Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

This might have been the most Cain had ever spoken, as he shared his ordeal with his three allies.

All three were astonished, realizing that Cain's homeland was a hundred times more dangerous than their own.

"That's really thrilling; I've never even seen a dragon before," Ivy remarked, while Samson was drawn into a moment of reflection.

He vividly remembered the battle between two top-tier powers in the snowy mountain. Being inside the snowy mountain, he felt the distant tremors more acutely. If not for the newbie protection, those vibrations alone could have collapsed his castle.

Since Samson's castle was situated lower, surrounded by towering snowy mountains, he didn't know what creatures were fighting. Although unsure of the creatures, he doubted anything could be stronger than a dragon.

Samson thought better of voicing his thoughts; firstly, it would only add to their worries, and secondly, he could already imagine what Ivy would say next.

"Hey, your place is that dangerous, and you haven't made it to the top one tier yet?"

If Ivy said something like that, Samson would feel even more embarrassed.

...

Meanwhile, the scouting team from the Starfallen Empire was resting by a river, feeding their warhorses. The scout who had been leading the way returned, dismounted, and immediately approached Captain Mos.

"Captain Mos, we've discovered four castles of extraterrestrial visitors ahead!"

"Hmph, it must be those damned extraterrestrial visitors who killed His Majesty's subjects. Follow me, let's eliminate these extraterrestrial visitors!"

Captain Mos was shrewd. His team, all at Commanding level and part of an elite guard squad within the empire, had been assigned to this desolate area to investigate the cause of a small village's demise. The hardships of traveling and camping out were unbearable for them, accustomed to a life of luxury.

The appearance of extraterrestrial visitors was timely.

Whether these visitors were responsible for the village's slaughter was no longer important. By killing them and pinning the blame on them, Mos could complete his mission and return to the empire.

Mos was inwardly pleased with the sudden appearance of a scapegoat, but he maintained a serious demeanor as he issued orders to his subordinates.

The group rode their warhorses at full speed towards the location of the extraterrestrial visitors' castles.

At this moment, the Lords were still unaware of the impending threat, all gathered in Cain's castle talking.

It wasn't until a noisy commotion erupted outside that a flame spirit hurried into the castle, alerting them to the trouble.

The four Lords stepped outside and saw a group of human knights battling with elemental troops.

"Native humans?"

Cain voiced his confusion, having never seen native humans before.

"They must be troops from the Starfallen Empire."

Earl, familiar with his surroundings, naturally knew his castle was within the territory of the Starfallen Empire.

Samson quickly assessed the battlefield. Although there were only twelve of them, each was at Commanding level. Now that these native humans had discovered them, they couldn't let these knights live to report back.

While eliminating these knights would also arouse suspicion from the Starfallen Empire, it could at least buy them some time.

They didn't know why the human troops had found them, but regardless of the reason, they couldn't just stand by.

"Earl, Cain, you two are the strongest here. Flank them from behind to cut off their retreat. Ivy and I will lead the troops to hold them off at the front."

Samson's strategy was sound; they needed to annihilate these humans.

Cain immediately led his troops, transforming into a blaze of fire and soaring into the sky, while Earl burrowed into the ground.

With the strength of these four Lords, each had at least three Commanding level troops. The Starfallen Empire's cavalry, numbering only twelve, posed no threat to them.

Mos was still commanding his subordinates to attack these troops, but as time passed, he realized these troops seemed virtually indestructible.

Huge stone giants, fire elementals burning with flames, tree beings made of wood and vines, and flying snow maidens filled the battlefield.

"Elemental creatures?"

Although Mos had only heard of elemental creatures and had once seen a terra creature, which was somewhat different from Earl's earth monster, the fact that they were all composed of earth elements and had undead properties confirmed his suspicions.

"This is trouble. Damn, I should have called those arrogant mages from the magic association's branch."

Mos was already considering a retreat, as they had no effective means to combat elemental creatures.

But seeing Samson and Ivy appear ahead, Mos smiled again.

Why bother with these elemental creatures? Why not just kill these Lords?

"Kill these extraterrestrial visitors!"

Boom! Boom!

Behind Mos, several balls of fire descended from the sky, forming a human figure and several flame spirits, while the ground beside them began to churn as stone and mud coalesced into a humanoid form.

It was Cain and Earl, who had flanked to the rear with their troops.

Cain's lower body was entirely aflame, his hands forming two fireballs. With flames jetting from beneath him, he shot towards one of the knights like a cannonball.

Cain tackled the knight off his horse, pinning him down with both hands. The intense heat quickly melted holes in the knight's armor, and the knight was consumed by flames in an instant, losing his life.

Facing the knights charging at Earl, Earl calmly placed his hands on the ground. The earth around the knights immediately softened, as if Earl had breathed life into it.

The earth controlled by Earl shot up, enveloping three troops in pillars of mud, which hardened into stone columns as they rose.

The three troops were trapped by Earl without any chance to resist.

The Commanding level earth monsters and flame spirits were overwhelmingly powerful, immune to physical attacks, making them invulnerable to the knight troops' assaults.

The flame spirits, acting like powerful artillery, and the high-defense, robust earth monsters served as frontline shields. Their massive size and strength meant that even their basic attacks were devastatingly effective against the human knights.

Such was the strength of top one tier Lords.

Facing these lower-level Commanding level troops, they could easily handle them.

And Samson, a dignified Lord of elemental creatures, was now clad in frost armor, wielding twin wolf claws, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the troops.

Despite the boost from his melee gear, not everyone is naturally skilled in combat.

Samson's armor bore several scratches, marks from the knight's sword strikes. If not for his armor, Samson wouldn't know how many times he'd have been wounded.

Even Ivy was shocked by Samson's approach.

"You, a mage, going up to brawl with knights?"