Rogue Villain-Chapter 308: Hermit

The Hermit of Equilibrium gave Ackster a hollow smile.

"You know who I am."

"What do you want?"

The Hermit of Equilibrium appeared once in the original story, and it was a short appearance. It was barely even an appearance since The Hero and his party stumbled into him during a mission. Some stuff happened, and The Hero wondered why the Hermit, with all his power, remained immovable in front of the disasters and catastrophes plaguing the land.

Unlike with the Sword God, The Hero could tell that the Hermit had a conscience and was humane. But the Hermit did nothing when The Calamity spread its influence to Vider. The Hermit just watched as the humans he watched daily perished in agony.

The Hermit answered The Hero’s questions, demands, and pleas with some bullshit about how he was separate from worldly affairs and interfering would disturb the natural order, balance, and the already established equilibrium of the world.

In short, he was a cold bastard with a philosophy that stopped him from doing anything if it had to do with the world around him. But he was strong. It made it impossible to hold it against him and not resent him for standing by the sidelines while countless innocents died.

The Hermit, who never interfered with worldy affairs, afraid it would upset the balance, had now come to Ackster, interfering with his plan to break Makkel out of prison. Ackster trusted Wilma and her abilities, but he also knew how powerful the Vider Empire was.

Unless he was there, the plan’s success wasn’t a guarantee.

"I could ask you the same."

"..."

Ackster stayed silent as he spread his senses around himself. The Hermit had already covered their surroundings with his mystical power. Ackster had a feeling that the Hermit didn’t want him to run.

"Fuck off if you’re just going to talk in circles. I’ve got things to do."

"What things?"

Ackster glared at the Hermit. This wasn’t supposed to happen, and the Hermit wasn’t supposed to act like this.

"You have caused a lot of turbulence in this world’s order, young man. Every action of yours is threatening to upset the balance. The only way that is possible is if you are not part of this world’s natural order. Who are you, and what is your goal?"

The Hermit finally revealed what was on his mind as Ackster roused his sources and fighting spirit.

’Fuck.’

Ackster didn’t feel like revealing his identity to the Hermit. He wasn’t sure it would help. But he had no idea how to get out of his current situation.

"It doesn’t matter who I am. All I want is world peace. If you’re going to go against me for some reason, I won’t hold back."

"...’World peace’..."

The Hermit repeated Ackster’s claim with a thoughtful expression.

"I see..."

The Hermit looked straight at Ackster.

"You have no intention of telling the truth. Unfortunately, disposing of you will upset the balance."

The Hermit shook his head and sighed before looking at Ackster again.

"I will keep my eyes on you. The day you disrupt the delicate equilibrium is the day I will protect it by any means necessary."

Ackster wasn’t sure what that meant, but it seemed like the Hermit wasn’t going to take action right now.

"Sure. Until then."

Ackster turned around and chased after Wilma. The Hermit didn’t stop him and soon vanished like he was never there in the first place.

Ackster had more pressing matters to attend to than the Hermit’s eccentric actions. But the Hermit did make it so that Ackster could confirm his theory yet again. Strong people were all a bunch of crazy bastards.

After a while of following Wilma’s traces, which were much less violent than his own, Ackster found her and Makkel surrounded by a bunch of strange guards in black uniforms holding batons that looked like they were made of shadows.

Wilma clutched her hand and shielded Makkel behind her as she stared off against the black-clothed guards. Ackster didn’t see anything wrong with Wilma’s hand. But there had to be a reason why she was so cautious.

Ackster looked at the guards. They didn’t seem that strong. Ackster also had trouble believing the Vider Empire had that many people powerful enough to suppress their strength beyond what even he could sense.

Ackster didn’t stop running from the moment he came upon the scene. Only the black-clothed guard with a star at the center of his hat had just enough skill to react before Ackster collided with him.

The black-clothed guard captain poked Ackster with his pitch-black baton. Ackster didn’t feel anything, nor did he stop, and he sent the guard captain crashing into the wall with enough force to break through the wall and break the guard’s bones.

The baton dropped to the ground.

Out of curiosity, Ackster picked it up with his bare hands.

At that, the other guards looked at him in shock, which turned into disbelief, which quickly turned into a mix of fear and horror as they pointed at his hands before shouting something about it being impossible. It was only then that Ackster noticed all the guards’ thick rubber gloves.

’Ah.’

Ackster didn’t know how, but the baton was trying to inflict pain on him. It was just too little for him to feel more than a tingle when he looked for it.

Ackster looked at the guards before dashing through the crowd, poking them all with the stick of pain. All of them crumbled to the ground, screaming their guts out in pain.

’That’s handy.’

Ackster grabbed the sticks of pain and stuffed them into his inventory. He doubted it would work on beings on his level. But who knows? Being able to inflict stupid amounts of pain on weaklings with a poke and without leaving any traces might be useful.

Ackster looked at Wilma with a hint of admiration. She had most likely taken a hit with her hand. But she wasn’t cradling the ground, crying out for her mother. He realized that he might have subconsciously underestimated her actual combat-related abilities after getting so much stronger.

He ignored her gaze of mixed feelings as she looked at the crying guards before carefully avoiding them and trailing after Ackster.