Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 105: Devouring an enemy's crystal might also yield their troops?

To continuously produce griffins, Sienna would need to submit to Alex, but currently, Alex has no interest in making this witch submit to her.

All 150 dwarf warriors have had their equipment updated, and the older dwarves are left to continue working in the castle. Of course, everyone else needs to work too, but they must be ready to fight when necessary.

"Balin Forgeheart, you're familiar with this area. It's already late today, so start tomorrow. Take a few dwarves and find other suffering kin to rally them. We're still short on hands," Alex instructed Balin Forgeheart, while Sophie was completely unaware of what Alex and Balin were plotting.

"Yes, my lord!" Balin Forgeheart responded enthusiastically. His own village had been raided by another clan, and the Silverbeard Clan, under whose banner they served, had ignored their plight. Balin had grown to despise these clans that had made them homeless. Eventually, Balin and some robust villagers had found Sophie's castle by chance.

The undead don't need rest. After the battle, the skeletons resumed their work, heading out to mine ore.

Alex also dispatched all specters to locate the Silverbeard Clan's stronghold. If they could find Sophie's castle, they definitely weren't too far away, certainly within the bounds of the White Rock Mountains.

"Dare to attack my castle, better not let me find you!"

Alex walked towards Sienna, pulling Sophie along before leaving.

"Ah, what are we doing?" Sophie asked.

"I'm giving you a mount."

"Don't you want one for yourself?"

"Have you seen the dragon in my castle?"

Sophie had nothing to say to that—okay, you win...

Sienna, still thinking Alex was coming to kill her, was surprised when Alex ignored her and walked straight to the griffin. After some coercion, Alex finally forced the griffin to sign a contract with Sophie, making this Commanding level griffin her mount.

Sophie was thrilled. Although her own power wasn't as great as her mount's, having such an impressive mount was truly prestigious.

Initially, Sienna had brought dozens of griffins, but most were killed in the battle with the gargoyles, leaving only about a dozen alive.

"Not enough, huh?"

"Hey, where's your castle?" Alex asked Sienna, who just turned her head away, ignoring Alex.

"I see you don't understand your situation, do you?" Alex approached, looking down at Sienna from a position of authority.

"Hmph, you're dreaming! Pah!" Sienna spat.

Huh? Ignorance is bliss, huh?

Alex was certain this person was not normal. She then unfroze Sienna, handed the weapon to Sophie, and let her handle the situation.

"It's up to you now!"

Alex walked away, leaving professional matters to the professionals.

Sophie, somewhat baffled, took the weapon from Alex's hand. How could she refuse a task given by Big Shot?

"I advise you to cooperate nicely."

Sienna glared at Sophie but said nothing, her defiant look infuriating Sophie.

Alex, listening from a distance, timed the interaction. After about fifteen minutes, she figured it was enough.

Alex approached, and Sophie stopped interrogating Sienna. Both stared coldly at Sienna on the ground, who was covered in wounds and breathing heavily, blood seeping from her injuries. It was clear Sophie hadn't held back.

But even in her weakened state, Sienna, being Commanding level, hadn't suffered any real damage; her pain was all an act.

"Ready to talk now?" Alex crouched down to look at the battered Sienna.

"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Sienna looked up at Alex, pleading.

Sienna quickly divulged all the information she knew. Alex and Sophie then mounted the griffin, with Sienna slung across its back. The moment the griffin signed the contract with Sophie, it signified its defection from Sienna's castle.

Not all Lords sign master-servant contracts with all their troops; troop defection is actually quite common for Lords.

Alex and Sophie, riding the griffin, took off towards Sienna's castle. Although they couldn't claim the griffins as their own, after midnight, they could force Sienna to summon a few more. This was much more profitable than simply killing Sienna.

Sophie was experiencing flight for the first time, her hair blowing back in the wind, her face filled with joy.

The griffin's speed was comparable to that of a gargoyle, and though slightly injured and carrying three people—which would definitely affect its speed—it still made good time.

After an hour and a half of flight, they finally saw Sienna's castle, just as it was nearing midnight.

Sienna's castle was almost identical to Sophie's, except Sophie's had been upgraded to a town, while Sienna's remained at level 9.

As soon as Alex and Sophie landed, the defense towers at Sienna's castle gate attacked them.

Alex responded with two fireballs, obliterating them.

"What kind of defense tower is this?"

Between the exploded towers, a blueprint slowly fell to the ground.

Lucky?

Alex picked up the blueprint from the ground and handed it to Sophie without even looking at it, knowing the defense tower wasn't strong.

"Here, build this in your castle when you get a chance."

"Thank you, Big Shot!"

Sophie, who hadn't done much, kept reaping benefits in the background, her heart filled with gratitude and admiration for Alex.

After landing, Alex and Sophie entered Sienna's castle. As for Sienna, Alex unfroze her legs, restoring her mobility, and had her lead the way to prevent any tricks.

Inside the castle, they found about ten griffins below lv3 Standard, likely summoned by Sienna the previous day and too low-level to participate in the battle.

"Hey, summon your troops!"

Alex commanded Sienna to summon troops. Sienna raised her hands to show they were bound and couldn't access the system dashboard.

After unfreezing her, Sienna reluctantly summoned ten lv1 Standard griffins. Now, with about twenty in the castle and the captured ones, there were over thirty in total. For now, that would have to suffice.

Alex walked around the castle but didn't find anything valuable. The special buildings were just the defense towers they'd seen, and the Barracks level wasn't high. Although also located in the White Rock Mountains, there weren't iron mines everywhere, so Sienna's Warehouse was devoid of iron ingots.

Even if there were iron mines, the griffins wouldn't be mining them.

Alex collected all the resources from Sienna's Warehouse. There was a pitiful amount of stone, almost no wood, and very few magic crystals and Essence Shards, but there was a lot of food.

It was clear these griffins, aside from fighting, could do almost nothing else. Sienna was the poorest Lord Alex had ever seen, with virtually nothing to her name.

However, Alex had discovered a system loophole: if she plundered an enemy Lord's castle, she could obtain 100% of the Warehouse's resources, whereas direct killing only transferred 80% to her Warehouse.

The system was taking a 20% cut.

At the top of the castle, Alex found Sienna's castle crystal.

[Enemy Lord's castle crystal detected. Do you wish to devour it immediately?]

[Note: There is a 5% chance of obtaining the subsidiary Barracks crystal of the enemy's castle.]

[Special note: Unique Barracks cannot obtain subsidiary Barracks crystals.]

This was Alex's first encounter with another Lord's castle crystal, and the system also forced a reminder on her.

There are two ways to defeat a Lord: kill the Lord directly or destroy their castle crystal.

"So, devouring an enemy's crystal might also yield their troops?"

Alex muttered to herself, seeing this information for the first time. If other Lords knew this, it would likely intensify the battles between them.

This mechanism provided a chance for Lords with weaker troops to turn the tables, which seemed quite fair.

The special note was obviously for Alex since her Barracks were unique. If it were any other Lord, this note wouldn't appear.

Alex immediately called Sophie over. It was clear that for Alex to devour the crystal herself would be a loss; it was more beneficial for Sophie to do it, with a 5% chance of gaining a subsidiary Barracks.

"Big Shot, I'm here!"

Hearing Alex's call, Sophie hurriedly dragged Sienna to the top floor.

Boom!

Suddenly, a loud noise came as Sienna, whose hands had just been freed, saw no way out and launched a sonic blast attack at Sophie.

Previously, Alex had been by Sophie's side, so Sienna dared not act. It was only when Alex left them on the sixth floor and went alone to the seventh floor that Sienna saw her chance.

Thinking about how to escape, Sienna suddenly heard Alex's voice as Sophie pulled her to the top floor. But as they turned a corner, Sienna saw Alex standing next to her castle's crystal and chose to go all out. Even if she couldn't kill Alex, she wanted to take Sophie down with her.

Although her restored strength wasn't sufficient, Sienna had been observing Sophie and noticed she had no real power. Her sonic blast magic could easily kill her.

"Ah!"

A scream echoed down the corridor.

As the smoke from the explosion gradually cleared, a protective shield of black flames appeared, completely shielding Sophie, who was unharmed.

Sophie had just been startled by the explosion.

Sophie realized she was unscathed and looked towards the end of the corridor. There, Alex stood with one palm facing her direction, her eyes flashing blue, calm and powerful.

"Ah, ah, ah, Big Shot, I love you!"

Joking aside, Alex couldn't let Sophie die.

If Sophie died, and if her castle was lost, how would she return to the undead castle?

Moreover, Alex's plans for development on Arsen had just begun; she couldn't afford any mishaps.

As for how Alex detected Sienna's sneak attack, she had been watching them since they started upstairs. Not all mages can cast spells instantly like Alex.

Sienna's sonic blast, even if fast, required a startup gesture, and at such close range, Sienna herself wouldn't be spared.

She had launched the attack fully prepared to die, and now Sienna, blown away by her own sonic blast, lay nearby, looking as though she was barely clinging to life.

"Don't just stand there, come over here!"

There was no need to bother with Sienna now; letting Sophie merge with the castle crystal was the priority.

"I'm coming!"

Sophie hurried over, still unclear about what Alex wanted her to do.

"Merge with this crystal."

Alex pointed to Sienna's castle crystal and instructed Sophie.

Sophie couldn't believe Alex was passing such a great opportunity to her; she was deeply moved.

Sophie, encountering another Lord's castle crystal for the first time, also received a system prompt.

Sophie looked at Alex, puzzled.

"Big Shot, aren't you going to devour it yourself? I see there's a chance to obtain a subsidiary Barracks."

"My Barracks is unique; I can't have a subsidiary Barracks," Alex explained patiently.

In fact, Alex initially wanted to say, "Isn't yours mine, silly?"

Sophie seemed to understand Alex's intention, hoping she would be lucky enough to obtain the subsidiary Barracks.

Sophie clicked to devour, and the entire castle began to shake. As for other equipment, there was no need to pick it up; it would automatically transfer to Sophie's Warehouse.

Sophie had submitted to Alex, who could access Sophie's Warehouse.

As the castle began to collapse, all resources were transferred to Sophie's Warehouse, and Alex teleported Sophie away from the castle.

The collapsing ruins completely buried Sienna's body.

The griffins in the castle scattered, flying away. The newly summoned griffins had little loyalty to Sienna, and with her death, they naturally fled.

Alex and Sophie, riding the griffin, naturally wouldn't allow these newly summoned griffins to escape.

At this moment, Sophie on the griffin's back was still a bit dazed, probably because the system was tallying the spoils of war. Alex, meanwhile, used Frost Magic to capture them all.

The lv1 Standard griffins were too fragile; Alex had to be careful not to handle them too roughly.

Alex prepared to control the griffin to land, using this Commanding level griffin to intimidate the others and then bring them back.