Chapter 1547 Chapter 1376: Snowy Night
Snow fluttered.
Pure white snowflakes descended and landed in the silent fortress. Apart from the soldiers serving sentry duty above the city walls, the rest had returned home or headed to pubs and enjoyed alcohol by the warm bonfire. But the peaceful atmosphere couldn't conceal their nervousness. They knew that the sinister, large-scale Undead Army would launch their attacks anytime. It was due to this that the soldiers appreciated such tranquility because this might be the last time that they could gossip, chat idly with their companions, whistle at flirtatious dancers, or accompany their families and loved ones.
However, the war had already begun for some.
"The skeletons are insane. They sent five scout squads in three days."
Alex tossed the report on the table and shrugged. The enemies had been dispatching scouts increasingly quicker and their range widened. But it was a pity that they had lost the instant they stepped into his territory. He definitely wouldn't deal with every single scout by himself. The reason why he took the initiative the first time was because he wanted Ben and his men to witness how powerful the Undead Creatures were and he didn't need to worry about them thereafter. Maggie and Scarlett were more than powerful enough to eliminate them.
But Alex was resentful that perhaps he had been too much high profiled catching the enemy that the enemies no longer sent high-level creatures like the Liches or Vampires. Instead, the enemies dispatched low-level Skeleton Cavalrymen and Specters. It was apparent that they were using their advantage in quantity for their intelligence gathering and avoiding leaking crucial information to Alex. He was left with no choice. There wasn't any value in capturing low-level Undead Creatures without much wisdom and information. Besides, they held low attribute values and weren't comparable to a Zombie Puppet like Anna. Alex discovered that even though she appeared as respectful as a lowly Undead Creature, she was at least level 75, which was higher than most of his aide. Although she was groomed as the trusted aide of a Lich, it wasn't strange that she held such strength.
The only flaw about Anna was that even though her level was higher, her skills were rather uniform. She learned undead spells, some alchemy skills, and minimal elemental spells, but they were only low-level spells like the lightning chain and fireball. However, Alex was surprised that Anna's alchemy skill level was high. Judging from a player's point of view, her alchemy skill had reached an advanced level, which was the standard of an Elite Alchemist. But it was inevitable since a Zombie Puppet's duty was to serve the Lich and Lich didn't need food, water, sleep, or mate. The Zombie Puppet's service to the Lich was naturally the management of spells and production of alchemy spells. Since she had been valued highly by the Lich to become a Zombie Puppet and was even chosen to become the experimental product of a Zombie Puppet, it proved that she was outstanding in her work. If not, the Lich wouldn't have chosen her for such an important experiment.
Another surprised came about. As Vandal's trusted aide, Anna knew his potion research, recipes, and techniques inside out. It went without saying that the Undead Creatures were expert in undead spells. On the other hand, it was the technique and essence of their poison that he valued highly. Undead Creatures had no moral values and it was apparent from how they turned a living human like Anna into a Zombie Puppet. The Undead Creatures gathered data through cruel experiments on humans to perfect their potion concoction and process. Even though some fallen Liches and Necromancers had also done this, they were the minority, after all. Besides, it was reprehensible and they would be doomed if they were found. However, it was different in the Dali Kingdom. Research on living creatures was officially permitted. Liches could publicly dissect their slaves and even if they chopped and sewed them up afterward, no one would utter a word.
Through such bloody and cruel means, the Undead Creatures had invented unique techniques such as the 'Flesh Cream', where a small amount of herb would be refined and produced an alchemy medicine. Anna had provided him with that. As long as one who wasn't gravely injured applied the medicine on one's wound, one could recover in a short period of time. This method was simple, effective, and cheaper than the healing potions by almost half. Alex knew how useful this medicine would be for the army. And ironically, this medicine was only a sub product which Vandal had conveniently invented while experimenting on a main, flesh-eroding spell.
Almost every alchemy recipes that Anna provided was attained through the sacrifice of thousands of lives. Of course, he felt no psychological stress on this since the ones trapped in the poison gas chamber or gunned to death before getting dissected weren't him. Besides, literarily, those who died were also humans and they used their lives to create things that benefited other humans, so they weren't sacrificed in vain. Alex copied every recipe and handed them to his alchemist for testing. Whereas for the poison and other recipes that would leave Lapis blushing in embarrassment, Alex's didn't pass them to her.
In fact, he also had the intentions of building a group of alchemists around Sara. There were no doubts with her abilities and she was pure and kind-hearted, after all, which was a good and bad thing. There were many things that alchemy potions could achieve. Besides, he also knew from the record that Barney's Family, his alchemist family had several dark, evil alchemy techniques and one of the most popular was their outstanding 'blood alchemy'. This was their origin and the reason why alchemical elves and other elves parted ways. That Family was the foremost expert in body modification. Alex didn't believe that she knew nothing about that. No matter what, she was the final heir to all the wisdom of her family and it would be ridiculous if she didn't know the core secrets of the alchemical elves. But his alchemist refused to mention anything and had never applied them. Since she opposed them, Alex didn't find it nice to force her to use them.
On the other hand, Anna was different. Thanks to the Lich, she lacked the slightest morality that existed in the Mainland and Alex needed such a subordinate. Those who grew up in the Mainland had more or less received guidance from humans, and unless they hated humans to the core, even there would be days where barbaric bandits discover their conscience. It was impossible for Alex to appoint any humans to do such crazy things.
A subordinate like Anna who lacked the 'mainstream moral values' was even more precious. She fit Alex's requirement and as a Zombie Puppet, he restrained her every movement, which was why he kept her for some unscrupulous activities. But it was a pity that he couldn't take actions as the Valkyries Army was distributed all around the fortress. He wasn't interested in starting a war in his fortress.
Alex let out a chuckle, sat on the chair, and gazed out of the window at the snowy scene.
"It seems that the Undead Army is approaching soon. Any concerns to raise?"
"All we can do is to strengthen our defense now."
Cecilia knitted her brows, pondered for a moment, and replied softly. On the other hand, Alice nodded. In this huge meeting room, apart from Alex's close aides, Ben, Fred, Selena, and their men were also present. Of course, representatives from the nobles, army and Mila, the leader of the Valkyries Army was also present.
Everyone discussed softly after hearing Alex's question.
He looked at everyone and felt a slight sense of accomplishment as an overlord. Now he finally understood why real world rulers often organized meetings every other day: it felt rather great.
"But Sir Overlord, the intelligence we received is incomplete. If we rely solely on that… We are still unable to accurately judge the enemies' quantity and strength based on the young lady's report."
Fred stood up and said. He pondered hesitantly at the thought of Anna and continued.
"This is a problem."
Alex nodded in agreement. In fact, Anna was captured rather early. A few days had passed, but the Undead Army didn't take any action, which worried him. No action was usually good news, but he knew that it wasn't that simple. Even though the Undead Army was flexible in their maneuvering, he knew that some high-level creatures had slow movements, but held massive strength and defense, like the Abominations. They were as though movable hills with rock-solid skin. He was concerned that the Undead Army didn't launch their attacks as they were waiting for the arrival of the Abominations. Besides, it was crucial for them to gather the enemy quantity and this wasn't as simple as determining how long they could hang on in the battle.
Alex did not send out scouts because the Undead Creatures were scheming. As soon as his scout was captured, the entire situation in his fortress would be crystal clear to them and all his efforts in wiping out the enemy scouts would go to waste.
"Are there other concerns?"
"In… In terms of supplies…"
Their alchemist raised her arm timidly as everyone gazed at her.
"Sir Alex… We should have sufficient supplies, but with the increase of people in the fortress… We may be running out of them sooner than expected…"
"The Valkyries Army is around to share our burden."
Alex gestured for her to calm down.
"We don't need to produce more magic arrows and there isn't time for that. So, from now onward, you can try to produce other flammable items. They are easier to make, convenient and won't take too much time."
"Okay, Sir, I understand."
She let out a sigh of relief. She nodded and sat down.
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnovel(.)com