Becoming the Dark Lord

Chapter 537: The Hunt Inside the Soul

Luke sprinted across the rooftops of the tutorial capital. Even knowing the place wasn't real, a strange nostalgia clung to him. The city, the stone buildings, the moonlit roads… all of it was nothing more than an illusion shaped from his own soul. He had no idea how long he'd been inside that mental space, or whether time flowed properly here. So he tested things. The first discovery came fast, and it was the most obvious. His system menu wouldn't open.

"I can't track stamina, mana, or even see my damn HP bar," he muttered.

Annoying, but not surprising. He hurled a knife at a nearby building.

[Witch's Thread activated]

The blade struck stone, thread shot outward, and he swung himself forward, leaping across rooftops. Another knife, another thread, another arc through the air. At least his skills worked here. That alone was a blessing. He landed atop one of the tallest buildings in the capital, right at the center of the city. If the Spectral Beast had manifested somewhere inside his soul, it would choose a place that meant something to him. A memory. A scar. A moment that marked him.

He understood now what a Spectral Beast actually was. Not a monster, not a summoned creature, not something he forged… but an aberration. A life-devouring entity from a dimension at the edge of the multiverse. They could never enter the physical plane alone; they needed a host to corrupt, a vessel to take root inside. And when they succeeded, what emerged was a nightmare in the shape of a beast.

Luke had built a core to force open a dimensional breach. He had invited that thing in. Now he had one task left: dominate it.

"My options are the site of the third mechanism, the cave where I learned botany, or the castle."

Three memories. Three anchors. Three likely lairs. The mechanism site was closest, so he headed there first. The place was empty. Still. A quiet ache settled in his chest. It reminded him of Allison. More than he expected. He glanced toward the castle, but when he turned his attention toward the distant direction of the cave, something brushed against him. A presence. A predator's attention.

A beast… yes, that was the strongest tug.

He moved instantly, crossing streets and rooftops, until he reached the mouth of the cave. And froze. The whole interior was drenched in darkness. Not normal darkness, something heavier. Something alive. Shadows leaked out like smoke, swallowing the ground around the entrance.

Luke summoned his knives.

[Burst Throw activated]

[Telekinetic Impulse activated]

Two blades shot into the cave like bullets. The explosions boomed loud enough to rattle dust from the trees. He hurled more knives, collapsing stone, smashing walls. The entrance crumbled under the barrage. A low, thunderous roar answered him.

Luke smiled. "So you really are in there."

Darkness burst outward, flinging rubble across the forest. Something massive launched itself at him.

[Teleport Pentagram activated]

The world flickered. He reappeared above the cave with a perfect line of sight and immediately threw another knife at full power. The blade slammed into the swirling mass of black mist. Another impact followed. Then another. But the darkness only expanded. It swallowed the ground, the trees, the sky.

Luke sprinted between trunks as the shadows surged behind him. "What the hell, was it supposed to be this huge?"

Something rose from within the darkness. A towering column of black fog, blooming upward like a mushroom cloud after a nuclear blast. Dozens of pale eyes opened across its surface. All smiling. All silent. All wrong. It looked like a thousand grinning faces carved into smoke.

Is that the beast's skill?

If so… then the real body was hidden deep inside that monstrous cloud.

The black cloud swept forward, devouring everything in its path. Luke stopped and raised both hands. Just as the cloud was about to crash into him, a powerful wind blasted outward from his body. It became a clash of sheer will. He pushed into the swirling darkness, dragging himself step by step as if something immense were yanking him backward. The cloud tightened around him. Faces twisted with rage surfaced within it, pouring out even more power.

Luke kept moving until he reached the cave entrance. Focusing every shred of strength, he unleashed a will stronger than the creature's, forcing the entire mass of darkness to compress and surge into the cave. A roar thundered out. A streak of black lightning shot toward him, but it didn't break through. His will shaped itself into a shield, and the blast scattered against it. The two forces kept testing each other, the monster's power rising with every roar.

Each step felt like trying to push a mountain. The ground trembled. Reality cracked around the edges. He couldn't see anymore; all he could do was focus on moving forward. Maybe a day passed. Or hours. He had no way of knowing. All he glimpsed was the silhouette of something formless and dark.

On his final step, his hands struck something solid. Something black, shrinking under the pressure. A roar of pain erupted. The Spectral Beast curled inward, struggling to flee, but it had no escape. With a shout, Luke threw everything he had into one last push. The darkness compressed, collapsing into itself until it became a single black sphere. Then, all the chaos went still.

He stared at the floating orb. A Spectral Beast core.

"I did it."

He looked down at himself. Sweat. Pale skin. Hunger twisting in his stomach.

How long has it been?

The fight felt like it had just begun, yet also like it had lasted for days. Time made no sense here. From within the dark sphere, two white eyes and a glowing white mouth appeared, contorted in fury, then vanished. A black thread snaked out from his abdomen and connected to the core.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

[Your skill Wraith Form has been destroyed]

[A Second Core is being absorbed into your soul]

"I mastered it. The Spectral Beast is mine now."

The core, still tethered by that black thread, was pulled straight into Luke's body. Then laughter rippled through the air. Luke scanned the darkness, trying to pinpoint the source.

"You really thought it would be that easy?" a voice asked, disturbingly familiar.

Something descended from the dark sky. A creature with four wings and two glowing blue eyes.

"You thought I'd give up after all this time, demon?" It was… the Midnight King.

Is this real? How is this even possible?

"I'm very real," the archangel said, wings beating. "And you should never have used my eye to forge that core."

***

Angie stared at her interface, chewing on her lower lip. Her master had given her an order and a single piece of guidance: she alone would choose the evolution for her Valkyrie class.

Charlie and Layla had just returned from scouting the abyssal forest.

"Charlie, I'll never get over how well you see in the dark," Layla said, sounding half impressed and half exhausted.

The two had been mapping out the whole area. Angie was itching to join the next outing so she could finally test her new cleric skills. And since she'd awakened a healing skill, she would naturally have to stick with Layla. Healing did absolutely nothing for a vampire.

At least that makes Layla useful for something.

Angie began mentally reviewing what she knew about support skills. If she healed Layla during a fight, she'd earn more class experience. But a more interesting thought crept in. Would it count if Layla hurt herself on purpose?

She toyed with the idea. Testing it would require Layla to suffer all kinds of injuries.

Well, better her than my lord.

Layla really would make an excellent test dummy. With a refreshed sense of purpose, Angie returned her full attention to the class evolution options glowing on her interface. Three choices. Three destinies.

[Huntress Valkyrie]: A Valkyrie who has turned the act of hunting into a sacred rite. For her, glory isn't found only in the fall of an enemy but in the entire journey leading to it: tracking, watching, cornering, and executing with absolute precision. This Valkyrie sharpens her affinity with polearms, mastering them both in melee combat and in lethal throwing techniques. With time, she may also develop proficiency with ranged weapons, becoming a complete predator. She moves through forests as a silent omen; the wind conspires with her, instinct guides her, and death becomes her offering to war.

(Attribute Bonuses per Level: +16 Lethality, +14 Strength, +9 Perception, +7 Dexterity, +6 Agility, +6 Endurance, +15 Free Points).

[Nature Valkyrie]: The Nature Valkyrie is the embodiment of the wild, a chosen warrior who never bowed to the laws of civilization. Her bond with the natural world is absolute; she fights with the strength of a bear, the cunning of a fox, and the fury of a wolf. Her polearm becomes a conduit for awakening the power of ancient beasts and the roaming spirits of untamed lands. This Valkyrie balances brutality with purpose, merging battle rage with the harmony of nature's cycle. She does not merely walk through the wild; she is the wild's judgment, descending like a storm to hunt, fight, and survive by its laws.

(Attribute Bonuses per Level: +20 Strength, +10 Endurance, +10 Vitality, +10 Toughness, +8 Wisdom, +7 Lethality, +12 Free Points).

[Lightning Valkyrie]: The Lightning Valkyrie is the one who heard the call of the sky and refused to step back. By embracing the unstable energy that tears through the clouds, she fights in sync with the crack of thunder and the sharp charge that precedes impact. Every movement carries the tension of a lightning bolt about to strike, and each blow lands with raw, resonant force. She is not the storm itself, but walks beside it, learning to draw power from wind, cloud, and the electric pulse that saturates the battlefield. Between steel, speed, and instinct, this Valkyrie walks the Path of Lightning, turning the fury of the sky into a weapon that grows alongside her resolve.

(Attribute Bonuses per Level: +18 Strength, +18 Lethality, +10 Endurance, +8 Vitality, +6 Toughness, +6 Wisdom, +15 Free Points)

Angie reviewed the options with a cold, methodical eye. Her filters were simple: total attribute points per level, the amount of free points, and each class's potential path of power. Huntress Valkyrie totaled 73. Nature Valkyrie reached 77. Lightning Valkyrie stood at 81.

Practically speaking, Lightning Valkyrie won by numbers alone. In terms of free points, Nature Valkyrie had the lowest. But when it came to power paths, the ones that stirred her interest were Nature and Lightning.

Which one would give me the best path to serve my lord?

Angie had always seen herself as a tool, a purpose to be shaped by her lord's needs. A warrior, a companion, a woman, or simply a place for him to rest his burdens. She didn't care what form his need took, as long as she could stay close enough to guard him. He was the man she had chosen, the one whose footsteps she intended to follow to the end.

Her fingers tightened around her spear as a decision formed.

I have to live up to what he expects of me. I need to impress him.

And so Angie made her choice.

**Congratulations! You have successfully evolved your class!**

[You evolved Valkyrie into Lightning Valkyrie]

She gripped her spear with both hands and activated [Lightning Spear].

Lightning crackled along the shaft, dancing toward the blade. Nothing will stand in my sovereign's way while he walks the road toward his goals.

***

"I'm very real," the Midnight King said, wings beating. "And you should never have used my eye to forge that core."

The archangel no longer bore the cracked stone skin Luke remembered. He looked restored, whole… and furious.

"You died," Luke said.

"My true self did. But I am a splinter of a fragment, and fragments can return." His voice tightened with bitterness. "And you're not an angel like that wretched one who stole my core. No matter. Even weakened like this, I'm still more than enough. I'll complete the ritual through you… and walk away wearing your body."

He laughed, triumphant and wild. "In the end, I still get what I wanted."

He wasn't the exact archangel from the tutorial, but whatever he was now remained just as dangerous.

The creature shot toward him. Luke leapt aside as a spear of stone materialized midair and tore through where he'd been standing a heartbeat earlier. More spears followed, flung like arrows while the archangel cackled, wings beating through the illusory capital. Luke hurled himself off rooftops, snapping [Witch's Thread] after [Witch's Thread] to stay ahead of the barrage.

He twisted aside from a sweeping strike of those wings and flung a tethered dagger toward an open window. The thread pulled tight, yanking him inside the building just as another spear shattered the street behind him.

This thing is real. Not part of the illusion.

He dashed through the halls, hearing that warped laughter closing in.

I was supposed to kill the beast and finish the ritual. Why didn't it work?

The answer was obvious: the archangel's presence. But even so, slaying the beast should have completed the process. The archangel smashed through a wall, wings flaring as he surged toward Luke. Luke dove out a window and tried to fire another tethered dagger, but a hand like iron clamped around his throat midair. The archangel held him effortlessly.

Luke conjured a dagger and jammed it straight into the creature's eye.

"It no longer matters!" the archangel snarled.

Luke's skin began turning to stone. He thrashed, stabbing again and again, but the transformation crept up his limbs.

"Fall, insect," the archangel hissed, releasing him.

Luke plummeted. His instincts screamed for the bat cloak, but the skill didn't respond. He tried throwing another tethered blade, but the archangel struck them out of the air, shattering every single one.

He hit the ground hard. Pain exploded through his body, sharp, complete, and overwhelming, even though nothing seemed broken. The archangel landed beside him, planting a foot on his chest and lifting him by the throat once again.

One of the creature's eyes glowed brighter than the other. The eye Luke had used.

"I devour souls," the archangel said, smiling, "and you have delivered yours to me on a silver platter."