Becoming the Dark Lord [LitRPG]

Luke crouched atop the fortress watchtower, his epic skill already dismissed. Wasting mana here was not an option. The soldier he had just killed was gone, tucked neatly into his storage item. Almost seventy enemies held this fortress. He had to move fast. With Shadow Camouflage active, he scanned the ground below. Eight targets in sight. He triggered Advanced Stealth and crept along the wall, low and silent. The tower sentries came first; they were the ones with access to the alarm bell.

He froze. Below him, a handful of men were chatting like it was just another night.

"I'm telling you, man, I'm way stronger than last time," one bragged, laughing.

Without a word, Luke summoned his Soul Cat. It leapt from the wall and slipped into one of the men's bodies. Vision shifted; now he could see and hear everything from within their little group. He continued along the battlements, soft as breath, careful not to draw a single glance. Up ahead, two sentries occupied the next tower: one carving a scrap of wood, the other cradling a crossbow. Both distracted.

He crouched to a stop and cloaked himself again in shadow.

"It's been a while since that Bastion guy showed up," muttered the woodcarver.

"I just want to see what drops in the reward event," the crossbowman replied. "Never even seen one of those chests up close. This time, I'm getting one."

Confirming through the infiltrated body that the group below was still lost in conversation, Luke moved.

He rose from the darkness with his kukris drawn and sprang. The first blade drove diagonally through the artisan's skull. Spinning behind the second sentry, he dragged the other kukri across the man's throat, silencing him before the scream could rise.

Before either body hit the floor, they were gone, swallowed by his storage item.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

From this tower he could see another watchtower further off, two more guards posted there.

Not yet, he thought.

Below, a lone soldier knelt at a campfire outside the old leaders' tent, stirring a pot. Luke dropped from the tower, landing without a sound thanks to Advanced Stealth. He melted back into the dark, closing the distance fast. One hand clamped over the man's mouth, the other slashed clean across his neck, dragging him into shadow.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Peering again through his infiltrated host, he saw the group still at ease, laughing and talking. He glided along the walls, a living shadow. Four of them together. Ahead, a fifth man chopped wood, probably training his profession.

Four. If one yells, it's over. Waiting isn't an option.

Flattening himself to the stone, he crept forward, pausing between steps to renew his camouflage. But the torchlight ahead would shatter his invisibility. He drew a steady breath and triggered Dark Dash. His body blurred forward, unseen. He emerged in the middle of the men and pointed his hand toward the ground. Black roots erupted like serpents, coiling around their throats and faces, choking off every shout.

They writhed, their muffled cries turning to wet gasps. Luke activated Thorn Mutation.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

The fourth man still breathed inside his heavy armor, roots cinched tight around him. Luke closed in and drove his kukri through a gap the vines had forced open.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Every corpse vanished into storage before a single body hit the ground. The fifth soldier, still chopping wood, hadn't noticed a thing. He was out in the open, bathed in torchlight, too risky to get close. Luke drew Angelica's bow, inhaled slowly, and aimed. One arrow. Measured. Perfect.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

That side of the courtyard was clear. Half the work done, and the tension in his chest eased just a little. Staying low, he sprinted toward the next watchtower. He hugged the wall of the fortress, moving in the shadow of its main building. The front courtyard lay empty, but across the open space he counted at least ten more scattered enemies. Caution would be everything.

Pressed flat against the stone, he tracked a lone soldier patrolling the wall above. If I shoot with the bow, he'll topple over the edge and crash outside. Too loud.

Without a whisper, Luke pulled a kukri, tightened his grip, poured stamina into his arm, and hurled it. The blade spun over the soldier's head.

He stretched out his hand.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

[Magnetic Return activated]

The kukri reversed midair and came screaming back.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

It buried itself straight through the sentry's face. The body pitched forward, inside the courtyard. Luke dashed, leapt, and caught the corpse before it struck the ground. Silence held. He exhaled, eyes sweeping the fortress. This night was going to be long.

***

Luke was already inside the main building. His steps made no sound, senses sharpened, perception field stretched to its limit. He swept every corner with his eyes before turning it. The courtyard guards were all dead now, only three remained outside the walls—and those weren't his problem. Someone else had been assigned to handle them.

Footsteps echoed ahead. He froze, Shadow Camouflage sliding over him like a second skin. A man walked past, muttering under his breath, eyes glued to a clipboard. He never saw Luke at his side—the perfect overlap of Basic Shadow Camouflage and Shadow of Ignorance. Neither mundane sight nor magical senses could pin him down.

As soon as the man passed, Luke slipped behind him and drove a kukri straight in.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

He moved on through the hallways until he spotted another figure lounging in a chair, boots propped on a table.

"Randall!" the man shouted. "Bring me my damn food already!"

Luke pressed himself against the wall, waited, breathed… then flicked both kukris.

They spun through the air, one burying itself dead-center in the forehead, the other plunging into the heart.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Before the body even slumped, Luke had it stored away.

Footsteps again. Someone in the corridor.

"I'm coming, damn it!" Randall's voice.

Luke flattened against the wall.

"Here's your stupid—" Randall stepped into the room and froze, confused.

Luke was already behind him. One clean strike ended it.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

The plate slipped from Randall's hands but Luke caught it midair.

He exhaled softly.

Moving deeper into the building, he cleared hall after hall, killing without a sound. Assassin's Tracking let him follow residual mana trails and faint footprints invisible to anyone else. No screams. No mess. Every body vanished the instant it fell. But one group remained. He found them behind a half-open door. Voices laughed, loud and careless. Luke crouched and peered inside.

Five targets.

He activated his Rank Skill Soul Infiltration, and a fragment of Luke's soul slipped out of him in the form of a cat. It darted through the crack and leapt into one of the men inside. Now Luke saw through his enemy's eyes. Cards. They're playing cards. The view was limited to the host's focus, mostly his hand of cards, but then it rose enough to catch the others' faces.

Three mages. Two fighters.

"I don't know about you guys, but I've got a killer hand," the host said.

"There he goes lying again. What're you betting this time, your pants?"

Laughter rolled across the room. Luke sighed. Charging in for silent kills would be too risky. Even isolated from the rest of the fortress, those mages could reflex-cast area spells. Not worth it. He drew Angelica's Bow.

Conjured an Acid Blood Arrow. Cracked the door just enough… and fired at the ceiling. The arrow flew. He shut the door fast.

"What the—?" someone began.

Then came the explosion. A green mist of acid spread through the room. Screams and coughing replaced the laughter. One dropped. Another tried to run, his eyes already dissolving. Through his host's vision, Luke watched it unfold. Darkness swallowed the view as the body failed. Then the system lit up:

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Silence. Not even a breath left behind the door.

***

Luke moved up through the fortress's upper floors. The air grew tighter with each step, hushed and stifling, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath.

Footsteps echoed from the corridor ahead.

Without hesitation, he dissolved into mist, slipping through the thin gap of a keyhole into the next room. When the footsteps passed by, he re-formed, solid and silent, and drove a kukri home before the target even knew he was there.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

His eyes lifted to a door farther down the hall. Something about it tugged at him. Mist again. Inside, a single weak torch sputtered against the wall. A bunk bed sat empty except for the man sleeping on the lower mattress. Luke crept forward, lowering the assassin's mask for a clearer view. He stared for a heartbeat, then snapped a hard slap across the man's face.

The sleeper jolted awake in raw panic. Before he could gasp, Luke's blade was at his throat. "Make a sound and you die. Breathe wrong and you die. Move, speak, blink the wrong way, and you die."

The edge pressed deeper into skin. "Blink twice if you understand."

The man blinked frantically, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"You're going to answer a few questions," Luke murmured. "Are all the hostages in the prison block? Yes or no?"

"Th-they were last time I—"

Another slap.

"Yes or no," Luke repeated, voice flat, eyes like ice.

"Yes…"

"Next question. Is Jonathan inside the fortress?"

"I-I don't even know who that is…"

Luke exhaled slowly. Used a fake name with these guys. Figures.

He'd asked these questions before, confirmed the hostage location, even glimpsed the cell. This was just a cross-check, a measure of how much information trickled between the bandits.

The kukri edged closer.

"No, please! I'll do whatever you want!"

The blade slid in without hesitation, quick, silent, precise. Like a hot knife through butter.

[You have slain a Human…]
[+1 Soul Fragment acquired]

Wiping the blade clean, Luke glanced around the dim room and muttered under his breath,

"No way in hell… this is my room."