The SSS Ranked Villain's Return - Chapter 145

Chapter 145: Lurkers
[Dreamspire – 8th Floor Hard Mode: Room of Silence]

[Objective: Do not let out a sound and kill the being hunting you before it can kill you. Time limit: 15 → 5 minutes]

[Status: Started]

Started? No wonder. Neraxis glanced to the side, seeing the faint silhouette of another person present. It’s supposed to be a lurker monster, but now I’m not even sure.

If he were to go about it using the usual approach, he’d simply dash in and kill it.

However, the objective was to remain silent—if he made a sound, the beings surrounding this floor would eat him alive.

Or that’s what I read anyway… Someone made a sound at the very last second and was attacked but just barely managed to survive after leaving Dreamspire immediately. Neraxis pondered before taking a few slow steps of his own.

Thankfully, Neraxis could eliminate most of the sound by simply covering his feet with {Aura of the Abyss}, since upon making contact with the ground, it practically nullified the sound itself.

[Why don’t you just go ahead and kill it? You know where it is, and from what I’m seeing, it knows where you are too,] Evangeline asked softly.

It’s a stupid trial, and that monster is way too annoying to fight. But yes, that’s my plan. Neraxis replied, and as he did, he halted, nearly hitting the edge of the room.

10 meters by 10 meters… That’s very little. He thought and looked back toward the silhouette before trying to walk toward it.

Yet as he did, it walked back, avoiding him.

It was frustrating because it could simply drag out the time. However, Neraxis would be a bit more proactive than that.

Narrowing his eyes, he used {Eve of Ruin: Mark of Destruction}.

As he did, a swirling silver orb appeared around the lurker, and as it did, Neraxis proceeded to use one of the skills he hadn’t used in a while.

{Crimson Sovereignty: Shadow Mantle}

It made him nearly invisible while at the same time giving him a movement speed boost as well as immunity to physical attacks for 5 seconds.

At the same time, each of his attacks inflicted the {Blinding} curse.

Now, while Neraxis could not see the lurker’s face, he could definitely tell it was confused, as for just a single moment, it looked away from him.

Therefore, he took this chance to silently approach.

Appearing right behind the lurker as his skill was about to end, Neraxis brought his sword forward and neatly stabbed it through the throat.

[1x (C+ Ranked Monster) Shadow Lurker Slain! Reward: Stigmata 11.14% → 11.17%]

That’s it? Neraxis thought, watching as the completely black body collapsed toward the ground before dissipating.

He had done what he needed to do, and quite easily at that.

However, for some reason, the trial hadn’t ended, and the timer was still actively ticking down.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a shiver ran down Neraxis’s spine. As he turned, he noticed a tall figure standing in the corner.

In the next moment, the figure vanished, only leaving a faint trace of its glowing red eyes staring at him, but even they soon disappeared.

Which monster was that? he pondered warily.

[Abyss Lurker, I assume,] Evangeline commented plainly. [It’s a step above the one you just killed, and frankly, its stealth is unparalleled.]

I can see that. Neraxis nodded and focused deeply.

If he could sense it, then he could kill it—simple as that.

However, no matter how far he stretched out his mana in this 10-meter-by-10-meter room, no one triggered his senses.

But for a fact, Neraxis knew someone was there.

[2:04]

[2:03]

And I need to find them fast.

Before he could search further, however, Neraxis suddenly felt a prick in his left forearm, and as he looked down, he noticed his hand was completely lopped off at the wrist.

Instead of panicking, he was overjoyed—as, after all, his {Minor Reflect} skill, which was practically invisible in a fight, now showed its use.

The moment the monster had attacked him, he returned 5% of the damage dealt to it.

He glanced down and noticed a small trail of black blood leading to a particular corner.

Found you. Neraxis smirked, and in the short moment of the monster’s surprise, he used {Sword Dash}, appearing right in front of the lanky yet tall monster.

It attempted to evade by slipping into the shadows, but for some odd reason, the injury Neraxis had redirected back onto the monster, made the blood not stop pouring.

Therefore, as it disappeared and reappeared, Neraxis swung his sword down and, with a clean slice through its entire body, severed the lurker in half.

[1x (B Ranked Monster) Abyss Lurker Slain! Reward: Stigmata 11.17% → 11.37%]

In an instant, the system messages fell.

[Dreamspire – 8th Floor Hard Mode: Room of Silence – Complete]

[Climber: Neraxis Valen]

[8th Floor Rating Generating…]

[Rating Generated: SSS-]

[Position: 69,221,028 → 58,992,337]

[Current Progress: 8/? Floors]

[Dreamspire – 9th Floor Hard Mode: City Defense – Available]

[Do you wish to enter?]

[Yes/No]

He held off on entering for now. Instead, Neraxis focused on the black blood flowing from the lanky, disgusting creature he had just killed.

Is there no other… you know… solution? he asked, hesitant.

[Well, unless you want to wait 30 minutes for your {Unyielding Vitality} perk to restore your hand, I suggest you take a sip,] Evangeline replied with a giggle. [Besides, your partial vampire taste buds will filter it to some kind of fruit.]

I really hope you’re right, Neraxis expressed with a sigh and bent down before taking a single sip of blood off the ground.

While it was disgusting and, frankly, he felt like he would never get used to it, the regenerative properties more than made up for it.

However…

“Ugh… fuck…” Neraxis nearly vomited upon drinking it, but at least his hand was healed.

Fruit my ass.

[Hehe…] Evangeline giggled teasingly. [Well, you will face worse in the future, so just get used to it.]

Right… He straightened his back and placed his attention back on the clearing message.

Without further hesitation, he pressed “Yes.”

[Dreamspire – 9th Floor Hard Mode: City Defense]

[Objective: Defend the city of Atrios from the onslaught of monsters. Time limit: 1 hour → 6 hours]

[Failure Condition: More than 50% → 25% of the civilians die; The Saint gets killed]

[Status: Initializing…]

This is a bit different than what I read? Neraxis tilted his head.

So far, there hadn’t been many irregularities, only the occasional minor differences.

However, now there was a whole city to defend from what was supposed to be a mere village.

Added to that was the failure condition of the Saint being killed—something that hadn’t existed in the information online either.

While the trial was initializing, Neraxis was surprisingly able to walk around and take in the sights.

The city was slowly loading in, and with that, he noticed how medieval it looked.

Castles, massive estates, carriages.

Everything one could imagine from a medieval world.

But that was not all, as in the far distance, he saw a massive group of people gathered in front of one particular building.

The church.

Neraxis jumped onto a nearby roof and dashed closer until eventually, he overlooked the entire horde of people.

In the very middle was a statue, and beside it was a beautiful golden-haired woman dressed in a white robe, seemingly praying to the statue.

So that’s the Saint. Neraxis deduced, and soon, the ground began rumbling, followed by:

[Status: Monster Horde Incoming!]

[Protect the Saint!]