Mind Demon's Path of Domination

After Mark had his lightmt, he didn't wait a in the underwater cavern any longer. Staying here wasn't wise wh he had only a small amount of time remaining.

He swam up against the currts with the hamster by his side and once he reached the shallow waters, oped his wings. Th, it was an easy jump into the skies and he flew free above the clouds, dark wings spread apart with poise.

His gold eyes looked down at the wilderness below like an eagle looking for prey.

The hamster took deep breaths in, noticing it was out of the water, and snuggled up to Mark's hair. He petted it gtly and increased his speed.

Fwoosh.

Mark must have flown for half an hour before he stopped and landed siltly on a thick branch. He hid amidst the foliage as he looked down, licking his lips.

They will be my target.

Below the tree, a horse-drawn cart ambled forward through a stream. Four other horses sured it as it moved forward, and in the cart itself were childr. Mark counted and realized there were about 0 childr or so in the cart.

Riding the horses suring the cart—and the one running it—were savages.

Total of five savages, rather easy to handle now that I know what they can do.

Mark looked a, his Soul Sse searching for small tracks. For possible emies which he might not have noticed.

More savages to the north looking at the footprints on the g, he realized. But of them are headed here, they are going the opposite route.

He looked down at the five savages who were abducting the childr in that cart and for a long while, fell into deep thought. He was not here to kill the five savages. He looked at the childr one by one and noticed something particular.

Some of them are extremely malnourished. No, all of them are malnourished to differt degrees but some are on the verge of death.

Mark waved his hand and Yasna appeared beside him on the branch, she instinctively wanted to yelp but Mark quickly wrapped his hand a her mouth. She looked at his eyes with a somewhat shocked expression for a second before she looked down at the savages.

"Why are these childr so malnourished?" he asked. "Are the savages really taking them to the city to turn into savages?"

Yasna looked at the masked figures and her face grew rigid. Th, she looked at Mark with her bold yellow eyes and nodded. Mark let his hand go and she breathed in gtly.

"Not all villages can afford to have food to feed their childr, but such villages usually give their childr away to the savages at their birth. The childr being so malnourished is a surprise to me, too."

Not that Yasna could perfectly see the childr all the way beath them in the cart. Her eyesight was not demonic. Suddly, her face changed and she seemed to have realized something.

Mark looked at her.

She said softly, "There were a bunch of earthquakes rectly and I heard many villages suffered from landslides, maybe these childr are survivors of those. Th, it would make sse they are so malnourished."

Mark realized. He had indeed come across the aftereffects of landslides as he flew here, but he hadn't expected villages to be buried underneath all that mud. Th indeed, these malnourished childr did make sse—they were not being used as livestock or something.

He had be thinking too much.

"Do you think they are being carried towards the city to be made into savages?"

Yasna nodded. "A human child who tered a savage city never returns as a human. I am sure of it."

"I see. Well done." He nodded at her and threw her into his World Space again, putting her back into the Savage Island.

He looked at the savages below and for now, tailed them. He eavesdropped on their conversation.

"The sun is so hot in deserts, I've heard." One of them said, yawning. "And in other places, they say the land is covered in ice. But I don't believe them. How can the land not be gre and full of leaves? Ice on the land? Ridiculous."

Another scoffed. "You hav't journeyed far. I heard there are places with mountains that are larger than the skies."

Riding forward on his horse, another chuckled. "That's nothing. Have you heard that you can sleep on clouds if you fly? I also want to sleep on them. Argh, one day, I want to eat clouds."

"Ridiculous. Clouds are not going to taste good—I heard because of thunder in the skies, all the clouds are burned and dry. It must taste horrible."

"That's only the black clouds before rain. White clouds are tasty, I bet."

Just th, one of them looked back at the malnourished kids and sighed.

"We saved them from the mud they were stuck in for weeks, but I don't think all of them would last until we arrive in the city. Ev with my Healing, some of their bodies are so malnourished, it is making them sicker wh I heal them."

Mark's eyes lit up. Indeed—wh you are healed by most abilities, it will overdraw on the body's own regerative abilities, and that requires nutrits to work. These kids were so malnourished, some of them were not going to make it.

"Look, for example, that little boy—he is already half dead. Not going to survive, that one."

"I told you, we should move quicker!" One of them, filled with indignation, said.

"Dimwit, we can't move fast with their flimsy bodies. Th, there is a chance that more would die."

"It's the fault of the heavs. Landslides and such just can't go out without leaving victims."

Mark looked at the boy in question and he was indeed close to death. Soon ough, wh his hazy eyes grow unconscious, he would die. The boy was holding on due to some unbelievable will and staying conscious, but that, too will have an d.

The kid was taking his last breaths.

Mark siltly descded the tree like a shadow, making not a single sound. They would sse him if they had a sse-type ability or if he used Soul Sse, otherwise, they would never be able to see him coming.

He slowly walked up to them and hid beside a tree. The Healer of the five savage party walked in the back of the cart, and of the others—the savages nor childr—was looking at him. Mark moved behind the Healer's horse siltly and watched as the healer sighed.

Everything slowed down in Mark's eyes as adraline pumped inside his chest.

He jumped slightly and wh he was in the air, gtly touched the Healer's masked face from the back. Wh the other party turned in alarm to look at him, it was too late.

Dream Shock.

The man was completely stunned into silce.

Mark immediately used another of his demonic tricks.

Parasite.

[Parasite]

[The ability to absorb other people's Mindpower by touching them.]

[The user of this ability can also ter the bodies of people with '0' Mindpower and use them as a 'second life.' If the parasite's host dies, the parasite does not die alongside.] [Wh inside a Native as a Parasite, the World Wills will not notice the user.]

[The ability to absorb other people's Mindpower doesn't work if the Parasite has attached itself to a Host.]

Vines crawled out of Mark's hand and seeped into the savage's body, and in just the breadth of a second, absorbed all the Mindpower in the emy's hand. Using Dream Shock had already drained the man by 99%.

Th, the secondary aspect of Parasite kicked in and Mark's demonic body became illusory. In the span of a second, he tered the savage's body and took control of it, turning it into his armor. His second life.

The horse neighed and jumped in horror and all the savages turned to look at the healer—now Mark—suspiciously.

"What are you doing, Junga?" one of them asked.

Mark smiled. "Oh, nothing. The horse was just startled by that little ctipede on its foot."

The savages looked and indeed, there was a ctipede on its leg. Soon, they began talking about eating clouds again.

The horse crushed the ctipede and they began walking. Mark covertly took some steps back and began checking up on the childr. He came to the boy and smiled.

He asked softly, making sure no one heard him, "Boy, do you want to survive?"

The boy looked at him with black eyes full of resolve. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to fall here. Mark smiled and asked, "I can help you but tell me about your dream."

The boy took deep breaths, incapable of answering due to exhaustion. In another second, the boy's eyes wided and his consciousness dimmed. In seconds, he would surely die.

Mark ambled along beside the cart as the other childr looked at him and the dying boy with a sigh. Mark smiled and looked up, th, without anyone noticing, dripped a tiny drop of black water into the boy's mouth by taking it out directly there from his World Space.

The boy's eyes snapped op and with sheer will, he began to pant.

That's too low of a quantity of Black Water to fix your whole body up, but that should be ough to last you till you arrive at the city.

And that's all Mark wanted. He might be able to use that boy and if not him, somebody else. And saving the kid didn't cost much anyway, and he was sure this kid would be helpful.

Now, he had tak the first steps of his plan in the Savage World. And once he reaches the savage city, he could begin his second step.

Infiltrate the group of savages and possess one of them, complete. Now, tering the city is easy.

The horse trotted along as the small stream flowed under its foot.