The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 112: A Faraway Howl

"Got a plan, Neraxis?" Eris asked. "Run, perhaps? You can be bait while I run away—how does that sound?"

"You can run away if you want. I’m going to stay and kill them regardless." Neraxis shrugged and prepared himself.

There were too many to count; therefore, he had to find a way to blitz through them all.

However, as those thoughts settled, he noticed one of the monarchs stepping up and walking toward them.

Neraxis returned the gesture in kind, waving for Eris to stand still while he himself approached the monarch.

The two walked toward each other in silence until, eventually, they were an arm’s length away.

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Immediately, Neraxis could tell what Eris meant when she said he looked like the leader, since the person in front had the same-colored hair and eyes as he did.

As for the facial features, they weren’t that close since...

[Damn, he’s ugly.] Evangeline snickered. [Your face is much prettier than his.]

Right... He shrugged it off and waited for the man to speak up.

Soon, he did. "What are your intentions here? I don’t believe we managed to anger someone of your stature. We tend to act under the radar."

"I’m afraid that’s where you are wrong," Neraxis corrected him. "Your actions have caught someone’s eye, and I’m here to eliminate you."

"...Is that so?" The man frowned. "I had hoped you would not say that, but oh well."

As soon as he finished speaking, Neraxis’s senses flared, and he suddenly backed away from the man.

Yet a disturbing sight greeted him as the man’s body began inflating like a balloon before bursting into pieces, sending shrapnel all around.

Some pieces even managed to pierce Neraxis despite him using {Aura of the Abyss,} but he did not think too much of it.

However, as the last of the shrapnel disappeared, with the man now lying dead on the ground, Neraxis felt an uncomfortable weakness.

Looking down, he spotted a piece of shrapnel embedded in his thigh. The entire area around the wound was turning green—meaning he had been poisoned.

Evangeline, can {Partial Vampirism} dispel poison? he asked urgently.

[If you drink enough blood, then it’s possible,] she explained. [But the amount of blood would be drastic, so—]

Her words were cut off as Neraxis raised his hand, immediately activating {Crimson Sovereignty’s: Blood Sovereignty},

Focusing on the corpse—or what was left of it—in front of him, he managed to make a construct.

[1x Blood Construct Summoned! Type: Utility—Blood Chalice]

Is this enough? he asked, drinking all of the blood from the makeshift chalice before it suddenly shattered.

But it did not take Evangeline replying for him to realize that was nowhere near enough. All it managed to do was momentarily stop the spread.

"Eris, stand up. We are going to kill them all," Neraxis announced urgently.

"Why? Oh... You’re pretty fucked, aren’t you?" She chuckled before growing serious. "But I’ll help you this one time, since you kinda did save my ass."

She’s somewhat reasonable. Great. He remarked and took a deep breath, locking his gaze onto the ballistas in the distance.

A single ballista arrow was shot, but instead of dodging, Neraxis calmly swung his sword down, slashing the arrow in two and greatly startling the remaining monarchs.

They were a suicidal bunch, judging from their leader.

But in the end, they too had survival instincts—which Neraxis planned to exploit.

Before their eyes, he vanished as he locked onto an animal off in the distance and used {Sword Dash}.

A few had taken notice, as some were just barely able to track his speed, but before they could announce anything, he ran up to them—slicing upward and severing their bodies in two.

Just as Neraxis did that, the rest grew alert, turning their ballistas toward him.

However, before they could shoot, the ones manning the ballistas were suddenly killed—steel arrows embedded in their backs.

Nice. Neraxis praised Eris inwardly, and in the moment of weakness, he went ahead and killed the people in the very front.

His sword cleaved them in half far too easily, making him feel a bit strange.

It was different from that time in Seraphina’s world, where he had to truly fight to survive with nothing but scraps on the ground.

But he did learn one thing from that day, and it was control.

The amount of strength necessary to end someone’s life—with his current sword, he overestimated, making his slashes sloppy.

However, with this new knowledge, Neraxis was able to accurately slice through each person, deflecting attacks and redirecting them to the sides.

It did not take long for their numbers to dwindle from thousands to mere hundreds.

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From time to time, he used {Simple Horizontal Slash} as well as {Simple Stab}, cutting them down even faster.

But as time went on, with Eris supporting him, Neraxis noticed something was off.

They were not fighting back—not anymore, at least.

Soon, he found out the reason why, as a howl echoed through the entire forest, making each and every person present freeze up.

Neraxis took this chance to end their lives, absorbing their blood in the process.

After just a few more kills, it seemed like the poison was fully out of his system, and the only thing left now was to find out what that howling was.

However, before Neraxis could do that, he felt someone grab his leg.

Looking down, he saw the person he had just killed staring up at him with dread in their eyes.

That was not all—as the remaining people who were supposed to be dead arose from the ground again.

The same applied to those he had killed at the very start as well, as they seemed to circle Eris.

They were raised from the dead? Neraxis thought with widened eyes. It would explain his Stigmata’s progress not moving at all.

But he noticed one interesting thing in particular—the hyena symbol on their jackets’ backs was emitting a white hue.

Temporarily alive, he deduced. With the use of mana, someone managed to revive them for a short moment. In the meantime, the one behind this would escape... I got my next target.

Just as he thought that, Neraxis swung down, slicing the head off the monarch in front of him.

Yet that did not seem to do much, as his head immediately regenerated, and the monarch began clawing at him like some sort of zombie.

Avoiding them and dashing over to Eris, he spoke. "They are all dead. We need to find the one behind this."

"Hmm? Yeah? Which way did the howl come from?" she asked, puzzling him.

Neraxis thought for a moment before pointing west. "I’m pretty positive it’s that way."

"Wrong. It was from the north," Eris corrected him with a smug smile. "Don’t worry, though—I set up a few traps that would make a sound when triggered. I expected to chase you down that way, so I... Yeah."

Left a bit speechless, Neraxis nodded and turned north. "Are you coming? You know where the traps are, after all."

"Do I have to? Ugh, fine," she replied hesitantly, and the two immediately jumped onto a tree before leaping across several branches, trying to reach the edge of the forest.

Soon, they did, and what greeted their sight was a small elevated platform with a single black throne in the middle, sending shivers down Neraxis’s spine.

But even more so was the individual sitting in that throne.

A man with a hyena mask, staring off into the woods, unaware of the two above him.

Is that...?