Becoming the Dark Lord

The Spectral Beast lifted its head above the water. Luke stood on its back, facing the vast ocean while the storm roared overhead.

“It’s calmer down there.”

A massive wave crashed over him. The beast kept swimming as Luke weighed his next move.

All I can do now is wait for the twenty-four hours to end.

The serpent dove again. Luke held onto the creature, and with the half-mask covering his face, drowning was the least of his worries. As they moved through the depths, all around them was a shifting world of strange sea life.

What was that roar I heard?

The farther he moved along the ocean floor, the more uneasy he became. Not for himself, but for his mother. Knowing she was alive after all this time, and that she could have died in the Island Challenge or might be somewhere in that very ocean, close to him, filled him with a deep restlessness.

Then the glowing coral lights vanished. Something enormous moved in front of them, swallowing the light, and Luke saw it. A giant octopus.

[Grasping Octopus - Lvl 103]

Its tentacles shot toward the Spectral Beast. Luke ordered the creature to use [Abyss King’s Gaze], trying to paralyze it. For a moment, the octopus froze. The serpent surged through the water, fleeing fast, but when Luke looked back, the thing was already coming after them. Fast.

Use the poison, Luke ordered.

The tentacles wrapped around the serpent. The Abyss King twisted and struck, biting into one of them and pumping venom into the flesh. At the same time, Luke summoned his black knives and started throwing with [Burst Throw]. Underwater, the blades lost too much force.

[Telekinetic Impulse activated]

The knives slammed harder after that, punching into the octopus one after another. More tentacles closed around the serpent. The Abyss King could not break free. It was being dragged. Luke kept throwing. Then the octopus suddenly released it, and a great cloud of dark ink erupted through the water.

The Spectral Beast shot toward one of the ruins. As soon as they got close enough, it rose to the surface. Luke leaped free, dismissed the beast, and climbed the structure, only a small part of it still jutting above the water. At the top, he faced the raging ocean. Waves slammed against the ruin and sprayed him with cold seawater.

“The bastard octopus is immune to poison?”

The serpent’s paralytic venom should have dropped it. For now, Luke decided, fighting that predator in its own territory was out of the question.

Then he looked toward the horizon.

“Holy shit.”

Far away, wrapped in a bank of white mist, there was a ship. Luke activated Sariel’s Eye and zoomed in as far as he could. The ship came into focus. Its wood was dark, rotted, and ancient. The sails hung in torn strips. Torchlight flickered in one of the windows. Something was moving aboard, yet there was no crew anywhere in sight.

Then the next giant wave rose.

When it passed, the ship was gone. The white fog with it.

“This place keeps finding new ways to surprise me.”

“A giant octopus?” Artemis said. “And now a ghost ship? Come on, we’ve all seen this movie before. Tell me there are pirates too.”

Luke stayed there, sitting on top of the ruin, waiting for the twenty-four hours to pass. Dawn had already come. Once the sun had fully lifted out of the water, something changed. The ocean began to drain away. Not slowly. Fast.

The water pulled back in a violent rush, retreating until, in less than an hour, the sea was gone and a desert remained in its place once more.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

A notification appeared.

[Congratulations on surviving the first night of Stage 2 in Sunken Realms!]

[Loading additional information...]

When the system interface finished updating, the next notification appeared.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Welcome to Sunken Realms

The world of Sunken Realms is made up mostly of water. Scattered across it are thousands of colossal dormant volcanoes, each with a summit that has become a vast reef of its own, dotted with islands where life thrives. Right now, you are standing atop one of those volcanoes, a place made up of deep ocean zones and a main island. Along the edge of this small “continent,” the tide rises and can trigger disasters, unleashing the fury of the sea.

Stage 2 is divided into six phases, with each phase lasting one month. To clear a phase, you must complete a Beacon. Finishing the phases is not mandatory. Stage 2 is optional for participants. So if you do not wish to take part in the event, all you have to do is survive for six months until Stage 2 ends, and you will be able to return to New Earth.

To advance to Stage 3 and claim the final reward, you must complete all of Stage 2, securing one Beacon in each phase. Good luck to all participants.

(Warning: For those who choose to participate in this event, special missions are available. Completing them is optional, but they may provide useful rewards.)

There was a lot of information packed into that message.

But one detail caught his eye.

“New Earth? Sounds like things are going to be very different by the time I return to my world.”

Luke pulled up the earlier Stage 2 notification and compared it against what he knew now.

Stage 2: Sunken Hunt

Humans already integrated into the system, belonging to the 51% and below Rank C, who survived the Island Challenge, will now venture into the Sunken Realms. Scattered across the ruins are Marine Artifacts, guarded by terrifying Sea Beasts.

Whether alone or in groups, the integrated are now free to form their own factions. The main goal is simple: survive until the next stage begins.

But be warned. Collecting Marine Artifacts is the key to activating Beacons, special dungeons filled with treasure and unique challenges. Countless rewards and other treasures can be obtained there, making you stronger.

“Now it makes more sense.”

The puzzle pieces were finally starting to come together.

[Loading Sunken Realms missions...]

Sunken Realms Missions:

Some missions are available. They are not mandatory, but they may prove rewarding. They may also help you understand more about the ancient civilizations that once lived on this planet.

Luke’s system interface loaded the mission list.

[Island Champion detected!]

You won a very special challenge in Stage 1. Exclusive missions are now available to you.

Luke read through them one by one, trying to understand the place better and squeeze every bit of information he could from it.

When he finished, he looked out over the desert.

I’m between the continent and the true ocean. I’m basically standing on the equivalent of a beach. At night, the tide rises and the ocean swallows everything. If I follow the direction the water receded from, I’ll reach the real ocean. If I go the other way, toward where the water once pushed inland, eventually I’ll hit actual solid land.

He looked at the item he had bought from the shop after leaving the island. At least it would help a little.

[Aquatic Explorer Pants (Ultra Rare)]: Pants made from a special fabric that molds perfectly to the body and dries almost instantly once out of the water. The material was designed to enhance movement in underwater environments, granting a 20% increase in swim speed and a 15% boost to underwater mobility by reducing water resistance against the wearer’s movements.

Enchantments:

[Mana Repair (Rare)]: The equipment slowly repairs itself when supplied with the user’s mana.

[Temperature Regulation (Rare)]: The deeper the ocean, the colder it becomes. This garment stabilizes the user’s body temperature even in extremely deep submerged zones.

Even if the Spectral Beast is a serpent that can enter the water, it’s not especially fast down there. And it doesn’t have the natural advantage underwater that a creature like that octopus does.

***

Luke had jumped down from the great ruin. If there was one direction he should be heading, it was toward the real ocean. Most of the missions were tied to that place, including the Marine Artifacts he would eventually have to collect.

“The octopus is nowhere in sight.”

“That sounds like a good thing,” Artemis said.

“No. Right now would’ve been my chance to kill it. But it disappeared when the ocean pulled back.”

He broke into a run. On land, he was faster than the Spectral Beast anyway. Otherwise, he would have preferred to ride it. Luke entered one of the ruins. It was empty, some kind of ancient building. But instead of square architecture, that civilization seemed to favor rounded structures. Everything inside was packed with coral and sand.

“I’m surprised the desert sand stays this dry.”

Aside from the places where a few shallow pools still remained. Luke filled the canteens he had with water. The pants he had bought had cost almost all the points he had left from the island challenge, but the rest had gone into survival supplies and three healing potions.

The missions were waiting on his interface.

[Reach the Citadel on the Continent]: ???

[Conquer Your First Beacon]: ???

[Kill a Sea Guardian (Exclusive to the Island Champion)]: ???

[Face a Ghost Pirate Ship (Exclusive to the Island Champion)]: ???

[Visit the Abyssal Zone (Exclusive to the Island Champion)]: ???

[Event Guide]: ???

If Luke clicked on a mission, it expanded and revealed more information.

Reach the Citadel on the Continent: (Available only in Phase 2)

“That one’s useless.”

[Visit the Abyssal Zone (Exclusive to the Island Champion)]: The Abyssal Zone refers to the regions beyond the volcanic edge where the event takes place. It is a deep sea inhabited by unknown creatures of absurd size. Visit this zone to earn a reward.

Reward: ???

That mission answered a few of Luke’s questions. Not everyone from his planet had ended up in the same region as him. They were scattered across Sunken Realms, divided among territories built on top of volcanic formations, and there was no normal way to leave one region and reach another. At least, not one that ended with someone staying alive. To do that, a person would have to cross the Abyssal Zone.

“And how am I supposed to know when I’m in the Abyssal Zone?”

But the mission that really caught Luke’s attention was the last one.

[Event Guide]: A Guide is available, a tool that may be useful in helping participants navigate Sunken Realms.

(Time Remaining to Find It: 5 Days : 16 Hours : 38 Minutes : 23 Seconds)

There was one final line beneath it.

Hint: The Guide will be in a place that does not visually belong here, yet will still be familiar to you.

Luke stared at the message.

“What kind of bullshit hint is that?”