Lord of the Gloom

Lord of the Gloom is a web novel with a game-and-otherworld theme by Xibei Mao, serialized on Qidian from October 2015 and completed in September 2016. After an accident, the protagonist Zhan En arrives in another world and is reborn as the son of the Demon King. Deep in the Underdark he becomes the lord of an underground city and heir to the Demon King's throne. Before him lie not only demons who covet the throne as he does, but monsters lurking in the depths, adventurers roaming in search of legends and treasure, and knights from the surface who come in the name of justice. Using a system akin to dungeon management and summoning, Zhan En begins by running a small underground domain and gradually expands his power, raises his level, and deals with schemes and challenges from all sides; he passes the Demon King's trials, eventually becomes the new Demon King, and extends his influence from the underground to the continent of Klein and to higher levels of existence. The book is written mainly as a dark, invincible-protagonist power fantasy, with the main line revolving around dungeon adventures, territorial expansion, and summoning strategy. The author devotes much space to the look of the underworld and the summoning system; the style is on the light side, and encounters between characters carry humor and banter. The later plot slackens somewhat and contains a great deal of exposition, a point readers often mention.