"We'll find out soon enough," Neraxis replied flatly as he finally arrived in front of the bone church.
As one would expect, the melody was really coming from inside. With a single kick, Neraxis forcefully opened the main doors. A wail reached his ears the moment he did.
It was loud and deafening. Before he knew it, his vision began turning dark.
Yet as he was about to pass out, just as he was about to pass out, Evangeline grabbed him by the collar and slapped him, jolting him back to consciousness.
"Don't you dare get enchanted by that thing," Evangeline said, narrowing her eyes. "If you do, then I'll hang you up by the balls and wait until you've snapped out of it. Understand?"
Neraxis's eyes widened. "That's some... foreplay you're into. But okay, I'll try my best."
Having said that, he summoned his sword and stabbed it right into his thigh, regaining full clarity of the situation.
When he did, he finally glanced toward the lectern and realized a single being stood there. It was a skeleton, but instead of white bones, its bones were fully charcoal black.
The skeleton gave off an ominous presence, and Neraxis could tell it was dangerous. But his danger sense only increased further when he realized he couldn't inspect the skeleton.
All of a sudden, the skeleton opened its mouth, causing a loud screech to resound throughout the entire church. Unlike last time, Neraxis didn't pass out, as the only thing he needed to do was stab the sword deeper into his thigh.
Nonetheless, with the encroaching pain came a wave of adrenaline that Neraxis didn't hesitate to use.
He turned to Evangeline, who immediately understood what he wanted to do.
She slashed her wrist and covered his entire sword in her blood, giving it an aura-like effect.
Then, with a single step, Neraxis appeared in front of the black skeleton—the same one that was behind the loud screeching.
And with a single Atomic Stab, he pierced straight through its skull.
[MP -500 820/1320 (Atomic Stab)]
The skeleton fell to the ground lifelessly, and for a single moment, Neraxis thought he had actually managed to kill it.
But this world wasn't like his real one, so after not receiving any experience or stats from 'killing' the skeleton, Neraxis was once again thrust on full alert.
That was when another screech resounded, much louder than the previous one.
Neraxis began tumbling to the ground, but just as he was about to fall face-first and pass out, he held out his sword and stabbed himself right through the abdomen.
It hurt like hell, but he knew he'd start healing once the sword was out.
"Neraxis," Evangeline called out, turning to him with an exhausted smile. "A little help here?"
His eyes widened when he realized she was holding off some sort of giant dark abomination.
He couldn't tell what kind of abomination it was, but from the slimy appearance, he wasn't very hopeful that it wasn't acidic.
That also meant that if it were to make contact with either of them, it would melt them alive.
A single droplet fell on Evangeline's shoulder, and to Neraxis's surprise, instead of melting her alive, it only melted that bit of clothing off her.
"N-Neraxis... You can watch however long you want when you're back. I don't have any spare clothes here," Evangeline muttered, then leaned down and proceeded to deliver a blood-infused kick toward the abomination.
It seemed mindless, so it didn't even dodge, and it went flying toward Neraxis, who finally pulled his sword out of his abdomen.
And without any more hesitation, he took a step forward and began chaining his attacks.
One slash, two slashes, eight slashes in rapid succession.
[MP -800 20/1320 (x8 Advanced Horizontal Slash)]
He performed each of those slashes in the blink of an eye and sent them toward the abomination. It didn't even have time to react with its giant body, as the slashes suddenly cut it apart into eight pieces.
Even so, as Neraxis glanced at its wriggling body on the ground, he could tell that something was not right.
This was another one of those monsters he couldn't inspect. That meant it wasn't real. Or maybe, it was a summoned creature.
And just as he had those thoughts, a surprisingly beautiful voice rang out from behind him.
"Visitors? It's been so long. Welcome."
Neraxis turned around and was greeted with a beautiful ashen-haired woman.
But judging by her blank black eyes, he knew something was off.
"Don't get seduced, Neraxis," Evangeline commented, walking up to him. "She might be pretty, but she's nowhere close to my looks, isn't that right?"
Neraxis nodded immediately. "Obviously."
Nonetheless, he turned his gaze back to the woman and tilted his head.
"So are you a siren? Because you'd best believe we're not stupid enough to think you just so happened to survive in this place alone."
"A siren?" The woman chuckled. "No, not exactly. I'm on a more fun errand, you see..."
The moment her words fell, a certain notification appeared in front of him—one that he would much rather have seen when he was stronger.
"Ah, this bitch..." Evangeline scoffed. "Even after all this time, you still somehow weasel your way into his life. Is this just an avatar?"
"Evangeline Noctis," the Sovereign of Lust muttered, narrowing her eyes. "You've been with him for a very long time now. Do you still not realize the danger you put yourself in? One wrong move, and he could erase you."
Evangeline brought a hand up to her ears. "Huh? I didn't hear you through all that lip filler. What did you say? Danger?"
The Sovereign of Lust frowned and began slowly approaching the two of them.
Neraxis immediately got on guard, and as he did, he also proceeded to inspect her.
And to no one's surprise...
—Violet, The Sovereign of Lust (Level 5388)