Rogue Villain-Chapter 322: Only One

Ackster reflected on the color of the stone, which was darker than he remembered, and he realized that the carving of a knight on at least one of the walls was gone. However, a chill ran down his spine before he had time to react.

"Watch—!"

Ackster didn’t even have time to shout and warn the others before dark needles shot through the air like bullets toward all of them from the various Alchemaze entrances.

Ackster dodged them with ease before turning to look at his comrades, worried they had suffered misfortune before they could even enter the Alchemaze. Fortunately, the party members he had recruited weren’t weak enough to succumb to a surprise attack using hidden weapons that, upon taking a closer look, Ackster realized were poisonous.

’Maybe not just poisonous...’

"Glehfblerg!"

Well, most of his comrades were skilled enough to avoid or defend against the purple spikes. Makkel wasn’t. One of the spikes brushed against his arm, leaving a dark purple streak in it. The red-haired arsonist crumpled to the ground with spasming limbs and froth pooling out of his mouth.

It was too late to cut off his arm since the poison and what Ackster assumed was a curse spread through Makkel instantly.

Ackster and the others gathered around Makkel.

"So, does anyone have a way to fix this?"

"I can!"

Mastrax put up a hand with an excited expression.

Ackster narrowed his eyes.

"Will he explode?"

Mastrax lowered his hand and went to investigate the doors where the attacks had come from with a sullen expression. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Ackster looked at the others.

"Does no one have any healing or purification abilities?"

Wilma, Mara, and Kargas shook their heads. Mara knew a few simple healing spells, but they weren’t enough for whatever Makkel was suffering through.

But Karandiel didn’t say no. So, they all looked at her. But she looked at Ackster.

"You might, Brian."

"Me?"

Ackster pointed at himself in confusion. He could only heal himself as far as he knew. He wasn’t as good at vitality as Mastrax to use it to heal someone else. He also didn’t rely solely on his vitality to heal himself since his skills were in charge of that.

But Karandiel nodded.

"Yes. Your Ichor should be able to cleanse Makkel’s ailments."

Ackster’s pupils narrowed to pinpricks at Karandiel’s words. He hadn’t told anyone about his Ichor. And based on Mara and the others’ confused looks, they didn’t know. That made sense. No one was supposed to know about Ackster’s secrets.

Karandiel saw Ackster stare at her with a gaze intense enough to drill through her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of intensity she wanted from him. She squirmed and avoided meeting Ackster’s eyes as she glanced at Mara and the others.

"I will explain how I know later. For now, don’t we need to save Makkel?"

Ackster narrowed his eyes before turning to Makkel. He wasn’t a crucial part. But he would be incredibly useful. It would be a waste to lose him.

Ackster knelt and touched the center of Makkel’s chest before gently guiding his Ichor through his arm and into Makkel’s body. Since his Ichor was so powerful, he started with a single drop, but even that was too much for Makkel’s body, and his pale and sickly green face turned flushed with red as his body cramped and swelled.

’Whoops.’

Ackster eased on the gas and used a fraction of the Ichor he had just used. He gently pushed it around inside Makkel’s body like a slowly flowing stream of water.

Purple steam and liquid oozed out of Makkel’s pores and orifices as Ackster’s Ichor cleansed his body.

’What the fuck...?’

Ackster couldn’t believe what he was seeing and neither could Wilma or Kargas. Mara was the only one who looked at Ackster with eyes of reverence. Karandiel nodded as if confirming something.

After a short while, Makkel coughed and sat up. He leaned to the side and cleared his throat by emptying it of saliva and froth on the ground.

"Bleh! What happened to me?"

Makkel wiped his mouth and looked at Ackster and the others.

"You were poisoned."

"...Of course. And I was the only one?"

Ackster smiled.

"Of course."

Makkel sighed and rested his head in his hands for a moment. Being poisoned really wasn’t nice.

Ackster stood up again and turned around to see how it was going for Mastrax.

Ackster sighed and tried to massage away the creases in his brow with a finger.

Mastrax had done a good job investigating, alright. He had found the sources of the poisonous spikes.

"Stop slacking."

Ackster gave Mara, Kargas, Wilma, and Makkel a series of meaningful glances, encouraging them to peel the... Whatever they were off Mastrax.

"And you, start talking."

He looked at Karandiel. Ackster didn’t like how she knew about part of his secrets when he hadn’t explained that. He trusted Karandiel to a certain degree. But Ackster suffered from severe trust issues and paranoia.

Even if Karandiel was a member of his party and seemed very loyal to him, Ackster didn’t forget for a single moment that she had cooperated with The Hero. Karandiel, knowing something that she wasn’t supposed to know, deeply upset Ackster for reasons he couldn’t be sure of.

Karandiel was nervous. She hadn’t thought this would upset Ackster, at least not to this degree. She was worried she had crossed a line, stepped on a sore toe, or mentioned something that triggered a bad memory or something Ackster didn’t want to think about.

But she had to explain. She really didn’t like how Ackster was looking at her with eyes of suspicion and distrust.

"I haven’t pried into your secrets, Brian. I know about Ichor because you aren’t the first one I’ve met that has it. I wasn’t sure at first since yours is... Different. That’s why I didn’t say anything until now."

"...Okay. So, what is it?"

Ackster wasn’t sure what to think so far.

"I’m not completely certain about the details of what Ichor actually is since I’ve only seen it from a distance. But it is something that the gods of the Celestial Realm use."