Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke tore through the forest. It wasn’t one person chasing him anymore. It was the entire island.

“He’s running!”

“The bastard’s out of arrows!” someone shouted.

He vaulted over rocks and weaved between trees. Spheres of lightning detonated around him, spraying arcs of electricity across the ground.

“I found him!” a voice called from ahead. “You’ve got the orange bracelet!”

A man stepped out, wand raised. “Hand it over!”

A spear of ice shot toward Luke. He dodged, closed the distance, and drove a dagger into the mage’s chest.

“Here’s your bracelet,” Luke muttered as he buried his second dagger in the man’s eye. The mage collapsed.

[You have slain a Human…] *501,334 IP earned*

Luke took off again.

“Get him! Don’t let him escape!”

A massive serpent made of water surged from between the trees and detonated into a violent wave. Lightning followed, raining down and crackling across the mud. Luke grabbed a vine at the last second and swung upward, barely avoiding the strike.

He sprinted across a thick branch. Behind him, a roaring blast of fire advanced like a living wall. Luke dove, rolled through the mud, and the flames swallowed the entire grove behind him. Arrows showered the area.

He kept running, slid down a steep embankment, and hurled himself into the river.

“Where is he?!”

“He’s gone! Damn it!”

Luke let the current drag him along the riverbed. In the depths, they couldn’t track him anymore. An hour passed before he surfaced far downstream. The Guardian’s relic kept him breathing effortlessly underwater, but its blessing had turned into a curse.

“Damn island,” he muttered, dragging himself onto the bank and retreating into the brush.

A notification pulsed into view.

Special Side Mission: Escape to the Third Zone

Congratulations on defeating the Treasure Guardian! You obtained the reward and, as a bonus, the Orange Bracelet, saving you from the Free-for-All. However, there is one small problem. Your location has been made public to every participant on the island.

To avoid being killed, you must flee to the newly opened Third Zone. Only those with an Orange Bracelet can enter. Once you reach it, no one will be able to pursue you. A fair chance for everyone.

(Every 24 hours, your location will be made public for one hour. Each day, this duration increases by one additional hour.)

So that was the special mission he’d earned and others probably received a similar message explaining exactly why everyone was hunting him. Luke slumped against the riverbank, hidden among the roots and tall grass, and looked at the other notification.

[Congratulations! You survived the first day with your location revealed for one hour! In 24 hours, this will happen again, but next time… it will last two hours! Good luck!]

“Go to hell…”

He lay back on the dirt, staring up at the canopy swaying above him.

The penalty makes my location public and increases by one hour each day. I have 21 days to reach the third zone. For half of those remaining days, everyone will know where I am for at least 10 hours. This challenge is going to get worse with each passing day.

He knew the direction he had to travel. His enemies knew it too. And the worst part was the distance.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Everyone’s going to come after me, especially the desperate ones at the bottom of the rankings who know they won’t climb fast enough.

User Rankings! These are the participants with the highest point totals and therefore the greatest chance of winning the challenge!

1st Place: Ivor Aaberg: 62,445,142 IP (Bracelets Found: 4)

2nd Place: Yut Saeten: 58,987,777 IP (Bracelets Found: 4)

3rd Place: Luke Moon: 43,785,789 IP (Bracelets Found: 5)

4th Place: Gregory Brown: 33,989,641 IP (Bracelets Found: 4)

5th Place: Madison Sullivan: 31,786,147 IP (Bracelets Found: 4)

Luke pushed himself to his feet.

My plan to prepare for the final bracelet by gathering resources from chests, potions, items, and a skill just died because of this damn new challenge.

***

Yut sat on a fallen log. This was the camp of Antony Brandt, some sort of religious criminal known as Father Brandt. He studied the secondary mission glowing on his interface.

Special Side Mission: Hunt Luke Moon

Participant Luke Moon obtained the Orange Bracelet by defeating the Treasure Guardian, but you may take it from him, sparing yourself from the three weeks of the Free-For-All. His goal is to cross the Second Zone and reach the Third Zone to escape. Only participants with five bracelets may access that part of the island. Prevent him from escaping and claim his bracelet for yourself.

(Every 24 hours, his location will become public for one hour to you and to all remaining participants. With each passing day, the duration increases by one hour.)𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Yut laughed softly. The silhouette of the orange bracelet Luke Moon was wearing in the forest disappeared. Time had run out.

My chance to hunt you just opened up.

He took a long drink from his canteen.

“So, what’s it going to be, Father Brandt? How exactly is this alliance supposed to work? Because in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a free-for-all,” Yut said.

He sat across from the faction leader. Yut and his men had already been healed by the group’s healers. Two things weighed on him heavily. Only ten people could survive this free-for-all. And every minute wasted here was dangerous.

“Only ten among all of us will succeed in this challenge, Mr. Saeten,” Father Brandt replied.

“Yeah, that part’s obvious.” Yut leaned forward. “Tell me, Antony because that is your name, right? why aren’t you or your flock panicking? There are, what, fifty of you? Even if a miracle happens and ten make it into the top rankings… the other forty die.”

“We do not concern ourselves with that,” said Brad, one of the Father’s bodyguards. “Only those of weak faith get nervous.”

“One day Father Brandt will become a god,” a woman said with absolute conviction. “He will save us when that time comes. To die for him now is a necessary sacrifice. He is our savior.”

Yut feared very little in life. But there was one thing he disliked more than anything: people like this. People who couldn’t be bought, couldn’t be convinced, couldn’t be intimidated. People raised on doctrine so absolute it replaced instinct. Even for someone who grew up where brutality was the norm, there was something unsettling about people who smiled at the idea of dying for someone else.

Freaks…

“And you, Mr. Saeten?” Father Brandt asked calmly. “Even with luck, with tricks, with strength… you and your men cannot all be saved.”

“There are many of us, but only ten will make it to the final challenge. That’s how the jungle works, Brandt. The strongest survive,” Yut answered. “In a few days, this island which is already a mess is going to turn into a full-blown disaster. The weak will cry. The ones who hid, thinking having all the bracelets was enough, will break. And the bold, the strong… they’ll make mistakes. Nobody below the top five knows where they stand on the leaderboard. It’s a perfect setup for chaos.”

Yut tossed the empty water cup aside. “I grew up in the chaos of Bangkok, Father Brandt. Me and my men know how to survive. But you… can you?”

A tense silence settled over the camp.

“Mr. Saeten, I admire your strength and determination. That’s why I want an alliance,” the Father said calmly.

Yut stared at him. Was the man insane? Even more than usual? Why form an alliance when, in the end, everyone would have to kill each other?

“I’m offering you everything you need to secure all ten spots on the leaderboard for you and your men,” the Father continued.

“All ten?” Yut raised a brow.

“That’s right. In return, we kill Luke Moon, who happens to be of mutual interest. And you give me his bracelet. You understand, I assume?”

“Yeah. So it’s not ten spots. It’s eleven. His bracelet is a bonus.”

“Even if the man tries to negotiate by handing over the bracelet, he must still die, Mr. Saeten,” the Father said quietly.

“He has a lot of points,” Yut replied.

“No, Mr. Saeten. He must die because he must die. I feel he will be a threat to us in the final bracelet trial. So, what do you think? You and your men may use our healers as much as you like, until everyone has enough points and this phase ends. In return, you hand me Luke Moon’s bracelet.”

“That’s quite an offer.”

Brandt extended his hand. “Do I have your word?”

“The deal is done,” Yut said. “We’ll kill Luke Moon.”

Yut agreed easily. And in the end, he’d take Luke Moon’s bracelet for himself. Brandt and his flock would be useful tools.

Only me and my men will make it to the final challenge.