Mind Demon's Path of Domination

A violent wind lifted his hair. Mark’s eyes shot open as something slammed into his stomach. He took a step back, staring at the object that fell on him, and suddenly he was alert to his entire surroundings, not a trace of languidness on him.

"My sweet bamboo juice!" the little girl who had slammed into him shouted, a bottle of something having broken from her hand.

She looked up at Mark and froze.

Meanwhile, the villagers of the village where he had appeared all stared at him with horror. Mark’s golden eyes flickered from one villager to the next, checking their stats with speed that even he was surprised by.

All clear, all of them are weak mortals.

The girl who had slammed into him looked up at him with tearful eyes, the broken bottle in her hand dripping with something that smelled too sweet. On to the side—presumably—her mother stared at Mark with shock.

Mark looked down at his knees, the broken bottle had splattered that sweet juice all over his body. He looked at the little girl, whose face paled several degrees more. The mother of the girl was shaking.

[The Will of the Demon World has cast a protective field around you to protect you from the detection of other World Wills.]

[The field will vanish in 27 seconds]

Mark squinted. He’d have to enter a Dungeon in that time or the World Will of the World of Savages would incinerate him.

Suddenly, Mark felt something wooshing through the air towards his back and shifted slightly. It was a spear made of wood with a metal head—a man wielding it had wanted to stab Mark from the back but now that Mark had dodged it, the spear headed right for the little girl.

The man’s eyes shook in tangible horror but he would never be able to stop his momentum on his own. The spear stopped an inch away from the little girl’s face, a hand filled with strong nerves clutched around it.

Markl looked at the man who had been trying to stab him with an amused smile. "What are you staring at me for? An inch more and you’d have killed your own child."

The man was nearly breaking down and Mark could see tears streaming down his face. And more than that, he could see many signs of fear. The man had even peed his pants. Mark let go of his hand and the man fell on his daughter’s legs, wheezing.

"Run, Chiho. Run!" he screamed.

Reol’ran said: "All the villagers have seen your entry, you will have to silence them somehow."

Mark sighed and squatted down beside the little girl. She looks human. Is she not a savage? What even is a savage?

She was tanned, black-haired, and childish. Just how a human child was supposed to be.

He patted the girl’s head with a smile. "Do not be afraid, calm down."

The girl was even more frightened. "A tal—talking demon!"

Mark snapped his hand and Yuri and Dona appeared beside him, curious eyes looking around. At the same time, the Dungeon Heart Seeds inside both of the women covered Mark, protecting him from the World Will’s detection.

"Where are we?" Yuri asked, looking around.

She saw the frightened little girl on the ground, the spear, and also the father and mother. Then, the scientist looked further. They were in a small village surrounded by a pine forest, the place seemed poor but functional. It also seemed like a happy village.

The man who had attacked Mark looked at Yuri and Dona and seeing Yuri, he grew blank. He shouted, "Miss, please save us!"

Dona raised her hand, ready to incinerate the village. Mark held her hand. He was not the type to revel in unnecessary cruelty, if it was something that must be done no matter what to reach his goals, he would do it without too much hesitation.

But cruelty for the sake of cruelty was the act of the foolish.

"Stand up," Mark said coldly to the man who had attacked him.

The man gritted his teeth and looked at Yuri with a begging expression. Yuri shrugged: "I would listen to him if I were you. And don’t bother speaking to me, I don’t understand your language."

The man stood up after a while, head bowed. None of the other men in the village dared to move, even though many of them had taken out their bows, spears, or blades.

"What is your name?" Mark asked.

"I am—I am the Coward Shin," he said.

"You are a coward?" Mark asked, amused.

"Yesh..." The man stuttered.

"You are no coward," Mark said. "You took arms to protect your daughter and wife and dared to attack me despite of your fear. That is more brave than anyone in your village. Bravery is not fearlessness, bravery is moving forward despite shaking in your boots. You, Shin, are no coward."

The man stared at Mark with a gape. Then, he unconsciously muttered, "They are not my wife and child, it is my sister and her daughter."

Mark stood up, towering over the man. "Whatever that might be. What about her husband? What did he do to protect her?"

A man to Mark’s side looked down with a face full of shame. He was closer to Mark than Shin had been. He could have attacked Mark first if he had truly meant to do it.

"Are—Are you going to kill us?" Shin asked, even though his knees were trembling.

Mark pointed at him and asked, "How is life in this village?"

Shin didn’t know how to answer. He was way too scared.

Heart Input.

Mark whispered: "Tell the demon before me about everything he asks."

Shin said, trembling, "Life here is happy. Yes, one of us would die from a disease every month and nobody knows if it would be them this time, and when it is cold, even more die. When the savages come, we also have to offer one of our children, but it is still happier than living in the forest. Alone."

"How is that happy?" Mark shook his head. "I’ve been needing some men to do work for me. If you are willing to toil every day and work your own worth for me, I shall send you to a paradise much better than this place. What do you say?"

"Shin, don’t listen to the words of a demon!"

Shin looked around with an ugly face full of tears. The others didn’t know but he knew how strong the demon before him was—it had stopped his spear with nothing but an easy hold.

"As long as you work your share, no famine, disease, or savage would ever hurt you there. It will be your paradise. Shin, tell me."

"Can–Can I bring my family?"

"Why not?"

"I will!"

"Good."

Mark touched the man and sent him into his World Space. With his Soul Sense, he sent the little girl and her mother right after that. Every other villager was shocked still. Three, living, breathing people had vanished into thin air. This—

A buff man walked towards Mark with a shout. "Give him back to us! You can have the women but demon, don’t think you can have Shin!"

"What are you to him?"

"I don’t know!"

This was the strongest man in the village. Mortal strongest, of course.

The man ran at Mark with screaming fury but before he reached anywhere near Mark, Yuri moved her leg slightly and tripped him onto the floor. Dona raised her foot to squash the insect but Mark stopped her with a smile.

He threw the buff man into his World Space, too.

Another man was sneaking upon him with an arrow. Mark turned and stared at him, golden eyes swallowed the man as the demon smiled. Dream Shock.

Mark breathed out. "There ends my benevolence, anyone who attacks again will be killed. You have two choices, one, live a happy and fulfilled life in my world. Two, rot here. Choose."

Soon, an old man walked out of the bunch and kowtowed in front of Mark. Every weapon fell, and all the villagers, even one-year-old kids, kowtowed just like the old man.

"You must be the village chief," Mark said. "You are wise."

Mark threw all the people in the village into his World Space with a swift Soul Sense sweep. He then looked around one final time and surrounded as much land as he could inside his Soul Sense and threw that into his World Space too.

He continued devouring the land for a whole hour—by the end, he was standing beneath a boulder, looking around at a huge hole where the village had been. With a wave of his hand, he threw the boulder into his World Space, too.

Yuri said, hanging on his back, smiling, "Didn’t think you were the type to do this."

"Of course, they could be a lot of help in creating a community inside my World Space. You will have to look after them, Yuri."

"Ah, more work for me. Why not make Dona do it?"

"She is..."

Dona was looking at Yuri with a nasty expression. "Move, that’s my place."

Yuri rolled her eyes but let go of him and stretched. Dona took her place.

"So this is a new world?" Yuri asked, breathing in heavily. Her heartbeat grew intense. "Interesting."

But Mark was more focused on the Mission that the Will of the Hunter World had given him.