Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke sat at the tip of the bow, staring at his kukris, trying once more to hear her voice.

You there?

He even gave them a shake, as if that might help. He was trying to make them speak again. Vaelor had once explained that the secret to unlocking a Spirit Tool’s full potential was building a good relationship with the weapon. And once you heard its voice, everything became a little easier.

“Silent treatment, huh? We’ve been through a lot since that dungeon. Remember that time we almost died?”

“When was there ever a time you almost died only once?” Artemis said.

“I’m trying to communicate with my weapon. Don’t interrupt, chatterbox.”

“Luke’s little weapons, do you remember the hundreds of times your owner almost died? You do, right? It happened, like... very recently too.”

Luke put the kukris away and sighed. “Maybe next time.”

“Maybe things will improve once you defeat the thing that might become a threat to your soul,” Artemis said.

“That was actually useful.”

“I’m extremely intelligent.”

“I already thought of that. What I’m missing is a strategy to kill the kraken.”

Then something slammed into the underside of the ship.

“A sandbank?” Eleanor asked.

“No. I think it’s a Sea Guardian,” he said, and jumped.

“Wait, I’m going...” Eleanor’s voice vanished the moment he plunged into the water. Beneath the ship, he saw the creature caught there.

[Sea Guardian - Lvl 119]

Another one of you.

This was the third they had encountered. He activated [Predator’s Mark], both to keep track of the creature at all times and to gain bonus damage against it. The Sea Guardian pulled free from the ship and swam straight toward him.

“Not sure whether you remember this, genius, but without your little shark, you lose every advantage you had in the water,” Artemis said.

I’m trying to recreate my fight with the kraken. Maybe it’ll trigger the kukris’ voice.

“Just don’t die playing around.”

The Guardian lunged fast, roaring as it came. Maybe it was intimidation. Maybe echolocation. Maybe some kind of sonar. Luke raised his arms, and the bracers fired their knives.

[Knife Storm activated]

The Guardian was hit and thrashed in pain. Luke activated [Demonic Predator Hands] and struck from behind, while his tentacle-scarf latched him onto the monster. One clawed hand dug into its flesh and held fast as the acid power ate into the Guardian while it bucked and twisted. With his other hand, he gripped one kukri, and the blade began to glow red.

[Crimson Fang activated]

He drove it into the monster. A crater-like wound burst open at the point of impact. The Guardian thrashed like a maddened bull. Luke broke away and used the kraken-tentacle scarf to swim backward faster. The kukri, still coated in acid, remained lodged in the creature as it writhed. He drew the other kukri and threw it.

[Telekinetic Impulse activated]

[Burst Throw activated]

The kukri slammed into the creature’s face and buried itself there, still carrying the corrosive power of his demonic hands. The monster spun, whipping its tail toward him. Luke conjured a black knife and threw it.

[Shadow Mana Explosion activated]

The knife detonated, and at the same instant he slipped beneath the tail strike, diving downward with the scarf helping pull him clear.

Holding out his hands, Luke called the kukris back with magnetism and went straight at the Guardian. The suction-cup tips of the scarf’s tentacles latched onto the monster, and Luke began to move, striking in a blur with both blades while the creature dove for the bottom, trying to shake him loose. He carved into it, then broke away the instant it tried to bury itself in a sand dune.

Stone debris floated all around them. A lot of it. Luke was boxed in by dunes, and the monster was coming. He started swimming. With one hand outstretched, he used telekinesis to yank the drifting rubble together into a dense sphere of stone and pulled it directly into the Guardian’s path just as the creature lunged. It slammed into the mass, and Luke twisted aside, diving deeper. As he swam, both hands stayed aimed at the debris, pulling more and more of it together.

[Telekinetic Stasis activated]

When the Sea Guardian crashed into the packed stone, the impact hit harder because the skill locked everything in place. Luke appeared out of the dark and struck.

[Crimson Fang activated]

He hit the exact same wound as before. The Guardian roared, this time in real pain, and recoiled.

Got you now, bastard. Come on.

The monster plunged back into the dunes. Luke pointed his hand.

[Telekinetic Stasis activated]

[Telekinetic Stasis activated]

[Telekinetic Stasis activated]

[Telekinetic Stasis activated]

When the creature surged back at him, he dodged and forced it to smash into the stone barriers. Luke threw a knife.

[Witch’s Thread activated]

The thread yanked him straight toward the monster, and he attacked again. In desperation, the Guardian shot upward toward the surface, Luke clinging to it like a rider on a mad bull. Then, above him, he saw a figure descending fast. Charlie. She joined the fight, slashing with her sword and severing one of the Guardian’s limbs. The two of them fought together, and it did not take long after that.

Your second class [Arcane Witch] has reached Level 87! (+12 Intelligence, +10 Wisdom, +7 Perception, +6 Willpower, +5 Agility, +3 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +10 Free Points.)

Charlotte Vespertilio’s Class [Blood Death Knight] reached Level 91! (+18 STR, +10 INT, +8 END, +8 VIT, +4 AGI, +2 PER, +10 Free Points.)

“We leveled up,” he said.

Now they were back at the surface. The Guardian’s body floated there, half out of the water on a sandbank.

“They’re incredibly strong,” Charlie said.

Luke looked at his kukris. They were cracked. He had been using [Force Infusion] and [Mana Infusion] constantly throughout the fight to drive up their damage. It was powerful, but it came with a price.

“Not a problem right now.”

He tossed the kukris into the monster’s wound. They began repairing themselves, feeding on the creature’s blood.

“There’s no core, Charlie,” he said.

“I know the last ones didn’t have one either, but maybe we’d get lucky with this one. You need cores,” she said.

“Cadmus said these things only develop cores once they get much bigger, and by then they’re usually already in the Abyssal Zone,” he replied.

She stopped cutting into the monster. “It would’ve been nice if it had one. For your beast power.”

“It would.”

Then Charlie suddenly looked down at her hand.

“Ugh. What is this?”

“You’re reaching into the guts of a monster and only now you’re grossed out?” Artemis asked.

“I know, but this isn’t blood,” Charlie said.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The substance was yellowish. Luke looked at it and used Identify.

***

Luke stood on the deck while part of the Guardian’s body was hauled up beside him. He collected some of the fluid into a potion vial.

“Cinderella, that thing is pure muscle. There’s not an ounce of regular flesh on it,” Evangeline said.

“Muscle is flesh. Just not the tender kind,” he replied.

Luke stared at the vial.

“Is that sperm?” Evangeline asked.

“No. It is not.”

“Because that would be disgusting.”

“Why did you and Artemis think the exact same thing?”

He decided not to argue with the ninja woman. Instead, Luke headed for the ship’s quarters. For now, the vessel would stay anchored there until he confirmed what the stuff could do. Inside his improvised lab, he poured a little of the liquid into a kind of magical separator he had borrowed from Stephen. It stripped the remaining blood from the sample and isolated it into a different vial.

“There we go.”

Using [Identify], he managed to get a little more information.

[Impure Epinephrine Fluid]: Part of this liquid retains pure epinephrine from a creature. Further experimentation is required to extract it at full purity.

“Epinephrine is what I think it is, right?”

He took the sample and left the lab. Luke did not know much about chemical compounds unrelated to plants, but there was someone on the ship who did. An alchemist.

He entered Stephen’s lab and found him there talking to Jack. It took a few minutes to explain, but Stephen understood quickly enough. The alchemist went to examine the Sea Guardian remains himself. Luke had a skill that let him extract and harvest plants and magical compounds with high efficiency, but Stephen could extract the Sea Guardian’s fluid at maximum yield.

“I think it’s an adrenal gland,” Stephen said as he worked. “Or, well, at least that’s what it would be called in humans. I have no idea how this thing’s biology is built. But the weird part is, it’s not concentrated in one gland here. It’s everywhere.”

It took him an hour to confirm that every part of the Guardian contained traces of that liquid. Charlie had simply found the largest concentrated pocket. They returned to the lab, and Stephen kept working on the sample.

“It really is epinephrine,” Stephen said. “And the good stuff.”

[Concentrated Epinephrine Fluid]: A highly concentrated epinephrine liquid extracted and processed by an alchemist.

“My Identify doesn’t give me much, but I’m guessing yours is shaped by the knowledge tied to your profession,” Luke said.

“What does the description say for you?”

Luke read it aloud.

“That’s definitely incomplete,” Stephen said.

“Guys, what even is that?” Jack asked.

He had been watching the two of them for a while, increasingly confused.

“What’s epinephrine?”

Stephen looked at him. “You remember when I was filming that action movie, and one of the stunt guys in the hit-by-a-car scene actually got hit by a car?”

“I remember. It was a horrible accident on set.”

“And do you remember how we realized he’d actually been hit?”

“He kept going. Then, when the director yelled cut, he basically collapsed and started screaming,” Jack said.

“That was epinephrine at work, or as most people call it, adrenaline,” Stephen said, turning back to the vial. “When the body is under extreme stress, it releases that hormone and pushes harder than it normally would. Like that guy. He didn’t fully feel the pain for a few minutes. He finished the scene and even walked without limping. Then the adrenaline wore off, and all the pain hit him at once.”

Stephen tossed the vial to Luke.

“Like when someone gets shocked and jumps way higher than they should,” Luke said, studying the fluid. “The shock itself didn’t give them some superhuman leap. Their own body did, pushing harder than it normally could.”

Cadmus appeared, slipping out of invisibility. “Sea Guardians are extremely territorial creatures that live in a perpetual state of rage.”

“That explains why those monsters can grow without limit,” Luke said. “They’re flooded with combat hormones nonstop. Adrenaline, growth signals, whatever nightmare cocktail their bodies run on. They’re basically bodybuilders on eternal steroids.”

“That’s probably the main reason they’re so foul-tempered. Or, more accurately, so aggressive,” Stephen said.

“Anne said a body fed the right nutrients grows stronger. These things are blessed in that sense.”

Luke looked down at the liquid in the vial and smiled. “You know what I think, Mr. Harper?”

“What?”

“I think I may have just found an excellent ingredient for a potion.”

***

Antoine and several of his brothers were on their way to investigate a site. It was a ruined fortress, its structure full of holes, with a light rain falling that afternoon.

“What are the chances there’s actually a vampire inside this place, brothers?”

“I’d say the bastard is in there already and knows about us.”

Vampires had excellent hearing, after all. He and his brothers from the Dawn Church went in. The place they were in was part of an archipelago of islands so close together they almost felt like one landmass. The islands were linked, forming districts that together made up one sprawling city. Tall stone buildings, some collapsed, some still standing. The Church had established a settlement on one of those islands. The place had been in use since the beginning of the event, and now it had become the stage for the current phase.

With torches in hand, they lit their way forward, every step careful. That city had become a battlefield where vampire factions were fighting each other, and as vampire hunters, their job was to wipe out as many of those damned things as possible. But hunting vampires was never simple. A vampire could hear or smell you coming long before you got close enough to strike, which made surprising one difficult. Still, they had methods. Bells used as weapons to box a vampire in and overload its senses, along with other strategies passed down by the Church.

“Look.”

A full suit of armor stood in the middle of the chamber. The floor was drenched in blood, and the armor remained there, sword in hand. Dismembered bodies lay scattered across the floor.

“Stay sharp. It could be a trap.”

People who had gone exploring the fortress had never come back. And with vampire factions loose in the city, it was obvious enough what this place was supposed to be. A ventriloquist dummy dressed like a butler lay on the floor beside the armor.

A laugh echoed through the chamber.

“What was that?”

The laugh came again.

“You shouldn’t have come in here,” the doll said, laughing.

“You’re all seeing this too, right?”

Then every door in the fortress slammed shut. A scream rang out.

“It came from the entrance!”

The front door closed. They rushed to open it and could not. It had been locked. One kick took it off its hinges. One of the brothers who had stayed outside was lying dead on the floor, a wound torn into him.

“We lost Brother Lorenzo!”

“I told you not to come in,” the doll said.

Then someone looked back. “Did the armor move?”

All their torches went out. A scream cut through the dark. It happened too fast. Then came the ring of metal. Combat. Antoine relit his torch and saw the armor attacking.

“Brother Pierre, light!”

The cleric slammed his staff against the floor, and a small golden orb rose into the air, lighting the corridor. Antoine drew his sword and charged the armor. It parried his blade and punched him with its free hand. He hit the ground hard. One of the brothers raised a shield and started taking the armor’s blows while the others attacked around him.

“Bells!”

They rang them, unleashing a deafening noise through the chamber.

“Blind it!”

Cleric Pierre began focusing light on the vampire while casting spell after spell. The armor pointed one arm at them. Its hand shot forward, seized one of the brothers, yanked him in, and killed him. A spearman attacked from behind, driving his weapon into the helmet.

“I don’t understand. I’m not sensing anything inside the armor. It isn’t a vampire.”

“That’s because it’s a puppet,” a voice said.

Brother Pierre dropped dead. A figure stood behind him.

“Pierre!”

Threads shot out and bound them all. Dead Lorenzo opened his eyes and rose to his feet.

What is happening here?

“Brother Pierre!”

“He’s under hypnosis. He has to wake up!”

Lorenzo raised his staff and killed the man who spoke, laughing while he did it. Antoine tore free of the threads. With his skill, he could see them now, countless strands of mana running from Brother Lorenzo back to the man controlling him.

I have to kill him.

Using a charge skill, Antoine closed the distance in an instant. Just as he was about to land the blow, a dome of mana flared into existence, a spell cast through Brother Pierre. A sword struck Antoine from behind. It was the armor. Threads lifted him into the air.

“I need the cards you received, and your settlement passage papers,” the man said.

They were stored in each of their storage items.

“Go to hell.”

“Very well.”

The man snapped his fingers, and one of the brothers’ necks broke.

“And you? Are you going to give me what I want or not?”

“No,” Antoine said.

Then Brother Pierre killed him.

***

Julian Grimhart looked over the bodies of the vampire hunters. There were too many of them in this place, and that complicated his plans.

“You are all very devoted to your cause.”

“Yes. We are willing to give our lives,” said the cleric, now one of his puppets.

From the moment he had been brought into this event, Julian had known his sister would come after him. He had known that once they returned to Earth, she would kill him. The chaos of everyone returning to the planet, along with the fact that many would still remain in the event for Stage 3, would create the perfect opening for her to take advantage of the confusion and kill him. He still had time to prepare. Time to build a powerful puppet.

In the past, Julian had owned a beautiful collection, the corpses of powerful people he had carefully prepared and improved so they would not break down under the strain of his bloodline skill. He had turned them into ideal puppets. Unfortunately, before locking him away, his family had taken his storage item, and with it his collection of powerful puppets.

“Nothing a little patience and perseverance can’t restore.”

He touched a dead man, and the corpse opened its eyes. Now it was his new puppet.

“What is your name?”

“Antoine.”

“Antoine, you refused to give me what was in your storage item, even knowing I would kill you if you didn’t. Why?”

What Julian did was art.

“My mission is more important than my life. I would never betray my brothers.”

“Excellent.”

That was all Julian needed. With a few simple words, he already understood what kind of man Antoine had been. That meant he could imitate the puppet’s personality convincingly while controlling him.

“But in the end, Antoine, it was all for nothing. Now take out everything important from your storage item.”

This was the peak of his art. Everything that had belonged to the person now belonged to Julian. Soulbound items. Skills. System access. Everything. Julian read through the documents Antoine had carried about the Church settlement.

“So it’s exactly what I suspected. They’re working together with several teams from the kingdoms of the New World.”

Julian smiled.

“I think I’ve found my chance to build a collection of powerful puppets again.”

He walked through the room as he pulled on the uniform of one of the soldiers.

“Let’s go to the Dawn Church settlement. I hear they even have heroes there. What do you think, Antoine?”

Fun fact: There’s some cute artwork for this chapter of Charlie waking up in the morning, yawning with her hair all messy.