Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Alex had finished her modest portion of food quickly, just as the undead outside began to return, carrying the bodies of the Hobgoblins.

"Take your time, I'm going to check outside," she said, setting down her fork and standing up from the kitchen table.

In the courtyard, the undead were methodically placing the Hobgoblin corpses into the Blackwater Altar. Given the small stature of the average Hobgoblin, a single gargoyle could grasp four of them in its two hands.

There were only about one hundred and twenty Hobgoblins in total, each at least level 5, including two at the Commanding level—the Hobgoblin Brute and the Hobgoblin Mage.

Alex surmised that these one hundred and twenty Hobgoblins constituted a complete squad sent to investigate the demise of the Goblin tribe. Due to the presence of only her and Chi-Chi's castles nearby, and her castle being shielded by the Specter Chandelier, the Hobgoblins had failed to detect her fortress.

Even if they had, it would have been futile; Alex's castle was guarded by over two thousand undead, against which a mere hundred Hobgoblins stood no chance.

Hobgoblins, being a technologically advanced but physically weak intelligent species, were no match for Alex's forces, prompting her decision to transform them into ordinary undead.

One by one, the undead enhanced by the Blackwater Altar emerged, each now above level 5, significantly bolstering the overall strength of Alex's undead army. Otherwise, despite their numbers, most of Alex's undead were only at level 1 and incapable of leveling up.

At that moment, Alex noticed a particularly imposing undead climbing out of the Hobgoblin Brute's corpse. This undead, engulfed in blue flames and wielding dual swords, was a death conqueror. Its body was larger, clad in black floating armor with blue flames burning within, and even its undead horse was draped in thick battle armor.

If the previous death knights and death conquerors were akin to light cavalry armed with scythes, this Commanding level death conqueror was an upgrade to heavy cavalry.

[Shadowghast Knight]

[Race: undead race]

[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]

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[Life Tier: Commanding level]

[Level: lv1 (non-upgradable)]

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

[Mana Points: 20]

[Strength: 44+3]

[Stamina: ∞]

[Agility: 35+3]

[Growth Limit: Monarch level]

[Enhancement: Soul, all attributes +3.]

[Skill: Death Charge]

Death Charge: A charge initiated by an army of death conquerors formed from soul flames.

The Shadowghast Knight was likely the final form of a death conqueror, now equipped with an additional skill—a significant improvement.

Alex then turned her attention to the undead emerging from the Hobgoblin Mage's corpse, hoping for a grand slam.

A thin mist rose from the small body of the Hobgoblin shaman, coalescing into a humanoid undead wielding a long sword, standing about 6.3 feet tall—roughly the height of an adult human male.

Could the size of the transformed undead be related to the size of the original body? The undead from the Hobgoblin Brute's body was large, while that from the Hobgoblin Mage was smaller. Had Alex not seen it summoned from the Hobgoblin mage, she might have mistaken it for a mere zombie, albeit one armed with a weapon.

[Black Warrior]

[Race: undead race]

[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]

[Life Tier: Commanding level]

[Level: lv1 (non-upgradable)]

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

[Mana Points: 20]

[Strength: 32+2]

[Stamina: ∞]

[Agility: 34+2]

[Growth Limit: Commanding level]

[Enhancement: Body, all attributes +2]

[Skill: Vertical Slash]

Vertical Slash: The skill activates instantly, tripling Agility and doubling Strength, delivering a downward slash that can tear apart both the flesh and soul of an enemy.

Indeed, the attributes of the Commanding level Black Warrior were significantly lower than those of a Shadowghast Knight of the same level. However, Alex found the skill intriguing; while other undead had flashy attack methods, the Black Warrior's was a simple yet potent slash, which Alex suspected to be very powerful. In summary, it was short-ranged but highly explosive.

All the undead were becoming larger, except for the Black Warrior, who was an exception—not only did it not increase in size, but it actually became smaller.

The Black Warrior wielded a narrow straight sword, not a katana, and its entire body was clad in black armor. If not for the strong scentof decay surrounding it, from a distance, it might be mistaken for a human.

Just then, Chi-Chi, having finished her lunch, came out and was startled to see new undead continuously emerging from the Hobgoblin corpses in the dark waters of the Altar.

She suddenly remembered Alex's warning about the danger of stepping into the Altar, fearing she might end up as a pile of bones herself.

"Miss Alex, is this also a special building?" Chi-Chi asked, intrigued by the structure that seemed to continuously summon undead.

Each Lord's castle had slight variations in its layout, and while Chi-Chi and Alex were in the same location, the differences in their castles were minimal.

In other regions, most castles were built with materials sourced locally—for instance, [Flame Spirit]'s castle was constructed from obsidian, and [QuartzStriker]'s from stones quarried from nearby mountains.

"Yes, it can continuously summon undead as long as there are corpses," Alex confirmed.

"Cool, that's so powerful. No wonder you have so many troops. How come I never get that lucky to have a special building?" Chi-Chi mused internally, slightly envious of Alex's resources.

Alex noticed something amiss—the one hundred and twenty Hobgoblins had transformed into the usual five types of troops: Skeleton Soldiers, zombies, specters, death conquerors, and gargoyles.

Surprisingly, there wasn't a single bone dragon or ghost dragon among them, even though Alex's level 7 Barracks had already unlocked these types. Something must have gone wrong.

Alex had been planning to build an army of bone dragons, but it seemed that plan was prematurely dashed. It might be a hidden attribute that the system didn't mark, possibly due to the Barracks' level being too low, or it might relate to the Blackwater Altar. Alex decided she would conduct her own summoning experiments next time.

"Disassemble!" Alex commanded.

[Congratulations Lord, you have successfully disassembled 120 Hobgoblin corpses, obtaining 118 ordinary equipment pieces, 2 Commanding level equipment pieces, 250 magic crystals, and 79 Essence Shards.]

As expected, disassembling Hobgoblins didn't yield any food, similar to Goblins. Could it be because they are an intelligent race?

But then again, Moon Silver Wolves are also considered an intelligent race, and they drop food. However, it's not entirely the same; lower-level Moon Silver Wolves lack intelligence, which might explain the discrepancy.

Who cares about their food anyway? The biggest gain this time is these 79 Essence Shards.