The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 346: Departure, And Next Area

Conflict swirled inside Neraxis’s mind, but he had to deal with the matter at hand first.

And of course, that matter was none other than the Eternal Sin, Lagus.

"Say... you did this on purpose, didn’t you?" Neraxis asked calmly. "Remind me of that... past."

Lagus tilted his head. "You shouldn’t be able to remember that. I wiped your memory."

"Before or after I was killed?" Neraxis asked. "Because as I recall, you dodged, and Delta killed me."

"Pfft..." Lagus held back a laugh. "Little child, you should know better than that. As long as I stand, you can never die. You’re just as immortal as the rest of us higher beings."

Neraxis’s brows furrowed, yet as he was about to reply, Lagus suddenly raised his hand.

He was expecting another attack to come. However, after several seconds, Lagus merely chuckled.

"My time here is up, and I’m honestly pretty disappointed," Lagus said. "You’re strong, sure. Definitely stronger than your other counterparts. You might even be able to expel a fragment of my consciousness from your body. But even so, you won’t even be able to defeat the Sovereigns. They are way too powerful, and they have it out for both you and me."

With those words, Lagus slowly began to fade away, flashing that same annoying smug grin as always.

And soon, he was gone.

Neraxis was left standing and in deep thought.

For one, he had an inkling that he and Lagus were connected in some way. But definitely not in a way that was so deep.

Now not only did it seem like Lagus was his original father, but he also had a hand in Neraxis’s past revivals.

He could clearly recall that during most of his lifetimes, he wanted to kill the Eternal Sin.

Of course, he failed miserably, but each time, new information was gained. Attack patterns, strengths, and an apparent lack of weaknesses.

But just now, Neraxis had obtained a weakness. It was very vague, and he couldn’t exactly understand it fully.

However, contracts were something he was aware of because of his interactions with the demons.

In his previous life, Neraxis had gone inside many demonic rifts. Each of those rifts had a final boss that gave the people a choice.

Fight, or sign a contract for a portion of the demon’s power.

So if Neraxis were to go off that logic, then he’d guess Lagus had offered something of himself to those he had signed a contract with.

It’s not a permanent contract from what I can tell... at most, the people borrow his power until they die. So roughly 70 or 80 years. Now if he shared a lot, then... Neraxis trailed off with a sigh.

He had one too many ideas in his mind right now, and not enough time to go through them all.

Even if Lagus was gone for the time being, he had the other Sovereigns to deal with.

In particular...

The Sovereign of Pride, who is likely waiting for us in the temple we’re going to, Neraxis thought. I’m not sure if I can beat him. He’s old, and... I guess so am I...? He’s a bit more experienced in combat, though.

Just as he was about to ponder further, a pair of footsteps resounded from behind him, prompting Neraxis to turn around.

And of course, there were two people walking toward him—Evangeline and Jane.

Evangeline stepped up, stopping right in front of him with a worried look.

"I saw..." she muttered. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm... I don’t really know, to be honest," Neraxis replied. "Deep down I always knew it was a possibility, but—"

Evangeline cut him off with a warm hug.

A faint smile appeared on his face as he gave her a peck on the lips and returned the embrace.

A few minutes passed as they embraced each other, until finally, Jane cleared her throat, making them back away from one another.

"I don’t know what happened between you and that weird monster, but please, let’s just keep going, okay?" Jane pleaded. "We’ve already wasted so much time."

"Of course." Neraxis chuckled, then delivered a peck on Evangeline’s forehead and finally began following after Jane.

He wasn’t sure where they were going this time, but at least there were no more monsters.

No watermelons, and definitely no more Lagus’s.

After what felt like hours, they finally arrived at some sort of clearing where there was once again snow.

"Don’t tell me..." Evangeline muttered, her expression cracking. "Small tits... did we just loop around?"

"Of course not." Jane shook her head. "This next area is a test of elements, you could say. There’s the cold, the heat, bad terrain, and I guess terrible air as well."

Neraxis tilted his head. That sounds very similar to the trial I had undergone in Dreamspire’s initial floors.

"Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, Neraxis," Evangeline said with a chuckle. "And I think most of what we’re going to see in the future floors is going to revolve around what we saw in the first ten tutorial floors."

"I said no more wasting time," Jane added with a sigh. "Let’s go. This one is the easiest of them all."

With those words, Jane stepped into the new area.

Evangeline and Neraxis followed, and their legs immediately sank into the snow, reaching up to their knees.

Yet as they glanced toward Jane, they were met with a giggle.

"Yeah, you’re supposed to use mana here if you don’t want to sink into the snow," Jane added and began skipping forward.

"What about the mana rules? You know... those mana-eating pests you mentioned?"

"They disappeared three zones ago," Jane replied. "Now the only thing you have to worry about is survival. And I’m sure that’s going to be easy for you two vampires since you can just drink each other’s blood, yes?"

The two flinched, then looked at each other.

"Well... she isn’t wrong..." Evangeline muttered as a faint blush appeared on her face. "And it’s been so long since we did any blood foreplay..."

"No foreplay!" Jane interjected as she ran up to them and picked them up by their collars.

She raised them into the air and placed them onto the snow.

But not before giving them another scolding.

"Stop acting like horny dogs. Let’s go."