The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 77: Dreamspire’s Enhanced Floor 1

As the last of the messages fell, Neraxis soon found himself positioned in the middle of a massive gladiator arena.

It was much larger than the one Magnus described; nonetheless, he would remain vigilant.

That’s because the trial increased in difficulty—the time he needed to survive doubled. Moreover, it was likely the monsters had increased in rank as well.

First things first—he would enable the Aura of the Abyss perk, immediately shrouding himself in that murky, obsidian-like energy that seemed to affect the space slightly.

It was the perfect time to try it all out.

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

Brushing the system notification aside, he confidently summoned his sword as Evangeline cheered him on.

[Go get them! If you do, I’ll prepare a special surprise the next time we see each other.]

The cheering was a bit too effective, as he flinched at her words. Evangeline... you really have no filter.

[Huh? I’d give you a better skill, of course.] She added in a playfully puzzled voice, [Were you expecting something else?]

Nevermind... he sighed, and soon, the timer ran out.

As it did, he could already spot a horde of monsters appearing, yet thankfully, there weren’t many types.

Simple E-ranked Dire Wolves that looked nearly identical to the ones in the Astral Tower, Goblins—which were, of course, just green gremlins that posed barely any threat—and the troublesome Venomous Wasps—quite a few of them Mini-Boss-level threats. The same went for Demonic Imps, as the sheer number of them would likely not be pleasant to deal with.

Yet the most dangerous monsters were the Troll Scouts, massive dark-blue creatures that could seemingly crush anyone with their sheer size.

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And their regeneration is unbelievable too... Neraxis grumbled and took a deep breath before proceeding forward.

For now, he would use some simple skills and save the more effective ones for when he actually needed them, so as to not exhaust himself early on.

Neraxis steadily approached, locking onto the ones who would prove to be annoying in a drawn-out fight: the Venomous Wasps.

Jumping upward, he made them shoot out their stingers while at the same time using Sword Dash to appear beside them, cleaving six of them in half.

Yet it was not over, as soon, a pair of goblins nearby started barreling toward him.

Before they could get too close, he extended his blackened-out arm forward and pierced through them, as if they weren’t even there.

The goblins didn’t bleed—their wounds cauterized instantly—as they fell lifelessly, their bodies slowly deteriorating.

[That’s a bit...] Evangeline exclaimed with a hint of hesitance. [It’s a bit dangerous. You should definitely not use it around people—or learn how to control it, I don’t even know.]

Well, that’s obvious. Neraxis nodded back at her and proceeded to stretch out his mana a tad around him, making it easier to use his Intelligence stat, which greatly increased his perception.

At the current moment, his mana usage was very limited, but when he began training it, the efficiency would increase drastically.

Noticing that he was starting to get circled by the Goblins and Venomous Wasps, Neraxis used Simple Horizontal Slash, making a small dent in their formation.

Yet it was enough for him to slip through and run to the other side of the massive gladiator arena.

The Troll Scouts and Dire Wolves had yet to make their move, seemingly standing by as the timer ticked down—14 minutes remaining.

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By his estimations, he had managed to kill at least 100 monsters so far, which, by his standards, was still pretty low.

Therefore, it was about time he decided to try something more reckless.

After all, his second perk, Unyielding Vitality, should be more than enough to guarantee his survivability.

Soon, Neraxis dashed back into the crowd, vertically slashing a few wasps while simultaneously using his sword as a baseball bat to send their stingers at the remaining Venomous Wasps.

Even then, the numbers seemed endless, increasing with each passing moment.

Nonetheless, it didn’t seem to matter, as each time he got hit and suffered an injury, killing ten monsters seemed to patch it up, his skin mending itself automatically.

However, the most prominent perk was definitely Cosmic Sight, as he could clearly make out the monsters’ weaknesses and swiftly strike at them.

As he did, their bodies crumbled as massive holes appeared in them—the aftereffect of his double vital damage effect.

But for some reason, Neraxis noticed that the numbers began dwindling or simply backing away from him.

That was when a boulder from seemingly nowhere approached, its speed far greater than he had anticipated.

Neraxis used Sword Dash, appearing before a random Goblin and killing it instantly.

Yet as the boulder made impact with the ground, it shook, causing some of the nearby monsters to lose their balance.

Troll Scout... He glanced at the massive monster as it picked up another boulder and soon hurtled it at him.

This time, Neraxis dodged to the side before swiftly making his way over to the monster.

In total, there were three Troll Scouts present, along with a bunch of Dire Wolves—yet they weren’t even attacking.

Though these trolls were ranked D-, their strength likely rivaled C-, while their agility lagged far behind.

Neraxis ran up to the troll and avoided a kick before quickly ducking below it and slashing at the back of its knees.

Immediately, it tumbled down, yet the fall didn’t last long; soon, it began standing up again, the injury he had inflicted seemingly healing.

That was why Neraxis used Mark of Decay, inflicting the Decaying debuff, which he immediately began stacking.

As he did so, the Troll Scout’s regeneration noticeably halted, practically letting him finish it off.

And that’s exactly what Neraxis did—not detonating the mark, but instead jumping on top of the dismembered Troll Scout and bringing the sword down, slicing its head off.

11 minut—

His thoughts were interrupted as, all of a sudden, he felt a push, followed by a burning sensation in his arm—it was caught between the jaws of a Dire Wolf.

The pain only lasted for a moment, as the Dire Wolf’s mouth soon began deteriorating, and it fell lifelessly to the ground.

This is a really great defense. Neraxis nodded to himself, though the downside was its high mana consumption.

To block that single bite and kill the Dire Wolf, it roughly drained 20% of his total mana—the mana he was still barely accessing.

Safe to say, he couldn’t block such attacks frequently.

However, it was starting to become a bit too quiet, as most of the monsters had backed away to the outskirts of the massive arena.

He watched as the clock began counting down, nearing the ten-minute mark.

[10:02]

[10:01]

[10:00]

What now? Neraxis thought, glancing around. He soon froze as, all of a sudden, the massive door he had spotted earlier opened.

From it came a single monster—one even he himself would have trouble fighting.

A giant monster seemed nearly identical to the troll, yet its size was at least three times greater. It was much smarter too, meaning it was a really troublesome enemy.

An Ogre.

Shit...