Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke sprinted through the dense forest at the edge of the capital, branches snapping underfoot as something massive thundered behind him. The ground shook with each impact. When he glanced over his shoulder, a pack of salamanders—each the size of a giant crocodile—burst through the trees in a blaze of red and black scales.

He’d stirred the nest himself, of course. One acid arrow shot into their cavern and the entire colony had come boiling out, furious and flaming. Their scales shimmered like molten rock, and when one opened its jaws, the light pouring out was blinding.

[Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

[Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

[Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

[Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

There were at least eight of them chasing him, and judging by the cavern’s depth, dozens more were waiting below.

Luke skidded to a halt, drawing both kukris from his inventory. The salamanders fanned out, circling him, tongues flicking between their jagged teeth. Several bore burns from his acid arrow, their flesh raw and hissing.

He activated his epic skill: [Demonic Predator Hands].

Black blood oozed from his palms, crawling across his arms like a living shadow. It thickened, clinging to his skin and shaping itself into a pulsating armor of dark veins and jagged edges. His fingers stretched and split into clawed monstrosities that dripped with corrosive ichor. He lunged forward, every slash leaving a smoky trail of acid in the air. The scent of burning filled the corridor as a salamander reared up to spit fire—only for Luke to hurl a kukri straight into its head before the flames ever reached him.

[You have slain a Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

Another lunged. Luke raised his hand, pulling the thrown blade back with magnetic force. It shot through the creature’s neck, acid sizzling as it buried deep.

[You have slain a Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

The rest roared, their throats glowing white-hot before releasing a storm of fire in unison. Luke didn’t even have time to brace.

A metal chain snapped around his waist and yanked him out of the inferno. He hit the ground hard, tumbling across the dirt. When he looked up, Charlie stood nearby, lowering her arm.

“I didn’t mean to kill two of them,” he said apologetically as he deactivated his skill. The difference in power was enormous when he was using the demonic hands.

Charlie darted through the trees, sprinting toward the salamanders that were already rushing in their direction.

They bellowed, the sound rumbling through the forest, but she didn’t flinch. Her stance was firm, fists raised, eyes steady. One leapt at her; she dodged easily. Another spat a fireball. Charlie summoned a spectral barrier, the air rippling around her as flame after flame smashed into it. Cracks spiderwebbed through the shield.

Before it broke, Charlie focused, channeling her energy as she activated her level 45 skill as a pugilist.

[Basic Levitation (Ultra-Rare)]: Allows the user to levitate up to five meters above the ground, moving with lightness and stability while suspended in the air. This magic breaks the restraints of gravity, granting smooth and controlled movement across the battlefield.

With her Pugilist’s Leap skill, she shot upward faster than the eye could follow, rising into the air until she hovered above the salamanders. There, she activated Steel Fist. Then she cut the levitation midair, dropping like a meteor.

Her fists crashed down, slamming into the first salamander with a devastating blow, further amplified by the force of Power Punch.

[Princess Charlie has slain a Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

Another lunged, snapping at her. Charlie darted sideways midair, gliding effortlessly before launching forward again, her fist colliding with its snout. A surge of light flared as she activated [Spectral Charge], chaining her momentum into another strike.

A third salamander leapt up at her, but she rose higher, gravity bowing to her will. Then she descended fast, both fists slamming down at once. The impact crushed the creature into the earth, the ground fracturing beneath her as she kept punching, relentless.

[Princess Charlie has slain a Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

A fireball shot toward her, massive and blinding, but she didn’t flinch. Charlie met it head-on, cutting through the flames like a comet, her fist crashing straight into the salamander behind it. Each hit landed with a brutal symphony of cracking bones and tearing flesh.

[Princess Charlie has slain a Flame Salamander: Lvl 58]

When the last of the creatures collapsed, Charlie hovered above the smoldering corpses, her silhouette framed by smoke and embers. She hung there for a moment, ghostlike, before slowly descending to land beside Luke.

Among the flood of death notifications on his interface, one line burned brighter than the rest:

**The [Pugilist] 2nd Class of Princess Charlie has reached Level 50! (+3 Strength, +2 Endurance, +2 Agility, +2 Vitality, +2 Perception, +2 Intelligence, +2 Free Points.)**

[WARNING: Princess Charlie’s second class has entered Mandatory Evolution!]

All of that happened because of her new skill. Levitation had turned her from deadly to downright terrifying. Luke had been experimenting with different combat ideas ever since she unlocked it, testing how far she could push that power. With it, she could drag enemies upward using her spectral chains, cut through a mob from above, or strike targets completely out of reach.

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It wasn’t exactly broken, though. The mana drain was enormous, and her movement speed in the air couldn’t compete with her sprinting on the ground. She was limited to five meters off the surface, but even then, she might as well have been flying.

Every time Luke saw her floating and wielding her fire skills, he remembered the boss they had faced in the past, the skeletal creature with fire powers from the temple dungeon. It had a similar skill, hovering a few meters above the ground while launching fireballs.

“Charlie, can you carry me?” he asked.

Without hesitation, she scooped him up in both arms.

“I meant like… on your back,” he said quickly, realizing she’d already started levitating with him cradled like princess.

“Oh, how cute. She’s Superman and you’re Lois Lane,” Artemis chimed from the necklace.

Luke pretended not to hear.

He scanned the forest below, spotting a wandering minotaur near the treeline. He could’ve climbed a tree to get a better view, but that wasn’t the point. He conjured his bow, no arrow nocked, and took aim at the beast.

“You can land,” he told Charlie.

This was a new tactic he’d been dying to test. She could float above stronger monsters, ones too heavy to leap that high, while he fired arrows from above until the enemy dropped.

If they found something dangerous hiding in the forest, she could simply levitate with him in tow, giving him a perfect firing angle for his Acid Blood Arrow.

“Once you pick your new class, that minotaur’s next,” Luke said.

Charlie nodded firmly.

Their mission here was simple: level her up and thin the monsters around the capital, making future hunts safer for everyone else. In the grander plan, no creature was supposed to remain alive when the final war began, only humans. The corpses they left behind would be harvested by craftsmen, smiths, and artificers. Salamander bones for blades, their hides for armor, even their scales could be reforged into fire-resistant gear.

Every weapon mattered now. Every resource would count.

As Luke ran through the next phase of their plan, he opened Charlie’s interface and studied the list of classes available for her evolution.

**Mandatory Class Evolution of the Dark Lord’s Servant!**

There are many types of beings across the multiverse, but among those you know are humanoids, monsters, and Magical Beasts. Each of these races has its own version of the System, some more restrictive, others more open. Within them lie countless evolutionary paths. Races classified as monsters have a stronger synergy with their classes, though they are limited by their own nature. For this reason, when a monster approaches evolution, a new evolutionary path may open according to its class.

Choose wisely, Dark Lord, for your servant’s evolution will be directly tied to the class you select. Taking advantage of the opportunities on this path will be in your hands.

Warning: Until the new class is chosen, your servant will gain no experience, learn no new skills, and once the choice is made any unspent free points will be lost forever.

The familiar notification appeared, signaling her class evolution as his servant. Before checking the available options, he decided to allocate Charlie’s newly earned free points.

Name: Princess Charlie

Level: 46

Race: Skeleton

Rank: F

Class: [Blood Death Knight (Lvl 60)]

2nd Class: [Pugilist (Lvl 50]

Title: [Servant of the Dark Lord]

Health Points (HP): 3934/4220

Mana Points (MP): 1963/3410

Stamina: 2435/(4210)

Stats:

Strength: 707 (777)

Agility: 303

Endurance: 381 (421)

Vitality: 422

Perception: 222

Intelligence: 341

Free Points: 2

Class Skills: [Basic Weapon Handling (Common)], [Heavy Strike (Common)], [Basic Spectral Charge (Rare)], [Crescent Slash (Uncommon)], [Whirlwind Strike (Uncommon)], [Spectral Chain (Rare)], [Spectral Barrier (Rare)], [Doomblade (Rare)], [Mark of Doom (Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Doom Explosion (Rare)], [Spectral Soldier (Ultra-Rare)], [Blood Familiar I (Epic)]

Second Class Skills: [Advanced Hand-to-Hand (Uncommon)], [Steel Fist (Rare)], [Stunning Punch (Uncommon)], [Battle Roar (Uncommon)], [Concentrated Kick (Uncommon)], [Power Punch (Uncommon)], [Pugilist’s Leap (Uncommon)], [Muscle Reading (Uncommon)], [Movement Echo (Uncommon)], [Flame (Common)], [Flame Fist (Rare)], [Flame Aura (Rare)], [Basic Levitation (Ultra-Rare)]

Race Skills: [Demonic Servant Perception (Uncommon)], [Basic Bone Regeneration (Rare)], [Bone Endurance (Rare)], [Iron Bones (Ultra-Rare)]

Rune Skill: [Berserker Flames (Rare)]

The only free points she had were from just reaching level fifty in her second class.

That humble skeleton I met in a dungeon has become a full-blown killing machine, he thought, with a trace of nostalgia.

Charlie had grown so powerful in terms of raw strength that she now surpassed Luke. She had officially beaten him in arm wrestling, and she took pride in that. And if she used her stamina-based skills, the gap between them became even wider.

Luke’s bones were fragile and couldn’t handle that much stamina, let alone a super punch that condensed so much power without shattering. But Charlie had iron bones. Throwing a super punch at a wall meant nothing to her. And that was without even using her Pugilist skills.

Just looking at her second class was ridiculous: she could throw shockwave punches, turn her fists into steel, ignite them in flame, surround herself with fire, and now even levitate. Anyone stupid enough to attack her was practically signing their death certificate. Add to that the fact she was undead, meaning she couldn’t drown, suffocate, be poisoned, or fall ill, she was nothing short of deadly.

Luke distributed the points, and she nodded her silent approval. She always left that part to him.

Stats Updated (Princess Charlie):

Vitality: 422 -> 424

Free Points: 2 -> 0

Health Points (HP): 3934/4220 -> 3954/4240

“It’s time, Charlie. Let’s see what your next class will be.”

She leaned closer. When he clicked through, several new options appeared, not two like with the Death Knight evolution, but five.

“Five classes. That’s… a lot,” he muttered.

Charlie clapped her hands together and raised a fist, visibly excited. She’d loved the huge attribute boost from reaching level fifty in her first class, and she was already eager for more.

“I’m guessing you just want a new class so you can keep winning our arm wrestling matches,” Luke teased.

She nodded immediately. And, well, she wasn’t wrong. If she was this much stronger now, the gap between them would only widen as she leveled up her second class.

“I’m proud of you,” he said quietly.

Her hand suddenly burst into flames, the spell triggering on its own. Flustered, she hid it behind her back, trying to smother the fire as if nothing had happened.

She quickly pointed at the screen, avoiding eye contact.

“Right. We should pick one fast,” Luke said with a grin. “No use wasting time, once you evolve, we’ll keep hunting. You’ve got more levels to earn.”