.]

– Cooldown: 1 Second

– Duration: 1 Minute

– Cost: +5% Body Compatibility

[Skill Effects (3/3): Ruinous Aura (Passive): Each strike inflicts the Ruin debuff.]

[Debuff – Decaying: Each attack against the target has a low → moderate → high chance to remove a beneficial effect and temporarily disable healing. Each attack reduces the target’s Movement Speed by 3% → 5% per stack. Stacks up to 5 times. The debuff lasts as long as the target is being hit; if not hit for more than 45 seconds → 1 minute, the debuff vanishes.]

[Debuff – Ruin: Each attack against the target inflicts 1% of their current HP as True Damage.]

Reading the description and noticing the new option, as well as the removal of Mark of Decay, a frown couldn’t help but appear on Neraxis’s face.

So in turn for giving me great strength, he wants to progressively take my body… What a joke, he thought and walked up to the guard from earlier.

“Huh? You again? I thought you—”

“Just scan me in. I don’t want to waste too much time,” Neraxis cut him off, not paying much attention to the guard, who was startled by his change in demeanor.

“Okay… here.” The guard scanned him in, and Neraxis soon made his way over to the massive door before placing his hand on it.

[Registered Climber: Neraxis Valen]

[Position: 172,331,771]

[Records: Astral Tower – 2/12]

[Dreamspire – 6th Floor Hard Mode: Hollow Ascent]

[Objective: Climb the mountain while fending off a horde of monsters.]

[Status: Initializing…]

Sounds simple enough, Neraxis thought as his vision finally focused on the surroundings.

He was standing on a snowy surface, and in front of him was a massive mountain.

The problem? He couldn’t even see the very top of it as it shot straight through the clouds.

At the same time, Neraxis spotted a few of the monsters in question, and each was much stronger than he was expecting.

Shadow Panthers, C- Rank. Goliath Worms, C Rank. And even Frost Wyverns, B- Rank.

There were more monsters, but all of them were weak, and he did not even need to worry about them.

After all, Neraxis was unsure of his current strength, and while it wasn’t as high as it was back in the past, it certainly came close.

To think that I caught up to myself in less than a month… No, in less than two years. He chuckled. After all, he had spent a year and a half inside the Fifth Floor.

Nonetheless, the trial would start soon, and since the enemies were scaled up to his rank, Neraxis was expecting to face at least a tiny amount of trouble.

[10 Seconds Remaining Until The Sixth Floor’s Trial Begins]

So all I have to do is climb the mountain and avoid some monsters, huh? Seems simple enough, Neraxis thought with a smirk, and soon, the trial started.

Yet before he could even take a step, an ice javelin the size of a truck flew toward him at a speed that gave him barely enough time to dodge.

It seemed to have fallen from the top of the mountain, and as Neraxis glanced above, he spotted several more ice javelins raining down, narrowly missing the incoming monsters.

“Haha…” Neraxis let out a laugh. At least this floor doesn’t have a time limit.

With that, he took the first step onto the mountain, feeling himself immediately slip.

However, by infusing his foot with {Aura of the Abyss}, he was able to melt the ice and gain a solid foothold before stepping again.

While the mountain was steep, the only reason it had been an issue was the ice. Since he eliminated that problem, Neraxis found the climb much easier.

But just as those thoughts faded, one of the Frost Wyverns approached him, and he absentmindedly took out his sword before swinging down.

Without using a skill, he created a compact gust of air that sliced the Wyvern in half before even making contact.

[1x (B- Ranked Monster) Frost Wyvern Slain! Reward: Stigmata 0% → 0.1%]

That’s pretty low for such a monster… Evangeline?

[Yeah… I told you it would be more difficult the more seals you release,] she replied plainly.

Neraxis could only grumble at the change before continuing up the mountain.

Yet as he neared the clouds, the monsters that had been chasing him earlier soon stopped, and as he thought the trial was nearly over, a new pair of monsters greeted him.

“Screee!”