Becoming the Dark Lord

When he reached the area, he saw more than ten Marine Artifacts resting atop stone pillars.

“Thukkk! Throm!” three selmarines cried out.

They were the only ones guarding the place. Each wore a priest’s mantle. Each carried a staff.

“Tron! Tron! Tron!” they chanted, raising their staffs overhead in rhythm, like some ritual song.

“Tron? Yeah, I know that movie. You guys saw it too?” Luke said, throwing a knife.

[Telekinetic Impulse activated]

But the blade slammed into a barrier.

“Tron! Tron! Tron!” they kept chanting.

Sharks began closing in on Luke. A lot of them. The octopus raised its tentacles, ready to fight. Then the chanting stopped.

“Tron...” the selmarines said, and laughed at him.

And suddenly all the sharks veered away at once, swimming back in retreat. A roar thundered through the water. A whirlpool opened up, and something burst out of it shrieking.

“Tron!” Luke blurted.

[Deep White Megalodon - Lvl 107]

A gigantic great white shark.

“Tron! Tron!” the selmarine priests screamed, pointing at Luke.

The shark shot at him like a torpedo.

“Shit!”

Luke forced the octopus downward, barely dodging the charge. The monster flew past, then curved back around, jaws opening wide. He saw the enormous great white coming straight at him, rows of teeth flashing.

“A Megalodon-type creature is extremely close to you,” Cadmus said.

I know, damn it!

The octopus lashed out with its tentacles, trying to pin the shark, but the thing kept biting even while restrained. The octopus was dragged lower, pulled toward the depths by the shark’s brute force.

Luke focused [Burst Throw] and started hurling knives. The shark twisted violently, tore itself free, and bit into the beast. One bite was enough to rip off two of the octopus’s tentacles. Dark fluid spilled into the water. They kept sinking.

[Crimson Fang activated]

Luke struck into the shark’s side. The creature broke away from the octopus’s grip and retreated, streaking off into the dark with blood trailing from the wound. Then the octopus hit something solid.

I almost died.

Luke looked down.

A Halo.

Its portal flared to life. He made a tentacle yank him toward it. He found himself in an area thick with seaweed, a forest grown in the deep. It was dark, with the Halo as the only real source of light. The octopus was hurt.

It’s coming back.

He sent the octopus swimming away while scanning every direction. The shark would attack again. Luke knew it would. Especially now that it was wounded. Activating [Jet Propulsion], he drove the octopus upward at full speed until they burst through the surface.

“Tron! Tron! Tron!” the selmarine priests were still chanting from the rocks.

Then the shark appeared.

“Here’s your damn Tron,” Luke snapped, throwing a knife.

A barrier appeared.

[Shadow Mana Explosion activated]

The barrier did nothing. All three selmarines were caught in the blast and hurled into the water. The shark came in furious, attacking at once, swallowing them as they tried to flee. It did them no good.

“Well, Spielberg,” Luke muttered, watching the shark stare at him and the octopus.

Then the creature submerged. Only the top fin stayed above water. And it was coming straight at him. Luke gripped a knife and charged [Burst Throw]. It built faster than [Shadow Mana Explosion], and hit more like a shotgun blast, or in this case, a harpoon. When the shark got close enough, he threw.

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The knife slammed into it with enough force to stop its advance and jerk its head violently to the side. In that instant, the octopus released a cloud of ink and grabbed the shark, dragging it down. The two sea beasts plunged into a brutal struggle.

Luke left the octopus in autonomous mode. The shark would not stop biting, thrashing wildly as they fought. Luke followed while being hauled along by one of the tentacles.

[Burst Throw activated]

He threw another knife. The shark took the hit. It only seemed to enrage the monster further. Its speed increased.

[Burst Throw activated]

In a sharp turn, the shark lunged at Luke just as he was preparing another throw. The octopus moved in front of him. All three plunged deeper as the shark attacked, trying to tear it apart. The octopus was being shredded. Then it slipped loose from the shark for a second, Luke released the creature, and it struck the portal. And vanished. Pulled through.

Damn it!

The octopus had touched the portal and been dragged to the other side.

Luke came out somewhere else. The shark shot straight at him, jaws opening to swallow him whole. The octopus threw itself in front again, getting chewed apart and destroyed.

Time for the secret weapon.

Luke raised both arms and struck the classic Spider-Man web-shooting pose. He was wearing the [Tamn Rift Bracers]. Each bracer held a throwing knife locked into place, and he aimed them like wrist-mounted crossbows. Luke poured stamina into them at high speed, activating the [Stinger Launch] enchantment. The more stamina he fed into it, the faster and more powerful the launch became.

The shark was almost on him now. Mouth open. Ready to swallow him whole. At the last possible second, Luke fired, pouring power into the knives as he did.

Fuck you!

The blades launched like torpedoes.

[Telekinetic Impulse activated]

[Burst Throw activated]

When the shark was hit, the impact was so violent that its entire body was thrown backward, and one of the knives shattered on impact and crushed its face.

Then Luke was there. He came in like a hunting cat and struck.

[Crimson Fang activated]

[You have slain a Deep White Megalodon - Lvl 107]

Your class [Demonic Predator] has reached Level 85! (+10 Lethality, +7 Perception, +6 Agility, +6 Vitality, +6 Intelligence, +5 Endurance, +8 Free Points)

[You have unlocked a new class skill]

The shark’s body began to sink. Luke no longer had the Spectral Beast. He started swimming. Not toward the portal. Toward the shark.

Now you don’t get away. Not after all the trouble I went through to kill you.

Even dead, the shark was sinking fast, but Luke quickly realized the truth. It was not the corpse moving fast.nHe was just painfully slow without the octopus. When he finally caught up, he drew a kukri and began stabbing into the shark’s body while it continued to descend.

Please have a core.

It was time to retire the octopus form from his Spectral Beast. It was versatile, sure, but too slow compared to other sea beasts, and it burned through stamina too quickly. He wanted something faster, something much tougher, and that shark could become his new beast. If he got lucky. If it had a core.

“Urgent warning, Luke Moon,” Cadmus said, appearing beside him.

Luke kept cutting into the shark’s flesh, trying to reach the core.

“I strongly recommend that you leave this area.”

Why?

[Mission Successfully Completed: ‘Visit the Abyssal Zone! (Exclusive to the Island Champion)’]

[Calculating your reward...]

Luke froze. For one second, he did nothing at all. He just looked around. At the dark, still water.

I’m in the...

“At the volcanic boundary, beyond the recommended limits. You are in the deepest sea on this planet, the place where there lives...” Cadmus stopped.

[Your title Myth Slayer has activated its skill!]

[A mythological creature is near you! Good luck with your hunt!]

“Unless you are a god-rank being, I recommend that you return to the portal immediately,” Cadmus said.

“Luke, listen to the little robot!” Artemis snapped.

Luke tore a core free from the shark.

I don’t know where the hell the portal is!

He started swimming, looking in every direction.

“A leviathan-class entity is rising toward this area! Return immediately, Luke Moon!” Cadmus warned.

Everywhere he looked, there was only darkness. Even his eye could barely see in those waters. Luke kept swimming. He no longer knew what was up and what was down. He tried to summon the octopus, but nothing happened.

Then a sound began. Loud enough to shake the water itself. It resembled a whale’s call. But wrong. Warped.

Luke conjured a sphere of mana with [Mana Infusion] and fired. The explosion lit the water for a single instant.

The portal.

He saw the Halo. The whale’s call grew impossibly loud, like a scream.

“Your presence has been noticed!” Cadmus said.

Luke started swimming fast. Faster than he thought he could. But it felt like for every two strokes forward, something dragged him one back. Whatever was beneath him was so massive that just moving through the water created its own current.

Luke started firing mana spheres in every direction. Each explosion lit the darkness like the flash of a camera. Then he pointed his hand downward and began firing nonstop. Every blast created a burst of opposing force, shoving him upward toward the portal.

“AARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The sound that echoed through the water almost sounded human. But it was not. And for a single moment, Luke saw the outline of something enormous. And then...