For a whole host of reasons, Ophis had never truly come into conflict with anyone.
"All right. Time for you to hit the road and turn into my reward."
Rod didn't hesitate any longer. With a sweep of the Eight-Point Light Wheel, he sent Shalba's head flying from his shoulders as the devil died in terror.
At the same time, the system's voice rang out in Rod's mind.
[Quest: Help Katerea , Completed]
[Reward obtained: Katerea Favorability +20, Skill "Parry"]
[Skill: Parry (Can only be used while wielding a melee weapon. After charging in advance, you can block at the instant an enemy attack lands, and depending on the opponent's strength, force them into a brief stagger state.)]
"This is a pretty good skill."
After reading the description, Rod's mood improved immediately.
It wasn't some absurdly broken ability, and the timing window for Parry was obviously quite tricky, but used unexpectedly, it could still produce excellent results.
It wasn't that Rod's expectations were too low. It was just that Shalba really wasn't all that impressive.
Without using a "snake," he was only at the peak of Ultimate-Class Devil level. To put it bluntly, he was still a long way off from a true Maou.
The fact that a skill had dropped at all was already pretty good.
After dealing with Shalba, Rod returned to Khaos Brigade headquarters and headed back into Ophis's room.
The Infinite Dragon God was still sitting in her chair, as though she hadn't even noticed the utter mess the room had been turned into.
When Rod walked up to her, the l0li-shaped Infinite Dragon slowly raised her eyes and stared at him with her usual blank expression.
"The game console and the snacks are all gone."
There was a trace of resentment in her gaze as she said it.
"Sorry. I'll keep that in mind next time. I'll have someone restore the room right away..."
At that point, Rod paused, then looked at Ophis's face and tentatively asked, "Ophis, since this room's already been wrecked, do you want to come back with me? My house is big, and there are a lot of people there. There are also a lot of game consoles and snacks. If you stay there, there'll be people around to play with you twenty-four hours a day, and if you get tired, you can just go to sleep."
Though feared by the gods, the Rod who knew this part of the story understood perfectly well that Ophis was actually very easy to get along with.
Even though she had descended into this world thousands of years ago, there had never been a single case proving that Ophis had taken anyone's life.
In truth, Rod could more or less imagine how her infamy had spread in the first place.
Because her power was too overwhelming and impossible to control, the gods feared Ophis. So they fabricated countless rumors that didn't match reality at all, painting her as a cruel and vicious monster.
And the result had indeed been what they wanted, the whole world came to fear Ophis.
On top of that, Ophis herself never really spoke to others, so anyone unfamiliar with her naturally saw her as cold and emotionless.
As for where those rumors had started, Rod strongly suspected the long-vanished God of the Bible had been behind it.
After all, if there was anyone who could have discovered Ophis leaving the Dimensional Gap and entering the human world the instant it happened, there was no one more likely than the God of the Bible.
But Rod had the advantage of knowing the plot in advance.
What others didn't try to do, he did.
If he could build a good relationship with Ophis, becoming friends with her, or even something closer to a dragon rider, then from then on, Rod would be able to walk sideways through this world.
Ophis fell into silence for a long time, but in the end, she shook her head and gave Rod an answer he hadn't expected at all.
"They... still need me here."
Rod didn't quite understand what Ophis meant by "need," but he also knew that continuing to persuade her wouldn't get him anywhere.
For all her simplicity, Ophis was unexpectedly stubborn.
So Rod nodded. "All right. I'll have someone restore this place afterward. As for games and snacks, use these for now."
Rod took half the things he had stored away and piled them up.
All the odds and ends together formed a heap as tall as a small hill.
Some of it he didn't even remember when he'd put it away in the first place. Still, nothing spoiled inside his storage space, so taking it out now could count as cleaning out old stock.
Seeing so many new and interesting things appear in front of her all at once, Ophis couldn't help widening her eyes slightly as she reached out to touch them.
Just as Rod was sorting through his storage to see what other entertainment items he could give her, Ophis pulled out a stack of discs and poked his thigh.
"What are these?"
"Oh, those are all films and anime I've collected. If you don't feel like gaming, you can watch those to pass the time. I'll show you how."
After that, Rod more or less taught Ophis how to switch out discs and videotapes, as well as how to insert storage devices and find the proper movie files to play. Then he sat down and watched a classic horror film with her, The Ring.
But after it ended, what had once been frightening scenes only looked funny to him now.
Ophis, meanwhile, watched the whole thing expressionlessly from start to finish, though Rod felt she was actually rather happy.
When the movie ended, Rod lifted Ophis out of his lap and set her back down in her seat. Then he put on his sunglasses and instantly transformed from a bright and cheerful young man into a cold guy in shades.
"It's getting late. I should head out too."
"Mhm."
Ophis nodded without trying to stop him, simply watching as Rod teleported away.
But even ten minutes later, she was still quietly staring at the spot where he had disappeared.
...
Several hours after Rod left, deep within the forest where Shalba had died, his corpse lay motionless on the cold grass, body and head separated.
The blood beneath him had long since dried, darkening from bright red into a deep maroon.
Normally, a corpse like that would either be dragged off and eaten by wild animals in the forest, or gradually decay with time and become nourishment for the land itself.
But even in death, the lingering might of Shalba's Old Maou bloodline remained.
Though not for much longer.
And just when the matter should have already ended, a sinister mass of black mist suddenly appeared out of thin air in the air above the corpse. It drifted down beside Shalba's remains and gradually took the shape of a human figure in a black robe, holding a scythe.
If someone from the Norse pantheon had been present, they would surely have pointed at that figure and cried out, "Shinigami."
The death god raised the scythe and made a backward hooking motion over Shalba's body. A ghostly silhouette slowly emerged from the cold corpse, and when it fully separated, it was unmistakably the soul of Shalba Beelzebub, the same man Rod had just killed.
Shalba slowly opened his eyes, his face filled with confusion, until he finally saw the death god standing before him.
From beneath the dark robe came a gloomy, sinister voice.
"You really do look pathetic, Shalba Beelzebub."
His memories came flooding back in a torrent, and Shalba instantly remembered everything from before his death.
Rod's face surged to the forefront of his mind, twisting his ghostly features with rage and no small amount of fear.
"That damned human! I'll tear him into pieces! Even after he's dead, I'll have flies feast on his corpse!"
"If you want revenge, then come with me, Shalba Beelzebub. The Lord of the Underworld wishes to see you."
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