The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 153: Negotiations

"It’s nice to see you again, everyone. I’d like to extend my—" Jane’s words were interrupted when, all of a sudden, a rock flew right at her face.

Of course, Neraxis caught it, but that didn’t change the fact that the negotiations were going terribly.

They were currently at the Eastern Church, and with less than a whole hour to spare, he wanted to unite the people.

What better way to do that than using the Saint herself?

"Neraxis, I really don’t think this is working... They hate me." Jane whispered with a glum look.

"..." Neraxis let out a deep sigh and stepped forward, but not before throwing the rock he had caught back at the person who threw it in the first place.

To his surprise, it was one of the guards. The moment the rock made contact with his arm, it bent at an unnatural angle, followed by:

"AAAAAH!" the guard dropped to the ground, clutching his broken arm.

"Hey... I don’t mean to question your intentions, but don’t you think peace talks should... you know... remain peaceful?" Jane whispered anxiously.

However, he merely shrugged and turned toward the gathered crowd.

"Listen here, you sacks of useless shit," Neraxis said coldly. "If you don’t cooperate with us, the entire city will fall in an hour."

"Why should we listen to some devil?" a guard spoke up. "You killed a guard, and now you threaten to kill us as well?"

"I’m afraid I won’t be the one who will be killing you." Neraxis chuckled, narrowing his eyes. "In fact, the undead skeletons outside the wall would be more than happy to have some well-deserved supper."

[They seem like a lost cause, Neraxis...] Evangeline remarked with a sigh.

However, just as he was about to agree with her, a kid stepped up.

"I agree with him!" The kid pointed at Neraxis. "I saw what happened earlier... There were a lot of skeletons swarming through the wall..."

"You know we sealed the entrance, right? It’s impossible for anyone to go in or out, so how would they—"

"They broke through," Neraxis interjected. "None of you are safe, and you will die in an hour, two at most. Now, all I need you to do is fight with us."

"Fight with you? Against monsters like the undead? Do you think we are suicidal?" one of the guards scoffed, making Neraxis’s brows furrow.

"You are guards of what exactly? The soil? Idiots..." Neraxis trailed off as he summoned his sword and held it toward the group of people. "If you don’t comply, I will kill you all before the hour is up. See you in a bit."

Read lat𝙚st chapters at fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓ Only.

With those words, he turned around. After flashing a glance at Jane, she followed suit.

They arrived at a closed-off alleyway, with the rubble from his earlier run still present.

However, Jane suddenly collapsed to her knees.

"That was scary..." she said, taking a deep breath. "They all looked like they wanted to kill me."

"Because they did, Jane," Neraxis affirmed, crouching down to her eye level. "That’s just how it is sometimes. They turned on you for no particular reason other than greed."

"Still... I was born and raised here. I thought they would at least think twice about it," Jane added, and he proceeded to simply pick her up again.

"Eeek! What are you doing!?"

"We don’t have time to waste. You can rest in my hands in the meantime," Neraxis explained.

Her ears were beet red; however, he overlooked it and proceeded to run toward the next church, giving them the exact same proposal in the exact same manner.

After that, only the Northern Church remained, and frankly, he felt they were the least likely to listen.

And as Jane finished her speech, his suspicions soon came true.

"Screw the both of you! The witch and the devil have teamed up, everybody! Let’s kill them!" a masked man shouted, and Neraxis immediately took notice of his existence.

In the very next moment, he dashed toward the man and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up.

"So, you are the so-called prophet," Neraxis deduced.

"Kuhh! Let me go, or the goddess will smite you down!" the masked man stated. Yet as he squirmed in Neraxis’s grasp, his mask suddenly fell off. Experience more tales on novelbuddy

As it did, an oddly familiar scarred face appeared in front of Neraxis’s eyes.

He’s the guy on the inside, he thought with furrowed brows. An exact replica... he looks just like the Black Knight.

"Where’s the necromancer?" Neraxis asked, and the man visibly flinched. Therefore, he kept pushing. "If you don’t tell me, you will experience some of the worst pain imaginable, so I suggest you speak up."

"Never! I—" His words were cut off when, all of a sudden, Neraxis’s fingers turned into ice, and small frost particles began enveloping the man’s neck, slightly freezing it.

However, he also added Decay, and instead of accelerating the process, he made it as slow as possible.

The man could not even scream, and after a whole minute, Neraxis finally retracted his mana, stopping the Decay and Frost from spreading further.

"Where is the necromancer?"

"W-West side," the man said with a groan.

But upon noticing that it was a lie, Neraxis let out a sigh before repeating the torture process once again.

After a whole minute, he asked the same question, and this time, received a different answer.

"T-The one behind summoning all these creatures is on the southern side, far off in the hills... I don’t know anything else, so please let me go. I have a family!"

Neraxis chuckled. "I was about to, but the moment you lied about having a family, your fate was sealed."

"Wait—" The man’s words were cut off when, all of a sudden, Neraxis tightened his grip, crushing the man’s skull in an instant.

[1x (E- Ranked Human) Slain! Reward: Stigmata 22.09% → 22.09%]

How repulsing... he exclaimed inwardly. Yet as he turned around, he was greeted with frightened gazes, Jane included.

"You... You killed him?"

"He was a spy for the master of those skeletons," Neraxis explained, narrowing his eyes. "Do you want to have a traitor amongst your ranks?"

However, she did not back down, walking closer to him with a furious look. "Traitor or not, Neraxis, you can’t just kill anyone you see."

[She’s right... All that time you spent on the 5th floor messed with your emotions... They’re way too dull. You even talk like an old man now,] Evangeline added, her tone laced with worry.

I see. I guess I just didn’t notice, he replied, before using {Aura of the Abyss} to remove the blood covering his hands.

"I apologize, Saint. I’ll be a bit more considerate next time," Neraxis said with a warm smile, which sent shivers down everyone’s spine.

However, from their quiet obedience, he could tell he had convinced them.

Therefore, he said his last piece. "If you choose to rebel, then you will die in an hour. See you later."

With that, he grabbed the grumpy Jane and leapt onto a nearby roof, taking her back to the bell tower.

She remained eerily quiet the entire way there. But the moment he set her down, she slapped him.

"I am not a toy, so stop treating me like one."

"Sorry if I came off that way. I just don’t want to die because of a bunch of idiots," Neraxis replied honestly and proceeded to give her a small pat on the head. "I have to take care of something. Be prepared to ring the bell whenever you see a flash of light, got it?"

"And you just said I’m not your toy." She let out chuckle and sent a soft punch to his arm. "I’ll wait for this so-called flash of light of yours, so don’t die."

"I won’t," Neraxis assured and leaped off the bell tower, heading toward the southernmost part of the city.

He climbed the half-broken wall and looked off into the distance.

There were mountains, but they were incredibly far.

However...

[03:31:42]

[03:31:41]

Neraxis had exactly half an hour to get there, kill the necromancer, and return.

As big of a risk as it was, this was the only chance for him to finish this trial successfully.

Therefore, he made his way down the wall and walked the desolate land, making his way toward the mountains.

[You know you’re heading into their base camp, right?] Evangeline asked.

Yep. Neraxis nodded, before suddenly halting as he got an idea.

Evangeline, could you turn me into an undead?