Becoming the Dark Lord

“We’re screwed. This area is open sea,” Jack said, staring at the vast stormy expanse ahead.

And behind them, the monster was closing in.

Area 3: Storm of the Drowned

A stormy sea awaits ahead, its waters rough and its waves treacherous. You must escape this place by sailing toward the horizon and surviving its threats. These waters are home to the Drowned, who will try to board your ship and drag you down into the depths where their city once stood. Beware the sea, the storm, the Drowned, and the Kraken. If it decides you are its target, it will not stop hunting you.

Good luck.

The kraken was still some distance away, somewhere between the flooded streets. But Luke knew it was coming.

“Max out the speed pennants,” Eleanor said.

“They already are,” Layla answered.

The ship surged forward, smashing through the waves coming at it. Rain came down hard, and the sky was buried under storm clouds.

“Where’s the horizon? It’s all dark ahead,” Charlie said.

“My guess is straight ahead, in the direction the exit dropped us,” Evangeline said.

Luke was moving along the edges of the ship at a run.

“How big is that thing?” Stephen asked.

“Big. Really big,” Luke answered, then sprinted to the other side of the deck.

“It’s not coming. Think it’s just going to let us go?” Jack asked.

At that exact moment, the ship groaned and slammed into something.

“Master Luke,” Charlie said, but Luke had already seen it.

He dodged an enormous tentacle. Then more came. They rose around the ship from every direction.

“Holy Goddess,” Jack shouted, his wand shaking in his hand as he fired a sphere of light into one of the tentacles. The whole group attacked at once.

“It’s going to sink us,” Eleanor said. “Then hunt us.”

Layla was firing arrows at one of the tentacles with frantic speed. At the same time, Luke saw a figure climbing the hull. Then several more. They hauled themselves onto the deck. He threw a kukri. It spun through the air, cutting down the Drowned as they climbed aboard.

[You have slain a Storm Drowned - Lvl 72]

[You have slain a Storm Drowned - Lvl 72]

[You have slain a Storm Drowned - Lvl 72]

Luke caught the kukri back, then hurled both blades into the tentacle ahead of him. Anne appeared on deck and began slashing at one of the tentacles with her sword. Layla turned her arrows on the Drowned.

“Focus on the tentacles first,” Luke said.

He threw one kukri again. The impact tore a chunk out of the limb. The kraken seemed to know exactly where they were. The tentacles kept striking the right places.

“This doesn’t feel like it’s working,” Evangeline said.

“A squid has ten tentacles,” Eleanor said. “We just have to destroy them.”

“Yeah, except normal squids don’t swallow ships and they’re not backed up by an army of zombies,” Jack shot back, attacking the Drowned.

Charlie rushed past them, her body wrapped in a blazing aura. Then she jumped. A tentacle lashed toward the mast, and she came down on it with a punch. The impact was so violent the limb was blasted backward, and a huge chunk of it landed on the deck.

“Gods, this is not how I expected to eat calamari,” Artemis said.

The kraken went berserk. Even underwater, they could hear its scream. Luke threw a kukri with [Demonic Predator Hands] active. Another tentacle was hit. The limbs thrashed wildly, and then Luke saw something worse. The severed tentacle was coming back. The cut section had regrown, not with flesh, but with something spectral. A ghostly extension shot toward the ship like an arrow. It struck the spot where Charlie had been seconds earlier. Then it turned and kept trying to hit her.

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Stephen appeared with a bottle of rum. He shook it until the glass glowed, then hurled it at one of the tentacles. Fire erupted on impact, setting the limb ablaze, and Luke moved in at once. Then came the sound of cannons. Many of them. The ship was hit.

One of the Drowned took a cannonball and exploded, spraying flesh in every direction. When Luke looked toward the sound, he saw several Cursed Ships leaving Area 2 behind and coming after them, cannons firing as they gave chase.

The others kept attacking the tentacles. Stephen threw another bottle, soaking one of the limbs and igniting it. Charlie drove a punch into another and blew it apart. The creature recoiled all at once. The ship stopped shaking. At the same time, a huge wave rolled in, and more Drowned crashed onto the deck.

“The kraken’s gone,” Eleanor said.

Jack cast a green circle. Luke stepped closer, and his wounds began to heal. The Cursed Ships were getting nearer. Anne ran back to the helm and adjusted the course, and once the speed pennants kicked in again, the ship leaped forward.

“The situation is worse than we imagined,” Evangeline said, driving a spear into a drowned one trying to climb aboard. More were scaling the hull behind it. “What do we do?”

“The kraken is coming back,” Charlie said.

Luke looked over the side of the ship. Dozens of drowned things were climbing up. Behind them, the Cursed Ships were closing in. Ahead, huge waves waited, and below, in the ocean, the kraken was preparing to strike again at any moment.

“If it stops us one more time, we’ll have the drowned, the Cursed Ships, and the kraken all on top of us. In that scenario, we probably die,” Luke said, thinking it through.

“Man, don’t say it like that. Why couldn’t you lie?” Jack shouted. “I cannot die at sea, especially not by getting swallowed by some giant monster.”

“Who puts cannons on the prow of a ship?” Evangeline snapped.

Luke moved to Anne. “Can the ship survive one more hit from the kraken?”

“If we stop... the ship... is done,” Anne said.

She was as sharp as he was. She had already seen the same possibilities. Behind her, more drowned climbed aboard. Eleanor loosed arrows into them. More of them kept appearing all across the ship. Lightning crashed ahead. Cannon fire echoed across the water.

Think. Think. Think.

The waves slammed into the ship, making their race toward the horizon even harder.

“Master Luke, what do we do?” Charlie asked.

At that moment, everyone looked at him. Not because he was some great leader, or because he understood navigation better than the rest. But because, when everything went bad, he was the one who somehow still found something.

“For the love of the seas, my liquor barrels cannot break apart in the hold,” Stephen muttered, bracing himself and struggling to keep his balance.

Wait.

Luke dropped onto the main deck.

“I have a plan.”

“That’s wonderful, Cinderella. As long as it doesn’t involve us almost dying like usual, I’m in,” Evangeline said.

“Mr. Harper,” Luke said, spotting him grabbing one of the barrels rolling across the deck. “I’m going to need your help.”

Stephen stared at him. “No. No, Luke, I did not say that. I thought we were friends.”

“Can it be done or not?” Luke asked.

The drowned kept climbing. Even while they talked, they were still fighting, cutting the creatures down.

“It can,” Stephen said reluctantly. “Unfortunately, yes. It can.”

And then they moved. Every heavy wave that hit made the deck lurch beneath them. Stephen came out from the cabins and rolled several barrels onto the deck.

“Throw me a net!” he shouted.

Charlie threw him one.

“May the goddess of beer forgive me, if she exists.”

While Stephen worked, Luke moved along the edge of the ship, driving back the drowned and knocking them into the sea, all while watching the water.

“Why do you even have that many barrels, Dad?” Jack shouted over the thunder. “You said you only made enough for a few days.”

“And it is enough for a few days, my son,” Stephen said with a laugh, out in the rain, tying the barrels into the net. Drowned tried to get to him, but Evangeline cut them down first.

Stephen pressed his hands to the barrels. His palms began to glow as he used his power.

“It’s ready!” Stephen shouted.

Luke climbed up to the crow’s nest. Then he started throwing knives into the air.

“Lower the sails!” he shouted, and they did. The speed flags were deactivated too.

The Cursed Ships were closing fast.

“The kraken!” Eleanor shouted, spotting a tentacle.

“Do nothing!” Luke yelled.

The tentacles wrapped around the ship.

“Turn us!” he shouted to Anne, and she spun the helm.

The moment the other ships arrived and fired, their cannon blasts slammed into the kraken instead.

Luke dropped from above, landing near the net.

“I transmuted every barrel of rum I had. It’s almost at the same volatile liquid state as those explosive bottles,” Stephen said. “Once the process finishes, it won’t stop. It’ll blow. And there’s no storing it in a storage item now.”

“Thanks.”

“You’ve only got a few minutes,” Stephen said.

Charlie appeared beside him, pulling the net with one hand.

“Good luck to us,” Luke said, and jumped into the water.

Charlie went after him. Then Eleanor and Evangeline. The others stayed aboard. The moment they hit the water, they saw the enormous creature below the ship, coiling around it.