Mark woke up to the nudging hand of a woman, and he shook his groggy head awake.
Before him, the figure of the vivid, red-skinned woman crouched low, wild, gray hair falling behind her horned silhouette. Unlike yesterday, her knees were not bent, and her body was not so close to the ground that she was ready to leap up and flee at the slightest hint of danger.
She was looking at him with her red eyes with a clear hint of curiosity.
"What?" he asked.
"Gah, Gah." She gestured and pointed at her fanged mouth and flicked out her tongue; he wondered how the demoness had such clean fangs when she never brushed.
"Food?"
Mark sat up and took hold of Dona's hand. He tried to pull her towards him, but he was weaker than her, so he only ended up standing up.
She giggled. "Hehe~"
Mark growled lightly and gave her ass a small slap.
"Urr…?" she tilted her head.
Dona was 1.7 meters tall, and he was merely a meter. For now, he barely reached above her ass and couldn't reach for her head to pat her, but her tight ass was a place his hand could reach and smack.
He had wanted to make her ashamed or something similar by doing that, but she only growled in satisfaction and curiosity.
Wasn't she cute?
Mark turned towards the great forest that lay before him, and his face grew wary. This place was ripe with demons, and he was at the bottom of the food chain. Dona wasn't much different; her stats weren't too powerful either.
"But if we joined together, our hunts should at least become a bit easier…"
She nudged him and pointed towards the black river. It was barely visible among the foliage, but when he looked, Mark frowned.
There was a bear-like demon there. No, it would be better to call it Yak-like. Full of brown fur, with a long horn on its head and a tall and muscular build—it looked fearsome.
It was currently drinking the rejuvenating water from the river.
Mark had seen it yesterday. Dona had fought it, and that was the reason why she became so exhausted and went there to drink—which gave him a chance to become her Mate—she had fought it, but she couldn't defeat it.
The creature looked like a force to be reckoned with, and he was not wrong. He tried to gauge it, and immediately, an understanding of its powers rang through his mind.
_
Demonic Yak
[Tier 0—Demonling]
[Physique: 7]
[Mind: 7]
[Bloodline: Impure Bloodline (more than ten kinds)]
[Resistances (Tier 0):
Mental Resistance (Medium), Physical Resistance (Medium).]
[Demonic Tricks: Soul Devourer.]
_
No wonder Dona couldn't kill it. Its physical and mental attributes were way above the likes of Dona. But of course, it seemed like an impure demon, and unlike Dona and himself, it didn't have any Demonic Tricks.
But Mark noticed something that made him frown.
It had (Medium) level of mental and physical Resistance. He might not have been some avid gamer, but he did dabble in some games. He could tell that most of his violet screen worked in a game-like manner.
Since his Heart Input and Dream Shock was a (Low) level mind type demonic trick, since it had (Medium) resistance, wouldn't his demonic tricks become useless against it?
As for Dungeon Heart demonic trick, that only worked against people who were already loyal to him and was also not the best for combat.
Mark could understand how hopeless he would be in front of this creature.
Indeed, unlike Dona, his abilities were rather limited in combat against people with higher stats, and he didn't even know all of their limits. As for Resistances, he did have one, which he got after creating his mutant bloodline, but that was also useless in this scenario.
Mark asked, hopeful that she could understand him, "Dona, is there anything weaker around here that we can kill more easily?"
The language he was using seemed really good at conveying thoughts, and she cupped his cheeks with her hand. Then, she made him turn towards another side of the forest.
"Gaa…" She pointed, then said, "Bam!"
Mark understood and patted her on the ass.
There were a bunch of snakes coiling around where she was pointing, and she was saying she could destroy them with her Fireballs. Mark couldn't help but be excited.
Kill them, and he could grow stronger!
The snakes were unclear from this far, but he could make them out if he strained his eyes.
A demon's eyesight was really good. He didn't want to wait any longer and already wanted to grind for some souls—Mark had already accepted his fate as a demon, and now there was only one way ahead: becoming safe. Becoming stronger.
Patting her ass once more, he looked at her, and for once, the demonic mates seemed to have the same intent in their minds. Hunt.
…
[𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐮𝐢𝐥 𝐕é𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢ú𝐬 𝐍ó𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧â 𝐀ë𝐫𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫]
[𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝟎—𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠]
[Physique: 0.3]
[Mind: 0.3]
[Resistances: Heart Resistance (Low)]
[Bloodline: Ephemeral Dungeon Heart Demon]
[Demonic Tricks: Soul Devourer. Dungeon Heart, Heart Input (Low), Dream Shock (Low)]
[Soul Spheres: 0.0]
…
Both of them climbed down the tree and, carefully walking around the Demonic Yak, moved towards the snakes. Mark was incredibly careful this time, but following Dona made it much easier overall—she was truly cautious.
There was a red flower that they saw on their way. He would have stomped on it normally, but Dona stopped him with a hand, and only then did he notice the fangs hidden inside the flower.
His hair rose at the sight.
'Dangerous…'
Like that, with her help, they waded into the forest and soon reached the place where precisely ten snakes were each foiling about, hissing.
Mark knew immediately that touching one of them would be the same as touching all of them. But they were all souls.
He gauged them.
_
[Red Flower Demonic Snake]
[Rank: Demonling]
[Physique: 2]
[Mind: 2]
[Bloodline: Red Flower Demonic Bloodline]
[Demonic Tricks:
Soul Devourer. Venom Spit (Low), Regenerative Skin (Low), Venomous Flower (Low).]
_
Only the last ability confused him, and its details appeared in his mind.
_
[Venomous Flower]
[Wherever these snakes reside, they create red flowers that contain their venom around them, and they can sense anyone who trudges on it. They can also release venom from the flower to make weaker enemies die.]
_
A bit fearful and very grateful, Mark gently patted his partner's ass. She looked at him and gestured for him to stay silent.
Mark wondered how experienced she was in hunting these snakes. Maybe it was her primary source of energy—she seemed experienced, at least. As he kept watching, one of the ten snakes began to leave the gang, and Dona's face suddenly became serious.
They followed it by circling the other snakes carefully, and soon enough, they reached an area with a huge flower. Mark immediately understood the flower—it had expanded from its previous small size. And this time; there was a creature stuck on it, already afflicted by the venom.
Mark's eyes widened. It was a small demonling like himself—one with an impure bloodline.
It must have come from the same camp as him!
It was struggling vainly, but there was no use. The snake slowly moved and coiled around it, then began to crush it. The creature whimpered and cried, but soon enough, its spine broke, and the snake's hold tightened. The creature died.
Mark felt a drop of sweat trickle down his forehead.
The snake began to devour the creature, but it was then that Dona made her move. She jumped towards the snake, and crimson fire gathered in her hand. Before the snake could focus on her, she threw the fire at its eyes, and when it tried to react, she gave another fireball from her other hand and blasted its face.
It struggled and writhed, but soon enough, its head was turned into mush, and it died. Still, its severed tail didn't stop moving and kept struggling in vain for some more minutes.
Mark looked at Dona and took a deep breath.
_
[Dona]
[Physique: 3/2.9]
[Mind: 0.9/2.9]
_
Using her fireball had made her Mind grow exhausted, but she didn't stop to consider that and began eating the snake raw. Mark moved beside her, and she handed one part of the snake to him. Her eyes were innocent.
He took the snake away from her and beckoned for her to follow him. She frowned but then reluctantly walked behind him.
There was a part of the grey grass around that had taken fire in the earlier battle. He added some more wooden sticks there and roasted the meat atop the fire. Doing this was not the best of ideas as it might attract other demons, but he did it quickly enough.
The snake meat grew roasted, and he looked at it with a sigh. He would have never eaten something like this on Earth—he handed her part to her.
She smelled it for a bit and put it in her mouth. She didn't seem to mind if it tasted raw or fried—to her, what she was eating was the soul.
Yet, Mark still noticed how she began from the fried areas and focused on eating all the fried parts before she moved to the raw areas. She did prefer the fried areas but didn't mind the other, either.
He also ate some of it.
"Burp…"
Along with the meat, he could feel the sensation of its soul in his mouth. His Soul Devourer demonic trick was at work.
_
Mark frowned after the snake became bones.
After killing the snake and eating it, they hadn't become much stronger as the demons in the egg desert did after eating every egg.
Eating it just replenished Dona's exhausted energies and made her a bit more energetic; it didn't increase her maximum stat. But she was obviously ready for another battle.
As for him, he gained (0.1) on both his Physique and Mind.
They discarded the bones, and Dona walked towards the Demonling that had been filled with venom earlier; she looked at it hesitantly.
"It's… full of venom. Let's ignore it."
She walked back to him and looked at him for a second before yawning and heading back towards their treetop. She looked at him as if she expected him to follow.
Mark patted her ass. "Not yet. Let's get one more snake."
For some reason, Dona had not increased even decimal values in her Mind and Physique after eating her part of the snake—even though it helped her mind replenish its energy the same way the river did—and that made Mark have a weird thought.
He needed to confirm it and also increase his own stats.