Naimes had assigned the village guard to monitor Op.

Simultaneously, Naimes utilized the Oath Rope to activate silence control for the village guard, ensuring his movements remained undetected.

Logically speaking, given the village guard's previously demonstrated vigilance, it was highly unlikely he'd be discovered by Op.

So why had the village guard made such conspicuous movements that the Oath Rope could sense them?

What truly baffled Naimes was that the village guard had also developed a case of 'faith'.

After all, the village guard was only serving him under duress through a demonic contract that threatened his daughter's life.

The village guard's hatred toward Naimes was unmistakable - given the opportunity, Naimes was certain the man would kill him without hesitation.

Yet despite this hostile relationship, the village guard had developed faith directed at him.

"No, not faith in me," Naimes realized through his divine sense as he touched that strand of faith. "Faith in 'demons'."

"Faith itself lacks absolute directional clarity!"

"This structure of faith is truly fascinating."

In narrow terms, faith refers to trust and reverence toward deities.

But in reality, faith represents conviction in abstract concepts.

A merchant's profit-first mentality makes them devotees of wealth.

Farmers working the land develop trust in soil and crops - that too is faith.

Even one's fondness for wind can constitute a form of faith.

Any feeling of admiration, submission, trust, or fear toward objects or abstract ideas can manifest as faith.

For instance, among true deities exists the Savage Pantheon of violent gods.

Led by the Storm Lord, this pantheon harvests faith primarily through the terror of tempests.

While Naimes had known this intellectually before, it had been mere academic knowledge - something heard but not truly understood.

Now, witnessing firsthand how the village guard's fear of demons - or perhaps the more abstract concept of 'evil' - crystallized into faith, Naimes achieved genuine comprehension.

"Knowing must now lead to doing, culminating in unified knowledge and action." Understanding faith's complexity actually provided Naimes methods to handle distracting thoughts.

However, Naimes didn't rush. Sharpening the axe wouldn't delay woodcutting. He sensed the village guard racing back toward the settlement.

Sure enough, Naimes' door soon rattled with urgent knocking - the village guard had returned. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel✦fire.net

"Op... he lured miners into the tunnels and detonated them!" The village guard swallowed hard mid-report.

Though he'd killed before, his deeds paled compared to Op's cold-blooded efficiency.

Op had joked amiably with over a dozen miners, then without hesitation tossed several magic scrolls to collapse the tunnels once they entered.

Among the dead was even Op's own trusted aide - the servant who'd served Naimes tea earlier that day.

This display of pure, profit-driven evil reminded the village guard painfully of Naimes - both were true demons at heart.

One perhaps literally demonic by race, the other demonic in spirit.

This fearful recognition had spawned the faith Naimes detected through the Oath Rope.

"Op performs admirably," Naimes remarked with amusement at the village guard's trembling discomfort.

His casual reaction sent genuine chills down the guard's spine.

The guard had killed only to save his daughter, avoiding further bloodshed by exhuming corpses instead.

He still fundamentally respected life - unlike Op and Naimes, who evaluated lives solely by utility with cold indifference.

Much of his hatred toward Naimes dissolved into fear at this realization.

Various rebellious thoughts quietly faded away.

"Enough," the guard decided. "If I can keep my daughter safe, I won't challenge monsters like them. I can't win."

This wasn't about physical strength - even after being thoroughly beaten by Naimes before, he hadn't felt this afraid.

This was psychological annihilation.

"Why fear?" Naimes suddenly asked, locking eyes with the trembling man.

"Don't we all consume others for personal gain?"

"Only the methods differ."

"Do your duty without guilt." Strangely, Naimes' words comforted the guard, making his sins feel absolved.

Naimes observed the seed taking root - the village guard's burgeoning faith in evil itself.

At dawn's whale song next morning, Naimes performed another whale transformation procedure on Pur, who arrived quietly as before.

This time however, Naimes had Pur actively channel his Essence of Pain ability while manipulating the Oath Rope within him to initiate changes.

Sealing power could suppress tangible existences to nullify their effects.

"Demons truly excel at this," Naimes mused. This sealing enhancement came from his contract with the small demon Kullog.

Demons were innately supernatural beings - even lesser demons surpassed ordinary humans.

"This also provides reference for demonic possession states," Naimes' inspiration surged.

The village guard had undergone repeated infections and healings until his deep well water adapted to whale mutations, leaving transformative seeds.

Naimes could bypass such tedious steps.

Manipulating the Oath Rope, Naimes began using Whale Transformation Disease itself as the sealing medium.

"Kullog remains sealed within Tangs - the rat-demon's body provides longevity in this world while preventing further possession."

"This principle applies to Whale Transformation Disease."

"Use sealing to mitigate conflicts between the disease and deep well water, maintaining its presence while orchestrating gradual integration through precise seal adjustments."

"With sufficiently meticulous control plus Pur's Essence of Pain as binding agent, success becomes highly probable!"

Naimes' thoughts flowed with crystalline clarity.

While 'Naimes' continued surface-level experiment control, his hidden True Spirit activated the divine core to observe Pur's emerging faith.

Everything progressed smoothly.

Naimes' theory proved correct.

The seal moderated conflicts between deep well water and Whale Transformation Disease, maintaining tension just below combat threshold.

Finally came Pur's own power - the Essence of Pain.

Awakened through the commandment of forgiveness and amplified by the Oath Rope and faith, this ability controlled pain sensitivity while converting suffering into inner strength.

Those strands of agony became perfect bridges, rapidly constructing platforms to merge the two forces.

Externally, black spots abruptly erupted across Pur's recumbent form.

The spreading stains marked Whale Transformation Disease's first successful flowering within Pur's body.