Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 90: The hostile lords of the Dark Forest

[Night retreats, dawn arrives!]

The next day, Alex woke up promptly at 6:00 AM. Before even getting out of bed, she opened the trading post to check on the status of the ten thousand pieces of equipment.

Fortunately, despite the price drop, they had all sold. Alex collected 50,000 magic crystals, sharing half with Sophie and storing the rest in her Warehouse.

Today, Alex dressed casually in a white, loose-fitting T-shirt, a light blue skirt, white socks adorned with two white bows at the back, and a pair of casual shoes.

She then headed outside the castle and fed some elite food to Ice Cream. Since the end of the beast tide, Alex had stopped sending the undead to hunt nearby. After all, food was no longer useful to her, and the local beasts, peaking at level 3, provided only ten experience points each—hardly enough to level up a level 9 undead to Commanding level.

Alex had now directed the undead air forces to expand towards the snowy mountain, while the ground forces were sent to the Dark Forest. Of course, with only twenty Acolytes, resource gathering was still slow, and some skeletons were needed to assist with chopping wood and mining stone.

The outskirts of the Dark Forest had been stripped bare by the skeletons, yielding 8k wood but only 4k stone per day.

However, the indiscriminate felling of trees in the Dark Forest had drawn the ire of one particular inhabitant.

Unlike the Frostwind snowy mountain, all territories within the Dark Forest were clearly demarcated, and the beasts had a strong sense of territoriality. To claim another's territory, one had to defeat its ruler.

The outermost territory belonged to a level 1 Commanding Bloodrage War Bear, whose territory was not originally on the periphery. However, nine days ago, a castle suddenly appeared in its territory, bringing other creatures with it, which the Bloodrage War Bear perceived as an invasion. It led its kin in an assault on the castle.

But the castle was protected by a strong barrier, which the Bloodrage War Bear could not breach until two days ago when the barrier suddenly disappeared. Many beasts, including the Bloodrage War Bear and its kin, had their minds affected and launched a frenzied attack on the castle.

However, that Lord used purification magic, and most of the beasts were cleansed and regained their senses, naturally leaving the area.

Only the Bloodrage War Bear and its kin continued the attack, but after just seven days, it realized the castle now housed Commanding level forces. It was no match for that Lord and had to leave with its kin in disgrace.

The Bloodrage War Bear had no choice but to relocate its territory to the outskirts of the Dark Forest, driving out the beasts there and taking over their land.

However, it soon discovered that all the trees within its territory had been chopped down by a group of skeletons. Although only at level 1 Commanding, it could not tolerate its home being destroyed.

It immediately led its kin in a brutal beating of the invading skeletons. To the Bloodrage War Bear's dismay, these skeletons could resurrect, making them impossible to kill.

The skeletons, not fools themselves, quickly called for backup from the undead, and the sight of a few dozen skeletons swelling to hundreds panicked the Bloodrage War Bear. It realized it might have to move again...

Among the undead, the Bloodrage War Bear even recognized some Ghouls, which it knew lived in the Dark Forest with a group of Destroyers, holding a territory much larger than its own. It couldn't understand why they would help these skeletons against it. Its bear brain was baffled, only knowing that these skeletons were immortal, and it needed to move.

Just then, the Bloodrage War Bear heard the sound of footsteps on leaves behind it. Turning around, it saw a young man in an open shirt and beach shorts approaching. Floating beside the man was a magic book glowing with golden light, followed by a group of armored soldiers.

Startled, the Bloodrage War Bear recognized this human as the one who had taken over its territory. Without hesitation, it turned and fled. The man did not pursue but instead looked interestedly at the undead nearby.

"Undead creatures, huh? The species diversity in the Dark Forest is truly rich."

The magic book moved in front of the man and began flipping rapidly. A holy light suddenly converged in front of the Skeleton Soldiers, hitting many and extinguishing their soul fires, reducing them to piles of bones that no longer showed signs of reassembly.

The man watched the system's kill log, his expression subtly changing before breaking into a smile.

"So, these are the troops of a Lord."

This was the man's first time venturing outside the Dark Forest, and he hadn't expected to encounter other Lords so soon. For him, eliminating other Lords was an excellent opportunity to grow stronger.

The man, named James, had initially arrived in this forbidden area of the Dark Forest. With seven days of development, he had reached Commanding level.

But he wasn't the only Lord born in the Dark Forest; nearly ten others had started here, though only four survived.

James and the other three survivors formed an Alliance, struggling to survive in the perilous Dark Forest. Any Lord who could live here was no ordinary individual.

James had discussed leaving the Dark Forest to seek development elsewhere with his allies, but being the closest to the edge, he was tasked with this challenging mission.

He had just reached the edge of the Dark Forest when he discovered other Lords' troops, delighting him. He immediately informed his three allies.

These people were all Lords who had survived in the forbidden Dark Forest, so their strength was formidable.

The other three Lords were:

Jareth; Isran; and Halvar.

Among them, Isran was the strongest, at level 4 Commanding, while the other two were levels 3 and 2, respectively. James was only level 1.

Upon receiving James's message, the three Lords immediately led their troops towards this location, not wanting to miss this chance to strengthen themselves.

James immediately engaged his troops with the skeletons, waiting for his allies to arrive.

The skeletons, lacking high intelligence and fear, continued to attack the enemy even though James had the ability to kill them.

However, James's troops lacked the ability to kill the skeletons. To buy time, James was not in a hurry to finish them off.

During the battle, a Ghoul from the rear turned and left. It wasn't fleeing out of fear but because it possessed some basic intelligence. Knowing the undead were no match for this human, it needed to report back to the castle for reinforcements.

James watched the departing Ghoul but didn't interfere, assuming it was fleeing in fear. He planned to use the Ghoul's escape direction to determine the location of this Lord's castle.

Even without the Ghoul's report, Alex in her castle received system notifications.

[Your lv5 Skeleton Warrior has been killed by an enemy Lord!]

[Your lv6 Skeleton Warrior has been killed by an enemy Lord!]

...

A series of messages popped up, startling Alex. This was the first time her undead had been killed.

Although she didn't know where the battle was taking place, the continuous notifications, all involving Skeleton Soldiers, zombies, and death knights, indicated they were all ground troops.

Thus, Alex quickly deduced that the battlefield was likely in the direction of the Dark Forest.

If native creatures had done the killing, Alex might have needed more information. But since it was an enemy Lord, she didn't need to worry. The strongest Lords currently were only at Commanding level, posing no threat to her.

All the air forces in her castle had gone to the Frostwind snowy mountain, and the bodies had all been summoned, with the necromancers also dispatched for leveling.

"Shoot, I have no mount..."

Just then, a specter flew over. It had encountered the Ghoul en route and was coming to deliver a message to Alex.