Rogue Villain-Chapter 244: Self Defense

Liquid, smoky darkness flooded out through the doors as soon as they swung open, covering the corridor floor. The thick, tangible darkness seeped over the floor and spread further away through the ruins, leaving ankle-high fog for Ackster and...—

"Sword God, Sir?"

Ackster glanced up at Sword God, who stood on his shoulders before he even noticed.

Sword God used his feet to nudge Ackster forward, leaving Ackster the only one to wade through the ominous darkness.

’Fucking madman.’

Sword God tapped Ackster’s shoulder with his foot hard enough to crack a few bones.

"Sorry, I guess."

Ackster didn’t know if Sword God had already seen through his healing ability or if he just didn’t care. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter since he didn’t have a say in what the Sword God did. The lunatic was just so strong that Ackster wasn’t even sure whether he would survive this encounter.

There was no reason for the Sword God to kill him, but there also weren’t any reasons for the Sword God not to kill him. And with someone as unreliable as the Sword God, Ackster didn’t trust the lack of reasons to kill.

So, all he could do was try and control his thoughts, maintain his composure, and obey. He didn’t like it, but he also didn’t like dying.

So, he waded into the throne room as torches along the walls and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling lit up the room as they entered.

The blue light was several shades darker than the one in the corridors and previous rooms, and it didn’t take long for Ackster and Sword God to pinpoint the source of the darkness that even affected light itself.

It seemed like the Sword God didn’t want to touch the liquid darkness for whatever reason, so it was up to Ackster to bring him closer to the armored knight sitting on the throne with a sword stuck in the ground between its legs.

At first, Ackster thought the knight was the source of darkness, but he quickly realized that the sword was leaking? Ackster wasn’t sure whether it was leaking darkness or if that was how it simply looked. But the liquid darkness was the thickest around the sword, and it appeared to be coming from it.

’I guess that’s why he’s here.’

Ackster looked at the sword before glancing at Sword God’s slippered foot. As the Sword God, it only made sense if he was interested in swords, even if his scabbard was empty.

The Sword God urging Ackster forward to the pitch-black sword with a curved cross guard like molten iron only confirmed Ackster’s suspicions.

Ackster’s spine was tingling like cattle prod just by looking at the sword, and he could tell that he was facing his death by approaching it, and not in a good way. But he could somewhat measure the sword’s level of danger. He couldn’t even do that with the Sword God.

He held back a sigh and waded through the rising darkness. His legs felt a little strange, but it wasn’t bad enough to cross the Sword God.

However, when Ackster got within twenty steps of the sword, the slumped-over knight’s head shot up and looked at Ackster. Ackster wasn’t sure how, but it looked like there were two sources of dark light within the helmet, barely visible through the horizontal slit.

"You’ve got the rest, right?"

Ackster looked up at the Sword God with hope. The Sword God did have his hand by the scabbard, but he didn’t move except for tilting his feet forward, urging Ackster ahead.

Ackster held back another sigh and obeyed.

The knight with pitch-black armor to match his sword stood up.

Ackster took another two steps forward.

The knight changed the grip on the sword.

Another two steps.

The sword was pulled out of the ground.

Another two steps.

The sword rose into the air.

Another two steps.

The sword pointed at Ackster.

Another two—

The sword, knight in tow, flew forward at a blinding speed toward Ackster. He raised his guard, ready to take the blow with his side to land a hit against the knight. Even if the sword controlled the knight, as it seemed that’s what it was doing, the sword would be useless without the knight.

So, although the sword was his opponent, Ackster decided to get rid of the knight first, even if he had to sacrifice his organs to do so.

However, before the sword could pierce Ackster’s abdomen, a flicker of light too fast for anything but the corner of Ackster’s eye to catch it flashed past and struck the black sword to the side.

’I guess he knows how to take care of his ride.’

The sword was only deflected for a moment before righting itself out and pointing at Ackster again. Somehow, it seemed a little confused.

’No way. It doesn’t even sense the Sword God?’

The gap between himself and the Sword God and the Sword God and the sword was wider than Ackster first thought. But that meant Ackster shouldn’t have anything to worry about as long as the Sword God didn’t let him die or kill him.

Ackster held back yet another sigh and focused on the sword. That wasn’t reassuring at all.

The sword finally decided to try again despite the strange interference the last time. It flew straight toward Ackster, propelled by the knight.

But the sword was once again deflected before it could reach its target.

It tried again.

Deflected.

Again.

Deflected.

Again.

Deflected.

Aga—

Deflected. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Deflected.

Struck.

Beaten.

Assaulted.

Abused.

Hit.

Gradually, the sword stopped needing to fly toward Ackster before the Sword God attacked it without mercy. The Sword God kept hitting the sword with powerful, invisible strikes that were too fast for Ackster to catch up to, not for lack of trying.

Although the Sword God was a lot stronger than Ackster’s current self, he was a decent goal to aim toward if he wanted to defeat The Hero in seven years. So, he did his best to try and read the Sword God’s unreadable movements.