Ximengsi Continent’s southern part, the vicinity of Steinbeck Fief, outskirts of Needham Plains
Above the wasteland outside the lost Murman Regal Pyramid, dark clouds shrouded the horizon. In the sky where lightning flashed and thunder roared, unusual-shaped figures soared. At this moment, Clyde remembered his own identity; he seemed to have summoned a disastrous creature.
Fortunately, Clyde and the ancient Demon King Andrisno had stopped the ritual in time. If they had continued, they might have summoned Clyde’s companions, the other Great Old Ones. Fortunately, after they halted their summoning, the sky returned to normal, and the storm stopped. However, those rolling dark clouds didn’t dissipate.
In a mysterious space, as several terrifying shadows were about to step into a teleportation gate, it closed. Standing in front of the gate, they could only awkwardly look at the already closed gate. Grimacing, they anguished at how near they had been to passing through and arriving in a new world before their companion had temporarily closed the gate.
“What is that fellow Hastur doing? He actually closed the teleportation gate, truly is not a trustworthy guy.”
“Cthulhu, don’t be impulsive! Wait for a suitable opportunity, just being able to confirm a path is enough.”
Now, the resentful spirits fluttering about Murman Regal Pyramid were not as insolent as before. After sensing an even more terrifying evil energy, those resentful spirits quieted. Although the ritual ended early, the recruitment of an undead legion had successfully completed. Looking around, undead soldiers stood as far as the eye could see.
These undead soldiers were different from the undead resurrected during the undead calamity. Those initial zombies had had very low combat power, but the corpses buried here for several thousand years had kept their own equipment and preserved their combat powers from before their deaths. According to the Dark Demonic Creatures’ List, undead and zombies were classified according to how long they had cultivated: above one hundred years was a Corpse General, over a thousand years was a Corpse King, above five thousand years was a Corpse Emperor, and above ten thousand years was a Corpse God.
The weakest undead of Murman Regal Pyramid ranked at Corpse General. Those who had cultivated for over one thousand years, Corpse Kings, automatically walked towards the front position, presenting themselves for Clyde’s inspection. In the midst of the Corpse Kings, a tall Corpse Emperor emitted a terrifying dark aura. Wearing a sparkling and crystal-clear bone imperial crown, it seemed to rule over the lesser undead surrounding it. Other than its closed eyes, it greatly resembled a living person. A legendary Corpse God existence could achieve the same state as a living person.
“Lord Evil God, thank you for summoning me. Please issue an order.”
“First, consolidate the undead under your leadership; I will issue some orders afterward.”
Clyde was not good at commanding soldiers, so he simply delegated the authority to that Corpse Emperor. With this dark summoning, he had recruited several hundred undead to form a legion. All these creatures were at least at the Corpse General level, and there were about a dozen Corpse Kings and one Corpse Emperor. There was no Corpse God. According to Andrisno, the corpses that met the requirements of becoming a Corpse God were in that main coffin chamber from before. Those golden pharaoh coffins buried beside Lafania contained existences on the level of a Corpse God.
Although small in number, these several hundred Corpse Generals had a sufficient combat power. Each Corpse General could summon many undead by themselves; in addition, the enemies killed by them had a certain probability to transform into a footman-level undead, quickly enlarging the horde. Thus, Clyde didn’t need to worry about manpower.
The skeleton army needed completely decayed corpses, so the mummies here were not suitable; therefore, Clyde had decisively chosen to summon undead. Although he could forcibly summon skeleton soldiers, their combat power would be inferior. Such summons were not cost-effective.
“Clyde, it’s you again! Every time evil reveals itself, I find you at the scene!”
“Cynthia, this is just part of my daily activities. There’s no need to take it to heart.”
While the undead legion was occupied with consolidating itself, Valkyrie Cynthia arrived. Upon seeing Clyde, she sighed and laid down her weapon. Although Cynthia was the strongest Valkyrie of Divine Realm, she was not Clyde’s opponent. After understanding the gap between their strengths, Cynthia didn’t even bother to keep up pretenses especially because no strangers were present.
Calmly gesturing toward her, Clyde signaled for ancient Demon King Andrisno to relax her combat-ready posture, expressing that this Valkyrie was on their side. Andrisno immediately laid down her formidable arms though she remained wary. A Valkyrie of Divine Realm, so similar to her arch-enemies from several thousand years ago, suddenly becoming allies left the ancient Demon King at a loss.
“Do you want to destroy Ximengsi Continent? There are so many Corpse Kings!”
“No, no, Cynthia, you misunderstand! I just want to invite some residents to my territory, nothing more!”
“Forget it, you can do whatever you want. Who asked me to already have surrendered to you…”
Cynthia’s face turned red, and she trailed off after beginning her sentence, the rest of it remaining to a listener’s imagination. On one side, the ancient Demon King Andrisno was confused. She was unable to understand the tacit communication between Clyde and Cynthia. Because it was necessary to quickly return to the Divine Realm and report the unusual circumstances, Cynthia planned to return to the Divine Realm before returning to deal with the God’s Shackles sealing Queen Lafania’s coffin.
As for the contents of this report, Cynthia had already decided. After consulting Clyde, she decided to report the appearance of a terrifying demonic creature. Afterward, she would casually capture a Corpse General or Corpse King to fulfill her task. Only after Cynthia had left did ancient Demon King Andrisno return to her senses while gazing at Cynthia’s distant back.
“Lord Clyde, it seems that the Valkyries of this generation are truly good-natured. The Valkyries of my time were all quite rigid and dreadful; they desperately desired to completely obliterate the darkness. They wouldn’t even let a slime off.”
“Cynthia is reasonable. You will find out more later. Well, let’s deal with our proper business first.”
Clyde didn’t mention the matter that had happened between Cynthia and himself in fear that it would twist this ancient demon king’s fundamental beliefs. After the undead legion finished organizing, they didn’t remain. Quickly leaving the Murman Regal Pyramid, they approached the vicinity of Steinbeck Fief. According to Lucifer’s suggestions, they had to prioritize attacking those barbarian races.
Steinbeck Fief had remained ownerless for over a hundred years. Many cities that had originally pledged loyalty to Adrian Empire had taken advantage of that occasion and become independent. This place truly belonged to those types of remote places beyond the reach of administration. The mother state, Andrew Empire, didn’t have the spare military forces to suppress this wasteland. They could only declare them Barbarian Races and not acknowledge the legitimacies of their regimes.
Clyde and ancient Demon King Andrisno led the undead legion toward Steinbeck Fief, intending to consolidate the Suzerain’s authority by suppressing those independent cities.
