Mind Demon's Path of Domination

Mark’s Puppet—who was already a Pinnacle Silver Savage—drowned the rest of the golden Heart Blood into his mouth. The aureate liquid made him gulp, his throat throbbing at the taste.

A warm wave of energy began to wrap around his body, and something began to thrum within him. A Golden Savage was the peak of all Savages in the World, can he reach that level in one go?!

Just by drinking the entire stock of Heart Blood inside a Golden Savage?

Meanwhile, Mark’s main body looked around in the sky, a frown on his face. Yuri, who was in his arms, also felt a strange atmosphere.

"This..." she said.

Just as she opened her mouth, Mark turned to stare at the empty sky to his right. It was sudden and silent—a slit opened up in the atmosphere. It was a simple line at the start, but then, it spread wide open and a dark pupil stared down at him.

The gaze was indifferent.

Mark frowned, flapped his wings, and distanced himself, alarmed. He stared at the solitary dark eyes in the face of the heavens.

What was this?

"Mark, it’s just some kind of ability, it just looks flashy!" Reol’ran warned, tone stern.

Savage Magic—Eye of Heaven!

It was one of the two Savage Magic that was exclusive to Golden Savages. A sense-type savage magic! A Golden Savage had sensed him.

"I saw you, Demon who can walk on land and sky," a voice shouted from below the clouds, from the savage city. "So you are the type who can walk out of Caves without the worry of the Savage World’s Will. I should have known it was a demon when P’oof died out of nowhere."

...They already know of P’oof’s death? How?

Suddenly, he looked around, spreading his soul sense widely with impunity. Golden Savages, not one, but many. All of them are headed towards me.

An ambush.

Mark remembered P’oof’s last words.

"You... will die."

He had somehow notified his kin about his death.

These fucking savages truly have methods I can’t glean into.

Now, he understood how helpful his System’s ability to scan an enemy’s abilities was. Because of it, he didn’t ever face people with unknown powers. But these savages were different, they had the support of the World’s Will, and it was only natural they had hidden powers.

Reol’ran said: "Maybe the World Will notify all Golden Savages when one of their companions dies. This is not a passive World Will like the Hunter World—this World Will is consciously leading the Savages. Or there is something we don’t know yet."

Mark flapped his wings and flew away from the Eye of Heaven. He put Yuri inside his World Space and took out the hamster, too.

"Bye-bye!" he laughed, blitzing through air.

An arrow pierced the clouds, headed directly towards him, but Mark just chuckled and dodged it. My Soul Sense can see you a mile away, Archer, do you think I’ll let an arrow hit me while knowing where it will go?

The arrow was too fast to change directions in the air and flew past him, but Mark still warily stared at it. That was a good choice. Suddenly, a man appeared in the air beside the arrow out of nowhere even as the arrow flew by.

Savage Magic—Aura Teleportation!

The ability to teleport anywhere with your aura’s marking. Mark’s gaze focused on the tip of the arrow, where an aura was bursting forth from. This Golden Savage had marked that arrow’s tip with Aura and teleported here.

Fool, you have no mobility in the air.

But Mark didn’t head for the Golden Savage and shifted his flight to another direction. There were just too many savages and he didn’t want to face them all at once.

Immediately, he realized that was a bad choice.

A Golden Savage had two Savage Magic. Mark’s first thought was that the one who shot the arrow—the Archer—and the man before him were two different people. A Teleporter and an Archer working together.

But now, he understood—he had been wrong. They were the same people.

Golden Savages had two Savage Magic after all.

A bow and arrow materialized in the man’s hand and he took aim.

With no defensive Tricks and the speed of the attack which was equal to a Tier 3 Low-level ability, Mark had no chance of escaping the arrow and he knew it the moment the bow appeared.

The arrow was going to hit him and if it did hit, he’d die.

Even if he did have a defensive demonic trick, it was going to be useless. How can a Defensive Demonic Trick of Tier 2 Pinnacle level resist a Tier 3 attack?

The Golden Savage’s mask glinted in the light of the sun and Mark’s face changed as the man drew his bow. The arrow flew at Mark. He could barely even sense it and with all his power, he barely—barely—dodged it.

Some cut pieces of his hair flew into the air.

He must be falling, he won’t shoot a second arrow.

From the arrow that grazed Mark’s hair, he noticed another burst of Aura and the man appeared in a different part of the sky. The Teleporting Archer had teleported to his second arrow!

"You are not leaving this place alive, demon!"

This time, the aim was on point and Mark could see an incredibly well-timed arrow heading directly towards his head. No power of his could block it—even if he brought the Boss or Minotaur out to act as a meat shield, the arrow would just pierce through them and kill him.

Mark’s life flashed through his mind.

"You are dead," the man said calmly.

Ting!

Suddenly, a green corpse appeared in front of Mark—the Tier 3 Demon Corpse he had bought from the rat businessman!

The arrow pierced a small hole into its chest and stopped there. It was a giant body and the moment Mark got the chance, he jumped against its back and flew away with accelerated, immense speed.

Soon, he hid in the clouds and shifted directions, not letting the Arrow Teleporter follow him. He could just shoot arrows repeatedly and circle Mark to death if this battle went on.

The Will of the Savage World burned the Tier 3 Demon’s corpse into ashes—the moment Mark took it out, he could no longer use it for anything again. It was too big to be contained in his Hamster’s Dungeon Heart Seed’s protection.

The Eye of Heaven searched around but how could they find him when he was in the clouds? It was not as good as Soul Sense!

Far, far away, Mark stopped, breathing heavily with a gloomy expression. The loss of the corpse wasn’t something he liked—and even worse, Yanchan was still around the city.

He had run away from the city covertly after the fight began. Of course, before he left, he had also absorbed the glittering lights representing a second Savage Magic. Yes, indeed, his Puppet had become a Golden Savage and now had two Savage Magic.

But if the World Will notified the Savages about him, they would also hunt for him.

Luckily, he was not too weak himself. In a sense, Mark’s puppet was more of a threat against Savages than he himself was.

"This is irritating," he said.

"They will be hunting you down actively now. All savages must be searching for your whereabouts, and that’s no good."

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"I am not too worried about that. They don’t know any of my demonic tricks, and I can just use Parasite to possess a Silver Savage. Once I do that, I can act without fear of being detected. But damn, these masked freaks are tough prey. I wish they were as easy as Hunters."

"Hunters were just tame and stupid, these people are trained through battle, honed by the power of a tribe. Since they all have the same powers, they can learn from each other—which the Hunters couldn’t. But yeah, if you absorb your Puppet’s abilities, things should become simpler. You can grow stronger."

Mark sniffed the area and once again took to flight, hiding his demonic figure amidst thunderclouds. Night had fallen, he noticed. If they are wary of me, it will be troublesome one way or the other.

He probably won’t be able to find a Golden Savage alone anymore like he got to do with P’oof. And when they were coming as a team, he probably didn’t stand a chance against all of them—if he didn’t have Clown’s Circus as an option, it would be playing with death.

Fifteen hours more for Clown Circus to be usable again...

Meanwhile, in a thick, dark forest quite a long distance from Mark, a youth ambled along, his face as charming as a prince from the legends. He had a yellowish pair of eyes and a slit between his forehead. His hair, which used to be black, had also become blonde.

He touched the slit in the middle of his forehead.

It was none other than Yanchan. Due to becoming a Golden Savage, he had regained his face and was no longer a masked man.

The malnourished boy who had survived the landslide was nowhere to be seen either. Now, he was healthy, vibrant, and strong. A Golden Savage—through and through.

Power thrummed within his body.

He clenched his hand. I have Glass Dome, and now this. With these two powers, I should be pretty strong among Golden Savages.

In the history of the Savage World, not many humans had ever evolved to become a Golden Savage. The savages killed by demons were killed inside the Caves—dungeons—and were eaten by the demons who killed them. A Golden Savage rarely died outside, and when they died, their Heart Blood would vanish if not taken out within a few minutes.

But the Savages were okay with the Heart Blood vanishing. Why?

Because, then, another Golden Savage could be born naturally. If one Golden Savage doesn’t die, another couldn’t be born. The total amount of Golden Savages in the world at any given time was fixed!

Now, Yanchan had replaced P’oof.

If Mark hadn’t taken the Heart Blood immediately, the Blood would have vanished and a female Golden Savage would have become pregnant. According to legends, sometimes, even pregnancy was not required and a Golden Savage would be just...

Born out of thin air.

In the distance, Mark’s main body landed on a tall tree and looked at the night forest. His golden gaze deepened in thought.