Becoming the Dark Lord

The system message signaling the end of the event had just faded from Luke’s vision when Evangeline emerged through the gap in the fortress wall. Her eyes first locked on the massive pit of bubbling liquid, then on the corpse of the Warden Captain. What remained was nothing but a tall husk, stripped of armor, stripped of sword, headless, reduced to a rotting carcass.

“Eight years,” she whispered, her voice tight with emotion. “Eight cursed years trapped in this place. And now, at last, another step toward freedom.”

Luke walked closer, gaze fixed on the ruined body.

“So this was your plan?” Evangeline asked, her eyes flicking back to the pit.

It had been, in part. The original idea was simple: drown the Captain in acid, then shatter pieces of his armor with infused arrows until the monster finally broke. But somewhere along the way, he had grown so much stronger from those ten profession levels that the acid trap wasn’t even necessary. Still, he let Charlie have her moment. Even with the experience points divided among everyone who had damaged the boss, Charlie had climbed more levels in a single fight than some managed in months.

“I told you the pit wasn’t anything miraculous,” Luke said. “I just wanted to make an acid pool.”

Evangeline’s eyes shifted toward Charlie. “Thank you for coming. I didn’t see everything, but I saw the end. You fought well.”

Charlie nodded once.

“You must be the partner Jerry mentioned, the one traveling with him. But why stay hidden these last few days?”

Charlie’s gaze flicked to Luke, then back to Evangeline.

“Until I knew whether you’d betray me at your hideout, she stayed close,” Luke explained smoothly. “And she doesn’t talk. She’s mute.”

Evangeline studied Charlie for a long moment, then simply nodded, seeming to accept the answer. The stillness didn’t last. Footsteps echoed across the fortress courtyard, metallic, distant, carried on the wind. A few surviving Wardens were retreating. Moments later, Mason appeared at the edge of the breach, peering down into the pit. The acid was already losing its potency, but the stench that rose from it was foul and rancid.

“Now you decide to show up?” Evangeline asked sharply.

“You vanished into the fortress corridors. I had to sprint half-blind just to find you,” Mason shot back, before his eyes landed on the mangled corpse below. His jaw tightened. “Looks like, in the end, we actually won.”

***

Luke, Charlie, and Mason made their way back inside the fortress. Evangeline chose to remain outside a little longer. Luke didn’t press her. Of all of them, she was the one who had every reason to be overwhelmed. She carried herself with restraint, but he imagined that beneath the surface she was drowning in a flood of emotions.

When they reached the dining hall, Luke saw people scattered across the stone floor. Some sat slumped against walls, others lay down, their wounds being bound in makeshift bandages. None of the Wardens remained. They had vanished as if the fortress itself had expelled them, leaving only a heap of broken corpses piled in one corner.

As Luke walked through, he felt eyes on him. Maybe because he had faced the Captain. Maybe because he’d survived. He didn’t dwell on it, and he certainly didn’t care. He followed Mason deeper into the room. The fortress was theirs, but the cost was heavy. Out of sixty, seven lay dead. Twenty more gravely injured. Five had lost limbs.

Potions? Nearly drained. Shields? Shattered or warped. Enchanted gear? Some destroyed beyond repair. But they had won. The second fortress belonged to them now.

Even among the wounded, there was something like hope. Tired, blood-soaked, fragile—but hope nonetheless. Allison stood among Haven’s officers, her face streaked with blood and dirt. She wore confidence like armor, holding herself tall for the others. That was her role. Even with bodies cooling on the ground, she had to stay steady, inspire, convince the survivors that if they could endure this, they could endure what came next.

Luke drifted away while the leaders began sketching out their next steps. He wandered through the hushed corridors, feeling the pressure in his chest begin to ease with every step—like a weight slowly peeling off his shoulders.

As he was leaving the hall, someone fell into step beside him. Eugene. Luke kept walking. Just before Eugene’s hand reached for his shoulder, Luke turned his head slightly.

Charlie paused nearby, watching the exchange. Most hadn’t even asked who she was, or why she fought with them.

“You were stronger than all of us from the start,” Eugene said quietly. “And yet… you let yourself get captured. Why? Were you laughing at us the whole time?”

“I tried to tell you,” Luke answered. “I literally said I killed the Beast Lord and even showed proof. Tried to join in on the planning. You ignored me.”

“If you’d acted sooner, seven people wouldn’t have died.”

“No,” Luke replied flatly. “I wouldn’t have changed that. The main group helped tear through the Captain’s armor, they drained his health. Everyone contributed.”

He started walking again.

“But you know the truth,” Eugene pressed. “You could have done more. Thought of something else. Saved them. Don’t lie—you know it.”

Luke stopped. He kept his eyes forward. “Maybe. I honestly didn’t realize how much stronger I’d gotten.”

The leap from level 50 to 60in his profession had been a canyon carved in raw stats.

He finally looked back over his shoulder.

“But you’re right. Maybe I could have done something different. Same as you. Same as anyone else in that room. Even the ones who died.”

His voice hardened. “Don’t dump the blame on me. Start with yourself. I’m done carrying your guilt for you. Don’t blame me for being strong and not doing enough. Blame yourself for being an ass who wouldn’t listen when I offered to help.”

Then he turned away and kept walking.

***

He and Charlie reached the corridor leading to the mechanism chamber, where Evangeline stood frozen before the massive double doors. Her eyes were locked on the carvings etched into the stone.

“Why haven’t you opened it?” he asked.

“Because I was waiting for you,” she replied without looking away.

Behind him, only Allison and Mason followed.

“The rest are still in the hall,” Allison explained. “I told them no one else was allowed this far.”

“I think we should ask her to step back too,” Mason said, glancing at Princess Charlie. “You may have helped kill that monster, but whatever’s inside… better it stays between as few of us as possible.”

Charlie’s gaze shifted between Luke and Allison.

Luke gave a faint nod. He didn’t want to make a scene by insisting she stay. Truthfully, he preferred it this way. Less attention on her meant fewer questions. The only reason he hadn’t let her go earlier was because Evangeline had already seen her. Charlie turned and walked away down the corridor until her steps faded into silence.

The four of them remained before the door. For Evangeline, this moment had been years in the making. She stepped forward, placing her hand against the stone that had once been immovable. At her touch, a sliver of light cracked open, revealing the darkness beyond.

“Eight years…” she whispered, the sound almost swallowed by the stillness. “Just one more mechanism, and I can finally go home.”

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Then she pushed. The grinding roar of stone on stone filled the air as the doors gave way, dust rolling out in thick clouds.

Luke’s pulse quickened. This was more than a door opening—it was a turning point. His mind pulled him back through everything that had led here: the day he arrived in this world, stumbling across the frozen desert; the orc village, the passage through the walls, the city beyond. Long days spent wandering the Wild Zone, hunting for mechanisms he wouldn’t have even recognized at the time. The discovery of the fortress deep in orc territory.

Back then, he thought conquering it was impossible. Then came the forest, where he was lost for days, the battle against the orc general, the swarm of ants, the night he killed a Midnight Warden on his own. He remembered the decision to head for the capital, to grow stronger, and the long months that followed until he returned. All of it had brought him here, to this door, to the second mechanism.

The chamber opened before them, weapons ready in their hands. As the dust settled, the space revealed itself: a vast hall, nearly the size of the dining chamber, yet stranger by far. The walls were covered in markings and inscriptions, written in a language even the system refused to translate.

“This is… unsettling,” Evangeline muttered, breaking formation to approach one of the walls.

The chamber was silent. No enemies. Empty. They lowered their weapons, taking cautious steps inside. At once, every torch on the walls flared to life, fire racing along the sconces until the hall glowed with an eerie light.

The carvings stood out clearer now, grotesque and unholy. Twisted, malformed creatures writhed across the stone, their bodies barely recognizable as flesh. Then came images of people on their knees, heads bowed, worshipping a figure that was neither man nor woman—shrouded in a cloak, six eyes burning from the shadowed face.

Suddenly it clicked. His mind snapped back to that old conversation with Samael. This tutorial holds fragments of the first universe. Could these carvings on the wall be echoes of that world, the one that no longer exists?

Luke traced the wall with his eyes, following the story etched in stone. The people who once worshiped the six-eyed figure now wore garments strikingly similar to his own: cloaks adorned with a half-moon. The final image showed the figure turning its back on its followers, and then the murals ended, replaced once more by bare stone.

Evangeline and Allison had already moved on, their focus shifting away from the paintings. They stood at the far end of the chamber.

When Luke approached, he saw it: the mechanism. It looked like a ship’s wheel, only set flat against the ground. Etched lines radiated out from it, stretching toward a wall inscribed with runes.

[Press the moons in the correct order to activate the second mechanism]

The system message flashed the moment his gaze locked on the wall. Embedded within the stone were several moons, carved like buttons.

“Do you know the order?” Luke asked.

“Of course I do. I was the one who uncovered the password for the first mechanism,” Evangeline replied, stepping closer.

Luke already knew. Angelica had told him before she died. The order was Full Moon, Crescent Moon, Waning Moon, New Moon.

“In the past, before we activated the first mechanism,” Evangeline continued, “that mission statue in the plaza gave us a riddle. The answer was Crescent Moon.”

She traced the air with her finger, as if outlining the symbol. “Inside the chamber, all we had to do was press that mark and it unlocked.”

Her voice lowered. “Afterward, the system gave us another riddle—this one tied to the second mechanism—along with drawings on the wall.”

She paused, recalling. “Each one began with a different lunar sequence. The solution pointed to the Full Moon.”

She reached out toward the wall. “So here, the sequence is: Full Moon, Crescent, Waning, New.” One by one, she pressed the carvings.

The lines carved into the walls flared to life. Runes blazed, spreading their glow until the light reached the mechanism itself.

“Now we’ll be given the riddle whose answer will open the third mechanism,” she said, her gaze never leaving the glowing wheel. “But first…”

Her hand touched the mechanism. “Better if we do this together.”

All four of them placed their hands on the wheel.

“Clockwise?” Allison asked.

“That’s right,” Evangeline confirmed.

Then she looked at Luke. “For Angelica, yes?”

He nodded. “To finish the dream she couldn’t.”

They pushed. The wheel was heavier than Luke expected, grinding against stone with every turn. Slow, stubborn, yet unstoppable. And with each rotation, he felt the weight inside him shift as well. The feeling of distance shrinking. Home coming closer.

He thought of the Baumann family. Of the day he left them behind. Of the apology still unsaid. The longing caught him off guard, sharp and undeniable: he wanted to go back. He wanted to see them again.

The wheel groaned as it locked into place with a final, echoing thud.

A notification appeared before his eyes.

**The Second Mechanism Has Been Activated!**

Congratulations on activating the second mechanism. The second fortress now belongs to you. A new Safe Zone has emerged.

Benefits: Midnight Wardens will not enter the Safe Zone. A weekly cycle of reward event chests will appear within the Safe Zone. Torches across the fortress and Safe Zone will light up, alarms have been deactivated. The vault and chest storage of the Second Fortress are now accessible.

Useful locations in the Second Fortress: Forge, laboratories, library, training grounds, dormitories, indoor greenhouse, strategy room, armory, prison, interrogation chamber, workshop, mess hall, restrooms, watchtower, warehouse, kitchen, main hall, officers’ quarters, infirmary, meeting rooms, central courtyard.

Useful locations in the city: River as a source of fresh water, houses for shelter, forest with natural resources for profession advancement, hunting, and training.

Tip: Many professions can be acquired here. Absorb knowledge, refine your techniques, enhance your skills, because the final war is approaching.

[The area of the third mechanism is undergoing changes. The castle’s barrier is shifting, the seal weakens.]

[Warning: Only those who activated the mechanism can deactivate it.]

[Mechanisms activated: 2/3]

As Luke read, the truth behind Bastion’s strength sank in. The fortress itself was the key to growth. Its benefits weren’t just comfort—they were power.

The four exchanged glances. Silence stretched for a few seconds before Allison broke it with a tired but bright smile.

“We did it.”

[Soon, the riddle of the third mechanism’s password will be available.]

A deep rumble shook the fortress. The corridor brightened as torches burst to life, one after another.

**The Reward Chest Event is available now until six in the morning**

Chests may contain: healing potions, stamina and mana potions, as well as treasures such as gold, jewels, diamonds, necklaces; resources like iron, bronze, and steel bars; food including canned goods, cheese, meats, wine, bread, and fruit.

“I don’t know about you, but I need to celebrate with something to eat,” Evangeline said.

But then…

**Reward for conquering the Second Fortress: A special treasure chest has appeared in the treasure room**

The four looked at one another.

“I think we’re all thinking the same thing,” Mason said. “We need to check that chest.”

***

The group moved down the corridor, Evangeline leading the way. Luke noticed her arm was injured, maybe even broken, but she didn’t seem to care. Her focus was elsewhere, curiosity pulling her forward as strongly as it did the rest of them.

“This way, I’m sure of it,” Mason insisted.

Allison held a map in one hand, frowning as she compared it to their path.

“No, the real treasure chamber isn’t in that direction,” Evangeline countered.

“I lived in Bastion until recently. Did you forget that?” Mason shot back.

“And I was the one who founded it,” she replied coolly. “The true chamber is elsewhere.”

Luke stayed silent, lost in the weight of what he had seen earlier in the mechanism room—the carving of that six-eyed figure etched into the stone. That image gnawed at him. Was it truly a remnant of the First Universe Samael once spoke of? He couldn’t be sure. The demon had always been cagey, bound by the system’s rules, saying only what he was allowed.

Maybe the history of that first world was nothing more than an old record, forgotten like school textbooks back on Earth. Or maybe no one cared at all. After all, the multiverse was trillions of years old. To beings that vast, the story of one shattered universe meant about as much as the life of a random stranger on a forgotten planet. And that was why Samael had called him an ant. Because in the scale of everything, Luke wasn’t even a drop of water. He was dust. A grain of sand swept into the tide of eternity.

“It’s here,” Allison said at last, stopping in front of a large door, eyes fixed on the map.

They pushed it open—and even though they knew what to expect, the sight still struck them silent. The chamber was enormous, overflowing with treasure. Piles of gold coins, mountains of jewels, scattered gemstones glittering across the floor. For a moment, Luke almost laughed at himself. He wasn’t someone who cared about money—not really. His goals had never been about what wealth could buy. But standing there, staring at more riches than he had ever imagined, he felt like a character out of a cartoon, the kind who could dive headfirst into a pool of gold and swim through it.

“The first fortress had a vault like this too,” Evangeline remarked.

“That’s… a lot of gold,” Mason muttered. “A ridiculous amount.”

Only Luke and Allison seemed unimpressed.

“The real treasure back then was having a safe territory,” Evangeline continued, “since everything around us was Wild Zone. That, and the weekly reward chests. But this time… the system mentioned a special treasure chest. We never had anything like that before.”

Mason wandered forward, his gaze sweeping across the glittering piles. “Something even more special than this? I can’t imagine what it could be.”

Near the center of the chamber, they found it: a large chest carved from dark wood, covered in intricate designs. This had to be it—the special treasure chest.

“One thing’s certain,” Allison said as she stepped closer. “It isn’t more gold.”

“Maybe a weapon,” Luke suggested.

“Or armor,” Allison countered.

She placed her hands on the heavy lid and heaved it open. A soft glow spilled out, and the four of them leaned in together to see what lay inside.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting this,” Mason whispered.

Their faces mirrored one another’s shock. Inside the spatial storage chest wasn’t gold, wasn’t weapons, wasn’t armor. It was hundreds of skill runes.