The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 105: Trailing Aurelia

<Celina: Where are you? I’m on the rooftop. If you don’t come soon, she’ll get out of sight.>

Neraxis read the message and tapped on her shoulder, making her turn around with a shocked expression.

"Really? Thanks for letting me know," he teased.

"...You know stealth techniques?" she asked suspiciously.

"I picked up a thing or two in the past," Neraxis said before glancing downward at Aurelia, who was walking out of the school’s courtyard. "Which car is hers?"

Celina took her eyes away from him and pointed to a white sedan, which seemed much more luxurious than the other cars around.

"She’s pretty rich," he remarked, to which Celina scoffed.

"You’re the one talking. You can probably buy half of this city."

[Modesty, Neraxis, modesty.] Evangeline clicked her tongue a couple of times, but he ignored it.

Because in the next moment, Aurelia entered her car, and before long, both Neraxis and Celina jumped down from the academy’s rooftop, landing on a few light strips and making their way onto a nearby building.

All the while, Aurelia’s car had just begun moving.

Since they were already in a position to track her, they did.

However, aside from her taking a single detour to a convenience store to get herself a bag of candy, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

That was when the white sedan entered a tunnel that typically should have only a single exit on the other side.

Neraxis waited patiently until, finally, the white sedan exited the tunnel.

But it did not take him even a moment to notice that it wasn’t the same one, as the paint job was slightly more matte on this car.

"Celina, that’s a fake. Follow me," Neraxis said urgently before jumping down, surfing along the building toward the tunnel.

Yet the only thing he saw once he arrived was a row of other cars driving as though nothing had happened.

"..." He skeptically looked around, trying to spot something off.

It looked like any ordinary tunnel, decked out with lights to make sure it stayed lit.

However, as he had that thought, he immediately focused on the lights—since even for a tunnel, they were simply too close to the ground.

And soon, Neraxis managed to spot a single light that was a bit dimmer than the others.

"Celina."

"On it," she replied immediately, throwing her dagger at the light.

The moment it made contact, a single brick appeared from the wall, and Neraxis went ahead and pushed it in.

As he did, a whole secret entrance emerged, and ahead was something similar to a metro system—yet instead of train tracks, there was a long cement road leading forward.

"I assume you didn’t go through this entrance on the way to her house?" Neraxis mused out loud.

"...No, I have no clue what this is," Celina replied with a sour look before stepping onto the paved road.

Neraxis followed right after her, and soon, they began jogging ahead.

Yet no matter how far they got, the metro tunnel they were in did not appear to have an end.

Ten minutes, thirty minutes, an hour. Only after one hour did they reach some semblance of an exit.

A single door, which Neraxis approached, exhausted.

However, as he swung it open, what greeted his sight was a completely white corridor with several doors scattered across it.

"What’s this?" Celina stepped forward with curiosity, approaching one of the doors.

But just as she was about to put her hand on the doorknob, Neraxis stopped her.

"Stop. It’s a trap. There’s only one correct door, whereas the rest are decoys."

"Oh, I know." She giggled and placed her hand on the doorknob before turning it. "This is the correct one."

Celina swung the door open, and what appeared before their eyes was something that made them highly concerned.

It was an equally white corridor; however, there were all sorts of syringes and vials scattered all over the ground.

"This is a lab, Celina. Let’s hurry," Neraxis urged as a bad feeling settled in his chest.

There was only a single door ahead of them, and he proceeded to quietly open it by using Aura of the Abyss to melt the door down.

But now, an even more confusing sight appeared before his eyes.

A mansion with a driveway, in which the white sedan from earlier was parked.

"This is her house?" Celina stated, puzzled. "It definitely looks like it, but from what I can see, there are some details that are not exactly the same..."

"A decoy house? Or maybe... the one you’ve been to is a decoy instead..." Neraxis thought as his eyes widened.

However, before he could even ponder further, he summoned his sword, redirecting a spear that had been thrown at him from the mansion.

"Are you okay?" Celina asked, worried.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

And Neraxis swiftly assured, "I’m fine, but that person seems to be pretty strong. Maybe a guardian. Could you enter stealth like you usually do and try to catch them off guard while I fight?"

"Yes... Don’t die." Celina stated and tapped him on the shoulder before disappearing from his sight.

Yet he noticed a particular shadow roaming on the ground, just barely visible due to the fake sun shining from above.

"Pup, do you know this is not the place for you to wander around?" An obnoxiously arrogant voice rang out.

As Neraxis turned toward it, he was greeted by a man with unnatural height—nearly twice his size.

He looked lanky, like some sort of skeleton, and not exactly imposing.

Yet his strength was definitely the real deal.

"You are?" Neraxis questioned, preparing to kill this man as soon as he could.

"You don’t need to know that," the man chuckled. "But I can tell you one thing—you will not be coming out of here alive—"

His words were interrupted as a trickle of blood appeared from the back of his knees, making him nearly topple over.

However, he caught himself in time, looking confused.

Just as he glanced at where Neraxis was a moment ago, he had already disappeared.

"Where did you go, you rat?!" The lanky man shouted, trying to draw Neraxis out.

But before the man could remain enraged any further, Neraxis dropped back down from the sky, sending his sword right at the man’s neck.

It cut—but did not cut it off for some reason—which made Neraxis momentarily halt due to his sword being stuck in the man’s neck.

And in that one moment, the man was able to grab hold of Neraxis, holding him with great strength as he threatened to crush his much smaller body.

"Hahahaha! See? You couldn’t run around like a rat for long, now could you?" The man let out a maniacal laugh.

However, Neraxis did not react, merely staring at the man as though he were some sort of idiot.

"Are you done?" Neraxis questioned, making a frown appear on the man’s face.

"Wha—!"

Before the man could even speak, Neraxis covered a majority of his own body in the Aura of the Abyss, making the man’s hands deteriorate at a rapid rate.

The look of pain was clear on his face as he looked up at the person who did this in horror—just to meet Neraxis’s cold eyes.

"It was fun—for you, probably. Now, where’s Aurelia?"