Round Two Ends; Round Three, an Even Fiercer and More Spectacular Clash Among the Gods, Begins at Once! (Continued)

Rhine: "Let me borrow the sword for a bit. I'll go get it some fuel."

Constance: "Mm..."

At the mention of the Pay-to-Win Sword, Constance seemed to want to say something, but hesitated.

Rhine paused. "What happened?"

Constance: "Your Highness, why don't you come and see for yourself?"

With that, Constance led Rhine into her room.

Constance's room was very plain. She lived in the clergy dormitory at the Sanctuary, in a small apartment with one bedroom, one living room, and a kitchen. The furnishings were sparse—so sparse, in fact, that the place could only be described as austere.

Constance led Rhine to the door of her bedroom.

Rhine noticed that Constance had sealed the room with magic.

Rhine: "What's in there?"

Constance: "A sword, and..."

"My Lord!! My magnificent Lord!! My great Lord!!!"

A shriek suddenly came from inside the bedroom. "Where are you?! Why have you locked me in this space?! If that is your will, I will carry it out with all my might, but, great Lord! You can't leave your holy relic in here too!!"

That voice was...

Rhine's expression changed.

"Obadiah?"

"Yes." Constance spoke wearily. "When I woke up this morning, he suddenly appeared in my room."

Rhine: "..."

That was a rare sight.

Rhine had never encountered anything like this before.

Rhine: "Is he dangerous?"

Constance: "He doesn't seem to have any real offensive power."

Rhine: "Then let him out. I want to see."

Constance dispelled the seal.

The bedroom door slowly swung open.

"My Lord!!!"

The next moment, a chibi ancient dragon, Pay-to-Win Sword in his mouth, shot out of the room like the wind and lunged toward Constance's arms.

He slammed headfirst into the barrier Constance had raised and yelped in pain.

Even as he howled, he frantically apologized to Constance. "I'm sorry, my Lord! Your servant has offended you! I shouldn't have gotten carried away and tried to touch your noble body! Please punish me, my Lord!!"

Constance: "..."

Constance wore a troubled expression.

Rhine studied the chibi ancient dragon. Putting aside his tiny body, now a thousand times smaller, and his noticeably rounder shape...

The fellow really did look just like Obadiah.

Then Obadiah noticed Rhine, and his expression changed dramatically.

Obadiah: "Rhine Hyun... It's you, you beast!!"

Rhine: "You still remember me?"

Obadiah gritted his teeth. "You despicable insect!! Olivia's lackey!! I'll never forget that ugly, vicious face of the murderer who killed me... Ah, of course! Though I died afterward, I was willingly killed by my Lord, so rest assured! Great Lord! Obadiah will faithfully carry out all your orders without question!!"

After cursing Rhine, Obadiah turned around and showered Constance with praise.

Rhine was at a loss for words.

"Your Lord? You mean her?"

Rhine patted Constance on the shoulder.

That gesture infuriated Obadiah. "Filthy human, get your dirty hands off my Lord!! How dare an insect like you touch the sacred body of the Primal Sequence?!"

Rhine sneered. "Oh? Then come bite me."

"Wait, what are you doing?! Don't play with my Lord's hair!"

"Stop it right now!! Don't pinch my Lord's ears!!"

"AAAAAAAAAH! Do you have any idea what you're doing?! Don't pinch my Lord's butt!!"

Obadiah wailed as if someone had died, his cries so heart-rending that he nearly fainted.

Constance blushed. "Your Highness..."

Rhine chuckled and withdrew his hand, then fell into thought.

Obadiah was still alive?

That truly surprised Rhine.

After all, Rhine had never seen anything like this in any of his previous loops.

But it didn't take long for Rhine to understand the key issue.

Olivia.

In his previous loops, Rhine had regarded the evil god as an enemy and had never tried to cooperate with her. Naturally, he had never given Olivia a reason to willingly remove Obadiah's immortality for him.

In the battles before, there were only two situations in which Rhine had a chance to take Obadiah out.

The first was when Obadiah completed his metamorphosis and ascension, challenged Olivia, and was lucky enough not to be killed by her.

The second was when Olivia fell.

Either situation could come to pass, depending on the strategy Rhine used in that particular loop.

But whichever it was, it meant that Obadiah, killed by Rhine, had completely broken with Olivia.

But things were different now.

So far, Obadiah had only planned to rebel against Olivia; he hadn't actually put his plans into action.

And so...

Rhine: "Olivia?"

Ripples stirred in Rhine's eyes, and Olivia's voice came through.

"Sorry about that. No matter what, he's still one of my people."

Olivia sounded helpless.

As expected.

Olivia had spared his life.

After all, ancient dragons were incredibly rare.

Every one of their people meant a great deal to them.

If Obadiah had completely fallen out with Olivia and challenged her, she certainly wouldn't have held back.

But now...

The Dragon Princess had shown him mercy.

Olivia: "I spared his life, so he can cling to 'Rhine' and survive. Of course, there's no chance he'll regain his former power. Right now, he's only a little stronger than a dog."

I see...

Then there was no problem.

Rhine had no deep grudge against Obadiah. As long as he got the Pay-to-Win Sword and the Skull of Compassion, he honestly didn't care whether Obadiah lived or died.

But... watching Obadiah come back to life suddenly gave Rhine an idea.

Rhine: "Since you've already brought him back to life, why not restore his immortality too, so he won't get killed again?"

"Oh?"

Olivia paused. "You're actually speaking up for him?"

Rhine: "Give him immortality, then lend him to me for a while."

Olivia: "Ha~ha~ha~"

Olivia understood what Rhine was getting at and laughed knowingly.

And so,

A blessing traveled through the Nether Realm, crossed into the mortal world, and descended upon Obadiah.

Obadiah stopped wailing at once.

He was astonished. "Was that... Olivia's blessing? That evil dragon still wants to protect me, even after everything?!"

"Obadiah."

Rhine crouched down and spoke gently. "Do you know? Olivia saved you. She couldn't bear to slaughter one of her own people, so she wants to give you another chance."

Obadiah's voice was cold. "I'm grateful for her mercy, but I won't change my mind!"

"That's fine."

Rhine smiled. "You may have lost your strength, but you can't die either. Why not use your own eyes to see for yourself in the future whether Olivia has truly betrayed the ancient dragons?"

"..."

Obadiah fell silent.

In truth, from the moment he awoke inside the holy relic of the Primal Sequence, he had already guessed who had saved him.

Though he was unwilling to admit it...

Olivia's actions had already made Obadiah waver.

An evil dragon who ascended to become an evil god should have been brutal and frenzied, controlled by the authority she wielded, reduced to an embodiment of emotion, stripped of her sense of self, and turned into an agent of chaos.

But how could a chaotic, frenzied avatar of lust ever understand forgiveness and compassion?

Still, perhaps Obadiah really did need to reconsider what kind of deity Olivia was...

"All right..."

Obadiah hung his head and accepted reality.

Rhine smiled. "Then it's settled. By the way, Constance, can I borrow this dragon as a meat shield?"

Constance: "Mm."

Rhine: "Did you hear that? Your great Lord has given the order."

"??????"

Obadiah stared in shock, his head full of question marks.

What?!

The Goblin CEO's Perfect Plan

Golden Land.

A goblin paced back and forth in the office, visibly excited.

In a rift in space, White Vulture rested with her eyes closed, using her perception to monitor Golden Land. Every so often, she glanced at her employer, then looked away again, bored.

Her goblin employer had been in this state for an entire day.

Naturally, it was all because of the ancient dragon Obadiah's death.

There was an unspoken secret in Golden Land.

From the moment the goblins issued their first loan to a mortal kingdom under Golden Land's name, control of Golden Land had no longer belonged to the dwarves.

With their shamelessness and clever minds, the goblins had used the vast capital stored in Golden Land to leverage enormous wealth from across the mortal world.