Mind Demon's Path of Domination

After regrouping with Dona and having a great time with both the demoness and Yuri, Mark flew back towards the mega-dungeon. He carried Yuri under his left arm, while he tucked Dona under his right hand—then bolted through the skies.

While, tucked in Yuri’s arm was the hamster, nibbling on a nut.

By the time he saw the dungeon’s barrier, the moon loomed in the skies, and night had arrived. He passed the barrier and flitted past while looking down at the ruins below. The world within the dungeon was mostly ruins of once-great cities.

Demonlings and Lower Demons were brutal creatures with destruction in their blood, when a place was packed with such creatures, buildings were going to crumble, roads were going to be broken, and everything else was going to become dysfunctional.

And just like the ruined city below him, the entire Hunter World was going to be covered by the mega-dungeon. He planned to do that!

For the weak humans who had no power of their own, a true apocalypse was going to start. The mega-dungeon would expand, expand, and expand—until there was nowhere to escape. All humans would be—no matter their station in life—thrown into a battle for survival.

"But it won’t be hopeless for them," Yuri said, looking down while feeling his powerful arm around her waist. "As long as they survive for three months at most, the mega-dungeon would expand to the entire world and they will be ’ejected.’ But most wouldn’t survive the three months, right?"

Mark flapped his wings and headed straight towards the middle of the forest.

"That is natural selection," he said, calm. "If they survive for the required time, they get to begin a new life in a new world. If they don’t, they just aren’t worthy. Moreover, there are A-rank Hunters around who will protect the masses in concentrated camps, so reaching those camps in time is also a way to survive. The wittier, more capable ones will live."

Yuri nodded. "Do you think I would have survived alone if I were not a Hunter?"

"Of course. You are smart."

Dona purred. "Dona smart, too."

"Yeah, Dona is the smartest."

Dona nodded, then thoughtfully looked at Yuri. After a while, she said, "You can have Mark, but don’t steal Mark from Dona. Alright?"

"What kind of movies did you show her?"

Yuri coughed. "Probably relationship dramas."

Mark couldn’t help but laugh and look at Dona’s innocent expression.

...

Mark landed beside the Pond of Black Water. A dark-skinned creature looked up from its slumber and its lightless gaze focused on Mark, then blinked.

"The Boss still looks so scary," Yuri grumbled. "It nearly killed me but look at how tame it is now."

"Scary?" Mark clicked his tongue. "Scarier than me?"

Yuri blinked. "Oh god, just let go of me, let me stand first." She got out of his hold and stretched, her vertebrae straightening. She looked around.

The dark forest stretched around them, with broken trees and cracked ground all around. The aftermath of the battle of A-rankers was evident. Then, her gaze focused on the huge reservoir of black water and a subconscious smile stretched on her lips.

Then, her gaze moved to something bright to a slight distance.

The Gate to the Demon World.

It stood there, blue light casting an eerie glow around the leaves and roots of the forest trees.

Dona climbed down Mark’s hold but she didn’t let go of his hand, even though she didn’t speak much and just looked around. Her gaze lingered warily on the Boss and the Minotaur in the distance, both of whom seemed so tame but so deadly to her.

"This place is great and I now really feel pity that I didn’t take any type of equipment with me..." Yuri said, moving near the pond and dipping her hand into it. "Wow, this is so deep—way deeper than your average river."

Mark nodded at her and then looked around, his gaze lingered on certain thick trees before he went near one in particular and touched its stem. Yuri looked at him curiously. It was a thick tree, which would take atleast several men to surround it.

At the top, it branched out into a huge canopy of meters wide.

Suddenly, the tree began to morph in shape and change, gaining a huge hole in the middle of it. Then doors appeared to cover the hole while the wood itself writhed around to become a mold of excellent shape.

Alchemic Shapeshifting!

Yuri whistled. "A perfect hollow tree. We can live inside it comfortably indeed!"

"We can live inside it, the Boss will protect us from outside forces, and when you two feel like it, you can even walk out and enter the Black Water Pond for a bath."

The Scientist had her eyes widen. "I can bathe in it?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Of course, if you want to."

Eyes shining, Yuri looked at the Black Water Pond with glee. "True. I can bathe in it. We have more than enough for bathing. But well, I will have to move the drinking water elsewhere though, I don’t drink the bathwater."

Dona didn’t join their conversation and pulling Mark along with her, she pushed open the tree hollow’s door. She entered inside—it was as wide as a small room. Surprisingly, the ground itself was smooth and wooden, nice to walk on with bare feet.

Mark smiled.

Placing her tender but strong legs on the wood, the Demoness hummed and walked around in circles. Mark and Yuri watched her shenanigans with a smile as they walked with her.

"I should create a bed, too," he said, smiling. "This place is too empty."

"So what is the plan until the Dungeon conquers the world?" Yuri asked, petting the hamster in her hand. "We are not going to just fool around inside the whole time and wait for it to come to an end, right?"

Mark scratched his cheek. "The Hunters messaged me saying they would send the Contract Hunter here by tomorrow morning. After that, yeah, I will have nothing else to do in this world other than wait for everything to end. We can enjoy things a bit now."

Yuri shook her head. "I will teach you human anatomy. You wanted to learn that. Let’s don’t waste time for nothing. I can also study your anatomy more while we are at it."

"Yeah, yeah." Mark chuckled. "I should study your anatomy intimately. Like earlier."

Just as he was about to continue flirting, his face changed into pleasant surprise. A helicopter was flying above this place—and a Hunter was looking down from above. Merely a B-rank Hunter but with a useful ability to anyone: The Contract Hunter.

"Is the Contract ready?" Mark’s voice boomed. That’s faster than what I expected.

"Would you kill me if I come down to show you its content?" The Hunter asked.

"Of course not," Mark said calmly. "Come down, if I want, I can come up and tear you into pieces myself."

And thus, by the end of the night, Mark also signed the Contract.

It was simple—he would be allowed to expand the mega-dungeon until it covered the entire World without any A-rankers standing against him. He wasn’t allowed to harm them from his side using the Boss or other methods either. And lastly, he had to allow all the survivors by the end of the apocalypse to leave this world and arrive safely in another.

As a plus, the Hunters even promised to keep demon casualties at a minimum from now on so as to not accidentally summon Angels. All of that was reasonable. It would make conquering this world an easy task from here on out.

He signed the contract after confirming that all A-rankers—except Yuri—had signed it. Then, Yuri was also asked to sign by the Contract Hunter as a show of sincerity. Satisfied after negotiating with a Demon for the first time, and it being so civil, the Contract Hunter left to tell the news to the World.

Now, everyone just had to survive while the Demon conquered the world.

Mark didn’t care who survived—Yuri and Dona were all the people he cared about. He would also help Choi Sung because it was not that hard to do. As for the others, they would have to survive on their own.

Looking at the moon, Mark smiled.

"Let’s start studying anatomy," he said.