Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

After the griffin landed, Alex dismounted and took some time to communicate with the Commanding level griffin and the surrounding Standard griffins. As expected, the griffins were cooperative and readily agreed to her terms.

About fifteen minutes later, Alex initiated the conversation. "Did you get the subsidiary Barracks?"

"No..." Sophie replied, her voice tinged with disappointment. She hadn't been lucky enough to secure the 5% chance of obtaining the subsidiary Barracks, and she worried that Alex might be disappointed.

"It's okay if you didn't. We can't always be that lucky. Don't be disheartened. What about the other loot?" Alex asked, maintaining a practical outlook. The griffin subsidiary Barracks was a long shot anyway; it would have been a bonus but wasn't essential.

Alex's undead didn't need to ride griffins in the sky; she had merely entertained the idea of forming a dwarf griffin cavalry to enhance Sophie's combat capabilities. Now that the plan had fallen through, they still had gained over thirty griffins. They would just have to focus on an elite strategy, promoting dwarfs to Commanding level and pairing them with a griffin.

"We got two of that Lord's weapons, the whip and the flute she used before, and a book on second-tier healing magic. That's about it." These items had been transferred to the Warehouse, and Sophie couldn't physically show them to Alex but reported what she had.

Of course, that was all they had because Alex had taken everything else from Sienna's warehouse. The special buildings were limited to the defense tower they had encountered earlier. As for Sienna's abilities, Alex knew of three types of magic she possessed, but unfortunately, only the healing magic dropped, which had no offensive power and was of no use to Alex.

The flute, according to Sophie's description, was interesting because it didn't require the user to know sonic magic; it inherently carried sonic and psychic magic attacks when played. Its only feature was to manipulate low-intelligence wild beasts.

For Alex, the flute was somewhat useless.

As for the whip, it was just a standard enchanted weapon, nothing special.

"Keep these items. They will be helpful in enhancing your current strength," Alex told Sophie, then mounted a griffin.

"Thank you, Big Shot."

Sophie seemed to have gotten used to Alex's personality by now. She was the Big Shot, unimpressed by anything less than extraordinary. What seemed valuable to Sophie might just be mundane to Alex.

Sophie also climbed onto the griffin's back, ready to leave the area.

The griffin flapped its wings, kicking up dust as it carried Alex and Sophie, followed by twenty other griffins, back towards Sophie's castle.

Time: 02:00 AM

Alex and Sophie successfully returned to the castle. The ground was cleared of dwarf corpses, and Alex had added nearly a thousand new undead to her forces.

Each dwarf knight equated to one dwarf plus one boar, which meant four undead per knight.

Alex handed over the griffins to the dwarfs, who were thrilled to learn that these griffins would be their mounts, cheering excitedly.

Alex allowed Balin Forgeheart, the first to reach Commanding level, to pick a griffin and sign a master-servant contract, greatly motivating the dwarfs to strengthen themselves. The limited number of griffins meant it was first come, first served.

"Big Shot, are you sure you don't want this healing magic? It just costs a hundred magic crystals to learn," Sophie asked, still looking over her loot.

"No need," Alex declined, and Sophie spent a hundred magic crystals to learn the second-tier healing magic.

Alex, looking at the flute in Sophie's hand, suddenly thought it could be the bane of dwarf cavalry. Although the flute couldn't affect the dwarfs' minds, it could influence their boar mounts, potentially disrupting the cavalry's effectiveness.

Then, Alex reminded the undead and dwarfs of their respective tasks.

"Balin Forgeheart, remember your task for tomorrow."

"Specters and gargoyles, hurry up and locate the dwarf stronghold."

"Necromancer, the safety of the Portal of Transit and the castle is in your hands."

Today, the dwarfs had mined a lot, but due to the invasion by Sienna and the Silverbeard Clan dwarfs, the mining targets were not met. However, to thank Alex for her help, the dwarfs were working overtime through the night.

Alex leisurely walked towards the Portal of Transit, ready to head back and rest.

Sophie quickly followed, feeling increasingly fearful after today's events. Sleeping in the castle in the White Rock Mountains no longer felt safe.

"Indeed, the red moon in the sky suits me better."

Alex and Sophie exited, with Alex heading towards her own castle and Sophie towards her subsidiary castle.

Back in her castle, Alex summoned her troops. The green light of the Barracks flickered, and forty figures appeared: the usual ten Acolytes, eight necromancers, seven Destroyers, and six Ghouls. No surprises there.

"Let's continue tomorrow," Alex decided, almost forgetting something important as she was about to head to bed.

She immediately called a specter at the door, "Notify everyone, I want to see two thousand Death Knights here by dawn!"

[The night recedes, dawn arrives.]

Time: 06:00 AM

Alex woke up on time, got out of bed, and began dressing. The weather in her castle was a bit cool, given the constant overcast skies, but considering the recent focus on development in Arsen, she decided to dress more comfortably and suitably for battle.

After a casual outfit and a high ponytail, she was ready.

Alex went to the castle yard to collect the basic materials. Outside, two thousand Death Knights had gathered, mostly Death Conquerors, with five Shadowghast Knights leading them. Their strength was considerable, at least in Alex's view.

Her plan was for the specters and gargoyles to locate the dwarf stronghold today and then destroy it.

Sophie was probably still asleep at this point, and Alex didn't plan to wake her. With or without her, Alex had access to her castle's permissions, so she let her sleep a bit longer.

"March to the Portal of Transit!" Alex commanded the Death Conquerors outside, who turned and orderly entered the portal. Yes, Alex intended to use the Death Conquerors against the Silverbeard Clan dwarfs.

They like to conduct cavalry raids, right? Sorry, I have cavalry too.

Alex was the last to step through the portal.

Upon arriving in Arsen, Alex saw the diligently guarding necromancer by the Portal of Transit. Two thousand Death Conquerors had already gathered, just as Sophie's castle had upgraded to a town, providing enough flat land between the mountains.

"Found them yet?" Alex immediately asked a nearby specter.

"Not yet, my queen," the specter respectfully informed her, stationed there specifically to relay messages to Alex.

Alex wasn't disappointed; it had only been four hours since midnight, too short a time to expect results. The scouting undead couldn't determine the direction yet and had to spread out, which took time.

"Go back to the castle and bring five hundred more specters to intensify the search," Alex instructed the specter, who then entered the Portal of Transit to fetch help. Her plan was to locate the Silverbeard Clan's stronghold by the end of the day.

It was unclear if there were other Lords nearby, but hopefully, they were stronger than those who summoned beasts, as those Lords were too poor since beasts don't work.

Meanwhile, Sophie had also gotten up. She put on black stockings and then took down the clothes currently drying on the balcony of her castle.

The weather at Alex's castle was a bit chilly, and Sophie layered up, still feeling a bit cold.

Sophie's castle was close to Alex's, and it didn't take long for her to arrive at Alex's castle. However, she didn't dare shout because Ice Cream was still in the castle, and his oppressive presence was too strong.

"The queen has entered the Portal of Transit," a specter at the castle gate informed Sophie.

Hearing that Big Shot had already gone through so early, Sophie also wanted to go and see, having no use staying behind and feeling quite frightened.

Suddenly, Sophie paused, curiosity piqued. Why did all of Alex's troops call her "queen"? Was it at her request?

Sophie, finding herself alone with the specter, quietly asked, "Hey, why do you call her 'queen'? Did she ask you to?"

The specter, faced with such a naive question, looked at Sophie as if she were a fool.

"Because the queen is the new ruler of our undead race."