Rogue Villain-Chapter 226: Hot Food

’Now this is what hot food should be like.’

Ackster had no choice but to express his opinion in his mind since the fish burned his throat and tongue on its way down to his stomach, which it also burned, releasing a bunch of steaming stomach acid to the rest of his body. It was not a pleasant experience, and Ackster would only wish it on his greatest enemy or someone just annoying enough.

Ackster lay down with closed eyes as he focused on his skills and life force. He could feel his entire body heating up, but his insides and torso were especially bad. It was as if he had just eaten lava.

However, it wasn’t immediately fatal, and the fish quickly lost heat. Since it didn’t continue burning or generating more heat, Ackster knew he would live. So, he relaxed slightly and took it easy as he waited for his body to heal.

Surprisingly enough, he needed to eat one more fish to get the skill he wanted. Pyro Resistance. It wasn’t the Fire Resistance he had expected, but it was probably better since it should give resistance against more heat-related things and not just fire, such as lava or fish living in lava. His Poison Resistance skill also ranked up once.

That had taken quite a while, so it was more likely an accumulation of toxins from all he had eaten and come in contact with that he needed the skill for since the last time it ranked up rather than the fish being poisonous. It could also be the stomach acid flooding his mouth and body.

Whatever the details were, Ackster’s brutally efficient training was already showing incredible results. So, in order to increase the rank of Pyro Resistance, Ackster continued dunking his hands in lava and eating the lava fish.

Eventually, thanks to Iron Body and the increasing rank of Pyro Resistance, Ackster started getting used to the feeling of his body burning and melting. He needed more.

Ackster went looking for deeper and hotter lava to immerse more than just his arms in. He wanted to push his limits, and while small, the lava fish were rich in energy. With enough of them, he could sustain his body’s continued cycle of damage and recovery.

Ackster made his way up the mountain until he could only proceed by wading through flowing lava. Since he still needed to be outside the lava to recover, he stopped advancing. He instead decided to ramp up his Pyro Resistance and recovery skills until they were enough to keep him alive while fully submerged.

And it seemed like he was getting some help with that as a bright red lizard the size of a car scampered down the mountain while hissing like a cat robbed of its milk. It ran over the lava, the molten rock splattering as it did so.

’Oh shit...’ 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Ackster got out of the little lava pool and stood on a pair of unsteady legs while readying his fists. He doubted Stormcaller would be any good to use in this climate. He also wanted to test out his martial arts without any weapons between him and his target.

Ackster sized up his target and confirmed his initial feeling that the salamander was strong. It was the strongest being he had encountered so far in the Land of Dragons. As a salamander, it only made sense that it was strong since it was both considered a lesser fire dragon and a completely separate race of fire-wielding lizards.

But Ackster couldn’t be bothered about the genealogy of fire salamanders. All he wondered was how spicy it was since it clearly lived inside the volcano.

Ackster met the salamander’s charge head-on as muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and skin crawled down his shins and ankles, wrapping them and his feet in flesh while removing charred tissue. He could see intense orange light rise through the corners of the lizard’s mouth, so before the salamander could spit out a fireball, Ackster lunged forward and slammed a fist into its forehead.

The salamander’s wide head took the blow with ease and only sank slightly before a pair of fiery eyes locked onto Ackster, who hung in the air above it. The salamander tilted its head up while opening its jaws to release a torrent of dripping flame.

However, when the streak of fire shot through the air, Ackster was nowhere to be seen.

He had already ducked down by hooking his toes to the salamander’s jaws and pulling himself down with his leg. And when reaching the ground, he crouched to avoid the droplets of liquid fire raining down.

A couple of sparks hit Ackster’s back and burned through it with ease, not caring for his Pyro Resistance. But just like the fire didn’t care about his defense, Ackster didn’t care about the fire.

He concentrated on his mana, bringing it out through his arm like a miniature tidal wave as he shot upward with his fist pointing at the sky.

Ackster slammed an uppercut into the salamander’s jaw. At the moment of impact, the burst of mana also flooded out and, in waves, spread ripples through the salamander’s surface.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as devastating as Ackster had hoped.

It was a strike that was almost as powerful as the first rippling punch he had unleashed. He had just limited how much mana he used so that he could control the power.

However, the salamander’s innate defense, both physical and magical, was far superior to the shark that was the target of his first rippling punch.

Still, Ackster’s strike left a large bruise-like injury below the surface of the salamander’s leathery scales. It wasn’t without receiving a blow from the lizard’s front leg that sent Ackster skidding through the streams of lava on the ground.

But Ackster got up and, while healing from the burn injuries, rushed toward the salamander.

After that, it was only a matter of wearing the salamander down while taking as little damage as possible.

Ackster was aware that he wouldn’t have won if he tried to fight the salamander without his skills due to the environment. But without his skills, he would have never encountered a fire salamander in its natural habitat, so it didn’t matter.