Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke was dragged through dense roots, pulled along a living tunnel while the Beast Lord’s roars grew more and more muffled beneath layers of dirt and leaves. Then even the sound vanished as the path sealed shut behind him.

And then—he fell.

But he didn’t stay down. Not even for a second. He sprang to his feet, kukris drawn, scanning for the monster, ready for it to lunge from the dark. But the tunnel was gone. No way back. Charlie emerged from his soul, stepping into place beside him like a loyal shadow. Parts of her armor were corroded, eaten away by whatever that thing had thrown at them. But the Midnight Warden breastplate was already beginning to regenerate, drinking in her mana like water.

The Beast Lord really couldn’t follow him here. It had been a gamble—and it paid off. That monster wasn’t allowed inside this mission zone. Luke waited, tense, half-expecting the wall of roots to dissolve or the creature to smash its way through, springing in like a coiled nightmare.

Nothing.

I’m free of the monster... but trapped in here.

He was surrounded by colossal trees. The sky above was a thick tangle of branches and leaves, blocking out any natural light. The only illumination came from scattered mushrooms that glowed like living lanterns, casting a bluish-green light over twisted roots and gnarled bark. Their glow stretched long shadows across the forest floor.

Suddenly, a system notification blinked to life in front of him.

**Special Mission: Sanctuary of the Stone Echoes!**

Objective: Destroy the Fallen Stone Angel and crush the Watchers under its command. Only then will you gain access to the fortress interior and activate the Third Mechanism.

Warning: Watchers patrol the sanctuary or rest at their camps. If one spots you and sounds the warhorn, it will awaken the Army of the Sleeping—an unrelenting platoon of stone sentinels who will protect their master with savage fury. If that happens, prepare for a brutal battle against living stone.

Tip: Stealth is the key to completing this challenge and reaching the boss.

Stealth?

Luke leaned back against a tree, the damp bark pressing cold against his spine.

“Man, that was intense. Easily one of the craziest things you’ve ever done—and I mean, that’s saying something,” Artemis said.

“But it worked,” he muttered, sarcasm dripping from his bloodied lips.

One glance at his HP told him just how bad things really were.

[Health Points (HP): 1138 / 2030]

He drank a healing potion. That left him with only one more. With a quiet sigh, he reached into his storage item and pulled it out.

[Healing Potion (Common)]: A potion that restores 133 HP.

The last one. His precious stockpile of six was now down to this—burned through in his desperate struggle to stay alive ever since the Beast Lord had marked him.

“It is what it is.”

He crouched near one of the glowing mushrooms sprouting from the tangled roots. The greenish light pulsed gently, almost like it was breathing.

[Green Luminous Mushroom (Uncommon)]: A special mushroom that developed unique properties while growing in mana-enriched soil.

Mother Freya’s Note: “Its bio-organic structure possesses strong regenerative capabilities, making it a valuable ingredient for high-grade health potions.”

Charlie stood a little farther ahead, on watch. The sound of branches snapping echoed through the forest. That’s when the hoofbeats started. Luke narrowed his eyes. Without hesitation, he recalled Charlie back into his soul, then climbed the nearest tree, disappearing into the canopy. Activating his stealth ability, he stilled every sound from his body—even his heartbeat.

Minutes passed. Then something moved in the woods. Three riders emerged from the trees, but they weren’t ordinary soldiers. Both the mounts and the men were carved from stone.

The Watchers...

[Watcher Knight: Lvl 45]

[Watcher Horse: Lvl 30]

[Watcher Knight: Lvl 45]

[Watcher Horse: Lvl 30]

[Watcher Knight: Lvl 45]

[Watcher Horse: Lvl 30]

The statues scanned the area, heads turning unnervingly smooth, watching every direction. One dismounted and walked toward the stretch of wall where, not long ago, Luke had passed through the tunnel.

Were they alerted when I crossed into this zone? Or did they just hear something? What exactly triggers the warhorn?

He stayed perfectly still, watching them closely. They didn’t speak. No gestures, no signals. But they moved with eerie coordination, like they were speaking through some silent link. His eyes dropped to one of their belts. A stone horn hung from it.

If he blows that thing, I’m screwed.

Luke couldn’t risk it. Not without knowing more about how this challenge worked. So he dropped. Landing in the middle of them, kukris flashing in both hands, he crouched low and activated his Dance skill. His body spun with brutal precision, blades sweeping through the legs of all three stone horses in a single motion. The statues crashed to the ground. He dashed toward the nearest knight and drove his kukri deep into its stone face before it could react.

[You have slain a Watcher Knight: Lvl 45]

Even Luke was a little surprised by the raw power behind the strike. One of the others managed to draw a sword, but he sidestepped the swing and shoved the knight back.

Charlie leapt from the trees like a missile, fists glowing. She slammed into the second knight with a flurry of punches.

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[Princess Charlie has slain a Watcher Knight: Lvl 45]

*The [Pugilist] 2nd Class of Princess Charlie has reached Level 14! (Class Bonus Points Acquired: +3 Strength, +2 Endurance, +2 Agility, +2 Vitality, +2 Perception, +2 Intelligence, +2 Free Points.)*

The last knight lunged—but Luke was faster. A blur of movement, a dash, then steel met stone. His kukri sliced through its chest and the statue cracked apart.

[You have slain a Watcher Knight: Lvl 45]

*Your class [Demonic Assassin] has reached Level 34! (Class Bonus Points Acquired:+5 Per, +4 Str, +4 Agi, +3 Vit, +2 Int, +3 Free Points)

The three remaining stone horses were down in seconds.

[You have slain a Watcher Horse: Lvl 30]

[You have slain a Watcher Horse: Lvl 30]

[You have slain a Watcher Horse: Lvl 30]

Breathing steady, Luke glanced down at his kukris. The power boost from those seventy Strength points? Night and day. No more enemies in sight.

“We need to stay on high alert,” he told Charlie as they moved away from the clearing.

He ran through the trees with practiced ease, silent even at full speed. Charlie, on the other hand, made noise—stealth wasn’t exactly her thing. Luke climbed a towering tree—one of the largest in the forest. He kept going until he broke through the canopy, rising above the other treetops. What he saw up there stopped him cold.

The first thing was the sky. Night had fallen, and the stars weren’t the ones he recognized. Strange constellations and unfamiliar celestial glows shimmered overhead. It hit him then: this place had its own day-night cycle. When he’d crossed the barrier, it had still been late afternoon—sun not even close to setting.

And yet here he was, under a blanket of stars. But that wasn’t what truly caught his attention.

“Camp,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes.

Below, patches of the ruined city were lit up. Military tents clustered around glowing braziers. Stone soldiers moved between them—statues patrolling like clockwork. Dozens of outposts spread across the terrain, each one active. And far in the distance, rising like a jagged crown, stood the bastion.

The place housing the Third Mechanism.

Luke stayed still, taking it all in. For a moment, he closed his eyes.

“So,” Artemis said, “what now? You’re stuck here, locked in this mission. Situation’s not exactly looking good.”

A faint smile played on his lips.

“Stuck? No... I’m exactly where I need to be.”

From the moment he realized he’d have to kill the Beast Lord to return to the Wild Zone, he knew he couldn’t think straight while being hunted every hour, every minute. Time was against him.

But here? Here, he had what he’d been missing: space. Time. Silence. A forest full of resources.

“Before I threw myself into this place, I tried everything to damage that monster. Didn’t get far... but I did manage to get this.”

He pulled a small vial from the chain around his neck. The liquid inside was thick and purplish, with dark wine-colored hues swirling beneath the glass.

[Blood of the Frankzaroth (Ultra-Rare)]: Extracted from a creature of the Jormungandr species, this blood carries unique properties that grant near-absolute resistance to toxins. Its composition is dangerously unstable outside the original body, but if processed correctly, it can serve as the base for high-grade antidotes.

“Beast Lord’s blood. Got it when Charlie and I managed to wound him. This stuff... makes you nearly immune to poisons.”

Luke pulled another item from the chain—this one a massive, jagged fang, its base still faintly glowing with toxic residue.

“And this? The source. Venom straight from the monster itself.”

[Fang of the Frankzaroth (Epic)]: The tip of a Jormungandr serpent’s fang. Still retains active traces of its original venom.

He tucked both items away carefully.

“Now I’ve got two absurdly rare ingredients. A source of near-total poison resistance, and a sample of a lethal toxin to study.”

“And what exactly are you planning to do with that?” Artemis asked, though the answer was already starting to take shape.

Luke kept his eyes on the distant statues, still patrolling their silent camps. A slow grin crept across his face.

“I’m going to farm this place for every last drop of experience. I’ll level up my profession as far as these resources will take me. I’ll grind my class levels by tearing those statues apart. I’ll get strong enough to wipe out the boss of this zone.”

He paused, still smiling.

“And then... when I leave this place... there won’t be a single piece of the Beast Lord left.”

***

Kalysto stood quietly in one of the far corners of the massive structure—a mansion so vast it could rival a small city. Around her, divine entities and beings on the brink of immortality mingled, each lost in their own purpose or plotting. She still didn’t fully understand why she’d been assigned as Samael’s personal attendant lately, but she wasn’t about to question ancient, incomprehensibly powerful beings with something as trivial as doubt.

Some of the entities present she had only ever read about—gods and mythic creatures passed down through scripture and half-lost stories. Seeing them in person, no matter how detached she tried to be, stirred something in her. Not reverence. Not awe. Just the quiet weight of witnessing a legend breathe.

She glanced across the room and spotted a group of beings that looked like humanoid cephalopods, reclining and chatting while attendants brought them drinks. This place was neutral ground. Even those who’d once been mortal enemies—who’d caused each other untold harm—couldn’t lift a finger in aggression here. That was the rule.

The mansion had been created by the Primordials, ancient beings who predated almost everything else. A neutral zone carved out of time and reality, built for diplomacy and mutual interest. It was less a building and more a multiversal luxury tavern: restaurants, lounges, combat arenas, private game rooms, even a coliseum designed for interdimensional duels.

Most gods preferred to observe the tutorial’s progress from their own domains, but Kalysto still recognized several of their envoys scattered throughout the crowd.

Her eyes drifted toward a distant table where Samael sat in conversation with a stunning blonde elf, her ears long and elegant. But it wasn’t the elf who held Kalysto’s attention—it was the strange man who approached them.

He wore a long black coat, his eyes reptilian and yellow. Not glowing, not fiery—just unsettling. Cold and analytical, like he was studying her down to her bones. Instinctively, Kalysto scanned the crowd. A few heads had turned in his direction. Toward him... and toward Samael.

Whoever he was, he mattered. But among beings like this, physical form meant nothing. Gods wore bodies like masks, changing them at will. There was no telling who, or what, the man in black truly was.

“A Primordial…” someone muttered nearby.

Kalysto turned and found herself face to face with a pale woman holding a parasol, even here indoors. Her eyes were a deep, burning red. Fangs flashed behind a calm smile.

A vampire.

The woman noticed Kalysto’s gaze and met it without hesitation.

“Pleasure,” she said, extending a hand. “Name’s Agripinna.”

A universal gesture. Kalysto recognized it immediately. This wasn’t her first time dealing with humanoid lifeforms. She returned the handshake without a word.

“I just arrived,” Agripinna continued, her tone light. “Came to speak with your master. Think he could spare me a few minutes?”

Kalysto kept her expression perfectly neutral, the polished tone of a well-trained attendant slipping into place.

“Master Samael is in a private meeting with other high-ranking beings. I don’t have the authority to interrupt him. When he calls for me, I’ll deliver your request.”

Agripinna sighed, clearly bored with the formality.

“That old demon knows me. I’ll be at my table—just tell him an old acquaintance is here with a particular matter to discuss.”

She turned, took a few steps, then paused and came back. In her hand was a small photograph.

“When you speak to him, give him this,” she said, handing it over. “And tell him the subject is her.”

Kalysto took the photo and looked at it. A pale woman, hauntingly beautiful, with silver-blonde hair. A black-and-red dress. One hand gloved, the other gripping a parasol. Her expression was timeless. Cold.

“Tell him,” Agripinna said, her voice calm but edged, “that I’m slightly irritated after seeing my old enemy in skeletal form walking alongside a human in this tutorial. I’d very much like to know how that damn Charlotte is still alive.”