Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Fight and conquer
It’s worth mentioning that Alex had previously instructed the skeletons to chop wood and quarry stone. After a day and night of continuous work, she had amassed 2,000 stones and 1,000 pieces of wood.

For those undead locked at level 1, hunting might be a bit challenging, but chopping wood and quarrying stone were just right for them.

Today was the third day, and the demand for food among the Lords had dropped again. Seeing this, Alex felt almost embarrassed to be charging a fourfold markup like a profiteer.

She checked the trading post for food transactions and noticed that even the Big Shots, who were on par with Alex, weren’t selling food well either. More and more Lords were starting to trade food at lower prices.

This was a bit tricky.

Alex now had 3,600 units of food in her Warehouse, clearly too much for [QuartzStriker] alone to consume.

“Screw it, let’s list 3,000 units of food for now, see how much we can trade, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll just delist them.”

Since every animal carcass obtained from hunting had to be subjected to Undead Summoning Magic before being disassembled, and now with the addition of the Blackwater Altar, it added an extra step, leading to additional time consumption.

Alex decided to list the food early in the morning, otherwise, if she waited until evening, the selling price might plummet again.

[Hamburger initiated a trade!]

[One unit of food, trading for forty pieces of wood or twenty pieces of stone.]

[Remaining quantity: 3,000 units.]

After listing the food on the trading post, Alex left it to fate. She knew without thinking that the World Chat was probably already full of complaints about her.

If she relied solely on the undead to collect stone and wood, Alex figured the area around the castle would be stripped bare by the undead army.

The system in this world clearly didn’t want these Lords to have an easy few days. If they relied solely on the resources around the castle to survive, probably more than half of the Lords would perish.

If Lords think they can just peacefully develop during the seven-day newbie protection period, they are sorely mistaken. This is a universal Lord, All-Races Battle Royale.

While some might naively think this is just a game, Alex knows better—it’s not just a game, it’s a battlefield.

If you approach everything with a defeatist attitude, death isn’t far behind.

Slacking off in school as a kid? Just quit studying!

Slacking off at work as an adult? Just quit the job!

Even slacking off in old age? Just give up on living!

A life of slacking off is truly dreadful.

If any other Lord thinks Alex is just a pretty girl with white hair, they are dead wrong. Alex will show them what an undead apocalypse really looks like. It’s a battlefield of many races—fight and conquer!

Alex isn’t the type to be soft-hearted or sentimental. Talk about feelings? Sorry, go talk to God.

She grew up in an orphanage, unencumbered by attachments or burdens, and certainly not about to get romantically involved like some other Lords who think they can afford to fall in love after being transported to the continent of Eldoria. Think about surviving first!

Besides, Alex is a beauty herself, not interested in other beauties, and definitely not interested in any man. If she had to choose a partner, she’d rather stab herself with a scythe. She’s not twisted enough to fancy men.

Meanwhile, outside the western side of the castle, in the territory beyond.

Arthur was soaring in the sky, chasing a griffin only one-tenth his size.

The griffin, small and agile, maneuvered swiftly between boulders and trees, using its smaller size to its advantage. In contrast, Arthur opted for a more direct approach, which made the griffin slightly faster.

Roar!

The griffin let out an angry screech at Arthur, trying to intimidate him.

Arthur: ??

Roar!!

Arthur responded with a roar imbued with Dragon’s Presence, instantly wilting the griffin. Feeling the immense fear from Arthur behind it, the griffin was completely intimidated, losing all will to resist Arthur.

The griffin’s anger extinguished instantly, turning into sheer terror as it flew away at full speed.

It flees, Arthur chases, it cannot escape!

With a mighty roar, Arthur unleashed the Nether Dragon Breath from behind. The griffin, sensing something amiss, turned back in shock to find Arthur’s dragon breath thicker than its own body!

In a panic, the griffin tried to roll to the side to dodge, but Arthur’s dragon breath was faster, grazing its wing. Ice crystals quickly formed on the griffin’s wing, and it let out a painful cry.

Losing balance, the griffin plummeted downwards. Arthur dove swiftly, catching up with the griffin and embedding his front claws into it. His massive skeletal frame carried the griffin rapidly towards the ground.

Boom! Arthur, with the griffin in his claws, smashed into the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

At this point, the griffin was barely alive in Arthur’s grasp, while Arthur himself was unscathed. Arthur killed the griffin, then took flight, carrying the griffin’s body back towards the castle.

[System: Your troops have successfully killed a level 7 Cloudwing Griffon, earning eighty experience points.]

Alex: ?!!

Alex, receiving the troop kill notification, was utterly baffled. Without a doubt, the only one in her troops capable of killing a level 7 Cloudwing Griffon was Arthur.

Arthur being Arthur, awesome as always!

Alex knew well the nature of griffins, creatures with the body and claws of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Like Arthur and the gargoyles, they were creatures capable of combat both on land and in the air, though they mostly preferred to circle and attack from the sky.

Alex checked Arthur’s attributes, which, after a night of double experience and a morning of battling, had surely leveled up.

[Bone Dragon King (Arthur)]

[Race: Undead Race]

[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]

[Life Tier: Standard Level]

[Level: lv6 (Can be raised by killing enemies)]

[Health Points: Undead trait, immortal as long as the soul fire burns]

[Mana Points: 110]

[Strength: 60+10]

[Stamina: ∞]

[Agility: 60+10]

[Growth Limit: Divine Level]

[Active Skill: Nether Dragon Breath]

[Passive Skill: Elemental Magic Immunity, Dragon’s Presence]

Arthur had leveled up to lv6, but he seemed different from other ordinary undead; he wasn’t limited to gaining special changes every three levels, and acquiring skills depended entirely on chance.

However, each level up granted Arthur a full ten points in attributes.

With the enhancement from the Blackwater Altar, Alex estimated that even a lv8 Cloudwing Griffon might not be a match for Arthur. It was unfortunate that the Cloudwing Griffon was killed outside the castle’s domain, as there was no feature to inspect the corpse’s attributes within the territory; otherwise, she could have compared them.

Still, Alex felt that the strength of the Cloudwing Griffon was probably similar to that of a gargoyle, perhaps slightly stronger.

No, not necessarily—she almost forgot that gargoyles are undead.

Alex looked up just in time to see Arthur returning to the castle, clutching the body of the griffon with its brownish-yellow fur.