Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 212: Devour centipede

So brazen? Where does he get his confidence from? A Goblin (centipede) Lord reaching Monarch level?

Xiao Mu dissolved into light and reappeared in front of the man, delivering a kick infused with light elements. To his surprise, the man blocked Xiao Mu's kick with his right forearm, not budging an inch.

Before Xiao Mu could react, the man grabbed his ankle and flung him away. Xiao Mu dissipated into light particles mid-air, reappearing as countless laser beams shooting towards the man.

A barrier appeared, instantly blocking all of Xiao Mu's attacks.

He's stronger than me! That was Xiao Mu's first thought. The man smirked coldly, looking at Xiao Mu with disdain.

"I suggest you let the undead Lord come here personally. You're no match for me."

Ignoring the man's taunt, Xiao Mu attacked again. After a few exchanges, it was clear the man outmatched him in both speed and strength.

Seizing an opening, the man's right arm glowed with five purple rings, resonating with each other. He punched Xiao Mu in the stomach, sending him flying.

As Xiao Mu flew back, he felt a wave of nausea, almost throwing up. The man vanished, and the ground cracked like a spiderweb. Just as the man was about to land another punch, Xiao Hui appeared, kicking him back.

The man took a few steps back, looking at the dark elements on his hand. With a clenched fist, he dispelled them instantly.

"Are you the undead Lord?"

Dark magic, a woman—it had to be her.

Xiao Hui helped Xiao Mu up, glaring at the man. "Who are you?"

"I'm Thalor, Simp Knight. I believe this castle ID isn't unfamiliar to you."

Thalor spoke nonchalantly, thinking only the undead Lord was worthy of knowing his name among all the Lords.

"Simp Knight?" Xiao Hui looked puzzled, feeling the name was familiar.

"You're that traitor who almost surpassed Alex in the hunt rankings!" Xiao Mu blurted out.

"Good memory. But I'm no longer a traitor," Thalor said, showing no interest in continuing the fight and instead engaging in conversation with Xiao Hui.

The siblings were stunned. Could a traitor become a Lord again?

"Did you unify the race you defected to?" Xiao Hui asked, recalling Alex's speculation, which turned out to be true.

"Exactly. You and I have no quarrel. These goblins can't harm the undead. They can give you experience points. Why not cooperate and kill more goblins? You'll gain experience and increase your troop numbers.

It's a win-win."

Thalor's words shocked the siblings. It was the first time they'd heard someone asking others to kill their troops. There had to be a catch, but they couldn't figure out why he was doing this.

Xiao Mu guessed that Thalor must have unified the entire goblin race, meaning his defection was part of a larger plan.

"Why are you doing this?"

"That's a stupid question. I refuse to answer. With your abilities, you'll figure it out soon enough. After all, you're the undead Lord. As for information about my abilities, that's classified."

Thalor crossed his arms, looking at the siblings coldly. The brief skirmish had shown him that neither of them was his equal. After tonight, they would never have a chance to defeat him.

Thalor had initially considered allying with the undead Lord, but now he saw that the so-called undead Lord was overrated. They weren't worthy of an alliance with him.

"Also, the hobgoblin kingdom is mine. After you kill these goblins, I suggest you leave. I'm giving you experience points and corpses, so it's not a wasted effort."

Thalor turned and headed back to the teleportation array, ignoring the siblings.

Thalor's arrogance infuriated Xiao Hui. With so many Monarch-level beings on their side, why should they fear him?

"Who do you think you are? We don't take orders from you. The undead Lord will decide whether to fight or not."

Thalor stopped in his tracks. "What did you say? You're not the undead Lord?"

Veins bulged on Thalor's forehead. He felt tricked, having wasted time talking to two lackeys.

"You've wasted my time. I'll teach you a lesson!"

Thalor charged at the siblings, who attacked him together. Xiao Hui wielded a dark blade, engaging Thalor in close combat, while Xiao Mu attacked from a distance.

The siblings coordinated well, making it difficult for Thalor to suppress them despite his superior attributes.

But Thalor's abilities were diverse, with various small skills that caught them off guard.

Thalor's rise to Monarch level was thanks to his troop: the devour centipede. This troop could only exist as one, and its sole ability was to devour.

Devouring different species granted it corresponding resistances, which it then transferred to Thalor.

Thalor had grown stronger through the centipede, gaining diverse abilities and enhanced attributes. The centipede had devoured mostly goblins and hobgoblins, making it highly resistant to hobgoblin shamanic magic. This allowed it to hold off a dozen hobgoblin shamans, though it couldn't kill them, nor could they kill it.

In Simp Knight's castle, only Thalor and the centipede resided. Thalor had initially defected to the goblins to provide his centipede with a constant food source to grow stronger. Goblin offspring had strange bloodlines, which Thalor desired.

As a traitor, Thalor had used the goblins to attack Lords, earning rewards. But after reaching Monarch level, he found leveling up slow.

He decided to wage war. After unifying the goblin race, he discovered a faster way to level up than having the centipede devour enemies.

This method compensated for his slow leveling, while the centipede's abilities provided him with various skills.

Today, Thalor led the goblins to attack the hobgoblin kingdom. His goal was simple: to annihilate the goblin race and then conquer the hobgoblin kingdom.

The goblins, unaware of his true intentions, believed Thalor was leading them to avenge themselves against the hobgoblin kingdom and were attacking with all their might.

...

Thalor and the sibling duo fought to a standstill, but he remained unperturbed, even exuding confidence. The siblings were curious about his confidence, knowing that the undead had far more Monarch-level beings than Thalor.

Xiao Hui glanced at Xiao Mu, and they shared a mutual understanding. If they couldn't defeat him, they would exhaust his Mana Points and let the undead finish him off.

A massive black projectile appeared behind Xiao Hui, crashing down on Thalor. Black mist surged, and countless dark-element spikes flew into it. The surrounding dark elements seemed to come alive, grabbed by Xiao Hui, and swept towards Thalor in the mist.

A large purple ring appeared in front of Thalor, blocking all the attacks. A vortex formed around him, dispersing the black mist.

Xiao Hui had hoped her attack would sever his legs, but Thalor vanished into a blur. He reappeared behind her, green poison mist emanating from his body, even his eyes glowing green. He reached out to grab her head.

Fortunately, Xiao Mu intervened, kicking Thalor's hand away and using several laser beams to push him back. Xiao Mu recognized the ability—it was hobgoblin shamanic magic, capable of draining life force.

Thalor, now with his hands open, conjured blue fireballs and hurled them at the siblings like stones. They dodged and began exchanging long-range attacks with Thalor, causing collateral damage to the surrounding goblins.

"Whoosh—" Thalor exhaled deeply. The fireballs he had thrown split in mid-air, covering the area and hovering.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

All the fireballs exploded simultaneously. Xiao Mu appeared in front of Xiao Hui, a light barrier forming around them, shielding them from the omnidirectional blast.

Before the explosion ended, Thalor charged in, his fist's purple rings bursting with energy. He shattered the light barrier with one punch, sending Xiao Mu and Xiao Hui flying.

They landed smoothly using their elemental abilities, but the pain in their stomachs was unbearable. Xiao Mu lifted his shirt to reveal a purple ring-shaped mark on his abdomen.

"It hurts so much. How did he suddenly get stronger?" Xiao Hui also felt the pain but couldn't lift her shirt to check her injuries in public.

"He leveled up," Xiao Mu said gravely, puzzled by Thalor's sudden power increase. If this continued, wouldn't he just keep getting stronger?

Meanwhile, Thalor's centipede was struggling. The five Monarch-level goblins had to join the fight against the hobgoblin shamans. Seeing the goblins' limited strength, all the Monarch-level hobgoblins converged on the centipede.

With twenty-one Monarch-level hobgoblin shamans attacking, Xiao Mu wondered how Thalor would respond. Just then, goblins stopped emerging from the teleportation array, indicating that all had been transported.

Thalor decisively left the battlefield, no longer entangled with the siblings, who were no longer his match and couldn't stop him. He reappeared in the teleportation array, and with a flash, he, his centipede, and the five Monarch-level goblins vanished.

He ran?!

"He's really decisive. I thought he had more tricks up his sleeve," Xiao Mu said, returning to the undead fortress with Xiao Hui. The hobgoblin shamans, having missed their target, began slaughtering the goblins.

There were nearly 100,000 goblins on the battlefield, including warriors and even elderly goblins who could barely hold weapons. It was a massacre.

"The souls of these dead goblins are disappearing," Arthas said as the siblings returned to the fortress.

"Why are their souls disappearing?" Xiao Hui asked, puzzled. Weren't weaker creatures' souls supposed to linger longer?

"I don't know. It might be related to that Lord's power," Arthas speculated, unable to explain the phenomenon otherwise.

"Though we don't know the reason, it's clear that these goblins' deaths are making Thalor stronger. If I'm not mistaken, he started at level 2 Monarch and leveled up to level 3 as more goblins died, making us no longer his match," Xiao Mu explained his theory, which seemed the only plausible explanation.

Otherwise, why would a few Monarch-level beings dare to attack the hobgoblin kingdom?

"Then we can't summon undead from these corpses. What a waste," Xiao Hui lamented.

"It doesn't matter. Most of them are Standard level. Even if we summoned them, they wouldn't be much use," Xiao Mu reassured her.

The siblings then joined the fray, with six Monarch-level undead guarding the fortress perimeter, relentlessly hunting down the suicidal goblins.

The goblins seemed bewitched, showing no fear. The hobgoblins, seeing the Monarch-level goblins and Thalor flee, initially considered persuading the goblins to surrender. However, they quickly realized these goblins were undeterred, continuing their desperate charge.

Seeing this, the hobgoblins had no choice but to kill them all.