The SSS Ranked Villain's Return

[Yes/No]

Neraxis stared at it for a moment before swiftly shaking his head.

He wasn't ready—at least, not as much as he would have liked to be.

That's why, he reached for the 'No' button. However, to his surprise, it suddenly evaded his finger, and instead, he accidentally pressed 'Yes.'

Are you fuc—

Neraxis's thoughts were interrupted as his body began relaxing. His vision soon disappeared, followed by his senses.

Yet, in the end, not even a couple of seconds later, he found himself in that familiar maze he had gone through in Virtual Reality.

But in person, the smell, as well as the damp and moldy air, was much more noticeable than in the virtual world.

It made his nose scrunch up. However, he had another problem to deal with, and that was clearing this floor while on hard mode.

[Dreamspire Tower - 2nd Floor: Maze of Precision]

[Objective: Survive and find the exit in 30 -> 15 minutes]

[Status: Ready]

[Beginning preparation countdown!]

[9:59]

[9:58]

This tower, or maybe even all towers... those people from the system log... they are all connected. There's no doubt about it. Neraxis thought while sitting down to slightly relax.

Thankfully, the sheer amount of mana he got from the Troll Scouts was enough to, at the very least, keep his Aura of the Abyss passively active.

Yet, his mind was in a bit of turmoil.

The spire that clown mask and woman mentioned—there was a high chance it was some code for all the towers on this planet. After all, there wasn't a single tower.

Adding to the fact that they were looking for him, he could assume they programmed the towers to try to screw him over at every turn.

[Well, you just have to clear it,] Evangeline said softly before adding, [I'm going to try holding that system window down later, so you should be able to leave without interference.]

Right, I'll try my best, but this looks very sketchy so far, Neraxis thought as the timer finally reached the last minute.

His go-to plan was to simply run through the maze while carving traces with his blackened-out hand into the walls to make sure he would not walk in loops.

Is it possible for you to fly up this time? he questioned as he began stretching.

[Hmm...] she hummed thoughtfully. [I can't feel the top of those walls. They likely expand the higher up you go. I guess it's some sort of mechanism the ones who built the tower made.]

Neraxis let out a sigh and finally got ready as the timer approached its last few seconds.

[0:02]

[0:01]

[0:00]

Just as it finished, he could feel a bunch of malice directed toward him, as though every single monster in this maze was after him.

However, he had no time to worry about that—15 minutes would go by in a flash if he did not hurry.

Dashing through corner after corner, Neraxis suddenly halted, and as he did, a dart shot out from the side of the wall.

Yet what surprised him the most was that, upon impact with the other side of the wall, it shattered it.

If that hit me, I'd be dead... that's hard mode for you, Neraxis remarked and threaded a lot more carefully while still maintaining his fast pace.

But all of a sudden, he felt a certain bloodlust coming from behind him. Therefore, he swiftly summoned his sword and turned around.

What greeted his sight was a mosquito-like monster with a massive pair of wings, which Neraxis immediately cut off before slicing it in half and swiftly dodging the incoming 'blood.'

[1x (F- Ranked Monster) Fiendish Mosquito Slain! Reward: Stigmata 55.3% -> 55.3%]

It's this monster... he stared with a glum look.

While it wasn't the strongest and definitely did not give enough mana to account for even 0.01% of an increment, its status ailments were the real deal.

If he were to get stung, his body would freeze up into stone before quickly being melted by the molten blood of the Fiendish Mosquito, which would use its body to kill itself on top of him.

A brutal death—one he would much rather not experience.

Neraxis took a deep breath before looking up.

[13:41]

Still manageable, he thought and resumed running straight.

However, to his surprise, he found one of the traces he had made on the walls, meaning he had just run in a complete loop.

[Go that way... I think,] Evangeline's voice rang out as she pointed the sword to his left.

I marked it though? he questioned but soon noticed something off.

The walls were moving—albeit at a slow pace. If he were to pay attention, it was not difficult to catch.

But at the same time, it made this trial that much more annoying.

Nonetheless, Neraxis made his way to the left before going straight, and upon seeing that one of the walls had been marked, went in the opposite direction.

Soon, he was gaining quite a fair bit of traction, rarely meeting a dead end while, at the same time, seeing less and less of his marks.

However, his momentum was soon broken as a small horde of Fiendish Mosquitoes appeared before him, swiftly dashing right at him.

Yet, as the monsters approached, they suddenly tripped something in the air, and upon doing so, a pair of large boulders fell on top of them, swiftly ending their lives.

...That's convenient, he chuckled and proceeded forward.

However, the time was quickly running out, and Neraxis felt as though he had not even reached halfway through the maze yet.

But as those thoughts fell, he suddenly saw a small opening in the wall, where on the other side, there was a different part of the maze.

And as that happened, an idea arose.

Can't I just... bulldoze my way through?

He was surprisingly strong enough to damage the walls, and if Neraxis used more strength, he'd be able to even penetrate them.

Taking a deep breath, he soon put that to the test.

Placing his hand on the wall, Neraxis pushed forward. Immediately, the resistance he expected to face was nowhere to be seen, and a clean, hand-sized hole was made.

Oh... he put on a smirk before punching outward, decimating the wall completely.

What he gathered thus far was that the exit was always in the middle, and judging from where he was, looking up at the clock, the exit was to his right—full right.

Yet, that did not matter as Neraxis went up to each wall, smashing through it over and over again, encountering a few Fiendish Mosquitoes along the way until, eventually, he reached what appeared to be a small shrine.

On it was a lone button, which Neraxis steadily approached and pushed.

And, to his surprise, that was it.

[Dreamspire - 2nd Floor Hard Mode: Maze of Precision - Complete]

[Climber: Neraxis Valen]

[2nd Floor Rating Generating...]

I got lucky... Neraxis exclaimed as he sat down, toggling Aura of the Abyss off.

The timer was on 3 minutes, and if he had not found out the strategy of destroying the walls, he would have been totally done for.

Yet, that also meant that each floor had a certain strategy to it—one which would make clearing it that much easier.

[Rating Generated: SSS]

[Position: 1,221,559,971 -> 721,994,251]

[Current Progress: 2/? Floors]

[Dreamspire - 3rd Floor Hard Mode: Garden of Shadows - Available]

[Do you wish to enter?]

[Yes/No]

Evangeline... Neraxis signaled as he stared at the 'No' button. Soon, it seemingly began shaking until halting completely.

[Now!] she yelled, and immediately, he pressed 'No.'

Yet, as he did, and relaxation washed over him, Neraxis soon found himself back at the front door, with both the man from earlier wearing a shocked expression, as well as William, who was staring daggers at him.

"Hi?"