Rogue Villain-Chapter 368: Don’t Kill Anyone

Shanshi was curious about what Ackster meant, but it was the first time he was surrounded by so many people in an eternity. He felt just a pinch uncomfortable, especially since it seemed five of them were related to Ackster. That meant he couldn’t just get rid of them.

"That’s great and all. But who are these people?"

"As far as we can tell, this is everyone who was deep enough in the Alchemaze."

A brown-haired human spoke up while looking at Shanshi as if trying to see through him.

"Deep enough?"

Wilma nodded.

"When that guy..." Wilma pointed at Ackster. "Stepped on a teleportation array, the Alchemaze swallowed up anyone who was deep enough to be considered a viable challenger. That is us."

Wilma paused for a moment as she gestured at everyone in the room, including the other group, the one with the scaredycats.

"Now, who are you?"

Shanshi frowned and rubbed the back of his head in displeasure. Was it some kind of failsafe? The one taking the lead in the foremost party would end up at the finish line. If it were someone forced to scout for traps, they would survive while the rest of the party got demolished by the traps. And if it were a brave leader, they would reap the rewards.

But to keep things fair, anyone deep enough to be considered a possible competitor to whatever the Creator had planned would also end up at the finish line for a final battle or as a witness, depending on the circumstances and characters of those involved.

Shanshi was sure the Creator had also prepared a way for the last one standing, should something like that happen, would survive and not succumb to any injuries they might have incurred.

But with Ackster here, all of that was pointless. He would monopolize everything, with no one else being able to say or do anything about it.

"Answer the question, creature."

The woman with bright gold, almost white hair grabbed a sword of light and pointed it at Shanshi.

Shanshi looked Karandiel up and down, a little confused about her hostility. Shanshi smirked and nodded in Ackster’s direction.

"I only answer to him."

At the annoyingly volatile atmosphere, Ackster spoke.

"Calm down. Settle any differences you have outside without killing each other. Introduce yourselves while you’re at it."

Since Shanshi and the rest of Ackster’s party were so hostile against each other, Ackster didn’t see a purpose in forcing them to get along, at least not immediately. It would be better if they first got to know each other instead of immediately being suspicious of Shanshi due to his menacing aura.

Shanshi made no effort to hide the creepy and bloody air oozing from his very being. Ackster didn’t care for it. But people who were more sensitive to that, such as Wilma and Karandiel, couldn’t help but see Shanshi as an evil being that posed a threat to them and everyone around them.

It didn’t help that he wasn’t cooperative.

"Perfect. I wanted to try something out."

The red-haired dragonling nodded and unfurled her crossed arms as she led the way out through the door Shanshi had entered through.

Wilma and Karandiel followed. As did Makkel and Kargas, mostly because they wanted to watch. The five people who had looked at Shanshi when he entered were now waiting for him to leave.

But Shanshi saw a sixth being who had hidden behind them. Or, rather than hidden, it was more accurate to say that he had just stood closer to Ackster. The white-haired old man in a lab coat only had eyes for Ackster. It looked like he was completely uninterested in anything that wasn’t Ackster.

"Hey, uh..." Shanshi spoke to Ackster with a hesitant tone. He still didn’t know Ackster’s name. "Can I get some blood? Getting here took quite a toll on me, you know."

"Nope."

Ackster didn’t even look up. Not that it looked like he was looking at all. His eyes didn’t move as he flipped through the third book since Shanshi’s entry.

Shanshi slumped.

"Fine. But don’t blame me if I die."

"I will blame you if you die. I told you all not to kill anyone. The only one who won’t listen to me is stuck here. So, if you die, it’s on you."

"Eh..."

Shanshi had been acting so cocky since he thought Ackster would at least give him some blood, if not outright back him up. After all, compared to interesting strays in his party, the vampire ancestor was bound to be a whole lot more useful. The only one who, at first glance, seemed to be a match for Shanshi was Mastrax. But Ackster had said himself that the old dragon didn’t listen that well to him.

As he stepped out, Shanshi belatedly realized there was no reason for Ackster to support him against the rest of his party. From the beginning, Ackster had been very abusive toward Shanshi. On the other hand, Ackster seemed to respect the rest of his party to a certain degree.

Shanshi closed the door behind him with a sigh before raising his arm. He enveloped them in blood before adding blades that went along his forearms and jutted out beyond his elbows.

"That mannerless brat only asked me not to kill anyone. He never said anything about dismembered. Let’s do this."

Karandiel, who seemed to have almost a personal grudge toward Shanshi, signaled for the others to take a step back. She was going to beat him up first and soften the meat for Mara.

Karandiel conjured a halo of weapons of golden light behind her that lit up the tunnel. She pointed at Shanshi with the sword in her hand.

"You’re a vampire, right? Don’t die."

Shanshi smirked.

"Don’t worry. I don’t die. After all, I’m not A vampire. I’m THE vampire."

The blades attached to Shanshi’s arms glistened as he dashed forward and weaved through the onslaught of light weapons with ease. Maybe he could release some of the pent-up stress from Ackster’s treatment on his subordinates.