[Skill: Mental Control Immunity (Permanent passive skill, grants immunity to all forms of mental control)]
[Skill: Eight-Point Light Wheel (Condenses energy into a circular saw-blade to cut down opponents)]
Good lord, i actually got two rare skills at once.
Normally, missions of this difficulty only handed out ordinary supplies. Getting something like a Gatling gun was already a kind of lucky.
Mental control immunity was exactly the kind of ability Rod needed most right now.
After all, there were far too many people in this world with mental control abilities.
Back then, the dark magic Augusta used in an attempt to take over Lavinia's body also counted as a form of mental control.
Even an elite mob who barely mattered in the original story had something like that, so there was no need to mention the people from other factions.
And this kind of magic was especially popular in the Underworld.
Now that he had just joined the Old Maou faction, it was perfect for preventing himself from accidentally getting caught by something like that.
As for the Eight-Point Light Wheel, it was also an excellent skill.
It just so happened to make up for his current lack of finishing moves.
And it worked well at both long and close range, making it useful for both offense and defense.
Although he still had 'Absolute Defense', that kind of god-tier ability was something he had to conserve.
The Resurrection Coin was also extremely useful, but since he only had one of them, that too had to be used sparingly.
Back to reality.
Jeanne stared at Rod, unable to believe that a man who had said words like that would casually join someone else's faction.
So she quickly came up with an explanation in her head, this had to be a deep-cover infiltration plan, a spy operation to enter the Old Maou faction and gather information.
As for all that greedy-and-lustful behavior, it was obviously just an act for Katerea to see.
Thinking of that, Jeanne immediately decided to cooperate with Rod's performance.
Her face instantly showed the expression of someone whose heart had been torn apart.
"Rod, I really misjudged you!"
At that moment, Jeanne's face perfectly displayed thirty percent reluctance, thirty percent anger, thirty percent shock, and ten percent sorrow, flawlessly expressing her current state of mind.
And after saying that, Jeanne immediately turned and left, afraid Katerea might notice she was pretending.
Rod: "???"
Seeing this, Katerea merely stroked her chin and said with an amused expression, "Your little girlfriend seems very disappointed in you. But if you can show sufficient value, I'll gladly love you in her place."
As she said this, she extended a finger and lightly traced it across Rod's neck.
Where her fingertip touched, there was a cool, moist sensation.
When Katerea withdrew her hand, Rod found that a few wet streaks had indeed been left on his neck.
Only then did Rod remember that unlike Serafall, who played with ice, Katerea was a true descendant of Leviathan.
In the Bible, Leviathan was described as the ruler of the seas.
So Rod became rather curious about just how much water Katerea had, and whether it smelled like seafood.
"Let's go."
Katerea spoke.
She had already obtained the "snake" she wanted, so next she needed to return to the Underworld.
"Wait, let me say something to Ophis first."
Then, under Katerea's curious gaze, Rod walked over to Ophis, who had been sitting there the whole time playing a game of wooden statue by herself, and reached out to pat her on the head.
"Hm?"
The moment she saw that, Katerea's eyes widened so much they nearly popped out.
Did this guy not know that this little girl was the strongest dragon in the world?!
A single casual sneeze from her could wipe out a medium-sized mythological faction. In front of her, even gods had no choice but to back away.
There was not a single person in the world who did not fear Ophis's power.
Katerea herself was no exception.
Even though in her heart she saw Ophis as nothing more than a tool, on the surface she still treated her respectfully as the leader of the Khaos Brigade.
But Rod not only showed not the slightest bit of reverence, he actually walked right up and started patting her head.
Did this guy really not know how what he's doing right now?!
To be honest, Rod himself was a little tense too.
But based on what he knew of Ophis from the plot, she generally would not attack others without a reason.
Even in the original story, when Cao Cao stabbed her with the True Longinus, she still didn't pursue him afterward.
He was just patting her head. Compared to stabbing her with a spear, this was already very Civil, wasn't it?
And besides, Rod still had Absolute Defense in hand, which could block one attack too strong for him to handle. Even if Ophis herself attacked him, or if that Transformer from EXE who cut off Great Red's head showed up next door, he'd still dare to poke at them a little.
Ophis's hair was extremely smooth, soft and slippery to the touch, with a faint warmth to it.
Ophis slightly raised her head and looked at Rod with an examining gaze.
"What are you doing?"
"Patting your head. Where I come from, when we meet a little girl like you, this is how we greet them."
Rod casually made something up. Ophis didn't know any better anyway, so bluffing was enough.
If he could build a good relationship with Ophis in the High School DxD world, there would be nothing but benefits.
"Oh."
Ophis gave a slight nod, and showed no further reaction.
Seeing that, Rod clicked his tongue softly.
As expected, Ophis's affection wasn't that easy to raise.
But that was fine. Given enough time, affection would always go up a little. The only difference was by how much.
After thinking for a moment, Rod pulled a huge pile of snacks and various game consoles out of his storage space, then turned toward the outside and shouted, "Someone!"
The two mid-class devils outside had only just woken up. The moment they heard that voice, they immediately recognized the one who had knocked them out earlier, and glared at Rod viciously.
"Yeah, stop staring. You two. I'm giving you half a day to get electricity hooked up here and install all these game consoles."
"Hm?"
"Hm what hm? If you keep dragging your feet, I'll dock your pay!"
Rod put on the full act of a black-hearted capitalist boss.
"Do as he says."
Katerea had no idea what Rod was trying to do, but his sheer audacity in patting Ophis on the head made her opinion of him rise by several more points.
What she needed right now was exactly this kind of bold and capable strong man.
Since their superior had spoken, the two devils could only suppress the urge to rush over and beat Rod up, and start figuring out how to get electricity hooked up here.
"You can eat these snacks for now. If you run out, tell me. Once the electricity is connected, I'll come back and play games with you."
The teleport anchor at Khaos Brigade Headquarters had already been lit, so Rod could teleport back whenever he wanted.
"..."
Ophis neither agreed nor refused.
"It's time to go."
Katerea spoke again.
This time Rod did not refuse. He stepped to Katerea's side.
A dazzling magic circle lit up beneath the two of them, and a burst of light swallowed them whole. In the next instant, they disappeared from the spot.
Ophis stared at the place where Rod had vanished, silent for a long while.
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