Becoming the Dark Lord

When the ship finally reached the place that passed for a harbor, Cadmus stood there for a while, studying the area before he spoke.

“The City of Waves isn’t exactly here. It’s below us. The last city on the edge of the Abyssal Zone. They built it to study the sea.”

Luke narrowed his eyes at the damp structures.

“On the border? You mean outside the volcano’s edge?”

“No. Attached to the rim. On the side facing the other sea.”

“You said nothing could survive there. How did they build a city?”

“You’ll understand when you see it.”

People moved through the harbor, some hauling crates, others just sitting near makeshift structures. The place looked less like an active city and more like a camp thrown together on top of whatever was left of something bigger.

“I’ll watch the ship,” Erza said. She pointed toward the distance, where a white glow cut through the overcast sky. “You can see the beacon from here. It’s that way.”

“I’m going to look for people from our kingdom,” Ulric said, already climbing down with the rest of his group.

Stephen disembarked too, adjusting his clothes like he had arrived at some kind of resort.

“I’m going to find somewhere I can have a little fun.”

Jack looked at him. “This isn’t a vacation, Dad. It’s a ruined city at the end of the world.”

“Still safer than your mother’s house.”

They asked around the harbor, and people confirmed what Cadmus had told them. This was the city built on the volcano’s edge. By crossing its ruins, they could reach another city farther down, wedged between the rock and the sea of the Abyssal Zone. No sane person went down there. But after the place had been chosen for the birth of the Beacons, the brave and the stupid had started making the descent.

“Want me to go with you?” Erza asked.

“I don’t think we’ll need you,” Luke said.

“This place looks peaceful,” she said, glancing around. “Don’t let that fool you.”

They parted ways there. The group heading toward the challenge was made up of Luke, Charlie, Angie, Anne, Eleanor, and Evangeline. Erza had said she would stay behind to guard the ship and keep anyone from stealing it, but Luke knew the truth. She meant to hunt Julian Grimhart in that place. He didn’t say anything to Anne, but Erza wasn’t exactly being subtle.

When they reached the descent point, they found a massive gap torn through the city’s edge.

“This part of the rim broke off. Understand now?” Cadmus asked.

Evangeline looked down and took a deep breath. “Now we understand.”

A gigantic chunk of the rim had split away and fallen into the sea of the Abyssal Zone. The rock was covered in sand, dirt, and ruined buildings, sinking like an enormous sandbar into the abyss. Colossal pillars rose from the fallen section, connecting it back to the rest of the city. The lower city had been built on that impossible foundation, hanging between the volcano and the condemned sea.

“We’re going to have to climb down,” Eleanor said, eyeing the drop. “And it doesn’t look welcoming.”

Below them, waves hammered the city without pause. It sat far beneath them, embedded into a kind of cliff on the other side. From where they stood, they could see several people gathered together, climbing down massive chains that hung from the upper city’s edge to the sunken ruins in the abyss.

“I don’t think we need to use the chains,” Angie said.

“You can fly. We can’t,” Eleanor replied.

“I’m not sure climbing down those chains would be easy either,” Evangeline muttered.

Charlie looked at Luke. He understood immediately.

“We’ve got skills and items that help with falling.”

Luke pulled out the bat cloak he had received during the tutorial and tossed it to Evangeline. Only someone with the Assassin class could use it, and the cloak had a simple but useful magic: it slowed falls and allowed the wearer to glide.

He still had the reaper cloak he had gotten in the labyrinth, back when he was with Artemis, which let him land lightly. Charlie could control her own fall with her vampiric skill.

“So that leaves me and Anne with our luck,” Eleanor said.

“I can jump while holding Anne,” Charlie offered.

“And I can carry you,” Angie added.

“Problems solved,” Evangeline said, gripping the cloak. “Still not sure I’ve got the guts to throw myself into that.”

Luke pointed his hand down and activated the [Teleportation Pentagram] on the ground.

“See you in a few minutes.”

Then he jumped.

“Cinder—”

Evangeline’s voice vanished behind him, swallowed by the wind.

Luke fell straight toward the lower city. The wind cut across his face, the sea roared below, and the ruins rushed up way too fast. Just as he neared the buildings, a gigantic wave rolled over the entire city.

Luke ran the moment his feet hit the ground and grabbed the first solid structure he could find. Water swallowed the streets in seconds, slammed into him hard enough to rip him loose, then pulled back, dragging debris, foam, and the rotten stink of the deep with it.

“Fuck,” he said, staring ahead.

He was right on the city’s edge. If he had been dragged just a few more meters, he would have gone straight into the abyssal sea.

“I don’t think I need to tell you what happens if you fall in there,” Cadmus said.

“Well, I’d try to reach that giant rock shelf, find a flat spot, and place a teleportation circle.”

“You really do think of everything, Luke Moon. But getting out of that water would take every scrap of luck you’ve got.”

Luke walked through the ruins for a few minutes, found a reasonably safe spot, placed a teleportation circle, and returned to where the group was waiting.

“You took too long, Master Luke,” Charlie said.

“And right when you fell, a huge wave hit,” Evangeline added. “Like, the whole city disappeared.”

“If that scared you, imagine how I felt,” Luke said. “I waited down there for about twenty minutes after that. Nothing that big came again. I’m guessing it doesn’t happen constantly.”

“Judging by the fact that everyone is still trying to climb down over there, probably not,” Eleanor said, looking toward the people on the chains.

After some time, everyone managed to reach the lower city.

Anne looked down at her soaked dress. “My dress… is soaked.”

“I think that’s going to be the least of our problems here,” Artemis said.

They moved through the flooded streets. Smaller waves still slammed against the buildings, spilling into alleys and broken avenues, but none swallowed the city like that first one. When they looked back, they could see the volcano’s rim above them more clearly.

“So the place we were standing in is basically a bathtub,” Evangeline said.

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“And what do you think this city was for?” Cadmus asked. “And those chains?”

“Research, right, robot?” Luke said.

“Yes. The city also has an excellent drainage system.”

Angie ran a hand along a dark wall. “I want to know about the architecture. Everything here is way too tough. Waves hitting with this much force all the time would wreck normal houses back on Earth.”

“Remember, this world’s society was nothing like Earth’s. And the whole planet was underwater. So it’s possible the city wasn’t originally built to withstand constant waves like this.”

“How do you know so much, robot?” Evangeline asked. “Did you learn all that from a dictionary or something?”

“Dictionary?” Luke looked at her, confused.

“Yeah, you know. The book with all the stuff in it.”

“I think she means encyclopedia,” Eleanor said.

“Same thing.”

“No, it isn’t,” Luke said. “Those are two very different things.”

The group kept following the white lights rising into the sky. The glow of the Beacons guided them through the ruins, cutting through the salty mist and the damp darkness of the city. As they crossed a wide street, they ran into another group. The moment the strangers saw them, weapons came out.

“Whoa, whoa,” one of them said.

Luke and the others didn’t lower theirs.

“So?” Luke asked. “Who drops theirs first?”

“You’ve got a long-range shooter,” the man replied, pointing at Eleanor.

“We’re only here for the Beacon,” Eleanor said.

“So are we. But some guys dressed like ninjas tried to kill us a little while ago. And your friend looks like one.”

“I’m a Kunoichi,” Evangeline said. “Well… a female ninja.”

Luke lowered his kukris and sheathed them. Then he lifted one hand, making several knives float around him, before dropping it again.

“If we wanted you dead, you’d already be dead.”

Luke’s group lowered their weapons. The other group hesitated for a moment, then did the same.

“We’re from Australia,” one of them said. “You?”

“Same,” Eleanor said.

“What’s the name of the Australian president’s wife?” another asked.

Luke looked at Eleanor. She froze.

“Yeah. You’re not from Australia.”

Eleanor sighed. “I don’t think where we’re from matters that much.”

“How about we just trade information?” Luke suggested.

They traded information for about ten minutes. The other group had been there for a day and was already turning back. They had given up on reaching the Beacon. According to them, the city had beasts scattered through the streets, along with creatures that hid among the debris and attacked when the waves rose.

When they parted ways, Luke looked at Eleanor.

“So we’re Australian now?”

“I panicked. And damn it, that was a good question.”

The warning paid off soon enough.

[Algae Parasite - Lvl 115]

The creature was a green mass covered in seaweed, dragging itself around inside the carcass of some dead animal. The group killed it quickly. A few streets later, they found another one.

Angie’s 2nd Class [Light Cleric] reached Level 82! (+22 WIS, +14 WIL, +8 VIT, +7 TGH, +5 END, +4 INT, +2 PER, +15 Free Points)

One of the superwaves hit while they were moving through the ruins. After that, the group adopted a simple method: always walk close to solid structures, ready to grab on if the water rose. Charlie also kept her [Spectral Chain] ready, prepared to catch anyone who got swept away.

By dawn, they were already far from the descent point. The city had been built across enormous platforms, and they had crossed into another section of the ruins.

That was when they saw it.

“What the hell is that…” Evangeline muttered.

A gigantic carcass lay in the middle of the city. The rotting remains of a colossal octopus sprawled across streets, rooftops, and platforms. Massive tentacles stretched across avenues like decaying bridges, and the smell was so strong it seemed to cling to the back of their throats.

“I think it was a kraken,” Luke said.

“A kraken?” Eleanor stared at the carcass, stunned. “That thing is the size of this whole section of the city.”

“What level do you think that thing was when it was alive?” Charlie asked.

“And how did it… end up here?” Anne asked, looking at the rotting mass with obvious discomfort.

Luke studied the creature’s head, or what was left of it.

“Or what was big enough to kill it. That looks like a bite mark on the squid’s head… or maybe it just rotted open.”

When night fell, the Beacons became easier to see. They were close to the kraken’s tentacles now. One blocked part of the street they needed to use, enormous and soft, leaking black fluid that ran over the stones. The group had already gotten used to the city’s foul stink, but here it was worse.

In the early hours before dawn, the rain began. It wasn’t normal rain. The drops came down hard and violent, hammering the stone and old metal of the buildings like fists. That was when Luke saw something.

“Stop,” he said quietly.

Between the structures, silhouettes moved. They ran, paused, vanished behind walls and columns.

“What is it, Cinderella?” Evangeline asked.

Luke raised his arm. The bracer fired a knife. A man in ninja gear dropped near them. A heartbeat later, shuriken flew in from every direction. Anne raised a barrier, and the projectiles struck the shield in a rapid chain of impacts.

Ninjas rushed in with swords. Luke turned, deflecting the first strike.

“Stealth kills aren’t really my thing,” he said.

Charlie stepped in beside him and landed a brutal punch on one of the attackers, sending the man crashing into a wall. Another tried to hit her from the side, but she activated [Steel Bastion]. Her arms transformed into solid iron, and Charlie began blocking blades while answering with punches that forced the enemies back.

Eleanor fired arrows nonstop. One dropped a ninja archer trying to get into position on a broken rooftop. Luke advanced on two more, kicked one toward Angie, and she met him with her spear.

“Superwave!” one of the ninjas shouted.

The roar came right after. Everyone ran to grab onto a building before the mass of water swallowed the street. The ninjas, however, moved easily when the wave hit. They swam far too well, as if they had trained to fight in that submerged place.

My turn.

Luke unleashed the kraken. Tentacles appeared in the water and seized the ninjas. Some panicked before the tentacles dragged them under and crushed them. When the water receded, Luke made the creature vanish.

The ninjas that hit the ground were swarmed immediately. Angie hit some with her spear, Charlie charged others, Eleanor kept providing cover, and Luke went straight for one trying to escape. He cut the man’s throat. The ninja fell to his knees, threw a magic smoke sphere at the ground, and tried to run, but he had barely turned the corner before Luke hurled him into a wall.

“Who are you people?!”

The ninja clutched the wound, gasping. “I’ll never… tell you anything.”

Luke drove the kukri into his face.

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 91 (Knife Thrower: Lvl 61 / Silent Taijutsu: Lvl 76 / Toolmaker - Lvl 91)] *1,731,083,041 EP earned*

[+1 Soul Fragment]

Your class [Demonic Predator] has reached Level 98! (+10 Lethality, +7 Perception, +6 Agility, +6 Vitality, +6 Intelligence, +5 Endurance, +8 Free Points)

“Good. I wasn’t in the mood to ask.”

When he returned to the group, everyone was alive. Anne was healing anyone who had been hurt during the attack.

“I think they were just lunatics farming XP,” Evangeline said.

“Or people trying to stop anyone else from completing the Beacons,” Luke replied.

Another superwave came shortly after. Since they were in a lower part of the city, the larger waves were more frequent there. The group waited for the water to pull back, then kept moving. When they neared a lighthouse, several rocks were scattered across the path.

Luke stopped. Then he threw a knife.

[Shadow Mana Explosion activated]

[You have slain a Hermit Crab - Lvl 101] *2,474,001 EP earned*

“I knew it.”

The rocks were monsters. Several crabs emerged, abandoning their stillness and coming toward them. Their shells rose from the water, heavy and uneven, blending with the stones around them. A larger one appeared soon after. Charlie and Luke faced it with Angie’s help, bringing the creature down after a short, violent exchange.

Eleanor looked around, bow still in hand. “No more threats. We made it to the Beacon, guys.”

None of the smaller crabs had cores. But when Luke opened the largest one, he found what he wanted.

Jackpot.

He took the core.

“This one wants ten artifacts,” Charlie said, studying the Beacon. “Looks like we can activate it right now.”

[You absorbed a Rank D Core]

Rank D Cores: [100/1000]

[Your Spectral Beast Core has unlocked a skill]

What? A new skill? I thought it would be at two hundred and fifty cores.

Back at Rank F, when evolving to Rank E, the system had required one hundred cores, and Luke had gained a new skill every twenty-five cores. He assumed Rank D would follow a similar pattern, with one skill gained every two hundred and fifty cores.

Not complaining, System. Not even a little. Thanks for the skill.

Luke tapped to see what it was. When he saw it, he went still for a moment.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Then something shot at him from behind. Something red. Luke threw himself to the side at the last second.

“We’ve got enemies,” he said.

Angie and Charlie moved into position immediately.

“Where?” Eleanor asked.

“Ninjas? Crabs?” Evangeline said.

Another red projectile shot toward Luke.

That power…

He dodged and threw a knife, blowing apart the spot where the attack had come from.

Was that a blood bullet?

A woman stepped out of the blast zone, straightening her dress as if the explosion had been nothing more than an annoyance. She wore a red dress, far too bright for that dead place.

“Well, well,” she said. “You found me.”

Anne slowly turned her head.

“There’s another one… right behind us.”

Luke was already about to throw another knife when he stopped. He recognized the man.

“Angelica,” Jonathan said, appearing behind them. “I’m here to save you.”