The carriage stopped near a lake. Priest Erolith lifted his magic, so the carriage and the horse stepped on the ground again. Maroch tied the horse on a tree and returned back to the carriage. He knocked on the carriage door.

King Elduin opened the door and stared down at him with obvious displeasure," What?" he asked.

Maroch smiled and glared at King Elduin. He imbued his magic inside his eyes, and when King Elduin stared at him, he was in a daze.

Maroch ordered Elduin through telepathy, 'Go sleep early. Sleep deeply and never wake up until I told you so.'

Elduin said nothing, which was the sign that he was already inside Maroch's hypnosis. Maroch laughed inside his heart. He mocked King Elduin, who was so easy to get influenced by magic. Well, he couldn't blame him, though. Nobody was immune to his magic.

The corrupted magic will be able to influence anyone with the slightest dark thought in their hearts. Even if the darkness was only as much as a drop of ink. It was possible for Maroch to control those people.

Only the untainted and pure hearted one that he couldn't influence, like the Elven Priest.

So he wanted to put it on a test tonight.

Since they were already far from the Sacred Tree, the Elven Priest shouldn't get as much protection as he used to around the Sacred Tree domain.

'Unless… that person really has an untainted heart, the heart that will stay pure forever. HAH, that is simply unbelievable,' Maroch mocked in his heart.

'Priest Erolith, let's see how much faith you have in your heart.'

***

It was only two hours after they stopped to rest for the night, and King Elduin was already in a deep sleep. Priest Erolith rolled his eyes as he put on a blanked over Elduin's body, "Here you go, Little Eld."

King Elduin caught Priest Erolith's hand and hugged it, "Mm… Big Ero..." King Elduin mumbled in his sleep.

[Awww, so cutee! Ding! Yunyu's Fatemeter for Elduin increases to 50%!]

[Pupa: Stop saying that. It is a breach of our contract. Only I can announce something like that.]

[… Alert! Yunyu's Fatemeter for Pupa decreases to -110%.]

[Pupa:…]

Priest Erolith released his hand from Elduin's snuggle, and he opened the carriage door. He saw Maroch sitting in front of a bonfire. He was cleaning his wooden harmonica when he saw Priest Erolith walking towards him.

Maroch bowed politely, "Your Divinity, it is quite cold outside. Why aren't you resting inside the carriage with King Elduin?"

Priest Erolith used his magic to make the vines under the ground pop up and become his small bench. He sat and smiled at Maroch, "I am not sleepy. You see, as the Elven Priest, I have an affinity with nature. I spent my night outside every day."

Priest Erolith saw the harmonica and asked, "You can play the harmonica?"

"… Yes," Maroch said, "It was a skill that I picked up when I was bored."

Truthfully, Maroch picked the skill when he was chained by the previous Elven Priest and Elven King a few hundred years ago. Since he couldn't do anything, he spent his alone time creating many wooden music instruments with his magic to pass the time.

And now, Maroch was adept at playing many musical instruments, but he preferred harmonica. Because it soothed his corrupted heart.

Who would've thought the corrupted beast could play the harmonica, right?

It was quite rare for a beastman to play music as gentle as harmonica. The beastmen usually used drum or anything that sounded loud as a way to intimidate their enemies. Priest Erolith's interest peaked, and he asked, "Would you mind playing music for me?"

Maroch was quite surprised that someone wanted him to play the harmonica. He always played it alone because it was pretty shameful for a beastman. But Maroch nodded and put the harmonica near his lips.

The sound of beautiful harmonica resonated around them. It was gentle music flowing inside Erolith's ears, and he couldn't help but sink deep into the melody.

[What a beautiful music. See, Pupa? I don't think the corrupted beast, the one that could corrupt the entire world and had the strongest destructive magic, could play such a beautiful melody. You are overthinking.]

[Pupa: Don't get fooled, stay guarded.]

The melody put Erolith through a faint intoxication. He closed his eyes in comfort, and he opened his eyes again when the music abruptly stopped, "Maroch?"

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Maroch already fainted on the ground. Before he could even react, a shadow suddenly grabbed him by his waist, and he flew far from the carriage, "Elduin! Maroch!" Priest Erolith yelled.

[What the heck?! What happened?!]

[Pupa:… remember when I said stay guarded? Yeah.]

[No, really, what happened?]

[Pupa: The second main lead came out of Maroch's body, simple as that. Maroch is Urduk, the corrupted beast.]

"Let me go!" Priest Erolith raised his staff and chanted a spell inside his heart to attack this guy. But the shadow grabbed his elven staff, and the magic enchantment on the staff disappeared, just like that, "W—What?!"

Unable to process what just happened, Priest Erolith didn't react once the shadow entered the deep forest. It was all dark, and somehow, Priest Erolith couldn't use his magic.

The shadow dropped Priest Erolith without the slightest bit of gentleness. The shadow beast was so scary, especially for Priest Erolith, who somehow was blocked from using magic.

"W—Who are you?!" Priest Erolith hurriedly pointed his staff towards the shadow who stood tall in front of him. The shadow had amber eyes that shone in the dark forest. He crouched in front of Priest Erolith and leaned it to sniff on the Priest's neck.

The Priest was petrified. He couldn't move when he felt the chilling sensation he got when the shadow sniffed on his neck. The shadow whispered on Erolith's ear, "Smell so good, I can smell your untainted, pure heart. The gentleness and kindness surpassing the angels, the sacred heart that signifies the gentleness of nature."

"Elven Priest Erolith Virdhitas, you are the tastiest meat for me to corrupt," the shadow chuckled creepily.

"S—Stay away!" Priest Erolith tried to hit the shadow with his staff, but it was in vain, of course.

"You didn't seem to understand the situation you are in right now," the shadow said. He distanced himself from Priest Erolith, "Let me show you my true self."

The shadow slowly materialized into a tall and big figure. A tiger head emerged from the shadow, alongside his tiger claw, but he had a muscular human body. He wore a short to cover his private area.

[GODDAMN IT!]

[Pupa: What?]

[Why pants?! I got excited for nothing! Damn it!]

[Pupa:… you are supposed to be scared right now, remember?]

[Ah yeah, pardon, I got distracted for a moment.]

Priest Erolith gawked when he finally saw the real appearance of the shadow, "Y—You are… the corrupted beast…"

The corrupted beast laughed. He smirked maliciously and took one step closer towards Erolith, "I am the Legendary Corrupted Beast, Urduk. Tonight, I shall feast on your pure body, Elven Priest."