Becoming the Dark Lord

Five days had passed since Luke joined up with Zoe’s group to push through the island’s second zone.

“It’s behind us!” Zoe shouted.

They were in the city sector, inside a crumbling building. Luke and the others ran through the corridor while a group chased them from behind. The orange bracelet on his wrist was doing exactly what it was supposed to do, pulling enemies straight to them. Luke glanced back and saw one of the pursuers vaulting forward, springing through the air as if his feet were made of coiled steel. The man laughed while flinging needles. A skill, clearly. The projectiles struck the pillars with sharp metallic cracks.

“George!” David shouted.

George spun around, raising his shield just in time. The needles clattered against it in rapid succession. More footsteps echoed from the stairwell. Luke dropped low and slid across the dusty floor, stopping behind a pillar. The jumping man kept bouncing forward, closing the distance. He drew and fired. The arrow struck the man in the leg. Luke dashed to the next pillar and loosed another shot before the man could recover.

“You little—!” the man snarled, stumbling as he tried to drink a potion.

The second arrow hit his other leg. He collapsed. Two more pursuers rushed around the corner. Luke moved before they could react. He sprinted forward, drawing both machetes in one fluid motion. The blades flashed as he spun. Each man lost a leg in the same turn.

“More coming, Zoe!” Luke shouted.

The door burst open. Three enemies rushed inside, only to be swallowed instantly by a cloud of flame. Elijah and George charged through the smoke, finishing them before they could recover. Zoe stepped past them and drove her sword straight into the chest of the man who had been jumping. David calmly executed the two Luke had crippled.

“It’s over,” Zoe said, wiping her blade. Then she looked at Luke. “And for you too.”

Luke glanced down at the bracelet. “Yeah. It stopped tracking me.”

For the next ten hours, his location would remain hidden.

Zoe checked her interface and smiled. “I got a lot of points from the needle guy.”

“And I got a nice chunk from those three,” George added.

They left the building through a shattered window that connected to the neighboring structure by an enormous tree trunk laid across the gap. They were on the tenth floor. Far too high for comfort. This entire section of the city was stitched together with wooden bridges and massive trunks linking building to building. Down on the streets below, selmarines prowled through the ruins. The island didn’t rely on participants alone to kill you. An hour later, they finally stopped to rest.

“From here on, it’s forest,” Zoe said, sitting on the floor and drinking water in long gulps.

For ten straight hours they had done nothing but run, constantly weaving through buildings and changing direction to mislead their pursuers.

Elijah glanced at Luke. “Tomorrow that bracelet will be calling people for eleven hours. That’s insane.”

Luke shrugged. “But the plan worked, didn’t it?”

George chuckled. “Your crazy plan has been working.”

Zoe’s group was gaining points at an absurd pace.

“The guy I killed had six million,” Zoe said.

Elijah blinked. “Six million? That’s a serious kill.”

“Maybe I’m getting close to tenth place,” she said quietly.

Then she looked at Luke. “When they announced this challenge, I thought there was no way I could win it. Thanks, Luke.”

Luke stood. “Thank the bracelet. It’s the one pulling enemies into our web.”

He walked toward a window and stared down at the dark forest waiting beyond the city. “First watch is mine.”

Behind him, the others talked while eating. Their routine had to be followed exactly. Even if no one felt sleepy, they still needed to rest. There would come a time when sleeping wouldn’t be possible. Luke kept his eyes on the treeline. Eleven days left until the challenge ended.

I hope this works.

The enemies were confused by Luke’s route every time the tracker activated. One day it looked like he was heading toward the third zone. The next, he would suddenly appear returning along a completely different path. That was because he had no intention of running. They needed the points from other participants, and the constant movement bought them time while forcing encounters with smaller, fragmented groups. The strategy was working. The only real problem was Yut.

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For days now he had been showing up in places uncomfortably close to them, even when the system tracker wasn’t active.

”I’m heading out to gather some fruit. Whatever I can find in the forest,” David said.

”Alright. Be careful,” Luke replied.

It was Luke’s turn to sleep. A few hours later the group moved into the forest. They hunted more than just participants. Beasts and Selmarines were fair game too, though they made sure not to attract too many at once. Drawing attention was the last thing they wanted.

Every so often they passed small wooden cabins along the trail. The first two had already been stripped clean, but the third still had a few things left behind: a blanket, a pillow, and even some scattered papers.

”Hey, at least there’s a pot,” Zoe said.

”Thanks to this guy we don’t need to boil water anymore,” Elijah said with a grin, nodding toward Luke. ”Still, having an extra pot is good. One each would be ideal. No idea what that one-month challenge from the final bracelet will be like.”

It wasn’t a subject they liked digging into. If all of them managed to clear the orange bracelet challenge, they already knew what the final stage would mean. Everyone for themselves.

”You want the pot?” Zoe asked Luke.

”No. You guys can take it,” he said. ”It would just slow me down. Honestly, I might even ditch my backpack when the final challenge starts.”

They kept walking.

”What about the item you won from the challenge?” David asked. ”You still haven’t told us what it is. Or what it does.”

”The deal was that I’d reveal my skills, same as all of you,” Luke answered.

”Yeah, but three of the skills you mentioned can’t exactly be proven,” David said.

He wasn’t wrong. How exactly was Luke supposed to prove [Demonic Perception]? Or the [Predator’s Mark]?

”You saw me purify water. And I can move without making noise. That’s two skills right there. The other two you’ll just have to trust me on,” Luke said.

Out of everyone in the group, David clearly trusted him the least. George stayed neutral, while Elijah seemed caught somewhere in the middle, half convinced and half doubtful.

”We just need this partnership to last eleven more days,” Luke said. ”After that, we all go our own way.”

Suddenly Zoe grabbed their shoulders and shoved them down. Everyone dropped into the brush.

”Keep your eyes open. Watch everything,” a voice said somewhere ahead.

”Thai,” George whispered.

”And someone who’s probably with Father,” Zoe added quietly.

Two figures walked along the path, while several others moved farther behind them.

”What are those guys doing here?” Elijah murmured.

”It feels like they’re always around…” George said, then stopped.

”One step ahead of us?” Luke finished.

”...Yeah. We keep running into them,” George said.

***

Another day passed, and Luke’s group managed to survive yet another escape.

“I’ll see you in two days,” Luke told them.

From this point on, their roles would split. Zoe’s group would focus on hunting the selmarines roaming the region while Luke went after more… complicated prey. His name had already vanished from fifth place on the leaderboard. For now, he had a healing potion and a plan.

“If things go right, I’ll bring one of the dangerous ones back to you.”

It was risky, no doubt about it. Still, it was one of Luke’s better ideas. He would track one of the top players on the leaderboard. If the person had a fixed base, they could set a trap. If not, Luke only needed to capture them. The method was simple. Brutal, but simple. Break their legs. Give them a healing potion so they wouldn’t bleed out. Knock them unconscious. Drag them back. Then someone else could finish the job and claim the points. Dirty tactics, maybe. But not against the rules.

“Wouldn’t it be better if one of us went with you?” David asked.

“I can run without making noise, and I’m faster.”

“The quiet part I can’t help with,” David replied. “But I move fast.”

Luke shook his head. “I’d rather go alone.”

Without waiting for another argument, he turned and disappeared into the trees.

***

Luke didn’t have to wander blindly for long. All it took was capturing one of the roaming participants, someone desperate for points. Then another. And another. Out of the five he interrogated, every single one mentioned the same place. A dangerous area near a waterfall. Beside it stood an old wooden mansion. Once a day, a chest would fall from the sky there. The problem was simple. No one who went there ever came back. That was enough to get Luke’s attention.

When he finally reached the area, the forest greeted him with a nightmare. Bodies hung from the trees. Dozens of them. Every corpse wore the same expression. A wide, frozen smile. Even in death, their faces were locked in joy. It was deeply, horribly wrong. When Luke regrouped with Zoe’s team later, he explained his theory. Someone dangerous controlled that area. And if the one responsible for all those bodies was still there, it meant one thing. A lot of points.

“This is creepy as hell,” Elijah muttered, staring at one of the hanging corpses.

“I’d appreciate it if you kept your voice down,” Luke replied quietly. “From here on, try not to breathe.”

The five of them moved deeper into the forest. Above them, a chest began descending from the sky. Luke had timed their arrival perfectly. He had waited specifically for the drop. Three hours before his location would become public. More than enough time. They reached the chest just as it landed. Inside were food supplies, a bundle of arrows, and a pair of gloves. Luke took the arrows.

“There’s nothing here,” David said after scanning the surroundings. “We’ve been in this place for an hour.”

“So that’s how it is,” a voice suddenly echoed through the trees. “You walk into someone else’s territory, steal their things, and decide to leave?”

A pause. “Negative, children. No, no, no.”

A man stepped out from the trees. He wore a tattered lab coat. From the torn ends of the coat, severed fingers hung like grotesque charms.

Elijah frowned. “Yeah. Definitely one of those lunatics from the prison.”

The man lifted his staff, studying them with unsettling calm.

“Sick children. Yes, I see it now. You are all very sick.” His smile widened. “But that’s alright. The doctor is here to cure you and bring joy back to your hearts.”

The staff rose. From its tip, a thick brown smoke began to spill into the air.