Rogue Villain-Chapter 267: Three People

"I’ll take the lead and keep his attention. You can deal damage when you see an opening."

Ackster didn’t look at Kargas or even wait for a response before rushing mana through his body and charging forward. Midstep, he summoned his sword and filled it with vitality. The next step, he sent out a flying slash that tore through the ground like a crashing jet.

Ackster couldn’t even take another step since Viztar’s fist was already piercing his stomach.

"Aww, now I’m disappointed. You were so confident that you made me expect something."

Ackster grinned with blood dripping down his mouth as he held onto Viztar’s arm with one hand and thrust with his sword. As long as he could cut Viztar with the sword, he could leech his vitality and weaken him.

However, the sword’s tip just clinked against the polymorphed dragon’s solid abdominal muscles.

"I’ve heard stronger humans don’t die as easily, but you should still die if I do..." Viztar reached through Ackster’s ribcage and grabbed his heart, pulverizing it. "This! Right?"

"I won’t."

Ackster continued grinning like a madman, with blood dripping down his chin like sauce.

Ackster let go of his sword and channeled all of his mana toward his fist. Since Viztar didn’t have his guard up, he didn’t even bother defending against Ackster’s punch. His sword hadn’t done anything. Why would his fist be any different?

Ackster’s fist met the rock-solid dragon’s stomach. Not even his refined bones could handle the impact, and the fingers in his hand and wrist broke. But they didn’t do so without channeling the force of his rippling punch straight into Viztar first.

Viztar looked at his abdomen in surprise as he saw and felt his skin and muscles ripple like the water on a pond. He then raised his head to look straight into Ackster’s bloodshot eyes.

"BRAAAP!"

"Did you just fucking burp in my face?"

"Yeah, I sure did. That hit the spot."

Viztar rubbed his belly in satisfaction.

It looked like he was about to say something more, but Ackster didn’t listen. He punched the stupidly sturdy dragon, who was still holding him up like a puppet. He gave no regard to his broken fist and continued punching with as much force and mana as he could muster. But the ripples didn’t seem to do anything to the dragon’s sturdy muscles.

’Shit.’

Ackster could tell that it wasn’t due to the lacking power, though being stronger certainly would have helped. This situation was something he could solve if he were better at his martial arts.

Ackster continued trying to punch the dragon, but the dragon wasn’t so weird as to just stand there and let Ackster do that. So, he raised Ackster into the air and slammed him down into the ground. Hard.

Ackster’s bones, spine, and skull broke, cracked, or fractured. An ordinary person would’ve already died. But Ackster just ignored his injuries and took out his sword again. Since it seemed indestructible, it would serve as perfect defense and offense. He just needed to hone its edge with a stupid amount of vitality.

Viztar looked at Ackster with a raised eyebrow, surprised at the latter’s tenacity.

"Are you...?"

Before Viztar could finish his question, Ackster leaped up at him with his sword. Viztar raised an arm to block Ackster’s overhead swing, but Ackster changed the direction of his sword while maintaining its power, thanks to Bo’s mobility training and the second stage of Nold’s secret technique.

Ackster chopped at Viztar’s side like a lumberjack. This time, his sword actually managed to make a slight incision, possibly thanks to his earlier tenderizing.

Just the thin line of red that appeared was enough to stimulate Ackster’s senses and Monster Muncher. But it was not enough to defeat the dragon. If Ackster wanted to win, he would need to step up his game a little.

Since the dragon still wasn’t even trying, Ackster didn’t use Limit Breaker yet. If he used his final trump card now, he would be beaten into the ground like a rag as soon as Viztar exerted some effort.

No, Ackster needed another kind of push. He was going to use Viztar as a whetstone for himself. It wouldn’t be the first time he grew stronger—as strong as he needed to be to win—in the middle of a life-and-death battle.

At the moment, things looked pretty doomed. But while Ackster’s injuries so far were pretty gruesome. He hadn’t even come close to dying. He had already healed from most of the damage he had sustained so far.

Ackster also discovered that the second stage of Nold’s secret technique didn’t only make his skeleton more flexible and snap-resistant. It also made it easier for his bones to heal. He still wasn’t at a level where he could regenerate parts of his skeleton in the middle of a battle. But Ackster was getting close.

Now, he just needed to figure out if he was getting close enough to win against a true dragon.

Viztar touched his side. The wound was so shallow blood didn’t even taint his finger when he pulled it away. But it was an injury, nonetheless. So, he looked at Ackster with raised eyebrows in appreciation.

"You should be proud of yourself. This last century, only three people have left any injuries on me."

Ackster was a little curious about who those could be, but he didn’t let himself be distracted as his Overhuman Senses worked overtime to read Viztar’s smallest movements to try and predict his next action. Battlesight had been a little more convenient before when it hadn’t fused to his skills.

But it was proof that Ackster still had a lot of room for improvement. Since Battlesight had fused into his Overhuman Senses, Ackster should still be able to do it. Now, he just needed to do it on his own. It was the first step in surpassing the skill system’s restrictions.

"Who cares? Regardless of who injured you in the past, I’m going to be the one to kill you today. Or tomorrow. Depends on how long this takes."

Ackster grinned and charged forward again.