Becoming the Dark Lord

Four days had passed since they left the Citadel. Two days remained before the end of Phase 2. They had been gathering a large number of Marine Artifacts, collecting the ones the tide brought in each night.

“The system wouldn’t punish everyone in the Citadel by leaving us too far from the Beacon, would it?” Luke asked.

“Hm? Are you talking to me?” Layla asked. “You barely talk to me.”

Everyone else was asleep in the rafts. Anne sat farther away in one of them, watching the moonlight. It was deep night.

“Of course I’m talking to you,” Luke replied.

“Well, I don’t know,” Layla said. “It was a system penalty.”

“What are you talking about, Layla?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking to Katarina. Why are you butting in?”

She clicked her tongue. “I knew it, you bastard.”

“I’m worried about the time too, Katarina. I even thought about switching my beast for a land one so we could ride during the day and move faster, but this place only has crabs. Then I’d lose the shark advantage at night.”

“You really are ignoring me, idiot?” Layla snapped.

“Layla, don’t eavesdrop on me and Katarina. It’s rude.”

“She’s a plant, you moron. She’s not talking to you.”

Luke sighed. “So somebody here has a teddy-bear underwear obsession.”

Layla’s face turned red instantly. “How the hell did you know?!”

“Katarina told me you blew your entire SIA compensation package buying that kind of underwear online, and also at...”

He did not get to finish. Layla clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Shut up! It was therapy, okay?! I had trauma, and I coped by buying stuff online.”

“Keep feeding Katarina whenever she wants, Layla. She and I both know your secrets.”

She clicked her tongue again. “I hate you. And I hate that plant. Why don’t you just take her for yourself?”

“I wanted to take care of Katarina, Layla. But she’s Eddie’s friend, and she sees herself as his daughter.”

Luke’s shark kept weaving around whatever rose in their path.

“Flooded city...” Anne said.

Below them, beneath the water, they could see a city drowned by the ocean. But on the surface, they were having to steer around the tops of buildings that still jutted out above the waterline.

“There’s no way around it. We’re going to have to weave through the city.”

The others were asleep. Even Charlie. Layla shared a raft with Katarina while Luke’s shark towed them through the flooded city. She was trying to fish as they moved.

“I see movement,” Anne said, getting to her feet.

“So do I,” Luke said. “Three people. One of them’s an archer.”

He watched the group from a distance. The archer pulled an arrow from the quiver.

“Shit,” Luke said. “Everyone, up!”

The arrow streaked across the sky toward them, and when it got close, it exploded. The shark leapt in front and took the blast. At the same time, a barrier of white light rose around them. Anne had cast it. The others fell into the water.

“We can’t even sleep without this place trying to kill us!” Evangeline shouted as she swam toward a building.

Anne ran across the rooftops. Arrows flew after her. Luke moved too.

Damn it. My beast got destroyed. It’ll take a whole day to come back.

More figures appeared on the rooftops.

“Bandits. We ran straight into a group,” Eleanor said, grabbing the rafts and storing them in her pocket dimension.

“Or just people trying to kill for levels,” Layla said, swimming beside them.

Luke tucked Katarina away inside his dimensional greenhouse.

“I’ll handle this!” Charlie shouted, sprinting across the rooftops.

Arrows came flying toward them. Jack raised barrier after barrier. Luke ran, leaping from roof to roof.

“Charging the enemy head-on like this?” Artemis said.

“And who said I’m going to them?” Luke replied, conjuring a knife.

He focused his mana and threw it.

[Telekinetic Impulse activated]

The knife reached the enemy group.

[Shadow Mana Explosion activated]

Then it detonated. The blast caught them in a blinding flash. Luke saw the kill notification and kept moving.

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 63...] *4,478,522 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 52...] *1,741,081 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 57...] *2,257,225 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 47...] *1,763,627 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

Your second class [Arcane Witch] has reached Level 77! (+12 Intelligence, +10 Wisdom, +7 Perception, +6 Willpower, +5 Agility, +3 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +10 Free Points.)

He had just opened a window for Anne and Charlie. More enemies were emerging from the buildings.

Charlie ran, activating [Fire Leap], launching herself high and leaving a trail of flame in the air. She came down with [Wave of Ash], burning the enemies before following up with her sword. Anne arrived a moment later, attacking from behind with her scissor-sword, moving like she was dancing.

Luke saw two of the enemies get snagged by threads under Anne’s control. Evangeline stayed beside Eleanor, who was firing arrows alongside Layla. Then Luke saw others hurling spears toward Charlie and Anne. The spears gave off a disturbing sound.

Mental disruption.

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He dove into the water, going deep and swimming hard, throwing knives while mana threads pulled him forward. When he burst back out, he was behind the first target.

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 72 (Sound Ambush Thief - Lvl 86 / Archer - Lvl 41 / Brewer - Lvl 62)] *9,114,785 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

He saw two more firing arrows. Spinning his kukris, he struck both.

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 64...] *2,471,973 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 41...] *513,147 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

“One of them is here!”

“Who let him get that close?!”

Others on the next rooftop spotted him. Luke threw a knife, but some kind of magic shielded them from the explosion. That was all he needed. He jumped and dropped right into the middle of them, then began to dance with his kukris. Some tried to block with swords, but they could not keep up. Luke moved too fast, too precise.

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 79...] *10,623,841 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 81...] *13,589,264 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 80...] *16,995,331 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

The notifications came in a cascade.

Your class [Demonic Predator] has reached Level 90! (+10 Lethality, +7 Perception, +6 Agility, +6 Vitality, +6 Intelligence, +5 Endurance, +8 Free Points)

[You have unlocked a new class skill]

A few minutes was all it took. The enemies were dead.

[You have reached Level 86! Half-Demon (Rank E)] (+2 bonus points to all attributes, +5 free points)

All but one.

“Who do you... serve?” Anne asked. “Who sent... you?”

The man was riddled with wounds. Threads stitched through his injuries, locking his limbs in place.

“You all were supposed to die. Easy experience...” he muttered through bloody lips. “Everything went wrong.”

Anne drove her sword into his eye.

“They were only... ordinary ones, Lord... Luke,” the doll-woman said.

Eleanor and the others came over moments later.

“We’re going to have to jump across these buildings.”

“Did we lose any boats?” Luke asked.

“No. But it’s better if we don’t risk losing them to some insane arrow,” she replied.

***

The next day, the group was walking across the sand flats.

“The salt in the air tastes a lot stronger now,” Evangeline said. “What about you, Charlie? What do you think?”

“I think we’re getting close to the true sea,” she replied.

They were having lunch. They had crossed the flooded city during the night, and once the water retreated back into the ocean, they resumed traveling on foot.

“Here... Lord Luke...” Anne said, serving him.

“And mine?” Jack asked.

“Get it... yourself,” the doll maid replied.

“I don’t think she likes me,” Jack commented after Anne walked away.

“She’s like that with me too, don’t worry,” Eleanor said.

“She’s just grateful that I agreed to look after her until her sister settles everything. And she’s also friends with Charlie,” Luke said.

Anne and Charlie were very close. The two of them were cleaning a large crab while tending the fire, where other pieces of it were roasting.

“She’s a princess... right?” Layla asked. “Shouldn’t she be getting served, doing nothing, and enjoying life?”

“Princesses who get rescued by white knights and spend all day being delicate only exist in movies, Layla,” Eleanor replied. “In the real world, princesses... have rules. And duties.”

“Like the Rhiannon girl,” Evangeline said. “Where do you think she is right now?”

“She’s not in our region of Sunken Realms,” Luke said, sipping fish broth.

“You tried tracking her?” Evangeline asked.

“I did.”

“And you... didn’t choose to track Charlie?” Layla asked.

“Charlie was already going to track me. I was just trying to be... pragmatic,” he said. “And that’s exactly what happened. I helped Eleanor too. It was the best decision.”

Did I do something wrong?

“A friend is a friend,” Jack said. “I’m just glad you tracked me too.”

“I didn’t track you.”

“What?!” Jack said. “But... you found the group from my order, the one I was with.”

“That was a coincidence,” Eleanor said.

“Oh...” Jack said. “At least I would’ve been your next choice, right?”

A silence settled over the group.

“Come on, guys. You could’ve lied,” Jack said.

***

“Move, now,” Luke said, glancing back over his shoulder.

An army of people was behind them, all of them sliding down enormous, fragile sand dunes.

Luke opened the notification.

Phase 2 Challenge:

Reaching a Beacon may now be a challenge in itself. In this phase, the Beacons are no longer on the surface, but at the bottom of the ocean. To the west of the Main Island, in the beach zone, deep beneath the waters of the Giant Reef, there are multiple entrances leading into a cave biome where an ancient lost city lies. Scattered throughout that city are the Beacons. But be warned. The path there will not be easy. The darkness of those treacherous waters hides beasts and other dangers. The labyrinthine cave network is also filled with threats, and the lost city itself has been overrun by Stalkers.

[Time Remaining: 3 hours : 29 minutes : 38 seconds]

“The sea. The damn sea,” Evangeline said as she ran. “I can hear it.”

The sound of waves was loud now, along with screams that might have been celebration. They climbed the dune, and at the top they saw it. The massive beach. The ocean. Thousands of boats cutting toward a glowing circle out at sea, where a violent storm churned the waves and lightning split the sky. When they reached the shore, they grabbed the boats.

“We have to go all the way to the bottom. Do we even have time?” Charlie asked.

“We have to,” Luke said. “I’m not missing this phase.”

“D-do I really have to go?” Layla asked.

“It’s this or stay here exposed to bandits, raiders, rapists, and murderers,” Eleanor said.

Luke summoned the Spectral Beast and tossed the ropes from the boats to it. The shark started pulling them, only three boats this time to keep the speed up.

“Go, go!” Luke shouted, and the beast surged forward.

Ahead of them, they could already hear fighting breaking out between other boats. People were attacking each other. But the waves were just as dangerous. One larger than the last kept crashing toward them. The water was dark and violent.

“I’ll handle... the barriers... in front,” Anne said to Jack. “You take... the ones... behind.”

Eleanor began firing arrows at incredible speed. The glowing green arrows flew so fast they looked like streaks of lightning, smashing into the water and breaking apart the incoming waves while Luke’s shark kept dragging them forward.

Then a ship cut through the boats ahead, throwing up waves on both sides and slamming people aside.

“Haha! That’s the power of my ship!” the man at the front shouted, sword in hand as he carved through the storm.

Luke recognized him. Captain Thomas. The ship opened fire with cannons, blasting apart smaller boats.

“I said I’d attack pirate ships. And a boat is a kind of ship!” Thomas yelled.

“It really isn’t, Captain.”

“Shut up!”

The huge ship quickly became a target. The storm cloud swallowed everyone around it, and Luke lost sight of what happened next.

“We’re inside the storm circle,” he said, and jumped into the water.

Everyone followed.

“I-I’m scared of the ocean,” Jack said, frozen in place.

“You said you were over that damn fear,” Luke snapped.

“I-I thought I was, but sinking into the unknown down there is too much,” Jack said, locking up.

Anne shoved him into the water. The boats were stored away.

“I’m going to die!” Jack cried.

“Hold... on to me...” Anne said.

Everyone was tied together with ropes.

“I don’t want to go either!” Layla said, but it was too late.

They sank. Luke’s shark pulled them downward. They saw hundreds of people diving, all swimming toward the bottom, but they passed them quickly thanks to the beast dragging them.

Charlie did not need to breathe if she chose not to, one of the indirect gifts of being a vampire. Anne did not breathe because she was a doll. Evangeline had a piece of gear that let her breathe underwater, a reward from her island event. Eleanor had Luke’s Abyssal Zone mask. And Luke had his half-mask.

The only two with nothing to help them breathe underwater were Jack and Layla.

“I can talk underwater,” Eleanor said to them as they descended. “If you need air, let me know and I’ll give you the mask, understood? Just tap my shoulder.”

Both of them tapped her shoulder at the exact same time.

“Use stamina. When it drops to half, let me know.”

They were panicking. The ocean down there was dark. Very dark. Luke could still see. They were descending along the cliff wall beneath the beachside abyss. It did not take long before they started passing other people, some of them swimming back upward in panic, pointing frantically below.

Then they saw dozens of bright lights.

The Beacon!

The shark dove faster, and when Luke zoomed in with Sariel’s Eye, he realized it was not the Beacons at all. Fish. They were enormous, monstrous fish. From their heads rose antennae tipped with glowing lights.