Rogue Villain-Chapter 331: Next Step
Ackster didn’t pull his sword out of Mbelg’s chest just yet. He had only said he would refrain from killing the demon after Mbelg told him what he wanted to know. So, while Mbelg still tried to free himself one last time, Ackster waited and assessed.
Eventually, Mbelg stopped struggling and looked at Ackster. The quicker he told Ackster what he wanted to know, the quicker he would be free.
"You see...A demon’s name is a double-edged blade, I guess you could say. It lets us use our full strength. But it also means someone can steal it. Knowing our identity also makes it easier to kill us."
’Easier, not easy.’
"Is that all?"
Mbelg’s eyes widened. Was that all? Was knowing a vital secret of the demons, one that contained one of their few weaknesses, not enough?
"...yes."
Mbelg remembered who he was talking to. It was someone who looked at him, a demon, like prey. He didn’t need to know the weaknesses of the demon race to hunt them.
"Unexpectedly trivial."
Ackster once again spoke words that stung Mbelg’s heart.
Mbelg looked at the sword in his chest, waiting for Ackster to let go.
Ackster also looked. He grinned.
"I only said I wouldn’t kill you."
A chill ran down Mbelg’s spine. Were humans supposed to be this scary? Ah, that’s right, Ackster wasn’t exactly a human. That’s alright, then.
Ackster had something else in mind for Mbelg, so he was going to let the demon go. But first, he wanted to try something out. As far as he could tell, agreements with demons were binding.
When he made a deal with Trana, her Covenant had only worked on herself. It was a promise to the world for her to uphold her end of the deal. Even if Ackster didn’t fulfill his end, Trana would still get a boost to her strength.
But with demons, it seemed to be mutually inclusive whenever the demon in question made a deal.
Ackster wondered if that was what happened or if it was a sham, and humans just had no choice but to comply when making a deal with a demon due to the difference in strength.
So, he tried to kill Mbelg. He emitted killing intent, increased the flow of his Ichor, and pushed his sword deeper.
Mbelg weakened at a rapid pace. It didn’t take long before Ackster felt a suffocating pressure encroach on him.
He couldn’t sense it properly and nor tell where or who it came from. But Ackster knew that if he continued killing Mbelg, he would end up crippled. It most likely wouldn’t be the type of injury he could recover from.
"Interesting."
Ackster shook his head to clear it from the dizziness that assailed him. He wasn’t sure how, but the demons’ deal-making somehow made the world hold both parties responsible for their undertakings.
In the spirit of experimenting, Ackster withdrew his killing intent. The pressure on him lessened for a moment until the world realized Ackster was still about to kill Mbelg. Then, it furiously increased as if to dissuade Ackster.
"Fine, fine. I won’t kill him."
Ackster pulled his sword out of Mbelg and let him go. Mbelg dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
The pressure had made it feel like Ackster’s eyes were about to explode. But as soon as he stopped killing Mbelg, the pressure and pain receded. Ackster wondered what would have happened to him if he actually killed Mbelg and if it was something he could recover from.
But considering he couldn’t handle the Sword God, maybe Ackster should wait with those kinds of suicidal experiments before trying to go against the world itself.
Still, it was a good learning experience that brought him closer to Covenants and the next step in his evolution.
’A body to go against the world, I guess.’
Ackster turned around and looked at his party members.
"I’m sure you heard, but I can’t kill him. So, he’s all yours. Make sure to try out different things and learn to cooperate. I’ll be watching to make sure nothing happens. But if you fuck up, I’m not saving your asses."
"Yes, My Lord!"
Mara was the first to answer. She was also the one who answered with the most energy. The other soon followed with a little less excitement. But they were all people who strived for greatness and strength. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have reached their current levels.
Fighting a demon was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even without considering the existential power a demon would have, their tricks, magic, unique abilities, strength, and overall combat ability made them dangerous foes. And like every accomplished combatant knew, fighting a strong and dangerous enemy was a shortcut to getting better.
It was a dangerous shortcut, but it was a shortcut nonetheless. Ackster had also weakened the demon and removed most of the thorns, spikes, bombs, traps, and pitfalls in the path for them.
Now, they just needed to do their best, cooperate, and kill the demon.
But there was one exception.
Out of Ackster’s party members, there was one individual who hadn’t gone to extreme lengths in the pursuit of strength. He hadn’t struggled like a pig to rise to his current level of power, at least not the same way others had.
To say that Mastrax was born with his strength and resilience would be an overstatement. It also didn’t come naturally. He had to work hard not to explode by his mutated body randomly deciding to produce more vitality than he could ever hope to handle. But after getting the hang of it, it was smooth sailing for the Dragon of Life. Just by existing, Mastrax grew endlessly stronger.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Yet, for some reason, he had the weakest offensive power in the group.
Mastrax had picked up a rock from somewhere and led the charge against Mbelg, taking advantage of the demon recovering on the floor, still in a potato-sack mode. He bashed Mbelg’s head in with the rock while shouting like a madman. Well, he tried to bash it in. When he didn’t miss, Mastrax’s stone barely left a bruise, which quickly recovered.
And when Mbelg caught his breath after Ackster’s torture, he sent Mastrax flying into the wall with enough force to make dust rain down from the ceiling.
Ackster sighed and shook his head.
