Suddenly, Father Noah fell to his knees, praying. His heart was racing faster. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. The divine power within him was trying to purify the demon's evil mana.
However, Jake's rank was higher than the priest's. Father Noah started hearing whispers and saw blackness all around him. The whispers were his own voices, restrained in his soul by the undying faith he had for God.
Now, they were let out, and he started having unholy thoughts. Why must he remain celibate? Why should he serve the people? What difference is there in serving a god or a demon?
In the end, he was still a slave. As a priest, he never had a family. He could have no desires. Power, wealth, women... They never came to him.
Black miasma covered Noah's face and patterns started forming on them.
Indeed, he was but a mere tool for others to connect with that being called God, who never answered to him. Why? He prayed every day for 64 years, but not even once did he hear God's voice!
Hah, how blinded he had been. Thankfully, his true lord saved him. With the Lord, he could fulfill any desires he had.
The priest's faith had broken.
Noah faced Jake. The patterns disappeared. The divine power within him changed. It had gotten an evil property.
"This servant greets you, My Lord."
"Stand up," Jake said. "Henceforth, you are my Dark Priest."
Jake touched the cross pendant on the priest's neck. It was black and cracks had appeared on it now.
"From this monumental day, your Lord's symbol shall be this!" Jake turned the cross upside down and presented it to Father Noah.
Thud! The priest knelt again and even prostrated. Tears came out of his eyes. The Lord had accepted him today!
Jake tried not to burst out in laughter and kept a straight face. He acted in a very high and mighty manner and said, "Your first task is to convert the villagers. You must convince them to daily send two virgin girls to the dungeon for performing a holy rite. A few more people will help you. Also, never let outsiders of the village know about it. Teach the villagers to keep this a secret."
Noah hit the floor with his head and looked at Jake's foot with zealous eyes. "This servant understands!"
Jake then went with Yunna and corrupted the village leader and other important people of Erpis. Most of them were old pensioners, whose words almost all villagers followed.
During that time, he saw Maise and corrupted her as well. He left her with the order to kill her brother. Although it would be fun to see that, Jake was short on time.
After that, he visited some villagers who had beautiful daughters, and corrupted them as well. He left the daughters untainted for now. Their parents would be the first ones to heed Father Noah's words, and others would follow.
It was the mob mentality which Jake planned to exploit.
However, he couldn't corrupt all residents one by one. It wasn't impossible, but a lot more time-consuming and impractical. He didn't have the time and mana to do it.
What he could do was change their faith instead. Religion was a good thing for humans as it tied the society. It helped give people hope and peace. However, it could also be especially dangerous when the person who guided people was inherently evil.
Mostly, vulnerable people would fall for the trap of cultists. And who else could be more vulnerable than rural villagers who had not even stepped on a proper church in their life?
It was a stage-by-stage process. He planned to fuck every single woman from age 16-45 here. Others were too young or too old to give him pleasure. He would keep those whom he particularly liked in his dungeon. Not only that, he would do the same to other villages. Afterall, he had to be greedy as well.
…
At the Honey Fork Inn, Elena stayed in hiding. Ever since Jake left, she didn't feel safe in Yahul's house. Rose and her daughter easily accepted the village leader's daughter. They both knew Elena was also pregnant with Johnny's child.
''Huff…'' Rose sighed in the kitchen. He… couldn't have left them, could he?
After what happened the day after Yahul's marriage, her small inn barely got any visitors. Rumors had spread that Rose had slept with that magician Johnny. They weren't even wrong.
Elena came to help Rose wash the dishes. Niru had shut herself in her room these days. For her, everything happened too quickly, and she was only now realizing that a man, who may or may not take responsibility, had impregnated her.
At this moment, someone entered the inn. Rose hurriedly washed her hands and came to greet the person, only to be stunned to see Johnny.
…
Jake and Yunna left the Erpis village after corrupting the three women in the inn. He told them to leave at night to not arouse the suspicion of the villagers.
They went to Cherrylife after that. The people there were rather open to visitors. They also had more adventurers. Jake bewitched the person close to the priest and repeated the same process he had done.
He stayed at Cherrylife for some time to gather information about the village and to satisfy Yunna, who wanted to taste human food. However, she was disappointed after finding out that the foods were worse than what Perry cooked. Nevertheless, she liked curd which she got to eat for the first time.
Erin appeared before Jake and Yunna when they were about to leave. Jake praised her, as she had quickly completed her task. With the matter of Cherrylife village done for now, they left for the last village.
Jake, Yunna and Erin arrived at Senesten in the evening. The people here looked gloomy and afraid. Today, someone came and killed the Harelys. From the village leader, to his sons, daughter-in-laws, and even his grandkids. No one was spared!
Jake found the priest at a river. He had just finished completing the funeral ceremony. Holding the ashes of those dead in small separate pots, Carlson sighed at the setting sun. He rubbed his eyes, which had gone moist, and spun around as he heard footsteps.
''Are you looking for me?'' He asked the three people who stood in front of him.
''Master, are we staying here after corrupting him?'' Erin asked casually.
'What is that girl saying…? Corrupting?' Carlson was confused. He saw the tall man walk to up to him and backed away. ''Who are you people? Do you not see a funeral happened here? Don't come near!''
Jake didn't stop despite being warned. He lazily yawned and neared the priest. He had walked a lot today. Maybe he should buy a flying skill.
'I'll check how much it costs later… No wait, I have to find it in the shop first.' Jake clicked his tongue.
Seeing the young man not stopping at all, the priest tried to run away. Who let these people inside the village? Are they the people who killed his friend Matt? The priest had many questions in his mind as he ran.
However, he was too slow. With a flash, Jake got in range of his skill and immediately used [Corruption] on the priest.
The process started, and Jake heard the system message after some time.
[Ding! You have successfully corrupted one individual.]
But two more notifications, which Jake didn't expect, followed it.
[Ding! Congratulations, one of your skills has leveled up!]
[Corruption (lvl. 1 → lvl. 2)]