Rod vanished from Shalba's sight once again.
But Shalba wasn't afraid in the slightest. With a Holy Light barrier and magic layered together as dual protection, how could he possibly fear a mere human?
Shalba's instincts caught Rod's position, and he immediately fired a Spear of Light with a raised hand. Rod simply tilted his head and avoided it.
Seeing Rod close in, Shalba stopped bothering to aim precisely and instead blasted a torrent of magical power straight at the entire area where Rod was standing.
As the attack came crashing down, Rod neither dodged nor retreated. Several overlapping chrysanthemum-shaped shields instantly appeared in front of him.
Shalba's attack shattered the first few layers, but it was still stopped by the fifth.
Not bad.
The chrysanthemum shields had finally pulled their weight for once. They no longer had to wait until the seventh layer before stopping an attack.
Taking advantage of that moment, Rod had already closed the distance and arrived right in front of Shalba.
At that, Shalba's grin turned even more savage. A sword of light instantly formed in his right hand, and he slashed horizontally from right to left at Rod's abdomen.
The fifth chrysanthemum shield automatically shifted to Rod's left side. The sword of light shattered the fifth and sixth layers, but was firmly stopped by the seventh.
Shalba had wanted to copy what Rod had done before. Even if he couldn't injure Rod, he could at least blow him away. But he hadn't expected that not only would that slash fail to shatter the chrysanthemum shield, it wouldn't even move Rod's lower body at all.
Seizing that opening, Rod put away his demonic sword.
Of course, that didn't mean he was about to fight barehanded. Instead, a rotating ring of light formed in his palm.
His waist and right arm moved as one. He raised the ring high, then brought it down in a savage chopping strike.
Watch carefully. This is how the Eight-Point Light Wheel is supposed to be used.
The rapidly spinning Eight-Point Light Wheel in Rod's hand slammed into Shalba's barrier. Like a chainsaw, it burst into dazzling sparks where it met the shield, and in the next instant, right before Shalba's shocked eyes, the barrier of holy light shattered completely. Even hurriedly throwing up defensive magic in front of himself was useless.
With a sharp tearing sound, the Eight-Point Light Wheel sank effortlessly into Shalba's shoulder and tore one of his arms clean off.
But Rod didn't stop there.
The moment the light wheel dropped, his waist twisted sharply, and the Eight-Point Light Wheel slashed toward Shalba's right side again.
However, instinct saved Shalba once more. The wheel, which should have easily sliced through his neck, instead carved into the other shoulder. But because he had managed to dodge a little, only half of it was severed.
Shalba retreated explosively, his face pale and his forehead covered in cold sweat. His right arm hung limply from his body, attached only by flesh, tendons, and a few white fragments of bone.
"Damn it! You... gahhhhhh!"
Shalba had wanted to curse, but the pain that followed tore through his nerves, twisting his features together.
But it still wasn't over.
After landing a successful hit, Rod didn't stop. He entered super-acceleration once more and instantly appeared in front of Shalba. The spinning Eight-Point Light Wheel in his hand traced a cold arc through the air.
Slash!
No matter how sharp Shalba's instincts were, with most of his awareness being ripped apart by agony, there was no way he could react in time.
Both his legs were severed cleanly at the knees. With his support gone, he immediately collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from the severed limbs, leaving only miserable screams spilling from his mouth.
"It's over."
Rod walked up to Shalba and calmly declared it.
And feeling death close in, Shalba's expression turned frenzied.
"D-don't be ridiculous! What kind of monster are you?! I... I am the great Beelzebub! I've almost reached the level of the former Maou! I... I still haven't used Ophis's power!"
Shalba was consumed with regret.
If he hadn't underestimated Rod at the beginning and had immediately consumed one of Ophis's snakes, he would never have ended up in such a miserable state.
What he didn't know was that even if he had, all it would have done was make Rod waste a little more time.
Power artificially boosted through outside means would never truly be your own.
In the original story, Katerea's enhanced power had been roughly on par with Azazel's, yet she was still forced into self-destruction after only a few exchanges.
Rod, however, had no intention of giving Shalba any chance to use a snake now.
And at this moment, seeing Rod's utterly indifferent face, Shalba's own face was filled with terror, his eyes overflowing with fear as though he were staring at some monstrous beast.
He couldn't understand it. Rod was only a human, so how could he possibly be stronger than Shalba himself, a descendant of Beelzebub?
Just then, a sound came from beside them.
Shalba reflexively turned his head. The moment he saw Ophis, his expression turned urgent.
"Ophis! Ophis! Hurry and save me! I can help you defeat Great Red! If you save me, my army can be yours to command!"
Shalba treated Ophis as his final life-saving straw and immediately made a promise.
Because he knew Ophis's strongest desire was to return to the Dimensional Gap, and that was exactly why the others in the Khaos Brigade had seized on that weakness, making all kinds of false promises in exchange for benefits from her.
Shalba believed his promise would absolutely persuade Ophis to help him.
After all, that was how everyone else had done it.
Then, hearing his voice, Ophis, who had remained silent while watching the battle, slowly rose from her seat.
At that sight, Shalba was instantly overjoyed.
The Infinite Dragon God Ophis was the strongest existence in the world. Even the current number one in the world ranking, the God of Destruction Shiva, would be as powerless as an infant before her.
With her strength, a mere human-
But before Shalba could finish the thought, Rod waved to Ophis and said, "Sorry. I didn't think about your game console and snacks. I'll drag Shalba outside and beat him instead."
Hearing that, Ophis stopped in place, expressionlessly nodded to Rod, then backed up and sat back down.
When Shalba saw Ophis return to her seat, his face filled with disbelief.
Wasn't she supposed to kill this human who had attacked him?
Why... had she just sat back down?
But Rod gave Shalba no time to think. He released his aura, wrapped it around Shalba's long hair, and swiftly dragged him out of the room.
Outside, the sun was shining brightly.
The other guards at Khaos Brigade headquarters were all hiding in corners, completely ignoring the fight taking place in Ophis's room.
Rod dragged Shalba all the way into the nearby forest.
"Ah... wh-why?!"
Shalba, now little more than a limbless stump, let out agonized howls.
He didn't understand why Rod's strength exceeded his own, and he understood even less why Ophis had obediently sat back down just because this human had said a few words.
Hearing that, Rod laughed.
"You really think Ophis is stupid? Do you think she doesn't know you've all been lying to her this whole time?"
"If she knows, then why does she still give us snakes?"
"Because she's bored. In her eyes, you're like a bunch of elementary school kids slacking off in class, thinking you're getting away with it perfectly, while the teacher at the front can see everything clearly."
Rod's tone was full of mockery.
Why didn't Ophis get angry even though she was being deceived?
On one hand, she was born in the Dimensional Gap and had almost no chance to communicate with others, so her emotional growth was extremely slow. On the other hand, she was simply too strong. Even the gods in this world were just children in her eyes.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Read 55+ Advanced Chapters
p(a)treon.com/Shalltearr
Drop some POWERSTONES to push the story forward!