Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough

Yes……

As previously stated,

The reason why the Fallen Demon Gods have become man-eating monsters is because their gods have disappeared and no one has emerged to replace them.

But once they had access to the source of faith, the resentment that had been building up inside them flew toward Rhodes along with that faith, and their own [curse] began to drop dramatically.

The violent aura gradually disappeared, and even the monsters that had fallen into demonic ways all stopped moving in a daze.

The aura of corruption emanating from them gradually dissipated, their bodies began to melt and shrink, and a basic humanoid outline emerged.

"Ah...ah..."

pity.

Ultimately, they had been corrupt for too long, or perhaps Rhodes had not absorbed enough of their resentment.

Therefore, they still failed to turn back into humans.

Even so, they are no longer insane monsters.

Their bodies were stiff like zombies, their hands resting on their foreheads, their pupils filled with fear as they recalled the horrific things they had done recently, trapped in a desperate situation.

……

...

All the energy in the square was absorbed into Rhodes' body.

It was as if it had melted away, and even the aura of faith was completely absorbed by Rhodes.

A dark aura swelled around his body, but he did not open his eyes for a long time.

Although he had already broken free from that inexplicable domain, his consciousness was still focused on observing the changes in the divine seed within his own divine sense.

The number of divine seeds expanded from five to six, but these divine seeds were no longer in a state of fusion. Instead, they were quietly arranged in a circle, surrounding him.

At the same time, Rhodes discovered that the [Demon Seed] Divine Seed Bead, after being baptized, had transformed into a pitch-black, thorny crown resembling the [Sin] of an evil god.

Moreover, all that so-called power of faith has gone into this crown;

Rhodes reached out and gently touched the crown, but a divine pressure forced him away.

“Not strong enough,” Rhodes pondered.

Because of his insufficient strength, he is now being rejected by his own divine seed.

No, to put it bluntly, the method of obtaining the Fallen Demon God Seed is different from other divine seeds. It's still hard to say whether the [crown] in his mind is actually his divine seed.

It's not impossible that this is a "demon god" parasitizing his body.

The moment this thought crossed his mind, Rhodes' eyes instantly turned serious.

indeed.

The reason he was able to enter the [Fallen Demon God's Domain] must be related to this crown.

But this crown was rejecting him...

No matter how I think about it, it feels like my body has been buried with a dangerous landmine.

"I need to become strong enough to control this crown, otherwise I'll feel really uncomfortable."

"Most importantly, if I can control this crown, I might be able to directly enter the realm of the Fallen Demon God and revive the Dragon God with normal consciousness."

"After all, while a normal dragon god may be a battle maniac, at least he wouldn't attack other gods indiscriminately, much less attack humans."

"In this way, even if the enemy's leader is taken down first, the remaining problems are that these empires on earth will still covet the Linlank Empire, which has no gods, and the witch's problems."

"But... if I could really control this crown, wouldn't I become the leader of the witches?"

Rhodes gazed at the demon god's faith atop the crown and said this.

Magic.

I just wanted to improve my skills, but I ended up encountering so many amazing new things.

Let's take stock of the current situation.

First, he knew for certain that the Dragon God's consciousness was trapped in the Demon God's domain and could be freed.

Secondly, he obtained the Demon Seed and was exempt from those negative effects, which means that he can now absorb one of the twelve Demon God fragments.

Third, a crown has appeared inside his body. This crown could be a possible pathway to the divine realm, or it could be a landmine that threatens him.

That's roughly it.

My thoughts returned to reality, and the moment I opened my eyes, a flood of information popped up—

Your attributes and skills have been improved.

Physical Fitness: 710→923

[Agility]: 650 → 824

[Physical Constitution]: 672→844

[Spirit]: 733 → 960

[Reconstructing the Domain LV.3]

【Effect 1】: When you activate this skill, you can create your own domain within a 50-meter radius of your original location. Within the domain, all your attributes are increased by 30%, and your soul damage is increased by 30%.

[Effect 2]: When an enemy enters your territory, you can use the special skill [Chaotic Slash], which is a skill that ignores spatial position and hits the enemy 100% of the time.

【Body of Creation LV.3】: You can increase a single character's mental resistance by 25% and all attributes by 30%, and the body will exhibit some elf-like characteristics.

【Life Dragon Heart LV.3】: Can share the spirit within a range of 300 meters, sense the location of enemies within 100 meters, and cause 【Mental Shock】 to enemies. In addition, your heart will become extremely strong - Physique increases by 90 points, and Constitution and Agility increase by 50 points.

【Listen to the Dragon's Song LV.3】: Allows for barrier-free communication with all species, increases all attributes by 60 points, and after activating the skill, heals all friendly units within 15 meters of 【Dragon's Song World】 and the user at 2% damage per second.

【Elf Dragon Sword LV.3】: You can forge an Elf Dragon Sword. When equipped, your Strength increases by 100, Agility decreases by 15, and when the weapon pierces an enemy, you can inflict the 【Mental Damage】 effect.

As the lines of text fell, Rhode confirmed the extent of his current strength improvement.

Almost all individual attribute values ​​increased by two hundred points.

With his current attribute values, he's not far from reaching 1,500 points and advancing to the fifth level.

At least, it has far exceeded the attribute value of a basic upgrade of four times.

However, it was not inferior in many ways, and what surprised Rhodes was—

The skill improvement was not significant.

They are all clear and straightforward numerical enhancements, without any entirely new mechanics.

Even the new skills that should have been obtained after acquiring the Demon Seed were completely missing.

"But upon closer reflection, it makes sense. The Fallen Demon God is basically devoid of any [skills]."

"Most witches' skills are inherited from the skills of their former faith."

Rod clenched his fist slightly, producing a popping sound in the air, revealing clearly defined and powerful muscles.

enough.

This unexpected surge in strength has given him the real opportunity to advance five times in combat, which is to become a [Hero] rank powerhouse.

However, at that moment, Rhodes raised his head and looked into the distance, clearly noticing two figures rapidly approaching him.

Rhodes was slightly surprised, since one of the auras was clearly Lilith's.

Ok.

Rod had no idea how much trouble he had just caused.

It's safe to say that if he had absorbed the energy any slower, and Merrick had actually seen it, there would have been almost a 100% chance that he would have been mistaken for a monster substitute.

As they pondered this, the two figures appeared.

The azure skirt of Lilith's dress fluttered in the wind and soon flew to his side.

Merrick landed slowly on the ground, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.

At this moment, both Lilith and Merrick had the same thought in their minds—where is the enemy?

However, Lilith was more concerned about Rhodes' safety than about finding the enemy.

"Rhodes".

Lilith walked to Rhodes' side and quickly reached out to touch his body.

The girl's eagerness was palpable, and Rhodes reached out and ruffled her hair.

The soft strands of hair rubbed against my fingertips, causing a slight tingling sensation in my palms, but the warmth was also genuinely transmitted.

"Why are you here?"

Before Lilith could ask, Merrick frowned and said:

"A terrifying demonic aura just erupted from the plaza, and it even spawned [faith]. Did you kill that monster?"

A glint flashed in Rhodes' eyes.

It's definitely something I can't say for the time being.

After all, telling Merrick and the others wouldn't make any progress and would only increase the risks.

The fact that he could fuse with countless divine seeds was terrifying enough, not to mention that he had also fused with a demon god seed.

If Lilith really wanted to know, then he could say whatever he wanted, but Merrick certainly couldn't.

He quickly suppressed his emotions and pretended to think, "Was the commotion really that big?"

“The miasma broke through the clouds.” Merrick raised his finger and pointed to the sky, where the previously misty sky was now completely clear.

Only the moon and countless stars dotted the dark night sky.

"So what exactly happened? Was it the enemy, or did you do something?"

Rhodes pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke:

"They are enemies, but not exactly enemies."

"In fact, when I helped Charlotte break free from corruption, I extracted a bead filled with resentment from her body, and just now, when I activated the Link Scroll, this bead melted on its own, attempting to take over my body."

"Then, I crushed it, and it disappeared on its own."