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Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 160

Looking outside, Luke watched small flakes of snow drifting through the shattered window. The snow fell slowly, collecting in the corners of the sill, while cold wind slipped directly through the open gap. Being so close to the wall, the air here was colder. Heavier. The stone floor kept the chill even without wind. He exhaled and saw his breath mist into the air. He did it again, watching how the warm air dissolved in the room’s frigid stillness.

He was inside a house somewhere in th...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 159 (Volume 2)

A lot had happened since Luke crossed the gate from the Wild Zone into the new region of the tutorial. There, he uncovered secrets that rewrote his understanding of the world—truths about the capital, about the land itself, and even about the nature of the place he and the other survivors had been thrown into. He’d also faced threats so overwhelming that, now, even a Midnight Warden felt like just another beast.

Months had passed. Where others might have broken under the weight of w...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 158 (End of Volume 1)

Pain consumed him. Paul felt it in every nerve, every bone. His head throbbed, ears rang, vision swam in cold, disorienting darkness. Water filled his lungs. He choked, convulsed, arms flailing helplessly—until something yanked him out, hard. He broke the surface coughing, gagging for air. A wooden bucket clattered nearby, the source of his sudden revival.

“Took you long enough,” Luke said. His voice was calm—too calm. Hollowed out by hatred.

Paul glanced down. His hands w...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 157

Paul and Luke stood facing one another in the middle of the ruined street, surrounded by silence and shadow. Only the moon lit the rubble, casting cold silver across fractured stone and ash. There was no one else—just the two of them, both knowing it was a trap. One waiting for the other to make the first move.

The stillness lasted a heartbeat. Then the earth trembled.

A roar tore from Paul’s throat as mana-forged arms erupted from his back—dozens of them, coiling into the s...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 156

Luke walked among the corpses of the Renegades. These were the last of them. There were still thieves and fugitives scattered from the chaos at the Safe Zone, but Luke had no interest in chasing them down. His focus remained on those closest to the core of the Renegade faction—the originals. None of the founders survived. They had entered Bastion and never came out. Bartholomew and his men killed them all, proving their strength once and for all. And now, after gaining the experience points...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 155

The group was gathered beneath the night sky, surrounded by the dark forest. Three days had passed since the ant attack. Marshall was dead. The surviving Renegades had scattered like rats, fleeing the Safe Zone the moment Bartholomew claimed victory. They vanished into the Wild Zone — directionless, leaderless, hopeless. But the worst came after. Every hideout they knew had been compromised. Each safe place... had become a grave.

“Someone betrayed us,” one of them said, breaking t...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 154

Luke moved through the collapsed tunnels of the mine like a ghost, shifting into mist to slip through narrow paths and blocked corridors. But no matter how far he walked, no matter how many names he called, there was no one. No answers. Only corpses — many of them beyond recognition.

He searched for Allison. For Jonathan. For Cecilia. All he found was silence.

The chamber where they had fought the ant queen no longer existed — buried beneath rubble. Entire Wild Zone structures...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 153

Luke collapsed sideways. Not from physical exhaustion — the system had already restored his body completely. But from the sheer mental weight. Now that the adrenaline had drained from his veins, his heart was settling back into a steady rhythm.

He had really believed he would die, but the race level-up had saved him.

Slowly, he got to his feet and looked around the cavern. The mist had fully cleared. That was the confirmation. He hadn’t just manipulated fog — he had bent man...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 152

The Midnight Warden stared at Luke with silent hatred. That rotting face, lipless, covered in dried, necrotic flesh. One eye burned like an ember inside the decaying skull. They were both falling apart. Luke could barely stand. Alone now, with Charlie gone, and the monster still standing.

At least the bastard looks as wrecked as I feel, Luke thought, feeling the sharp, deep ache from the lance wound still tearing at his side.

The creature's armor was shredded, entire chun...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 151

A wall of black steel rose before Luke.

[Midnight Warden – Level 40]

It stood towering, encased in dark armor with no flesh exposed, spectral eyes burning like twin embers behind the helmet. The blade in its hand was already raised—silent, steady, patient. Ready to kill.

Luke scanned the damage. The armor was dented and torn in places—scars from the cave-in that had nearly buried it. Whatever had clawed its way back from that stone grave was no longer ...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 150

Luke and Angelica were trapped in a dark, suffocating stretch of the mine, where the air was thick with dust and the metallic scent of crushed stone. They had fallen there while fleeing from the Midnight Wardens, and now, surrounded by unstable rock, they were caught in an oppressive silence broken only by their shallow, uneven breaths.

A dry sound escaped Angelica’s throat. She coughed hard, and blood oozed from the corner of her lips—dark and thick, staining her pale skin with a g...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 149

Luke had managed to help Cecilia and Jonathan escape, thanks to Charlie’s intervention. But when he tried to flee, he was intercepted by a Warden. Now, the creature's grip closed around his body like a living trap, its fingers tightening with crushing force, snapping his bones like brittle twigs. He tried to turn to mist—nothing. He tried to push back, to break free, but his muscles didn’t respond. They were pinned beneath the overwhelming strength of a monster forged to kill.

The...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 148

Cecilia ran through the tunnels like a broken doll, each step a jolt of pain in her knees, each breath a sob trapped in her throat. Her body moved without will—arms flailing awkwardly, as if her very bones were about to snap. Her feet kept going by pure instinct. There was no strength left. No direction. Only the hollow throb of loss and the cruel echo of memory.

Tears streamed without end, hot and bitter, blurring her vision until the world ahead became nothing but shifting shadows. ...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 147

Luke stood somewhere deep within the mine, the walls pressing in like stone jaws. Sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes, and his heart pounded out of rhythm, thudding hard against his ribs like it wanted out. The heat clung to his skin, thick and suffocating. One Midnight Warden had already reached him—then another appeared.

Now he was cornered.

Allison lay motionless, a spear buried deep in her torso—the second Warden’s strike. Blood had pooled beneath her, thick an...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 146

Angelica ran through the tunnels, her knees buckling with each step against the uneven ground. The faint glow of her lantern trembled in rhythm with her, casting frantic shadows across the cracked stone walls. Screams echoed in the distance—sharp, warped by stone and death. They wouldn’t stop. People were being slaughtered. She didn’t need to see it to know. The sound alone was enough.

Sweat poured down her temples, soaking the strands of hair plastered to her forehead. Her hands ...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 145

Five Midnight Wardens emerged from the tunnel like a nightmare given form. The world held its breath. Even the air seemed to retreat, as if the cavern itself feared what had entered.

They stood like shadows carved from night—tall, motionless, cloaked in silence that screamed louder than any war cry.

Their obsidian plate glistened with an unnatural sheen, edges jagged like broken glass. Beneath their helms, glowing eyes pulsed like coals barely contained, flickering with restrain...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 144

Was there a limit to stamina’s power? That was the question haunting Luke in that moment—when death hovered just a breath away.

During the battle with Morvat, he hadn’t dared try it. He didn’t want to risk shattering his own bones with a single miscalculated strike. But this time... this was different. He wasn’t relying on brute force. This wasn’t a punch or a kick. It was something far more refined. More lethal. With steel.

[Force Infusion]—a system-given skill: pre...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 143

The Queen’s roar split the chamber. It wasn’t just a sound—it was a seismic wave. Dust fell from the ceiling. Cracks spidered across stone. The air itself seemed to recoil.

[The Ant Queen has leveled up]

[Ant Queen (General Beast) – Lvl 36]

Luke’s breath caught. His eyes locked on her twisted form—no longer bloodied, no longer bruised.

“She’s completely regenerated,” he muttered, voice barely audible over the chao...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 142

The Ant Queen lunged toward the archers. Ricardo materialized in front of them, hands flashing in a practiced gesture. A dome of shimmering mana enveloped the group—translucent blue, pulsing with arcane energy. The Queen struck the barrier. Her bladed arms whirled like a cyclone, hammering down with relentless force. Each blow fractured the shield further, hairline cracks spreading like frost on glass, until the barrier gave way—dissolving into flickering shards of light.

Before she...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 141

Luke and Angelica reunited with the rest of the group.

“Finally, we found you,” Anna said, visibly relieved.

But Bob and the four soldiers beside him barely reacted. Their eyes remained locked on the end of the tunnel. Something was happening ahead—the metallic clash of blades, human screams, monstrous roars... and then a powerful roar echoed through the cavern.

[Ant Queen (General Beast) – Lvl 35]

“Looks like we’ve reached the heart of the...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 140

Luke was absorbing everything Angelica had told him about the tutorial, the truths behind the first year. But more than that—the secret that almost no one knew about that place.

The mission statue had revealed the location of the three mechanisms: the first near the statue itself, inside the Bastion fortress; the second hidden somewhere in the orc forest; and the third beyond the barrier of the Wild Zone, guarded by a massive serpent.

“Bartholomew’s faction knew the location...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 139

Luke and Angelica kept walking, slowly putting distance between themselves and the collapsed area where they had fallen. Just to be sure, he opened Princess Charlie’s interface again.

She was still far away, with the other group. And he had no idea how things were going on their end. Charlie had always been close to him. But now, with the risk of her status screen going gray from the distance, he knew she was in real danger—real, permanent death.

Before her connection could go...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 138

Erza wiped a streak of blood from her cheek as she moved through the corridor, her steps deliberate, poised. All around her lay the remains of ants and Renegades—those foolish enough to challenge her. Their deaths, while messy, had a certain artistry to them. She imagined how it must have felt, to them, like kittens charging a lion. Pathetic. Almost comedic.

Deeper down the hallway, footsteps echoed.

Erza paused. With a silent flick of her wrist, nearly invisible threads snapped...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 137

Luke and Angelica were still trapped deep in the lower tunnels of the mine when they heard it—footsteps. Slow, deliberate, and far too heavy to be human. They froze, instincts sharpening, eyes searching the dark cavern walls.

Then something emerged from the shadows.

[Alpha Devourer Ant (Beast Captain) – Lvl 32]

It was enormous. Larger than any Beast Captain they had faced. Six limbs, each ending in a razor-sharp blade. Its black exoskeleton reflected alm...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 136

The fortress was dying. The air trembled with the sounds of collapse—stone breaking, walls bowing inward, screams echoing through fractured corridors. Ash choked the upper halls, drifting like snowfall through flickering torchlight. Beneath it all, something deeper stirred. Not chaos. Execution.

A single scrape echoed like a blade drawn across steel. Claws against rock. Deliberate. Measured.

[Devourer Ant (Beast Captain) – Lvl 30]

It emerged from the dus...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 135

Luke and the group were deep inside one of the mine tunnels when a loud rumble shook the wall. Dirt and stone blasted outward—and a dark figure leapt from the shadows:

[Devourer Ant (Beast Captain) – Lvl 29]

It screeched, a guttural roar that echoed through the cavern as cracks spidered along the walls. The ceiling groaned. Earth fell in heavy chunks. It was a trap. Perfectly timed. Brutally executed.

Five more Ant Captains burst from the breaches, ...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 134

The group moved silently through the mine tunnels. A few lanterns clipped to their belts lit the way, but it was the mages' magical orbs that provided true visibility—floating spheres of light hovered near them. Every ten minutes, they also cast a spell that granted the group night vision.

But the excessive lighting wasn’t just for visibility.

It was essential for Perception to work.

"To the right," Luke murmured.

"Confirmed," said an archer, nocking an arrow.

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 133

The group had reached a street choked with rubble and ruined houses. Forced to detour from their original path, they moved cautiously through the wreckage.

“Trust me, it’s worth it,” Luke said, picking up the pace as he approached a more isolated house, part of its front wall already collapsed. The others followed, curious.

He entered through the side, crossed what remained of the kitchen, and stopped in front of a wooden cabinet leaning against the back wall. With some effo...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 132

Luke moved through the devastated streets of the Safe Zone, heading toward the Ant Colony. Unlike the group led by Angelica, he followed an alternate route—not out of stubbornness, but strategy.

Alone, his footsteps were nearly silent. His cloak fluttered gently in the wind, cutting through the scent of smoke, overturned earth, and blood. The streets were littered with rubble, ant carcasses, and the wreckage of buildings that had collapsed during the invasion.

His goal was clear...

Becoming the Dark Lord - Chapter 131

The group split up, each member taking their assigned strategic position. In the distance, the hive loomed like a living monstrosity, and new ant hordes were already marching out.

Tension mounted, but Luke didn’t stand around waiting for orders.

He had activated [Meditation], and Princess Charlie was resting within his soul. Time passed, and little by little, she began to regenerate what she had spent.

He opened her system interface.

A new subclass skill was availabl...