Rogue Villain-Chapter 327: Challenge

"IYAAH! I don’t wanna die!"

Mastrax crumbled under the demon’s gaze after less than a second. He screamed and was about to run for his life. But Ackster grabbed the back of his collar, picked him up, and set him down next to himself before smacking the dragon on the back of his head.

Ackster still didn’t know why Mastrax didn’t fight harder to resist. But that didn’t matter now. The demon was pretty strong.

It wasn’t as strong as Trana when she fulfilled her Covenant. But maybe it was as strong as Mazar? Ackster couldn’t quite tell.

"Interesting~ You’ve managed to tame a dragon?"

The demon looked at Ackster with a peculiar smile. It tilted its head.

"You, what are you? You don’t smell like a human."

The demon’s eyes flashed with an ominous glint of interest. Ackster might not smell like a human, but his scent was exquisite.

Ackster hesitated for a moment.

"...I’m a mutant, I guess. How about you? What’s your name, demon?"

"You want my name?"

"Unless you’ve forgotten."

The demon smiled meaningfully.

"I don’t forget."

It looked at Ackster’s sword.

"Do you know what knowing a demon’s name means?"

"Nope. But these murals did their best to keep your name secret. So your enemy knowing your name makes you stronger, right?"

The demon raised its eyebrows in mild surprise.

"You want to face my full strength? It seems you’re intending to fight, but you want to fight me at my peak? Ah~ I knew you were interesting!"

The demon squealed and hugged himself with an ecstatic blush. It looked at Ackster after a moment with a teasing smile.

"I’ll tell you if you can prove you can endure it. Deal?"

"Sure. If you can survive that long."

Ackster grinned. He was looking forward to this fight.

Ackster dashed forward as soon as he finished his words. He felt a vague connection with the demon after accepting its offer. It didn’t interfere with his movements.

’Ah. Right. A demon. Is it something like a Covenant?’

Ackster had made a deal with a demon. It was a binding agreement that enforced both sides’ compliance. In this case, there wasn’t much for either party to do. Ackster needed to survive for him to get what the demon could offer.

But the demon was the one with something to offer, so it had the superior position in the arrangement. Thus, the demon got an increase to its strength when facing Ackster. After having been sealed for countless millennia, he might need it against the crazy bastard leading a dragon, a Dragon Slayer, a dragonling, a fallen angel, and a human with weird eyes.

The crazy bastard also had a demon sword that seemed pretty hungry. If the live demon didn’t watch himself, he might get needlessly troubled by some small fry.

However, Ackster’s added clause of the demon also needing to survive lessened the strength it got from the agreement.

The demon couldn’t tell whether it was intentional or if Ackster was lucky. It couldn’t tell whether it needed to watch out for Ackster’s tricks or his strength.

But that didn’t really matter.

The demon smiled as Ackster approached with his sword. It sat unmoving, lazily propping itself up with its arms behind itself.

Ackster drew a horizontal streak through the air when he was a step away.

However, all he slashed was a puff of black air. He didn’t even touch the demon.

Ackster’s senses flashed.

*Karandiel!*

Ackster used his Will to alert the others before dashing over at full speed and blocking a purple, smoky dart right in front of Karandiel.

"Tha—"

*Focus!* 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Ackster caught another dart headed toward Wilma with his hand. The poison and curses of the dart flowed into his arm like a muddy river. But all it took for Ackster to get rid of both the poison and the curses was to flex the muscles in his arm.

The poison and the curses lost all their effect, and the damage they had done to Ackster in that time recovered in an instant.

"Hoh~"

The demon stopped hiding in the shadows and sat in the air above them, looking down on Ackster.

"Fast, good senses, quick thinking, and resilient. This is going to be fun!"

Ackster glared at the demon with his sword raised.

*Focus on defense. I will hunt it. Mara, prepare magic. We’ll play it by ear until we figure out what he can do. After that, we go Dragon Decoy One.*

Mara and the others formed a closed circle with her in the center. They would protect her while she charged up some offensive magic.

Ackster rushed his three sources through his body before funneling them into his sword and sending a slash through the air. After he learned how to cut through the air, that kind of attack was a lot more effective than before.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and all he struck was a puff of dark smoke.

’Hmm. Maybe...’

Ackster glanced around the room. He closed his eyes.

He couldn’t see the demon, and even when he did, he couldn’t attack it. It was like it wasn’t where he was looking.

Ackster hadn’t sensed the demon move around before attacking Karandiel and Wilma. But he had sensed it attack.

Ackster naturally guessed that he didn’t see the demon. He saw the demon’s illusions. Although the demon used poison and curses that corroded their surroundings, there was nothing saying that the demon couldn’t use other kinds of attacks. It was like Trana, the Dragon of Storms, using fire magic.

Ackster had to bring Limit Breaker into play as he boosted his senses a little. Although it would be good training for his Overhuman Senses, the demon had the strength to kill Ackster’s comrades if it wanted. Ackster didn’t have the room to play around like he usually would have.

It was a shame, but it also forced Ackster to try harder. He couldn’t rely on his immortality-like recovery to take forever to find a solution. He only had one chance.

Ackster grinned. He liked the challenge, and he found the traces of the demon.