Rogue Villain-Chapter 371: Preparing

"Are you sure this is the way, filth?"

Shanshi sighed as he swept a branch out of the way, trying to let it smack Karandiel in the face. Unfortunately, she dodged it.

"Of course I am. Do you think I, the ancestor of all vampires, would mistake the presence of my kin?"

Karandiel shrugged.

"Beats me. But I don’t see a reason why the father of filth would know where his spawn is."

"Can you stop it with that filth thing? It’s getting boring. What’s your deal, anyway? Did your parents tell you vampires are bad or something?"

"No. A vampire killed my family. Another killed my best friend."

"Oh..."

The mood grew too dark for even Shanshi to say anything. So, they walked through the murky forest in silence.

Eventually, tired of walking through brushes that scraped against her legs and dress, Karandiel broke the silence.

"You said we couldn’t fly over the forest. Why?"

Karandiel was confident in her own strength, even against the Vampire King. And she knew Shanshi was at least as strong as her. She didn’t want to admit it, but he was almost certainly stronger than everyone in the party except for Mastrax. She couldn’t understand why they didn’t just fly over the forest, even if the air space had traps and alarms.

"Didn’t that blue-haired guy tell us to be sneaky? Trust me. Trying to fly won’t be any good. You might be itching for a scolding, but I sure as hell am not."

Karandiel glared with narrow eyes. She didn’t like the non-answer. But if Shanshi wasn’t going to reveal the secrets of his kin, she would have to respect that. She didn’t want to. But Shanshi was right. They were trying not to be noticed by the entire world.

Everyone they had encountered had only been curious about the Alchemaze and what would happen now that someone had reached the bottom. But Ackster had warned them of The Hero’s information network. He had also asked and ordered them to stay off it.

It was especially important for Karandiel since she had interacted with The Hero before. He was familiar with her and would pay more attention to what she was up to than if he heard about other people causing a ruckus.

That was why she had been sent to the vampires. It aligned with Karandiel’s powers and personality to cause trouble for the vampires.

She wasn’t going there to cause trouble. She was accompanying Shanshi there to fulfill Ackster’s request. But details didn’t matter.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Although that’s what Shanshi said, they stepped out of the forest a few moments later. Their destination was in front of them.

Karandiel paused for a moment as she looked at the castle that seemed to have fused with a mountain. She could already feel how many vampires there were inside.

"What now?"

However, they weren’t there to cause trouble. A couple of strangers just walking in was the same as asking for trouble. Karandiel hoped Shanshi was useful for once.

Karandiel got a bad feeling.

"’What now,’ you ask?"

Shanshi smiled and stepped out from the trees as shadows left his body and crept toward the sky before enveloping the castle in a cocoon of darkness.

"Now, Daddy’s home."

Karandiel could only sigh before following Shanshi into the darkness.

In another part of the world, Makkel cried quietly as Ackster’s bird carried him by the shoulders with sharp claws. Wilma ignored Makkel’s sorrows from her surprisingly comfortable seat atop the bird. Together, the tree went around the world, looking for Seeds of Calamity and making arrangements according to Ackster’s wishes. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Ackster hadn’t explicitly told them what it was all for. But Wilma was smart enough to know it was important and that the future of the world would change depending on their success.

Somewhere else, Mara and Kargas discussed what the best way to beat a dragon was while they walked through a scorched wasteland, also making preparations for what was to come.

Willow and Tenrick were somewhere on the ocean, riding a ship toward their destination.

Unlike the rest of Ackster’s party, Willow and Tenrick weren’t powerful enough to contribute the same way. But Willow, at least, was crucial in her role since she was the only one who could become the Spokesperson of Eternity.

Wilma and Makkel returned occasionaly to report on their progress. Thanks to the bird, they were the only ones with enough mobility to do so. But they had more than enough mobility to also report on how it was going for the others.

Ackster also made his own preparations and studied and trained and researched with Mastrax. However, after a while, Mastrax said he had a breakthrough and was going to finalize the details on something he had been working on for a while.

It didn’t look like he was going to be helpful in the Alchemaze, so Ackster didn’t force him to stay. He knew Mastrax would return as soon as he was done. Besides, it was perfect timing.

Ackster had a couple of things he had to do on his own that he couldn’t entrust to others.

The first thing was to stop by the family of someone he believed he could consider a friend. It went surprisingly well, and he managed to get the preparations going there.

After hearing multiple promising supports from Wilma, he returned to the depths of the Alchemaze for the other thing he had to get done as soon as possible. It had taken a year, but he had finally found it.

Ackster had found a path to the center of the world. In doing so, he had also discovered how much the world and the Alchemaze relied on that place. But this was something he had to do. He also had an idea for how he could make up for it. He had no idea how well it would work. But there was no other option. It had to do, at least for now.

Ackster was alone at the bottom of the Alchemaze in a hidden room beneath the Creator’s study. It was dark, damp, warm, and lonely. But knowing he had trustworthy comrades on the surface working like ants to carry out his orders comforted Ackster like nothing else.

He put aside any thoughts of distrust, worry, or paranoia and decided to believe in them wholeheartedly. He had recruited reliable comrades for moments like these. If he didn’t rely on them to carry out what he had asked, he shouldn’t have recruited them in the first place.