Becoming the Dark Lord

Princess Charlie had drained most of her stamina hammering trees barehanded with Iron Fist until they were weak enough to fall. But after her race level-up, she’d fully recovered.

“ROOOOAR!”

The Yetis howled in unison, their eyes burning with primal rage.

“I don’t wanna interrupt the couple’s moment,” Allison muttered, stepping back, “but we’ve got a problem.”

A Yeti lunged.

It came down like a gorilla—both fists slamming the ground hard enough to send a shockwave of snow exploding outward. Flurries pelted the group as others behind it hurled massive snowballs with terrifying force.

Luke hurled his kukris in response, each blade whistling through the air, striking with pinpoint accuracy.

Allison darted forward, his sword meeting the Yeti’s incoming strike.

CLANG!

A flash of light burst from the impact. The Yeti stumbled back, snarling.

It was a skill that Allison explained to Luke, called ”Perfect Parry.” There was a small chance it would happen if he defended perfectly.

More Yetis charged.

They threw wild, sweeping blows that forced the group to split. Charlie surged forward like a charging bull, both fists glowing with the energy of Iron Fist. Her strike collided with a Yeti’s chest, sending it staggering backward.

“Now!” Luke shouted.

Allison spun like a dancer, his katana tracing an arc of light as it sliced clean through the stunned Yeti’s neck. The beast’s body collapsed before it realized it was dead.

A second Yeti rushed in.

But before it could land a blow, Luke blurred into motion with a Basic Dark Dash, reappearing behind the beast and driving both kukris into its back.

Still, they were surrounded.

Fists flew from every direction, massive limbs crashing down like falling trees. The trio dodged and danced between strikes, Charlie hammering into one Yeti’s ribs while Luke cut through another’s tendons.

Then, for the briefest moment, everything stilled.

The air turned colder. Thicker.

Luke’s instincts screamed, something worse was coming.

A roar louder than the rest tore through the trees. A massive Yeti charged, nearly twice the size of the others. Its fur shimmered with a faint yellow glow.

Luke turned—too late.

The beast grabbed him by the torso and hurled him across the battlefield. He slammed into a tree with a wet thud, snow bursting outward as he hit the ground.

The Yeti didn’t stop.

It rushed him, fists raised, and began pummeling.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

Each hit smashed him deeper into the snow and bark. The tree groaned under the force.

But Luke didn’t close his eyes. Time didn’t slow. He did. His breath. His heartbeat. The pain. The panic. It all fell away.

In that instant, one heartbeat from death, he felt it — that fleeting moment of assassin’s clarity. Focus sharpened like a blade, steady and cold. A breath of stillness amidst chaos.

Insight.

Allison landed on the beast’s back with a double jump, driving his sword into its skull. But the Yeti barely flinched. It grabbed Allison and hurled him into a nearby tree with a crunch of cracking wood.

The beast yanked the blade free and turned back to Luke, stabbing downward.

Luke twisted aside at the last second, the sword sinking into the snow beside his head.

Charlie struck.

Her Iron Fist slammed into the creature’s stomach, sending it staggering. Luke took the opening, flinging both kukris into its chest. As they returned, he launched them again, faster, harder.

The Yeti howled, its fist glowing white with condensed cold mana.

Then it punched the ground.

BOOM.

The shockwave tossed all three of them like dolls. Luke tumbled across the snow, rolling until he crashed into a fallen branch.

CRACK.

Pain lanced through his back. He groaned and tried to move but froze.

He reached behind him. The sharpened end of a thick branch had stabbed through his cloak. It had almost skewered him.

His armor had saved him by inches. He ripped the branch free just as another snowball crashed into him, sending him rolling again. His vision blurred. The world spun.

More snowballs came raining down. Dozens.

They weren’t random anymore. They were being targeted. Focused fire.

Luke growled through gritted teeth and pulled himself upright.

Allison was barely keeping up with the giant yeti.

Each of its punches struck the earth like thunder, shockwaves tearing through the snow and knocking him off balance. He had to stay on the move, constantly retreating just to stay alive.

Luke wasn’t about to let him fight alone. He rushed toward two other yetis barreling toward him, both snarling with beastial rage.

“AAARGH!”

One hurled a stone. Luke slid low, avoiding the impact.

The second launched a snowball—too fast.

He blocked it with his forearm, but the sheer force sent him skidding backward.

WHAM!

A fist slammed into him before he could recover, launching him into the air. But just before the follow-up came, a skeletal fist soared upward.

CRACK!

Princess Charlie landed a brutal uppercut to the creature’s jaw.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The yeti staggered, dazed. Its jaw had shattered.

Luke pounced, driving a kukri straight into the monster’s face. The blade sank deep, and he followed with the second, stabbing again and again, carving through flesh with rapid, merciless precision.

The beast flailed wildly, trying to grab him.

Charlie struck again—this time in the gut. The yeti lurched forward.

It fell.

Dead.

Another yeti roared and sprinted toward them, lifting a leg.

BAM!

Luke was kicked clean across the snow. He tried to call his kukris back.

Nothing.

He looked up.

The last corpse had landed on top of his weapons.

“Perfect...” he muttered.

The charging yeti bore down on him.

With no other choice, Luke hurled his throwing knives while ducking and weaving. Blades flew. The monster growled as slashes opened across its chest, but it kept coming.

Charlie moved to help, only to be intercepted. The massive yeti — the alpha — grabbed her mid-sprint and flung her like a ragdoll into a tree.

THUD.

She didn’t move.

Luke’s focus narrowed as the remaining yeti advanced.

Then Allison appeared.

He dropped from above, spinning like a cyclone. His katana drew a silver arc through the air, slicing through the beast’s side in one clean motion.

“AAARGH!” The yeti howled.

Allison didn’t stop. He struck the calf, then the shoulder, then the face, then the gut. A relentless flurry of blows carved the beast open as he dashed around it in a blur.

The monster roared and raised its fist, but Allison was already gone. He slid back calmly and sheathed his sword.

Luke blinked.

BOOM.

The yeti’s body erupted in a blast of compressed wind. Dozens of slashes exploded across its flesh, tearing it apart mid-scream. It fell, dead before it hit the ground.

Luke barely had a second to process it.

The alpha yeti came crashing down.

“ROOOOAR!” It slammed both fists into the ground.

Luke and Allison were launched in opposite directions.

Luke hit hard, rolling uncontrollably through the snow — until he saw it.

The cliff.

“Shit—!”

He jammed a throwing knife into the ground and dug his other hand into the snow, barely stopping himself before sliding over the edge.

“Too close,” he muttered.

SNARL.

He looked up just in time to see the giant beast charging him again.

He threw himself aside, dodging by a hair. Still, the edge of the creature’s punch clipped him, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him tumbling again.

The alpha yeti didn’t let up.

It kept coming. Faster now. Stronger. More precise.

“ROOOAR!!”

Blood poured down its face from the wound in its skull, covering its eyes, mixing with its rage. Then it dropped low — almost like a predator on all fours — and charged.

Luke didn’t even have time to run.

CRACK.

The beast’s tusks slammed into his side, lifting him off the ground. He felt them dig in.

Then he was launched again — flying through the air like a discarded doll, crashing down hard, bouncing across the ice.

The alpha yeti roared and charged after him.

Straight for the kill.

BAM.

Princess Charlie’s iron fist slammed into the alpha yeti’s jaw. One of its tusks went flying—spinning through the air and landing with a thud near Luke.

The beast froze.

It reached for the side of its face, fingers tracing the empty socket where the tusk had been.

Then it let out a roar so loud the very snow shook.

“ROOOOOOOAR!!”

The air exploded with sound and wind. Snow was blasted in all directions, scattering through the trees like a blizzard detonating from a single point.

The yeti turned its fury on Charlie.

Fists blurred. Blows rained down like thunder.

She tried to block—but even with enhanced strength, she couldn’t keep up.

Bones cracked. Shards of white splintered from her arms as the relentless assault battered her guard.

Luke glanced toward Allison, who was barely pushing himself up on one knee, still dazed from the earlier hit.

“Shit!”

Luke sprinted toward the fallen yeti—the one whose corpse still pinned his kukris beneath its weight. He grabbed the creature’s arm and tried to lift it.

It didn’t budge.

“Damn it!”

He looked back.

Charlie was still fighting—but it was getting worse.

She landed a solid punch to the beast’s ribs, but it didn’t flinch. It grabbed her with one massive hand and hurled her into a tree with bone-shaking force.

Then, without hesitation, it tore off her arms and snapped them like twigs.

CRACK.

Luke froze.

It wasn’t fear. It was calculation. Cold, sharp shock. Seeing his skeletal warrior torn apart didn’t trigger sorrow—it triggered rage. Controlled, seething rage.

Charlie was his edge. His vanguard. His blade.

And now she was out of the fight.

“ROOOAR!” the beast roared again, slamming its fists into her and launching her deeper into the woods.

She disappeared into the shadows.

Bone fragments scattered. She vanished between the trees.

Silence.

Luke didn’t hesitate.

Heat climbed in his chest, cutting through the cold. He moved.

He sprinted forward—but there was no time to get his blades.

That’s when he saw it.

The tusk!

It lay half-buried in the snow, glinting under the pale moonlight.

Not ideal—but it would do.

He snatched it up and spun it once in his hand, testing the weight. It was awkward—unbalanced—but sharp. Tough. He’d used worse.

The yeti turned toward him, seething.

It charged.

Luke ducked the first punch by inches. He twisted and slid around the massive fist, then drove the tusk into the beast’s side.

SKRRTCH!

The alpha screamed in rage and swung its elbow in a wide arc.

Luke leapt back—but not fast enough. The hit grazed him, knocking him off his feet.

He hit the ground hard but rolled, twisting to his feet just in time to see both fists descending toward him.

CRASH!

The snow exploded upward.

But Luke wasn’t there.

He’d already slipped to the side, and as the yeti’s fists sank into the earth, he slashed upward across its hand, carving open flesh and tendons.

The creature shrieked and retaliated with wild, furious blows.

But Luke didn’t back down.

He surged forward, diving under the next punch and dragging the tusk across the beast’s thigh.

Blood splattered across the snow.

The monster stumbled—but its massive frame still held strong.

It retaliated with a flurry of savage jabs. Luke dodged the first. Then the second.

But the third hit home.

WHAM!

Luke was launched, skidding across the snow like a broken doll. He gasped, lungs struggling to draw air. But even mid-flight, he twisted—driving the tusk into the ground to slow his slide, spinning his body with the momentum.

He landed hard—but on his feet. Spitting blood, he stood tall once more.

The yeti bled from a dozen wounds. Its breath was ragged. Slower.

But its eyes—

Its eyes burned with killing intent.

So did his.

This was no ordinary fight.

It was predator versus predator.

And in that chaos—Luke found stillness.

His breath slowed. His heartbeat steadied. His mind went quiet.

The alpha yeti lunged, its claws slashing forward with terrifying force.

Luke moved like a shadow—leaping at the last second, twisting mid-air, and driving the broken tusk deep into the creature’s shoulder. It sank in with a sickening crunch.

“GRAAAARGH!!”

The beast roared, flailing as it tried to catch him.

But Luke was already gone—flipping off its back and rolling through the snow, rising fluidly to his feet.

The yeti spun, its bloodied arm hanging low.

And Luke ran straight at it.

No hesitation.

No fear.

He slid beneath the monster at the last second, carving the jagged tusk across its ankle as he passed.

SHRKKK!

The tendons snapped like twine.

The beast stumbled, howling, collapsing to one knee.

Luke didn’t stop.

He dashed behind the creature and sprang upward, landing once more on its massive back. It thrashed wildly, but this time he didn’t give it the chance.

With a single, precise thrust, he jammed the broken tusk into the exposed cavity at the base of its skull.

The yeti convulsed. Its claws twitched. But its strength failed it.

The monstrous body locked up, then slowly slumped forward, crashing into the snow with a heavy, final thud. Silence settled.

Luke stood over it, chest heaving, blood streaked across his face. The wind bit at his skin — cold, sharp.

He didn’t move. Just breathed. The fight was over, but it didn’t feel like a victory.

He stared down at the corpse. Then, low and steady, he muttered, “You picked the wrong prey.”

[You have slain a Yeti Berserker - Lvl 12]

**[You have reached Level 5! Half-Demon (Rank F)] (+1 bonus point to all attributes, +1 free point)**

[An item has been added to your inventory]

[You have unlocked a new Race Skill]

System windows appeared, flashing across his vision. He ignored the first few. But then five options appeared. Race skills. And not just any skills — demonic ones.

Luke’s eyes widened as he read them. The power described in those skills… it was something else entirely. Something dangerous.

And it was calling to him.