Time passed as Ackster waited for his body to patch itself back together while thinking about his plans for the future.

The rock lizard aside, Ackster had come up with three concrete goals for the foreseeable future. Locate and get Karandiel, a Fallen Angel, to work with him. Head south to the sea and locate the Sea God’s Temple and the Sea God’s Manual that should be inside it. And while doing those things, he would prioritize getting skills, primarily those with Iron in their names or something similar, since they would strengthen his body beyond what his stats could do.

Ackster felt more secure knowing he had a definite goal in his training, and it wasn’t just going all out and torturing himself in whichever way he could think of. His status showed that it hadn’t been an entirely useless method. But even The Hero and everyone else of note in the original story had trained with a clear goal in mind most of the time.

If Ackster wanted to reach or surpass that level, he should, at the very least, use a similar or better method. And now that he had found a direction to train and center his combat around, he could finally do that.

The fight with the rock lizard had also shown him a possible route to develop a suitable combat style. Until he became stronger or somehow increased his recovery rate, it would be a very inefficient style that would only be good for one fight at a time. But Ackster was confident he wouldn’t lose against anyone at a similar level as himself with his self-sacrificing way of fighting.

Ackster had Strong Body’s regeneration, a decently high-ranked Pain Tolerance for his average rank, Iron Will and Clear mind, which helped him stay clear-headed and focused, even while breaking his body, and Strike and Stone Fists, which increased the damage he dealt when attacking. Leather Skin also added some extra toughness, which would help him endure attacks better.

It was still far from perfect since this kind of melee and physical fighting specialization was vulnerable to two main things, magic and ranged attacks. He did have Sprint and Keen Senses to help him avoid attacks while closing the distance, but he still couldn’t guarantee victory against mages, archers, and other ranged fighters the same way he could against melee fighters.

Even then, as long as his opponent had a good weapon and armor, they could still chop off or break his limbs and stop him from moving before or after blocking his attacks.

‘Shit. I’m fucking weak.’

Ackster quickly realized after thinking about possible scenarios where he fought against others that he wasn’t good. His current skills, and the skills he was planning to acquire, would be a good foundation since they would strengthen his body and make him stronger and sturdier, possibly faster as well.

But just that wouldn’t be enough.

He wouldn’t have anything that brought him up and above anyone else in a specific area. He didn’t have anything he excelled in, something he could dominate others in.

All of The Hero’s comrades were specialized and at the peak of their various fields. Practically everyone at the top of the world, the level Ackster would have to reach since it was the one he would have to face, were the same. They specialized in one thing, and, thanks to that extreme specialization, they managed to win against others, regardless of what their opponent was.

‘The Hero….’

Was the only exception Ackster could think of. He was all-rounded and did everything. Melee combat with his sword, magic, tanking, buffing, trapping, scouting, and tactics. He wasn’t necessarily the best in history at everything he did, especially a couple of the more auxiliary aspects of combat that his comrades could handle. But he was the best in terms of fencing and magic.

The Hero was like several specialized people clumped together in one individual being, and he was the only one Ackster knew that could reach the apex in several fields like that.

The most straightforward way to beat The Hero that Ackster could think of was to surpass The Hero in every field The Hero dabbled in. But that was impossible, regardless of how much knowledge Ackster had, unless he could find a way to make up for the difference in time.

The other way would be to do like the Sword God and excel so much in a single field that it didn’t matter how much The Hero had achieved in any other field. The gap between the Sword God’s swordplay and The Hero’s combined skills in all of his fields was large enough in the Sword God’s favor for the Sword God to play around with The Hero whenever he appeared in the first nine-tenths of the original story.

It was only when The Hero started maturing fully and getting his hands on a slew of skills that he began catching up to the Sword God.

However, before The Hero could best the Sword God in a duel, he bested the Sword God and all life in Millmeria by destroying the world after defeating The Calamity. Even until the end, the Sword God remained undefeated by nothing other than his own mortality in the face of complete destruction of the world.

‘Too bad he’s a fucking psycho.’

A person as strong as the Sword God was naturally someone Ackster could use if he wanted to stop The Hero from destroying the world.

Since the Sword God and The Hero didn’t fight after The Hero reached his highest level of strength, Ackster couldn’t say for sure who would win, especially if The Hero’s comrades survived the fight with The Calamity. But if Ackster, the Sword God, Karandiel, Dragon Slayer Kargas, and whoever else he could get his hands on, their victory was guaranteed, almost solely thanks to the Sword God.

It was also a shame they had to do it after The Hero defeated The Calamity. Otherwise, no matter how strong they were, The Calamity would win. It was simply how the Calamitous Cycles worked.

Every few hundred or thousands, maybe even ten thousand years, a calamity would show signs of appearing in Millmeria, shortly after which a hero, blessed by the world, would be born.

That hero and the calamity would compete. The chosen hero would do all they could to become as strong as possible in as short a time as possible, while the calamity would strive to manifest and mature as quickly as possible, by any means necessary.

The chosen hero, blessed by the world and by fate, was nigh-unkillable by human hands or by anyone other than the calamity of that cycle. Likewise, only the chosen hero’s power and blessing could kill and defeat the calamity.

It was a binary fate that put the entire world’s fate on the shoulders of one man or woman. If they failed, the calamity would win and, depending on the calamity, enslave all life or destroy the world. At least if the calamity enslaved everything, there was a slight chance of getting another chance with a new hero, but it would all be over if the world got destroyed.

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So, Ackster couldn’t just stop The Hero before he had completed his mission. He had to interfere right after The Calamity was defeated and before The Hero could destroy the world. Or rather, before The Hero was controlled to destroy the world.

“Hello…?”

Ackster’s head instantly whipped around to the source of the voice. He might have been distracted by his own idle thoughts, but he couldn’t believe he hadn’t even sensed the person approaching him. He hadn’t heard any footsteps or anything. All of a sudden, a man’s voice had just sounded out behind him.

Ackster tilted his head back since the person was behind him and looked at the person upside down. But even while his head was upside down, Ackster could clearly see the brown, relatively short, but still wild hair, a simple red shirt, and jeans. And, most importantly, a leather scabbard as long as the man’s arm. The scabbard also looked like it was wider than what an ordinary sword required.

Jeans weren’t something Ackster had expected to see in a fantasy world of swords and magic, at least not yet.

“Dra– Hi?”

Ackster hurriedly stopped himself from revealing that he knew who he was talking to.

Although it was mentioned that jeans were something that a previous Calamitous Cycle left behind and passed on through the havoc wreaked by that Cycle’s calamity, it was only one character that appeared in the original story who wore jeans.

Sure, it could be someone else who also wore jeans. It was far from impossible. But, given the circumstances, the man’s appearance, the look of his scabbard, and the rock lizard lying on Ackster’s leg, the man behind Ackter could only have one identity.

Ackster didn’t want to believe he would run into him this quickly before he had even learned mana, but there was nothing he could do about it. He could only hope that Dragon Slayer Kargas would move on after confirming that the rock lizard, the most probable reason for his appearance, was dead.

“I heard there was an earth dragon nearby, so I decided to head over. But is this the one?”

Dragon Slayer Kargas looked like a somewhat ordinary adventurer, but he was the only one who eagerly jumped at the chance to find a dragon and who would look disappointed to find a dead rock lizard instead.

Ackster mustered all of his poker-playing skills, even if they might be useless in front of someone on Kargas’ level, and decided to act like the character he had given Jim and the other guards at Ilto.

“Um, I was told it was a rock lizard...?”

Ackster dragged out the end of his sentence while looking meaningfully at Kargas as if he was asking for the latter’s name. But Kargas ignored that and looked at Ackster.

“Did you kill it?”

“Yes…? It took some effort, but yes, I killed it. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t let greed–”

“Tch.”

Kargas clicked his tongue right as Ackster was about to ask him not to take the rock lizard’s corpse and kill him.

“What?”

“Nothing. Anyways, you didn’t see any other dragons around?”

“Uh, no. I don’t think I would have been alive if I had.”

Kargas looked at Ackster suspiciously.

“Maybe it let you off the hook in return for not talking about it?”

“...”

Ackster didn’t know what to say in response to the Dragon Slayer’s suspicions. For some reason, he also found it difficult to talk when the Dragon Slayer was looking at him so intently.

“You know, looking at you now, don’t you have some draconic properties?”

Ackster didn’t even blink, but he still couldn’t see when Kargas appeared right above his head and leaned down to take a closer look at Ackster.

“U-um, I am not a dragon.”

“Nonsense.”

Kargas didn’t care about what Ackster had to say.

‘Fucking psycho.’

Kargas’ attitude toward dragons and non-dragons alike was exactly why Ackster only wanted to deal with the Dragon Slayer after he was strong enough to establish equal communication before offering him a deal that he wouldn’t be able to resist.

“You’re a pretty weak dragon, huh?”

Ackster held back a sigh. Kargas probably wouldn’t kill him, even if he decided Ackster was a dragon. But that wasn’t how someone who didn’t know who Kargas was would act.

“I told you. I’m not a dragon.”

“You want to know something, dragon who has just left their egg by the looks of it? Do you want to know the thing I’ve heard the most from dragons all my years of hunting dragons?”

As injured as he was, even if Ackster wasn’t up against the Dragon Slayer, he still wouldn’t be able to do anything but hope this madman didn’t take advantage of his injuries. So, even if he didn’t try to resist or fight off Kargas, he wouldn’t raise any suspicion.

“Once again. I’m not a dragon.”

“It’s ‘Grrr.’ Many dragons growl, even when they can talk. Do you know what’s second on the list I’ve heard dragons say the most?”

“Meow?”

“No. Don’t be ridiculous. Why would a dragon meow? Well, there is a kind of dragon that does meow. They also purr now and then. Actually, a lot of dragons purr, but only very few of them meow. If you had guessed hissing, you would be pretty close. That’s in place fourteen of the things I’ve heard dragons say the most.”

“...”

The more Kargas rambled, the more time Ackster would have to come up with something to say that wouldn’t encourage the Dragon Slayer to slay the dragon he had identified Ackster as.

The Dragon Slayer rambling on also made Ackster realize just how much of the man’s head was filled with dragons. He was already slightly aware of it since the Dragon Slayer had been the same in the original story. But it was different experiencing it himself when he could get a direct feeling for how powerless he was in front of the Dragon Slayer, especially now that Kargas had started looking at him like he was a dragon.

“Where was I? Right! The second most common thing for dragons to say is that they aren’t dragons. Can you believe it? No matter where I go, what kind of dragon it is, how old it is, or in which situation I encounter them, dragons almost always claim they aren’t dragons.”

“Umm…?”

“Yes?”

Since it looked like Ackster wanted to say something, Kargas motioned for him to do so.

“Wouldn’t it be entirely possible for beings who aren’t dragons to also say they aren’t dragons?”

“I guess that could be possible. But what does that have to do with this?”

Kargas tilted his head as if he couldn’t wrap it around what Ackster was trying to say.

“If your only proof of someone being a dragon is the fact that they say they aren’t one and that non-dragons can say they aren’t dragons, isn’t it possible that you’ve been wrong? That you are wrong?”

“Don’t speak nonsense. That’s impossible.”

Kargas didn’t even consider Ackster’s carefully laid out argument. Ackster hadn’t had any high hopes in the first place. If Kargas was that easily convinced, he wouldn’t be the Dragon Slayer and Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“Alright. What can I do to make you believe I am not a dragon?”

“Oh, wow. That’s line number five! I knew I was right. You are a dragon, aren’t you? Those sharp eyes, glistening teeth, and your attempts at sophistry are all things that point to you being a dragon!”

‘Fucking psycho.’

Ackster cursed Kargas in his mind as he started reconsidering his plan to bring him along for his anti-Hero plan. But since he really needed Kargas’s skills for the Dragon of Life, he couldn’t give up just yet.

However, he could find Kargas later when he had gotten some strength and managed to convince Kargas he wasn’t a dragon. Well, if he couldn’t convince Kargas, it didn’t really matter how much stronger he was.

“So, what if I’m a dragon? Are you going to kill me?”

“Oh! That’s a niner!”