Chapter 107: Falling Into Darkness

“If you keep going, that dam will collapse! It’ll flood the entire forest! It’ll unleash the crocodiles!” the orc captain shouted.

Luke grinned. “I know. That’s the point.”

A roar. Hatred. A charge.

“YOU DAMN HUMAN!” The Captain lunged. Luke blocked the spear mid-air, but a brutal punch slammed him backward. More Captains arrived. A massive spear flew straight toward Charlie. Luke caught it, but the impact threw him to the ground.

The Captains were closing in.

One of them swung a heavy axe at Charlie. Luke hurled a kukri into his back, then followed with the second, tearing across the orc’s shoulder. Another came with a larger weapon. Luke parried, but the force cracked his wrist. A third grabbed him in a crushing bear hug. He tried to turn into mist, but couldn’t. Trapped.

He headbutted the orc and broke its nose. The monster staggered back, reeling. Charlie was shoved hard by another Captain. A club. Impact. She fell.

But before she hit the ground, spectral chains snapped into place. She yanked the Captain toward her and landed a punch directly to his chin. Then, with a smooth motion, she pulled her sword from the inventory, spinning into a Whirlwind Strike. The orc’s head flew clean off.

[Princess Charlie has slain an Orc Captain – Lvl 20]

**[Princess Charlie has reached Level 11 – Skeleton (Rank F)] (+1 bonus point to all attributes, +1 free point)**

“Keep going!!” Luke shouted.

Charlie rushed back to the dam.

Fist.

Fist.

Fist.

Each blow thundered through the logs. A thin stream of water trickled through the cracks.

“NO!” a Captain yelled, sprinting toward her.

Charlie landed another punch. Then another. More cracks. More water. She wound up for a third strike, but the Captain leapt onto her, grabbing her and pounding her with heavy fists.

“YOU WRETCHED THING!” he roared.

The dam groaned. It splintered. It creaked. Luke stood nearby, kukris in hand, eyes locked on the weakened dam. It was right on the brink. He hurled both blades—shimmering mid-flight as they duplicated—and the four kukris slammed into the fractured section Charlie had opened.

A sharp, splintering crack rang out. The dry snap of collapse.

“No…” the orc captains whispered, all at once, as the logs began to shift and strain like a crumbling tower.

Charlie spun, kicked the Captain off her, and lunged toward the dam. Her final punch landed with brutal force—and the structure gave way. The explosion tore through the air.

A heartbeat later, Luke was already sprinting. Charlie had returned to his soul. Behind him, orcs shouted and scrambled in every direction—but it was too late. The dam collapsed in full. A thunderous roar followed as a towering surge of water tore through the forest, sweeping away trees, mud, debris—everything.

Luke vaulted between branches, racing the flood. Then he looked back.

A wall of water surged through the canopy, devouring everything in its path. It hit him like a collapsing mountain. He was flung into the air, smashed against trunks, dragged beneath the surface. Branches clawed at his limbs, stones tore through his skin, the current spinning him end over end, churning him through wreckage and rot.

He tried to swim, but the force crushed every effort. With the last breath in his lungs, he triggered Basic Dark Dash, weaving through the water in jagged bursts until his hand caught a tree trunk. The current slammed him against it, threatening to rip him away. He drove both kukris into the bark and climbed—coughing, slipping, straining against the weight of the water and the roar in his ears. Every movement was a war, but he reached a high branch and pulled himself up, chest heaving.

Below him, the forest was gone—replaced by a river of chaos. But there was no time to breathe.

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“YOU BASTARD!” a guttural voice roared from behind, and then came the impact.

An orc captain slammed into Luke, and the two of them crashed back into the raging waters. The monster grabbed him, pulled him under, and began pounding Luke’s face with blind fury. Luke dismissed the kukris into his inventory to avoid losing them, then retaliated with sharp, direct punches of his own.

And then, both of them froze for a split second. Pure instinct.

Yellow eyes stared at them through the murky water.

Then more eyes.

Crocodiles. Massive. Silent. Starving.

A gaping maw appeared out of nowhere, lunging straight at them. Luke and the orc separated at the last second, but the creature’s force created a spinning current that hurled them into a vortex. Luke smashed into another tree and tried to steady himself, only to see another jaw racing toward him. He exhaled and let the water take him. The crocodile missed and slammed into the trunk instead.

Breaking the surface for air, Luke saw the forest being torn apart. Trees collapsed like toys. The crocodiles surged forward with the current, dragging everything in their path. Using Basic Dark Dash, he swam toward the bank, spotted a hill, and pushed toward it. He made it.

But then, something latched onto his leg.

“DAMNED HUMAN!”