Chapter 11: Conquest
Kaito's skeletal frame stood by the newly dug foundation pit, overlooking his burgeoning undead legion.
Two hundred Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers, six Generals who had already ascended to Tier 3, plus himself—a freshly minted Tier 2 Ruler.
He raised his bony hand, flexing his five finger bones nimbly.
He could feel the death energy flowing within him, several times more potent than before.
Speed, strength, and the intensity of his Soul Fire had all achieved a qualitative leap.
He was confident now. If he ran into that burly villager who had chased him all over the place again...
He could let the guy experience what it meant to have a power gap that was only a little bit wide. (Note: "A little bit" implying a huge gap, internet slang).
"The power scaling of this world is still a mystery, but if I can't beat them, I can definitely outrun them."
Kaito's Soul Fire flickered, an unprecedented ambition surging in his ribcage.
The era of "turtling up and farming" was over.
Now, it was time to let this forest feel what the Undead Scourge truly meant!
He spun around abruptly, facing the two hundred skeletons lined up in formation, and let out a deafening roar through the soul link.
"Whole village, move out!"
"It is time to become the true masters of this land!"
Clack! Clack! Clack!
The uniform sound of bones colliding merged into a flood of white. More than two hundred skeletons stepped forward simultaneously.
Following their Ruler, they launched their first true expedition into the depths of the forest.
This was no longer a sneaky armed patrol, but a naked conquest.
Wherever the legion passed, silence reigned.
Skele-Pride took the lead. The pressure of a Tier 3 Berserker made weaker beasts prostrate themselves on the ground, shivering.
The bone-cleaving greatsword in his hand was no longer the rough version from his birth.
The blade was covered in dense, backward-curving bone spurs. Every swing brought a screeching tear through the air.
A blind giant wild boar charged out of the forest, trying to defend its territory.
Skele-Pride didn't even look back. He swung his sword in a backhand strike.
Squelch!
The greatsword sliced through the boar like tofu, splitting the several-hundred-pound beast in half. Scalding blood and entrails spilled all over the ground.
He didn't even bother to glance at the result, continuing forward as if he had merely swatted a fly.
Kaito followed a simple principle: Do not kill cubs. Do not touch small animals.
This was a strategic consideration for sustainable development.
But any aggressive creature that dared to provoke them would be torn to shreds by this legion of death in an instant.
The flesh and blood of slain beasts would become the hotbed for newly born skeletons.
And the wild skeletons wandering in the forest were mobile sources of troops.
Whenever a new wild skeleton was discovered, Kaito didn't even need to give an order.
Skele-Greed would efficiently direct a portion of Skeleton Soldiers to surround and dismantle it.
Then Skele-Pride would step forward and activate the [Undead Resurrection] authority granted by Kaito.
In just half a day, Kaito's legion snowballed to three hundred.
Three hundred Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers formed a battle array, moving silently through the forest.
The massive aura of death made even the sunlight seem a few degrees colder.
As the legion pushed deeper into the forest, Skele-Envy at the front suddenly stopped.
His vision, evolved to Tier 3 and capable of seeing the texture of leaves a hundred meters away, locked onto a deep, dark cave.
At the entrance of the cave, over thirty Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers formed a loose but definite defensive formation.
They were not wandering wild skeletons.
They were organized.
Organization meant there was a stronger existence behind them.
"Pride."
Kaito waved his hand forward.
Skele-Pride charged alone at the thirty-plus skeletal guards without hesitation.
It was a massacre without suspense.
In front of a Tier 3 Berserker, Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers were as fragile as rotten wood.
Every swing of the greatsword sent bone fragments flying into the sky.
In less than a minute, only a messy pile of parts remained at the cave entrance.
Kaito walked forward slowly, activating Undead Resurrection to convert these thirty skeletons into his new recruits.
"Gluttony. Take eighty soldiers. Scout inside."
He wasn't swept away by the easy victory, maintaining the necessary caution.
"Yes!"
The Tier 3 Great Shield Skeleton, Skele-Gluttony, banged his door-sized shield on the ground, making a muffled thud.
Behind him, eighty Skeleton Soldiers immediately stepped out, formed a tight phalanx, and poured into the pitch-black cave.
Kaito sank his entire mind into the soul link, quietly waiting for feedback from the front.
One minute.
Two minutes.
The cave was dead silent, save for the clack-clack of bones stepping on stones.
Suddenly, Skele-Gluttony's soul message arrived.
"Ruler. There is only one skeleton inside."
Kaito's Soul Fire jumped violently.
Only one, yet it could command over thirty Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers as guards?
This was definitely a big shot!
"Pride, Wrath, Envy, Lust. With me."
"All other units, hold position and stay alert!"
Leaving the main force behind, he took only his four Generals and strode into the cave.
The cave was filled with a dense aura of mana and a faint smell of decay.
Twisted runes Kaito couldn't understand were carved on the walls; some were glowing faintly.
At the end of the cave, in a spacious stone hall, he saw the figure.
It was a skeleton entirely grayish in color, with two eerie clusters of purple Soul Fire burning in its eye sockets.
A Tier 3 Skeleton Mage.
At its feet was a bizarre magic circle made of bones from dozens of different creatures.
In the center of the circle, a wolf skull was being slowly decomposed and reshaped by purple energy.
It was conducting some kind of necromantic experiment.
"Interesting."
Instead of being nervous, Kaito got excited.
This was technical talent!
Before Kaito could order, the Skeleton Mage spotted him.
The purple fire in its eyes shrank abruptly. It had no intention of communicating.
It raised its hand and fired a dense volley of Shadow Arrows, whistling toward Kaito's group.
Skele-Gluttony, who had been waiting for this, roared. His massive bone shield slammed down in front of the group.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Shadow Arrows slammed into the giant shield, creating a series of muffled explosions but leaving not even a scratch.
On Skele-Gluttony's shield, the energy from the absorbed attacks converged into a point of light, then suddenly flared.
"Devour Counter!"
HUM—
A visible shockwave rippled out from the shield's face, shaking the dust in the entire stone hall into the air.
The Skeleton Mage staggered from the shockwave, its casting rhythm instantly disrupted.
The skeletal warhorse let out a silent neigh. Skele-Wrath turned into a black bolt of lightning, his lance aimed straight at the Mage's chest.
Skele-Pride followed closely, leaping high into the air, his bone-cleaving greatsword chopping down with the weight of a mountain.
At the same time, Skele-Envy at the entrance had already drawn his bow.
His ghostly blue Soul Fire locked onto the Mage's constantly shifting core.
A poison-tipped bone arrow silently cut through the darkness.
As for Skele-Lust... since most of the people here were allies and the space wasn't that big, he couldn't really unleash his magic. But he couldn't let the Ruler think he was useless.
So, he raised his staff, paced back and forth, and waited for an opportunity to bonk the enemy on the head with it.
The Skeleton Mage obviously hadn't expected to face so many powerhouses of the same rank at once.
And a legion with such seamless coordination.
It screeched, instantly condensing a bone shield in front of itself to block Wrath's charge.
Simultaneously, its figure blurred, attempting to use illusions to confuse Pride's slash.
CRACK!
Wrath's lance easily pierced the hastily formed bone shield.
Pride's greatsword ignored the illusions. Relying on battle instinct, he hacked viciously into the Mage's left shoulder, nearly tearing half its body off.
But the truly fatal blow came from Envy's arrow.
The poison-tipped bone arrow threaded precisely through the blind spot of the Mage's defense, striking the violet Soul Fire.
Sizzle—
Like a hot iron plunging into snow, the Mage's Soul Fire flickered violently.
It let out a shrill wail and fell from the air.
Battle over.
Kaito walked up and pressed his bony hand onto the Mage's shattered skull.
[Undead Resurrection].
Moments later, a brand new Tier 3 Skeleton Mage, with loyal purple fire burning in its eyes, knelt on one knee before him.
Kaito assigned it to Skele-Lust's command—after all, it was the same profession.
"What do you remember?"
Kaito asked the new subordinate through the soul link.
He hoped to dig out some intelligence about this world from the memories of this local powerhouse.
However, the new Mage's answer surprised him.
Its soul link transmitted a blank slate and confusion.
Aside from instinctive knowledge of necromancy, everything about its past—why it was here, its origins, its enemies—had been completely wiped clean with the extinguishing and reignition of its Soul Fire.
"Memory formatting, huh..."
Kaito rubbed his chin.
"That's an advantage, but also a disadvantage."
The advantage was absolute loyalty; no need to worry about betrayal or entanglements with old factions.
The disadvantage was that they couldn't serve as intelligence sources.
"Whatever. Doesn't matter."
Kaito quickly made peace with it.
"Whether it smells good or bad, it's meat once it's in my mouth. Being useful is the only hard truth!"
This encounter raised Kaito's vigilance by a level.
If a Tier 3 Mage could be hiding deep in a remote forest, what about outside the forest?
He needed to conduct a grand sweep!
"All forces, hear my order!"
Kaito's voice was transmitted through the soul link to all skeletal units inside and outside the cave.
"Centering on this cave, expand into the entire forest!"
"Target: Sweep away all threatening creatures. Absorb all undead that can be absorbed!"
"I want this forest, from today onwards, to have only one voice!"
"Our voice!"
For the next two days, Kaito's undead army spread out like a giant net.
Sweeping from the center of the forest in all directions.
Countless powerful magic beasts, monsters occupying territories, and scattered undead tribes were crushed into powder before this unstoppable wave.
The size of Kaito's army exploded at a terrifying speed.
Five hundred... Eight hundred... One thousand...
Two days later, when Kaito assembled the army again, standing before him...
Was a massive legion composed of 1,200 Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers!
Even more surprising to him was that during the continuous fighting and devouring, the Skeleton Soldiers under the six Generals showed distinct differentiation when evolving to Tier 2!
Skeleton Soldiers following Pride evolved into Skeleton Swordsmen.
Those following Gluttony developed thicker bones and a heavier shield on their left arm.
Those following Envy evolved into Skeleton Archers.
Kaito was so excited he almost jumped.
He immediately performed an experiment.
He took a freshly resurrected, unevolved Novice Skeleton.
First, he assigned it to Wrath's command and let it participate in a battle.
Then, just before it was about to evolve, he transferred it to Greed's construction team to move bricks.
The result? When that skeleton finally met the evolution conditions...
It didn't show the trend of becoming cavalry like the soldiers under Wrath.
Instead, its skeletal structure became more stable, and its arms became thicker.
"I can determine their evolutionary path!"
Kaito's Soul Fire burned with ecstatic joy.
He would no longer have just a sea of generic undead fodder.
He could possess a true army with complete branches of service, each performing its own duties!
After the immense joy, Kaito calmed down.
He had the scale of a 1,200-strong army, but their living quarters were still a mess.