Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 155: Baldwin appeared again

By the time Alex and Sophie returned to the castle, it was already afternoon. Looking at Sophie's town and the surrounding mountains, it felt like returning from a city to a rural village.

During their absence, the dwarf mines had been restarted. The dwarves would now settle near the mines. Alex, being considerate, arranged for the undead to handle the transportation of iron ingots, given the difficulty of transporting them over mountain paths. The dwarves only needed to focus on mining.

Once the iron was transported back to the castle, the three Furnaces were put to work—two for smelting ore and one for crafting equipment.

As for the dwarf fortresses around Grimstone, Alex trusted Durin to handle them.

Currently, the Silverbeard Clan was at war with other clans and had no time to deal with Alex. Besides, the rebellion was led by the dwarf commoners themselves, so other clans wouldn't assist the Silverbeard Clan.

Unless the Silverbeard Clan mobilized a large force, reclaiming Grimstone would be unlikely.

Alex hadn't even plundered Grimstone's resources, knowing that maintaining a city consumed a vast amount of resources. She decided to leave those resources for Durin to allocate.

"You should stay here for the next few days. I might have some trouble on my end," Alex told Sophie.

Sophie was worried. She knew the Lords were forming an Alliance to find Alex's castle, which was indeed a big problem. But she couldn't help much, as the dwarves had just started to make progress, and there were plenty of issues to handle.

"Big Shot, are you sure you'll be okay? Maybe you should find an ally. Surely some Lords would be willing to form an Alliance with you."

Sophie knew it was a long shot. With so many Lords targeting one, only a fool would ally with Alex. But there was always a chance.

"Don't worry. Whether they can find my castle is another matter. And being in the first tier doesn't mean invincible. This is my home turf," Alex said nonchalantly. She had been worried before, but now, with five Monarch level undead under her command, she had no reason to fear them.

Moreover, several undead had reached lv9 Commanding level. With the Bone Throne's boost, they could become additional Monarch level forces. How could those Lords compete with her?

If those fools dared to come, her fifty thousand undead army would teach them a lesson.

Alex directed the undead army through the Portal of Transit back to the castle. Proper defenses were still necessary. With Grimstone secured, there was no need to station undead at Sophie's castle anymore. Only the Acolytes would remain to mine.

The iron ingot production had reached a high level, allowing Alex to upgrade her castle almost daily. The Barracks couldn't be upgraded as frequently due to the scarcity of Essence Shards, despite having plenty of magic crystals.

Excess resources could be used to upgrade Sophie's castle, and then Chi-Chi's.

"I wonder what a fully upgraded town will look like," Alex mused, upgrading her town to lv5 and summoning her troops near the Barracks.

Currently, only skeletons and specters were free from level restrictions. Other undead summoned by Alex couldn't level up, which would severely weaken her combat power.

Without quality, sheer numbers wouldn't suffice. As Alex's exploration range expanded, the time spent traveling became a significant drawback.

"Sigh."

Alex sighed. There was nothing she could do but hope for the system's favor.

She glanced at the distant snowy mountain. The constant blizzards had finally ceased, though the massive cracks in the ground remained.

It seemed that with the emergence of the Godhead, the snowy mountain's influence was waning. Perhaps it wouldn't remain a snowy mountain in the future.

A dead deity's residual power could alter the landscape, and the Godhead's emergence had shattered the entire snowy mountain.

Alex thought of the battle between the six-winged angel and the frost dragon. Both were Sovereign level, the highest below Divine, causing significant destruction. But compared to a deity, it seemed insignificant.

Of course, the snowy mountain's formation wasn't instantaneous. It was likely a gradual process as the deity's power seeped out over time.

Having flown most of the way and barely fought, Alex's stamina and soul power were nearly untouched. She didn't need to rest.

Alex went to the kitchen, tied on an apron, and began cooking. Though she hadn't taken resources from Grimstone, she had secretly stashed a lot of food in her ring.

These were mostly vegetables. Alex hadn't eaten well in half a month, surviving on roasted and stewed meat. If she weren't immune to hunger, she would have been sick of it.

Seeing the vegetables, Alex's eyes lit up. She cooked while checking World Chat to see how the Lords were progressing. It had been a day; surely things had calmed down.

But Alex quickly regretted it. The situation had escalated, and the hatred towards her had spread from the first tier to the second tier.

Lords below the second tier knew their place, staying out of Big Shot affairs and enjoying the show, occasionally making snide comments.

In a few days, the number of white names in the channel had increased, almost surpassing the green names of the Lords. This indicated many had switched to Freelancers.

Alex decided to stop reading. The constant vilification had made her a public enemy. Even a fifth-tier Lord dared to call her troops a disaster and an omen in World Chat.

Alex didn't care about these baseless accusations. She finished cooking, served the dishes, and enjoyed her meal of various vegetables and meat soup, looking satisfied.

Meanwhile, at the border of the Barren Plains, a group of human troops arrived.

Leading them was Baldwin, who had been repelled by Alex before. This time, he brought reinforcements, including a Monarch level mage from the Empire's mage association.

With two Monarch levels and ten thousand elite troops, they stood at the ruins of Lucian's castle.

They knew about the snowy mountain incident. The mage was here not only to kill the extraterrestrial visitors but also to investigate the previous mage's death.

Initially, the mage thought his colleague was killed by vampires or werewolves. The Eldoria continent's mage association demanded answers from them.

But the response was that their people had also died in the snowy mountain.

The Starfallen Empire's association branch, being closest, was tasked with investigating.

"Search the area. There are at least six extraterrestrial visitor castles nearby!"