Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 131: Traitors

[Honorable Lords, the leaderboard has been refreshed!]

[Special Announcement]

[Some Lords have chosen to betray and join other races on the continent of Eldoria. They are hereby designated as [Traitors].]

[Additionally, for those Lords who have no desire to participate in the All-Races Battle Royale, there is an option to change your role to [Freelancer]. By doing so, you will give up all Lord privileges, but the native races of Eldoria will no longer see you as an enemy (this option is permanently available and will not remove basic system features such as World Chat).]

[All Lords, except for those who become [Freelancers], will be in opposition to [Traitors]. [Traitors] cannot form Alliances or submit to others. Within a certain range, Lords will be able to sense your location.]

[The leaderboard will now feature a Hunt Ranking, lasting one week. The top ten on both sides, based on the number of kills, will receive final rewards!]

[Lords, make your choices wisely, then fight and conquer!]

"What the hell?!"

Alex was stunned by the sudden influx of new information. The system had introduced the option to change roles.

Alex tried to process the information. The system had pitted Lords against those who had joined the native races, forcing them into conflict.

"Traitors, Freelancers, Lords—this is like evil, neutral, and lawful alignments."

Becoming a Traitor meant no Alliances or submission, essentially preventing them from relocating. Not being able to submit meant the system offered no mercy to these Traitors. It felt like the system was targeting them specifically.

As for Freelancers, it seemed more humane. They could abandon their castles and troops, becoming wanderers without the constraints of a castle, significantly increasing their chances of survival.

Alex guessed that with this new option, more than half of the Lords would choose to become Freelancers. Since there was no time limit, everyone had time to consider and could switch roles at any moment.

"The top ten will receive rewards. No doubt, they will be far more generous than the previous rewards for the top thousand. The system is really going all out to deal with these Traitors!"

Alex opened the leaderboard to check the rankings. The previous five tiers were still there, but a new Hunt Ranking had been added.

The system had marked names in different colors: green for Lords, white for Freelancers, and red for Traitors.

Dead Lords were marked in gray, but since the leaderboard had just refreshed, there were no gray names yet.

Curious about the Hunt Ranking, Alex quickly checked it.

She found her name with a score of 2, tied with over a hundred other Lords, both green and red names. The top spot had 6 points, held by a single Lord, a Traitor.

Alex remembered that the Lord she had killed in White Rock Mountains was a Traitor.

Seeing the rankings could be tied, she realized the top ten could include many people.

Just as she was about to complain about the system's lack of humanity, she noticed a small question mark next to her score.

Clicking on it, she learned that killing a first-tier Traitor earned 5 points, a second-tier Traitor 4 points, and so on. Points could be plundered but only from other participants.

"This is forcing Lords to fight and grow stronger!"

It seemed the Lord she had killed was from the fourth tier.

Alex thought of a loophole: what if she captured a Traitor and had them kill other Lords? This would speed up point accumulation.

But she quickly realized her mistake. The hunt was aimed at Traitors, and Freelancers didn't participate. Lords could switch to Freelancers at any time, making the strategy of using Traitors to farm points ineffective.

For the rewards, Alex decided to give it a shot. She didn't need to be first; being in the top five would be enough to secure a good reward.

The leaderboard announcement quickly ignited the Lords in World Chat.

The news was explosive, hard for many to accept. World Chat was flooded with messages, while Sophie and the others showed no reaction.

Having submitted to Alex, their alignment followed hers. If Alex became a Freelancer, so would they. If Alex became a Traitor, they would too.

[Cat Slave]: "I want to be a Freelancer, free from oppression and abuse!"

[Yellow Bean]: "Heh heh heh, you Lords better prepare for the despair brought by the Hobgoblin kingdom!"

[A Big Banana]: "My cousin is a Traitor. Today, I will uphold justice and show her the power of the Big Banana!"

...

Alex glanced at World Chat, seeing the Lords' reactions.

Looking back at her ranking, she noticed she was still in the first tier.

"[Dracula] is a red name!"

Alex saw Lucian's name in red, indicating he was a Traitor.

The announcement said Lords could sense Traitors within a certain range. The snowy mountain was too large for her system interface to show nearby Traitors, but Alex knew where Lucian's castle was. For the reward, she had to kill him.

Although Lucian hadn't made a pact with the vampires, he had clearly aligned with them, marking him as a Traitor. The system didn't allow any loopholes.

The snowy mountain was too dangerous at night. Alex decided to set out in the morning, planning to circle around the mountain to reach Lucian's castle and kill him.

Meanwhile, in the snowy mountain, Lucian informed Count Nocturne of the new information.

"You mean other extraterrestrial visitors will come to kill you?"

Count Nocturne knew that destroying a castle could kill an extraterrestrial visitor. He pondered this.

The snowy mountain was relatively calm for now. They had been sent to monitor the situation, so staying at Lucian's castle was fine. It wasn't far from the snowy mountain.

Lucian was silent, not expecting the system to pull such a move right after he had aligned with the vampires. He couldn't face the Elemental Alliance or Alex alone, hoping Count Nocturne would help him.

Count Nocturne wasn't too concerned. From Lucian, he learned that the strongest extraterrestrial visitors were only Commanding level, not worth worrying about.

Count Nocturne led Lucian and the vampires away from Frostwind snowy mountain, heading back to Lucian's castle.

During the journey, he had a Commanding level vampire take Lucian's blood back to the family, requesting reinforcements to guard Lucian's castle.

Clearly, Lucian's bloodline was more valuable to Count Nocturne than the contested treasures in the snowy mountain.

With Count Nocturne accompanying him back to the castle, Lucian felt relieved. Count Nocturne was a Monarch level, far stronger than Baldwin.

With Count Nocturne, even the combined forces of the Elemental Alliance and Alex wouldn't stand a chance.

Meanwhile, the Elemental Alliance also noticed Lucian's Traitor status but decided not to act. The memory of the Monarch level battle and Alex's intervention was still fresh.

Fortunately, Samson confirmed that Alex wasn't a Traitor. Otherwise, they feared the two Lords might join forces against them.

This was good news, ensuring Alex and Lucian would no longer cooperate.

After summoning her troops, Alex prepared to sleep.

Eldoria was vast, and there weren't many Traitors. Those Lords were just unlucky, forced to align with local forces to survive, but the system clearly didn't want them to have it easy.

[Night retreats, dawn arrives!]

Time: 06:00 AM

Alex woke up on time, dressed, and tied her hair. She wore the same casual clothes from yesterday, freshly washed.

She planned to circle around the northern edge of Frostwind snowy mountain but couldn't ride Ice Cream, as it would draw too much attention.

With Lucian now a Traitor, Alex feared Samson and the others might kill him first, so she had to hurry.

Checking the leaderboard, Alex saw Lucian was still alive, reassuring her.

She entered the Portal of Transit, arriving at Sophie's place. She planned to ride a griffin, as gargoyles weren't comfortable mounts.

Bathed in orange light, Alex arrived on the continent of Arsen.

There were more undead and dwarves around, forming a lair centered on Sophie's castle. The dwarves had built houses nearby for themselves.

Alex found a Commanding level griffin, not the one Sophie had contracted, but another.

"Big Shot, where are you going this time?" Sophie asked, curious.

"Oh, by the way, have the undead and dwarves spread out to find any Traitors. Notify me immediately if you find any, and I'll take care of them."

Sophie promised to search diligently, knowing the dwarves were familiar with the area beyond White Rock Mountains. If there were Traitors, they were likely aligned with the dwarves.

"Alright, I'll leave this to you. I'm off."

Alex waved and entered the portal, surprising Sophie, who thought she was going to do something in White Rock Mountains.

"So, Big Shot came just to ride a griffin?"

Back at her castle, Alex took off on the griffin, heading north, planning to circle around the snowy mountain. It would take longer but was safer.

The Commanding level griffin wasn't slow, but the detour was cumbersome.

The snowy mountain was too dangerous. Alex didn't want to risk encountering werewolves or Hobgoblins.

After two hours of flying, Alex was still circling the snowy mountain.

Suddenly, she noticed several small black dots in the distance, floating in the air.

"What are those, flies?"

Alex had a bad feeling. Activating her left eye to enhance her vision, she saw the figures clearly.

"People?"

Alex was puzzled, wondering how people could float in the air. Then she saw their black robes and realized.

"Damn, they're mages from the local human mage association. Run!"

Alex turned the griffin towards the snowy mountain, but the mages saw her and gave chase, attacking.

Alex glanced back, startled.

The leading mage was flying faster than the griffin, closing the distance rapidly.

She couldn't keep this up. Alex's mind raced, spotting a familiar area below.

It was the cave where she had defeated the Frost Werewolf!

Alex remembered the cave was halfway up the snowy mountain ahead.

The mage's attack range was closing in.

As the mage chanted, eight magic circles surrounded Alex.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Countless wind blades shredded the griffin into pieces.

Alex teleported to the back of the snowy mountain, reaching the frost cave, a blind spot for the mage.

The cave had signs of being covered, indicating it might be occupied, but Alex had no choice. It was better than being killed by the Monarch level mage.

She cleared her footprints and entered the cave, covering the entrance. Only close inspection would reveal her hiding spot.

The mage, seeing the griffin killed and Alex vanished, searched briefly before leaving.

Inside the cave, Alex stood at the edge, awkwardly facing two tiger beings guarding the slope.

"Uh... hello?"