The SSS Ranked Villain's Return

"I'm not," Raeny shook her head, puzzled. "I'm with a branch who wants to remove competition."

"You mean the government strike team itself?" Neraxis asked, furrowing his brows. "Their strike team is pretty strong though, isn't it? I remember them having both Lar and Alice there."

"Yes... The two prodigies are the main fighting force, with Alice being the youngest S-ranker in the world," Raeny praised, her tone laced with obsession. "But aside from that, I don't hate this class. I'm only doing as I'm told..."

"Forgive me for asking, but did you have any contact with Lar?" Neraxis asked, and he immediately noticed Raeny flinch as her cheeks grew slightly redder.

"W-We did..."

[Yeah, she's been mind-controlled by that scum.] Evangeline remarked with a sigh, before manifesting herself out of his body.

"Huh? Who are you—!"

Raeny's words were cut off when Evangeline suddenly delivered a fierce slap across her face.

"What was that for!? ...Huh?" Raeny looked around, confused. "Where am I? Why am I..."

This is troublesome, Neraxis thought with a sigh, as Raeny began stammering, saying all sorts of random things.

Better yet, none of them were lies.

"Raeny." Evangeline called out with a smile. "My name is Evangeline, and I want you to do something for us."

"...What is it?" Raeny asked skeptically.

"It's nothing much." Evangeline shrugged, her eyes narrowing. "I want you to become an informant. I broke your mind control, but Lar doesn't know that I did. Feed us information."

Neraxis took out his burner phone and tossed it over to Evangeline.

"Write your number here. We're going to be in contact, even after you get expelled," Evangeline said, before vanishing back inside Neraxis.

[How's that?] she asked.

Good enough, he nodded.

"Expelled? Right... I tried to kill that girl, didn't I?" Raeny muttered with a groan, slumping down in her seat as tears began falling. "I didn't want to do this... Is there no other way?"

"Crocodile tears don't work on me." Neraxis said firmly. "But no, I can't void the fact that you tried killing someone. Instead, I'll give you a chance. When we get back, leave our academy, and join the Skryder Academy. That way, you can save your reputation and be of use to me."

[Your Eclipse persona is slipping out.] Evangeline giggled. [Tone down the ominous vibe, or you'll scare her away.]

Neraxis rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Raeny. No hard feelings. If you want to get back at Lar for manipulating you, I'm the person who can make it happen."

Realizing she was getting a bit too comfortable, Neraxis opened the tent and turned toward her.

"Get out. You have seven days, so use them to clear your mind. I want you in peak condition by the time we come back to the academy."

"Thank you..." Raeny replied, wiping her tears as she sprinted past him, and headed out into the wilds.

As for Neraxis, a few things were on his mind.

Especially, the fact that Lar had begun manipulating Raeny way before they first met in the tournament.

But his memories weren't back yet... So how? Neraxis pondered, before letting out a sigh. I'll ask her later.

He decided to head out again, this time, to a group of two who were much further in the wilds.

They seemed more capable than the triplets, but they weren't exactly getting along that well.

—Cocksucker! That's my kill!

—Yeah yeah, fuck off! You just want to try worm meat!

Muscleheads. Neraxis noted down.

But they were pretty strong.

B-ranks, and their fight against the worms managed to carve a hole in the mountain.

Coincidentally, both of them were wielding large Greatswords.

Just as the two were seemingly about to clash, Neraxis noticed a scorpion off in the distance.

It was the size of the mountain they had just made a hole through, and from what Neraxis could tell, it was a B+ ranked monster.

The two muscleheads soon took notice of it, and began making their way, bumping into each other in the process.

Neraxis was on standby, in the off chance they get crushed.

But it seemed like his worries were unfounded.

One of the muscleheads, halted, before shooting off the ground, traveling like a streak of lightning toward the scorpion's stinger.

The scorpion aimed its stinger at the one who was approaching, however, the musclehead from below suddenly threw his greatsword.

It impacted the scorpion's head, making it lose its balance, and tilting over.

With that opportunity, the musclehead who was in the air, took a deep breath and, with all his strength, swung down.

His slash cut the air as it soon hit the scorpion head-on.

The moment it did, Neraxis whistled, as the scorpion's body visibly got torn apart, until eventually, it was split perfectly in two.

—Hahaha! Scorpion meat!

—Dude no! That shit is poisonous!

—So what!? Meat is meat!

They talk like cavemen, Neraxis thought.

However, he still inwardly praised them.

Despite them seeming like idiots on the outside, their battle sense was off the charts.

If anything, he could even compare them to Kael.

They won't be needing my help.

Neraxis began walking away, however, when all of a sudden, a presence caught his attention.

It had just entered his 10-kilometer radius, but it was much stronger than the other monsters around.

I thought A- and above monsters only appear when you go deeper in the wilds? he thought with a frown.

He could deal with it, sure.

But why would he?

It wasn't anything the class couldn't handle.

Therefore, he gently used his mana, steering it to the pair of muscleheads in front of him.

As he did, the ground began shaking, and following that, he saw a worm which was nearly the size of a skyscraper simply traveling through the soil.

The muscleheads soon took notice of it, dropping whatever they were doing and jumping in unison.

Immediately, a circular mouth appeared from the ground, swallowing the mountain-sized scorpion, as it submerged itself back underground.

But of course, it wasn't going away.

In fact, it was circling them.

They seemed confident, and Neraxis didn't bother to help them more for the time being.

And honestly, he didn't need to, as one of the muscleheads swung down to the ground, shattering it in an instant.

Immediately, the second musclehead reacted, and did the same, just this time, the slash was more concentrated.

Like a wind blade, it traveled down toward the colossal worm and sliced into its thick skin.

Then, the one who cracked the ground swung his greatsword down again, doing the same thing the second musclebrain did.

They rotated their strikes like that for a few bouts, not letting the worm even slither forward, until eventually, they managed to guillotine straight through it, as satisfied expressions appeared on their faces.

—Too fucking easy.

—I know right? I hope there's more of them though, it was a better exercise than with the weak ones.

Neraxis concluded that these two were definitely not in need of help, and began steadily making his way further in the wilds.

If he wanted his class to have a real challenge, then he had to create some type of obstacles.

Yet as he traveled through the wilds, a particular sight greeted his sight, making his brows furrow.

Is that a tower? Neraxis pondered, approaching closer.

Its height stretched into the clouds, so he couldn't see the very top of the golden tower.

But one thing did seem a little odd.

All of the monsters were gathered beside the tower.

Their strength ranged from C-, all the way to S-. A massive leap considering he wasn't even that far out.

He finally arrived, and to his surprise, none of the monsters attacked him.

It was almost like they didn't even know he was here.

Neraxis tapped one of their heads, yet they didn't even react, merely standing still, and looking straight at the tower.

He soon realized why, as a row of golden system notifications appeared in his sight.

<Solaris Tower Nearby!>

<The Sun God looks down on you!>

<Prepare to face judgement!>

Bruh.