Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch - Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Barren Plains
On the other side of the Frostwind snowy mountains, unlike Alex’s castle which is situated between the Dark Forest and the Frostwind snowy mountains, this area transitions into a desolate plain devoid of life, known as the Barren Plains.

This territory belongs to a human empire, but it’s on the empire’s fringe. Even the empire itself keeps a respectful distance from the Frostwind snowy mountains.

There used to be a human village here, but now it’s desolate, devoid of any human presence.

Not far from this abandoned village lies the castle of a Lord named [Dracula]. The real name of this castle’s master is Lucian, the very Lord who clashed with Alex last night, and his arm has since healed.

The humans of the village haven’t exactly died; rather, Lucian has granted them unnaturally long lives and peculiar abilities.

Indeed, Lucian has transformed all the humans of this village into vampires, totaling about two thousand.

Located on the edge of the empire and adjacent to the Frostwind snowy mountains, countless people have gone missing here, so the fall of the village didn’t attract much attention from the empire, which inadvertently allowed Lucian to strengthen his forces.

Lucian awakened the bloodline of Dracula upon his arrival, becoming a true vampire. His castle is named after this lineage.

His Barracks naturally summons vampire troops, but only Lucian himself possesses the ability to transform humans into vampires. The transformation of over two thousand vampires nearly drained him.

Vampires require human blood to maintain their longevity and boundless vitality, but the human forces native to Eldoria are overwhelmingly strong.

Some weaker vampires have no chance to feed on human blood. Coupled with human oppression and their natural enemies, the werewolves, these vampires have had to settle for animal blood, which is far less effective but better than starvation.

Since becoming a vampire, Lucian not only gains strength from killing enemies but also from consuming blood, which is even faster than from killing. This is why he needed the werewolf corpses.

“Lester, you will absorb all the blood from these corpses,” Lucian commanded the strongest vampire in his castle.

The encounter with Alex last night made him aware of the gap in their strengths, but his Commanding level subordinates were not present, so Lucian didn’t believe he was truly outmatched.

Lucian has six Commanding level vampires under his command, one of whom, Lester, has reached level 2.

All the werewolf blood absorbed by Lester would significantly boost his strength, making dealing with a bone dragon and a frost dragon a trivial matter.

Lucian thought of Alex’s stunning face and perfect figure from last night, imagining capturing her, piercing her neck with his sharp fangs, and deeply drinking her blood.

Lucian’s vampire troops are not unique, meaning other Lords can also summon vampires, and there are native vampire forces on Eldoria.

Lucian has always wanted to contact them and join them. Only there would he find the highest quality blood and resources, something he has long desired.

“My lord, there are suddenly many gargoyles patrolling over Frostwind snowy mountain. They seem to be searching for our location,” reported a vampire who had been out hunting, appearing instantly in the castle as a shadow.

“I haven’t even gone looking for her, and she’s already searching for me!”

“Send some of you to find her castle’s location and draw those gargoyles away!”

Lucian was now curious about Alex’s troops. Initially, he thought Alex’s troops were bone dragons, but now with so many gargoyles appearing, it seemed unlikely she could summon the entire undead race.

He also checked the leaderboard, where none of the Lord names were associated with the undead, except for a few ambiguous ones. The names of these castles were chosen randomly, revealing no clear intent.

Lucian guessed Alex was one of them. Once the beast tide was over and he found Alex’s castle, he planned to capture her and bring her to his castle to provide fresh blood daily.

Lucian smiled wickedly.

…

Meanwhile, Alex felt much relieved with her necromancers, though she didn’t completely neglect them and occasionally helped with summoning.

As the number of undead increased, the wildlife near Alex’s castle was nearly extinct, with most animals migrating to farther areas to survive, likely considering Alex’s castle a forbidden zone.

Moreover, as the undead’s levels increased, killing simple wildlife like boars or chickens became less effective, and the undead army’s range of activity expanded.

Some undead had even started hunting near Chi-Chi’s castle.

The current situation was no longer sufficient for the undead’s leveling, so Alex began arranging for them to hunt on the outskirts of the snowy mountain and the Dark Forest. These areas still harbored many high-level beasts, providing a good source of experience.

With Frostwind snowy mountain being so vast, it naturally housed more than just frost dragons, Moon Silver Wolves, and stone giants. There were also creatures like Frost Sprites, ice bears, and snow foxes.

With the absence of the Moon Silver wolf lair, the snowy mountain was relatively safer. Plus, with the angels having killed the frost dragon, Alex could advance into higher-level maps earlier.

Considering the frost dragon was among the strongest in Frostwind snowy mountain, though not Divine, Alex estimated it was at least Emperor level, possibly even Sovereign level.

And the Moon Silver wolf lair was merely Commanding level, located on the outermost edges of the snowy mountain. There couldn’t be such a huge gap in strength in the middle; there must be other dangerous races present.

Since undead don’t die, Alex let them roam the outskirts of the snowy mountain.

With her current strength, Alex was more than capable of handling the beast tide, but if the beast tide’s intensity was influenced by the Lord’s overall strength or the terrain, it might still pose a challenge.

Given that Alex’s castle was adjacent to two major forbidden areas, filled with countless magical beasts, it was understandable if the beast tide was particularly tough, especially since her castle had been upgraded to a town.

The beast tide brought not only destruction and death but also immense rewards for those Lords who survived, including food, magic crystals, Essence Shards, experience, and other resources.

Alex suddenly thought of Chi-Chi. Her castle was not far from Alex’s, and the scale of their beast tides was likely similar.

Relying on a few Red Blood Gorillas, Chi-Chi would hardly survive the beast tide without Alex’s help.

However, this also benefited Alex greatly. While other Lords gained from one beast tide, Alex could reap rewards from two if she helped Chi-Chi survive.

Once the beast tide was over, Alex’s undead army would reach a terrifying scale.