Rogue Villain-Chapter 231: Burning Candle

It didn’t take long for the large pool of lava inside the volcano to start bubbling and rippling as the enormous creature closed in on the surface. Ackster grinned in anticipation as his Overhuman Senses started picking up the details of his opponent’s appearance. Even without seeing the centipede for himself, Ackster could tell that it would be one hell of a fight.

A fleeting thought of how the last two years had changed him flashed through Ackster’s mind. But he ignored that and started getting ready for the fight.

The first thing Ackster did was let his Last Stand go. Ever since he got his skills back, he had used that to shave off his vitality and induce it to continue expanding and growing, unlike what it did when he just trapped it inside his body.

After all his abusive self-treatment and the growth of his healing skills, his vitality had grown even more. So, the faint effect of boosting his body’s strength and recovery from before was now even greater.

Of course, Ackster was still a couple of steps from controlling his vitality or using it to boost his abilities. Merely letting the life force flood his body and fill his cells to the brim granted Ackster another level of strength and defense against external and internal damage.

The best thing was that it didn’t clash with his mana when he used body reinforcement or used his mana to power his martial arts. So, the next thing Ackster did was use body reinforcement.

At the same time, the golden black centipede pierced through the lava, the glowing molten orange rock dripping off the centipede’s chitin carapace like water on a well-oiled surface. The centipede also sent a shower of lava around the volcano’s rim as it burst upward, towering about Ackster.

Ackster was undaunted and waited for the centipede to come crashing down as he took a stance and planted his feet into the ground.

With Mio and the dragonling mage hiding behind him, albeit a little distance away, Ackster knew Guardian would activate and increase his defensive power. He also hoped Stalwart Advance would count his forward motion while throwing a defensive punch as an activation condition.

Ackster held off on using Limit Breaker since that was his trump card. But all the other cards were on the table.

Ackster’s skills and experiences harmonized and united under the pressure of the centipede identifying and targeting the intruder. The centipede’s mandibles clicked before it brought up the rest of its body while plunging its head down toward Ackster.

Ackster’s body was practically glowing with the combined strength of his skills and the power of his mana and vitality.

As the centipede drew nearer, the light gathered in Ackster’s hand while it rose to meet the train-sized centipede head-on.

Time froze for a second as the centipede’s harder-than-rock forehead clashed with Ackster’s harder-than-iron fist. Then, a resounding boom rang out.

The force of the centipede’s charge pushed Ackster back, and the soles of his feet ground against the hard rock. But he remained standing, proof that Iron Wall had fused with Strong Body to create Iron Body.

The centipede also wasn’t unaffected. Just like Ackster had tasted the power of its charge, it had tasted the power of his fist.

And a rippling punch powered by all of Ackster’s mana, strength, and some of his life force ravaging its armor and insides was something not even the centipede could shake off. Ackster’s fist had left a shallow imprint on the centipede’s forehead armor, and the ripples of his punch had left a web of cracks.

However, befitting of such a large and strong beast, its vitality was off the charts. Even if it didn’t heal as quickly as Ackster due to its size, it wouldn’t die from such an injury. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The fight wasn’t over from a single exchange. But this time, Ackster didn’t wait for the centipede to charge into the iron wall that was himself. He leaped onto the centipede, latching onto the bristles on its multitude of legs before crawling over its carapace-covered back, all the while unleashing rippling punches until his hands and arms bled.

The centipede felt pangs of pain shoot into it with each punch. None of them were lethal, but soon enough, Ackster would break through its armor and tear apart its insides. So, the centipede dived into the lava while bucking, twisting, tossing, and crashing against the volcano’s walls.

A mad grin spread on Ackster’s face as he rode the centipede like a fantasy rodeo.

It wasn’t the first time he fully submerged himself in lava. But it would be the first time he did it for an extended period. The current volcano was also hotter and richer in mana than any of the previous ones he had bathed in. The power of fire seeping into his wounds and battling his healing abilities was more powerful than anything he had experienced before.

Still, Ackster didn’t let go.

The pool of lava was the centipede’s home and natural habitat. Even with Swimming C, Ackster would be nothing but a sitting duck if he got caught floating in the lava.

He held on for his dear life as the lava ate away at him, and the centipede tried to grind him into pulp by rubbing itself against the volcano’s insides. The centipede created a vortex as it drew circles inside the volcano.

What the centipede failed to take into consideration, however, was Ackster’s Overhuman Senses telling him where he would be safe from the collisions with the volcano’s inside and Swimming giving him the necessary underlava mobility to move around freely despite the centipede’s frantic movements.

Ackster kept pummeling the centipede with a pair of continuously eroding arms. He went up and down the centipede’s body, creating streaks of cracks and weak points until he finally managed to crack open its hard armor and sneak into the centipede’s dangerously hot body.

The centipede’s insides were even hotter than the lava around it, and as soon as its blood streamed out and mixed with the lava brushing against what remained of Ackster’s face, he could feel even his bone start to lose structure and turn brittle. Not even Martial Body and Nold’s secret technique could keep his skeleton safe from the extreme temperatures.

That meant his brain, heart, and all of his internal organs were already ablaze or completely burned away.

Still, Ackster was conscious and alive.

Pyro Resistance, Stubborn Well-being, Martial Body, Iron Body, Stalwart Advance, Spirit reaching S-rank, Survivalist, and Limit Breaker made the impossible possible. However, if either of those skills reached the limit or deactivated from him giving up, he would die instantly. Ackster’s life hung by a thread drawn over a burning candle.