Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 148: Something unexpected happened

Alex and Sophie each mounted their griffins and flew towards the direction of the incoming dwarves.

Soon, Alex spotted the dwarves riding beasts in the sky. As expected, they were scouts. Upon seeing the undead, they immediately turned to retreat.

Although this wasn't the main base of the undead, the dwarves had already pinpointed a general location. Realizing they had been discovered, they chose to retreat.

Hundreds of dwarf riders circled in the air, turning to flee.

The sky offered an unobstructed view, and even though the dwarf riders were spread out, they could still see each other and the approaching undead.

Sophie quickly played her flute, and the sound spread through the air. Some nearby beasts were affected, flipping backward and throwing their dwarf riders to the ground.

However, the distant dwarf riders, being farther away, were less affected and remained in control.

But the gargoyles were faster than the beasts and outnumbered them. They quickly caught up to the dwarf riders and began cutting them down.

Alex had overestimated these dwarves. This scouting force was merely cannon fodder, with no Monarch levels or even Commanding levels among them—mostly seventh or eighth-level Standard dwarves.

The dwarf riders were equipped with flame-enchanted crossbows, firing red-glowing bolts that ignited anything they hit.

However, such attacks were ineffective against the gargoyles, only slightly slowing their flight.

The gargoyles' tough bodies were resistant to piercing attacks like crossbow bolts. Blunt force from war hammers would be more effective. The flames did no damage, as the gargoyles could absorb them instantly.

Soon, dwarves and beasts began falling from the sky.

Alex didn't pursue them excessively. The gargoyles could handle it. She only killed the dwarf riders within her attack range.

But then, something unexpected happened.

Seeing no escape, the dwarf riders pulled out signal flares from their pockets and ignited them.

Hundreds of dwarf riders, each with a signal flare. Even if Alex acted quickly, she couldn't kill them all at once. Some would succeed.

They were clearly prepared. Even if Alex tried to stop them, it was too late.

The gargoyles could only ensure the dwarf riders didn't escape White Rock Mountains but couldn't prevent them from calling for reinforcements.

White flares shot into the sky, exploding above the undead and dwarf riders.

Boom! Boom!

Alex's heart sank. At the edge of White Rock Mountains, another group of dwarf riders had been lying in wait.

With the signal flares, they immediately flew deeper into the plains, accompanied by a flock of scout eagles.

Chasing them was futile. They were already dispersing, and the eagles made it even harder.

"Big Shot, what do we do?" Sophie asked, panicking. Their location had been completely exposed. Although this wasn't their castle, it was close enough.

Alex remained silent, realizing she had to confront the Silverbeard Clan sooner than planned.

Unbeknownst to them, the signal flares not only indicated urgency or a target but also signaled the presence of a Monarch level enemy.

The dwarf riders were soon all killed, none escaping. Alex led the undead back to the castle.

"If they dare attack, let them come. White Rock Mountains will limit their combat abilities, while we have the advantage with our air force."

Alex felt something was off and began to ponder. Sophie stayed silent, unsure what to do.

The first time the dwarves discovered them was when the sound mage attacked Sophie's castle. All the dwarves were killed, leaving no survivors.

The second time was the attack on the dwarf fortress to rescue the dwarf slaves. Alex flew over but didn't follow the troops and rode a griffin. Even if the dwarves reported back, they wouldn't know Alex's troops were undead.

The third time was the Commanding level dwarf squad. The leader, a lv9 Commanding level with a spiked mace, injured Alex. Their scout eagles and the squad were all killed.

So, only today did the dwarves successfully report back, learning for the first time that Alex's troops were undead.

Dwarves were intelligent and knew the undead's immortality. They wouldn't attack without preparation, needing weapons with soul damage to kill the undead.

"We can't wait for them to attack. We must strike first before they prepare. Once they have weapons to counter the undead, we'll lose our advantage."

Alex's resolve hardened. Waiting for the prepared dwarves would result in heavy undead losses.

As Alex and Sophie returned, Balin Forgeheart also arrived on his griffin. Sophie looked between Balin and Alex.

"Should we still send Balin to infiltrate Grimstone?"

"No, we've been discovered. We must face them head-on."

Alex returned to her castle to gather the undead. The longer she waited, the worse it would be.

She knew nothing about Grimstone's internal strength, but there were undoubtedly Monarch level dwarves, and she didn't know how many.

Sending three Monarch level undead to attack was unwise. They were her key strength and couldn't waste Mana Points on ordinary dwarves.

Alex needed to be cautious. Her troops had a numerical advantage, so she wouldn't take unnecessary risks.

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Frostwind snowy mountain was west of Alex's castle, and Dark Forest was to the east.

Dark Forest was a vast north-south forest, with Chi-Chi's castle south of Alex's, making it adjacent to Dark Forest.

However, the west was no longer adjacent to the snowy mountain but close to the swamp.

Dark Forest extended south to its edge, far from Chi-Chi's castle, about ten times the distance between Chi-Chi and Alex's castles.

In this remote part of Dark Forest, even Alex's undead rarely explored deeply, a Lord's castle stood hidden, undetected by Alex's undead.

This Lord's castle wasn't hidden by terrain but by his own abilities.

Blonde, the Lord's name, was a priest but not a pure one.

Before coming to this world, he had relations with 21 nuns, naming his castle [21 Nuns] in their honor.

Blonde's troops were alchemy warlocks, human but wielding dark alchemy magic.

Yes, the same alchemy magic Alex mastered.

Through dark alchemy, they could even turn inanimate objects into living beings.

They could create undead, though flawed, with weak souls and limited stamina, only able to transform into skeletons.

Even so, Blonde felt fortunate. He knew the power of undead and believed that with a summoning spell, he could quickly amass an army, making first-tier Lords seem trivial.

Though he was third-tier, he thought first-tier Lords were overrated.

Until he discovered real undead, perfect ones, not made by alchemy.

Blonde realized they were natural undead, and though he didn't know why they were there, he was thrilled and sent his skeletons to investigate.

Learning the truth shattered his confidence.

The undead were all troops of a Lord!

He had painstakingly researched undead with his troops, summoning nearly a thousand skeletons in half a month without upgrading his castle or Barracks.

But there were over 5,000 undead near Dark Forest alone.

Blonde had always been resilient, but Alex's power was overwhelming.

Alex could summon all undead, while he could only summon weak skeletons through his troops.

Blonde wondered if killing Alex would grant him her Barracks, letting him reach the pinnacle without alchemy.

But he wasn't foolish. He knew challenging Alex was suicide.

After discovering the undead were Alex's troops, he used alchemy to hide his castle.

Today, Sunset Alliance's campaign in World Chat made Blonde realize they were targeting a first-tier Lord.

He immediately linked it to Alex.

Blonde knew other Lords might have undead troops, but any Lord with undead troops wouldn't be weak.

He understood the terror of undead.

If the nearby undead Lord was their target, Blonde saw an opportunity.

Even if not, they wouldn't tolerate a second undead Lord.

He realized he could ally with them, using them as a stepping stone to attack the undead Lord.

Blonde felt blessed by fate.

"Amen," he prayed.