Rogue Villain-Chapter 320: Who’s The Real Cockroach In This Relationship?

Chapter 320: Who’s The Real Cockroach In This Relationship?

Ackster frowned as he noticed Makkel’s changed gaze. But it didn’t seem like a bad thing, so he ignored it and focused on Mastrax, who was wrapping things up.

The dragon cleared out his lab and the other rooms that Ackster had been too busy to investigate. After that, Mastrax walked up to Ackster’s party and teleported them all out of the island.

"Hey, Mastrax, do you have any more of whatever this island’s made of?"

Mastrax was busy squinting due to the sunlight, but he gave Ackster a wary look and took a step back.

"No...Why do you ask?"

Ackster shrugged.

"I was hungry."

Mastrax wasn’t sure what he meant, and he had no intentions of finding out, so he just ignored Ackster and started working on the outside of his island.

But Mara and Karandiel offer Ackster some food they had pieced together. Ackster ate it, even if it wasn’t something for Smelting Furnace.

When Mastrax finished what he was doing, Mara looked at Ackster.

"Where to now, My Lord?"

Ackster looked at everyone.

"Does anyone know an inconspicuous place to enter the Alchemaze?"

Makkel, Karandiel, Mara, and Kargas shook their heads.

Wilma shrugged.

"All the entrances I know are Guild property."

"On second thought, I just realized that I forgot to turn off my oven. You go on ahead without me."

Before Mastrax could enter his portal, Ackster grabbed him by the throat.

"Not so fast, cockroach."

Mastrax struggled in Ackster’s arms to try and flap his way into the portal. But unless he pulled out his true strength, which he didn’t do for some reason, Ackster wouldn’t budge.

"You agreed to come with us. I will have to ask you to make a Covenant about it if you keep this wishy-washy behavior up."

Mastrax stopped struggling and hung limp in Ackster’s hand.

"...Fine."

Ackster gave Mastrax’s throat a tight squeeze, more for the sake of seeing how sturdy it was than to try and intimidate the dragon.

’What is this guy’s deal?’

Ackster couldn’t understand Mastrax. He didn’t think he would necessarily die to the dragon if they fought. But Mastrax was stronger and sturdier than himself. It didn’t make sense for the Dragon of Life to just obey when Ackster tried to use force.

Ackster let go after the portal disappeared, but he still watched Mastrax with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to see through the dragon’s intentions.

"Do you not want to go to the Alchemaze?"

Mastrax shook his head.

"Not really. It’s more dangerous and overrated than everyone thinks."

"Alright."

Ackster nodded.

"Do you have another place that is a suitable training ground for all of us? Or maybe a path to the center of the world?"

Mastrax stayed silent before shaking his head after several moments.

"...no."

"It’s settled then."

Ackster turned to Wilma.

"The entrance I discovered should still be mine, right?"

Wilma nodded.

"Yeah. The whole Blood Moon disaster made it difficult to focus on Alchemaze exploration. But the disaster also shook the ground a lot, so someone else might have discovered it."

"We better hurry, then."

Ackster gestured for Mara to envelop them all in her magic, including Mastrax. Ackster didn’t want the strange dragon flying on his own since he might just take off in another direction or return without anyone noticing before it was too late.

Fortunately, Mastrax didn’t object. He treated it like a free ride and enjoyed the view as they breezed through the air toward the southeastern quarter of Tenger.

Ackster’s party members couldn’t help but be excited and worried as they approached their destination. After all, they were going to enter the fabled Alchemaze, something few adventurers did and even fewer returned from doing.

However, none of them forgot Mastrax’s unwillingness to enter. He was a dragon, and an incredibly powerful one at that. Ackster, Mara, and Kargas, who had interacted and fought with dragons before, were the most aware of that. But Karandiel and Wilma weren’t blind.

Ackster hadn’t exactly held back when he attacked Mastrax. That wasn’t how he did things. But he hadn’t injured the dragon.

If a dragon like that was scared of the Alchemaze, there had to be a reason for it.

Although they had spent a lot of time looking for Paradise, they weren’t too far away from Tenger. But Ackster still found time to practice his martial arts through some simple image training that he had learned shortly after his recent breakthrough in the Unimportant Whatever Arts.

Ackster realized the extent of his talent. He didn’t bother asking the others to spar with him. That was unnecessary and took too much of a toll on Mara’s magic when they were about to enter one of the most dangerous places on Millmeria. He could just learn and advance on his own.

Ackster’s talent wasn’t limited to only weapons and martial arts, either, so he divided his attention between that and source manipulation. Ackster gained a new understanding of vitality after fighting with Mastrax.

Mastrax touching and inspecting his body during the flight as he regained his interest in Ackster after seeing him train also helped Ackster understand his vitality on a deeper level.

During that short trip, Ackster didn’t have any ground-breaking enlightenments or jumps in his strength. However, he experienced a comprehensive increase in strength as he learned more about his skills, abilities, and talent.

As they got closer, Karandiel gradually recognized where they were. Before long, they had already entered the Cloven Grasslands.

Just like the rest of the nearby area, the Cloven Grasslands looked completely different from before the Blood Moon disaster. But Karandiel still recognized where they were, thanks to her sense of direction that was as good as a migratory bird’s. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Gradually putting pieces together, Karandiel looked at Ackster.

The Alchemaze was part of Millmeria, and almost all of its entrances were underground. The ant nest where Ackster was willing to give his life for Karandiel to leave was also underground. It was nearby.

Ackster found an entrance to the Alchemaze inside the ant nest. Karandiel couldn’t even begin to understand how that would have happened.

It wasn’t the first time beasts accessed the Alchemaze. But on almost all such occasions, they were way too dangerous, assuming they survived the Alchemaze, for a person to survive an encounter.

Ackster, as he was now, wouldn’t face any trouble. But back then, he was a lot weaker.

Karandiel could only imagine how much he had suffered.