Devil's Bible

Even without turning around, Nems knew about Towns's psychological changes.

He had just transmigrated and achieved some small successes, and he became arrogant and complacent.

Reality teaches him a lesson, and those emotions are long gone from him.

The village wasn't very big, and we soon arrived at the village chief's house.

Because of the commotion caused along the way, Aupu, who was resting at home, also learned the truth of the matter from the noisy villagers.

He quickly went out of his house and greeted Nems at the door.

"As expected of Mr. Niall! He managed to eliminate this vicious demon in just one night!" Opp began with flattery, and when he glanced at Downs, he no longer ignored him as usual, but instead smiled gently.

"It's just a little devil, it won't take much effort." Nemus was no longer as taciturn as Nair had been before, as if the world owed him money.

He spoke frankly, and even had Downs bring the demon's body forward and place it on the ground.

Seeing the motionless demon corpse, the surrounding villagers cheered.

Many people were crossing their arms over their chests—a church gesture, reciting the teachings of the God of Commandments.

"I will deliver the tokens I promised to donate to the church as soon as possible." Op glanced at the demon's corpse, his expression slightly fluctuating, before speaking naturally.

"May you be protected by God!" Nemus said to Op while sensing the changes in the commandments.

The precepts have been updated.

[Instrument: Rope of Oath (New - Length Increased.)]

Only now was Nemus barely satisfied with the Oath Rope.

A contract artifact is a vessel that exists between the real and the unreal, forged by demons to ensure the proper functioning of the contract. It requires decades or even centuries of continuous forging to acquire combat power.

However, with the strengthening of the oath-keeping discipline several times, the combat power of the Oath Rope has become quite considerable.

However, at that moment, Nemus sensed a peculiar gaze. He immediately followed the gaze and saw a somewhat disheveled man.

The man was wearing linen clothes, and his long black hair was matted and stuck together because he hadn't taken care of it for a long time.

He had a small dagger at his waist and a bow and arrows on his back.

People around him kept their distance after seeing him.

Only one person in the village fits this description—the village keeper.

The village guardians in this world are a unique custom in some regions.

Some villagers who are unable to perform production functions will be stripped of their names and become prospective village guardians.

For example, Karl-Anthony Towns was afraid of this before.

The person preparing to guard the village needs to enter into a contract with the village and drink water from the deep well.

They must take up arms and fight against various wild beasts and dangers in the wild. Only after fighting to a certain extent and undergoing a certain 'transformation' can they shed the word 'prepared' and become true guardians of the village.

The status of the village guardians is both high and low, making them a contradictory group.

They possess power, but this power has significant limitations. If they break the contract, they may even faint from the intense pain.

Therefore, most villagers keep their distance from the village guardian.

The village guard was taken aback, then looked away, no longer daring to look at Nemus.

"Something's not right with him!" The thought flashed through his mind, but the village guard dared not investigate further.

"Sure enough, the guilty party will come forward on their own!" Nemus looked away, just as most murderers like to return to the crime scene.

The person who summoned the demon will likely come to the scene to see what happened once the demon has been dealt with.

There aren't many people in the village with the right to cause trouble. Extraordinary power isn't something everyone can master; most people are people who never even know about breathing techniques and meditation.

In this situation, someone who can summon demons without revealing themselves during the process must have a deep understanding of demonology.

That means there are only a few suspects left.

One of them is Op, the village chief must possess some extraordinary power, otherwise his business would not be able to continue.

The other is the village guardian. As a demon, Nemus knows very well that the village guardian system is essentially a distorted demon contract.

Through village contracts and the use of local water, people are transformed into 'man-made demons'.

That's why some experienced village guardians have some knowledge of demons.

“Although it’s not certain yet, the probability that the village guardian is a Kurog summoner has greatly increased.” After confirming this, Nemus said goodbye to Op.

His time is not worth wasting any longer.

He called out to Downs, instructing him to carry the demon's corpse and follow him toward the village church.

The church is located at the back of the village, nestled against the back fin mountain.

At this moment, the towering dorsal fin mountain is cutting through the clouds, and some small black dots can be seen on it.

Those are the village's main producers; the herbs and other things they pick are the village chief's main source of income.

Compared to other parts of the floating whale, the output in the dorsal fin area is actually not very high, which is why only a small village has formed under the dorsal fin.

The places where floating whales are abundant are mostly located at the head, such as in the City of Air Springs and Lake Hitomi.

However, the environment in those places is much more complex, with many experts. Although he has some special powers, he still needs time to develop them.

Nemus pondered the unique characteristics of the floating whale and had already arrived at his main destination after diving into the material plane—the church.

Even before getting close, Nemus felt waves of faith emanating from him.

Then a hymn was sung.

Although the singer's voice was old, it sounded exceptionally powerful at that moment.

The power called Holy Light!

This energy, mixed in with the singing, swept towards Nems!

Keep reading, that's the biggest support you can give the author, thank you!

Chapter 7 The Identity Trap

"Ah!!" Downs, who was following behind Nemes, howled in pain, and black smoke billowed from his body.

His body trembled uncontrollably, and the demon corpse he was carrying fell to the ground, though it was in a worse state than Downs'.

Flames suddenly burst forth from the corpse, the green flames appearing eerie, and large amounts of black smoke rose from the corpse, only to be extinguished by the power of the hymn that was spreading from it.

As the hymn ended, the demon's corpse had become a withered, rat-like log, and the green flames on it had turned into normal orange flames.

Towns was covered in large beads of sweat, curled up to one side, clearly in considerable pain.

Nems simply smiled as he watched the church doors open in the distance, from which an old, hunched figure emerged.

This was the old priest that Nemes had previously sent Nair to kill.

However, it now seems that Nemes made things a little difficult for Nair before.

"Steel-type?" This was information that the old priest had never revealed before, at least not to Nair.

Otherwise, their contract would have been rewritten long ago, and perhaps Nemus wouldn't have taken over Nair's body so quickly.

Only those of the Iron race can wield such a powerful hymn.

It seems that bringing Towns along to test the waters was the right decision; they actually discovered something special.

"Hmm? Just a demon's corpse? I thought there was a demon daring to invade God's territory!" The old priest looked at the still-burning dried rat with his somewhat cloudy eyes and muttered to himself with slight doubt.

As he said this, the old pastor looked at Nems.

"Maybe I am the devil?" Nems joked.

Then, with a slightly more serious expression, he pointed at Downs and said, "He was corrupted by the power of the demon, and the life force in his body was forcibly activated. I activated some of his traits using breathing techniques."

"Perhaps that's why he gives off a feeling of being a living demon."

Nemes offered his own explanation, which is theoretically valid.

This is also the background he designed for Towns, making it seem more reasonable for him to wield power.

Of course, no matter how reasonable it may seem, some things are bound to arouse suspicion, such as Nemes himself.

He was certain that the old pastor's hymns earlier were very likely directed at him.

The change in Nemus's personality after possessing Nair was so obvious that, in this era, one of the most likely reasons for a person's drastic personality change is possession by a demon.

As a result, many mentally ill people are burned at the stake every year, being mistaken for demonic possession.

However, after this test, the old pastor should have had much less doubt about himself.

That level of hymn power is something that a typical demonic possession could never perfectly conceal.

"That is to say, I am special because I am a transmigrator. My soul structure is beyond the common sense of this world, so I can perfectly take over a person's identity and soul, and use the soul of the person being taken over as an outer disguise."

"Even a god could be fooled by this disguise!" Nemus thought to himself, and his smile became even more genuine.

"I see..." The old pastor looked at Nemus and finally believed Nemus's explanation, a look of emotion on his face.

"I'm getting old, I'm getting old..." he muttered to himself as he turned and walked into the church.

Nems glanced at Downs, who was gradually recovering, and told him to go back and wait for his news. Then he extinguished the fire from the dried rat, picked it up, and went into the church.

The church is laid out in a very conventional manner. Upon entering, there is a corridor with stone mortars on both sides, filled with a mixture of rainwater and dew.

When believers enter a church, they are required to clean their hands, face, mouth, etc.

Passing through the corridor leads to the main hall of the church, with wooden benches on both sides and stained glass windows around it.

The translucent blubber plate is inlaid with broken glass, and the pattern is the legend of "the god of discipline restraining the floating whale". When sunlight shines through it, distorted light spots appear on the ground.

Inside, there is a huge bone-carved deity statue.

The statue is a faceless figure radiating light, with its hands crossed and folded in front of its chest.

This is the God of discipline.

Nemus could sense that there was a considerable amount of faith power surrounding the statue, which was not normal.

Beneath the statue were some broken kneeling cushions, shiny with oil, indicating that many people came to pray to the god every day.

To the left of the statue is a door leading to a confessional, where the old pastor listens to the villagers' remorse and sins and comforts their hearts.

On the right is the area for clergy to rest and study.

There is another room inside that belongs to Nair.

Further back is the cemetery.

The old pastor washed his hands and face with the water from the mortar and then naturally sat down on a bench to the side.

"Nair..." the old priest called out the name while looking at the statue, his expression somewhat dazed.

“You come from the Dartmenley family,” the old pastor asked in a low voice. “It seems you’ve let go of something, so have you considered going back?”

“No, I won’t go back, at least not now!” Nemus said firmly.

This firm answer made the old pastor chuckle a few times.

Nemus has a complete understanding of Nair's past through his soul.

The Dartmenley family is a large family with deep ties to the Discipline Church.

Niel was trained as a paladin from a young age and had a bright future ahead of him, but he fell out with his family after coming of age.

That's why he came from the prosperous Gas Spring City to the small town of Backfin Village. Even though he had given up on himself, he was still unwilling to give up, which is why he hooked up with Nemus, who had infiltrated the material plane.

"It seems you've only figured it out, but haven't truly let go..."

“Yes, it’s not so easy for people to let go.” The old pastor’s gaze remained fixed on the idol, his words light and seemingly not directed at Nemes.

The atmosphere suddenly froze.

After a while, the old pastor began to talk about the church's official work.

“Three days from now, trainee priests and paladins will arrive, along with some migrants. The task of screening them will be yours.”

"Will priests and paladins come here for internships?" Nemus frowned, somewhat curious.

“Op seems to be doing a good job. The dorsal fin village is relatively stable, which has naturally attracted some people,” the old priest said, his gaze turning to where Nemus was.

"You and Oppa have a pretty good relationship, don't you?"