Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Ruby quickly scanned her surroundings and noticed a patch of darkness on the ground. A shadow existing in such a brightly lit area could only mean one thing: a Shadowling.

An invisible slash shot towards the shadow, leaving a massive crack on the hard rock street.

The shadowling, however, split into countless smaller shadows, dodging the attack and flying towards Ruby at high speed. They then merged back into their original form in front of her.

A black dagger thrust towards Ruby's chest, but she parried it with her blade. Spatial energy instantly locked down the surrounding area, but it failed to trap the Shadowling, who dodged again.

However, the surroundings were now brightly lit, and the Shadowling had lost its greatest advantage. It was still fast, but its speed was nothing compared to Ruby, who possessed spatial magic.

Through their brief exchange, Alex had already determined that the Shadowling was no match for Ruby. It was even slightly weaker than the average level 1 King level.

Lacking in frontal combat ability and unable to use stealth, the Shadowling had nowhere to hide and could only choose to flee.

Ruby blocked its path, and it looked back to see Alex standing calmly behind her.

After a moment's thought, it actually charged directly at Alex. Alex hadn't revealed her true strength, which might have seemed like an opportunity to the Shadowling.

As it lunged at Alex, the Shadowling suddenly froze in mid-air. It felt a soul-piercing attack that dulled its reactions.

In the next instant, Alex raised her right hand, and a lightning spear crackling with terrifying destructive power condensed in her hand. She then hurled it with lightning speed.

The Shadowling tried to dodge, but the surrounding space was locked down, rendering it immobile. The lightning spear pierced straight through it.

Alex extinguished the fireball, plunging the entire city back into darkness.

The King level Shadowling was easily killed by the combined efforts of Alex and Ruby.

With the commotion in the city gone, people started to cautiously open their windows, peeking out to observe the situation.

There were only two mages emitting terrifying auras in the sky, and the enemy was long gone.

The general was also shaken by the battle he had just witnessed. He had never seen such a high-level fight, but he didn't expect the enemy to be so weak that two mages could easily defeat it.

Meanwhile, on the rocky wasteland a hundred miles away from Clayton City.

A man looked ahead, watching the firelight that had suddenly lit up in the distance disappear. He knew that this operation had failed.

The opponent knew how to deal with Shadowlings and had survived the first assassination attempt. Their strength was definitely not to be underestimated. Even he himself might not be fully confident in winning against them now.

"A King level Magus, who could it be?" he wondered.

It wasn't surprising that the opponent used fire magic, as most mages in Yellowrock City preferred to cultivate both fire and earth magic, which could significantly enhance their combat effectiveness.

But as far as he knew, there should only be one level 8 female Magus left in Yellowrock City, and she wasn't skilled in fire magic.

He racked his brains but couldn't figure out where this King level Magus had come from.

The man turned and left. He had already lost too many Shadowlings, and he had to report this situation to his superiors.

...

[Night retreats, dawn arrives.]

By now, Alex and Ruby had left Clayton City and were heading back to Yellowrock City.

Alex had no intention of dealing with the mess in Clayton City. She would just tell the Yellowrock City Mage Guild branch about it. If it weren't for the remaining magic books, she wouldn't even want to go back to Yellowrock City.

Of course, she had another purpose in mind. She was quite interested in this Shadow race and hoped to learn more about them through the Mage Guild.

Intelligence and information were always paramount.

Unfortunately, the King level Shadowling didn't leave a corpse behind, so she couldn't summon it as an undead.

However, Alex didn't dwell on it too much. These Shadowlings were somewhat similar to Elemental Lords in that they could elementalize themselves to dodge attacks.

This time, Alex and Ruby didn't waste any time on their way back and soon returned to Yellowrock City.

"Ruby, you can wait for me at that restaurant. I'll be back soon," Alex instructed, deciding not to take Ruby with her to avoid unnecessary explanations.

"Ugh, I can't believe I can't freeload here anymore. How depressing," Ruby complained.

"Didn't they say they were inviting you to be the guardian mage of Clayton City when we left?" Alex said with a smirk.

"As if! I'm never staying in that godforsaken place," Ruby said with a disgusted look.

Alex gave Ruby some gold coins, gave her a few more instructions, and then headed alone to the Mage Palace in the city center.

The layout inside was similar to the Hurricane City Mage Guild. She quickly found the Vice President's office.

Knock, knock!

"Come in," a husky and magnetic voice came from inside.

Alex pushed the door open and saw the Vice President looking at her with a smile.

"How did it go?" he asked.

Alex recounted the events as they had transpired. Since Raphaela was already dead, there was no need to hide anything.

After listening to her story, the Vice President pondered for a moment, a hint of surprise on his face.

"I can't believe there's an Angel Lord among those extraterrestrial visitors."

The Vice President looked a little ashamed.

"You did well. If she had been discovered by the Angels or the Holy Court, it would have been a huge problem."

Alex thought she heard something in his words and immediately asked, "Aren't Angels very exclusive? Shouldn't they have just killed her outright?"

"No, on the contrary, they might even offer her a position. Angels aren't born emotionless creatures. They are transformed through repeated holy light baptisms. To them, those who haven't undergone the baptism don't count as Angels. Conversely, any creature that has completed the baptism will be accepted, even if they weren't born an Angel."

The Vice President's words told Alex that the Angels weren't a race that developed for the sake of their own kind. They were more like a church. They gained power through faith, and those who couldn't gain power weren't considered their "followers," even if they were their own children. They would be treated as extraterrestrial visitors.

"What a cold and ruthless race, yet they have such grand ambitions," Alex remarked.

"You're right. They are quite annoying," the Vice President unexpectedly agreed with Alex.

If there were outsiders present, they would probably spread rumors detrimental to the human race.

"Give me your badge," the Vice President said. He wanted to help Alex register. When he received the badge, he was a little surprised to see that it was a growth-type badge, which meant it could automatically level up with Alex's level.

"I can't believe you've already reached four stars in just a few days."

"Just a little bit of luck," Alex said modestly.

"Don't be so humble. You are a rare magic genius."

The Vice President handed the badge to a subordinate to have the Yellowrock City mark engraved on it.

"By the way, I encountered something strange while passing through Clayton City on my way back."

Alex then told the Vice President about the Shadow race.

The Vice President's face was etched with astonishment as he listened. This was the first time Alex had seen him so shocked.

"Shadowling, are you sure the creature you encountered was a Shadowling?"

Alex nodded firmly. Of course, she couldn't say that the system had confirmed it. She could only come up with an excuse, like saying she had seen it in a magic book in Thunder City or that Eldrin had told her about it.

"Vice President, is there something wrong with the Shadowling?"

The man stood up abruptly, his expression grave. "There are records of the Shadow race in the guild's library. They were wiped out by the Titans five hundred years ago. How could they suddenly appear on the Arsen Continent?"

Alex was also taken aback. A race that had been wiped out five hundred years ago?

"Vice President, what's the relationship between the Titan race and the Angel race?"

"The Titans and the Angels have always kept to themselves. However, recently, the conflict between the Titans and the Demons has intensified again, and they are on the verge of war. The Holy Court has also intervened for some reason, but it's unclear whether the Angels are behind it."

The Vice President was still deep in thought, but he answered Alex's question. He himself was a little skeptical of his last sentence.

The Holy Court's recent actions were very unusual. If the Angels weren't behind it, he wouldn't believe it himself.

The Holy Court used to have its own mind, but in recent years, it had completely become a vassal of the Angel race. It could be said that behind every action of the Holy Court, there was the shadow of the Angel race.

Now that the Shadow race had reappeared, it could only mean that the Titans hadn't completely wiped them out five hundred years ago. Perhaps they had become their vassals.

Both the Titans and the Shadow race were on the Tyrangar Continent. Moreover, the Shadow race's development background was very similar to that of the undead race. Both were suppressed and eventually wiped out by powerful races just as they were about to reach their peak.

And now, the Shadow race had not only appeared on the Arsen Continent but was also harassing human cities at such a sensitive time.

There was no doubt that the Titans had joined forces with the Angel race!

Among the mages in the Mage Guild, almost no one except those at the president level knew about the existence of the Shadow race.

It was just like how the native races of the Arsen Continent didn't know about the undead.

Therefore, they were being cautious and only dared to harass and distract, as they were worried about the risk of the Shadowlings being exposed.

"This information is very important. I must report it to headquarters immediately."

The Vice President realized the gravity of the situation and immediately sat back down, starting to write on the desk.

Then, right in front of Alex, he lit the letter on fire, turning it into ashes.

The Titans and the Angel race were suspected to have joined forces, and now they were planning to attack the Demon race. It seemed that the current situation was about to become chaotic.

Alex hadn't expected that her unintentional actions would unearth such important information. If it weren't for the system, she wouldn't have known the name of the race.

Because it had been such a long time, even the current Vice President would have had a hard time associating these basic characteristics with the Shadow race.

He then began to flip through books, looking for information about the Shadow race's characteristics and how to counter them.

Shadowlings were natural assassins, which happened to be the bane of all mages.

Soon, he found records of the Shadow race in a dusty book called "Records of Extinct Races." It detailed all the races that had been wiped out.

However, there was no mention of the undead race because the undead empire had only been scattered, not truly destroyed. There were still many undead survivors.

The most terrifying thing about Shadowlings was their ability to devour shadows. They could rapidly grow stronger by assassinating their targets and devouring their shadows (souls).

Moreover, Shadowlings could also devour each other. It was more accurate to call it fusion. Several low-level Shadowlings could fuse into a higher-level one, and the process was irreversible.

Shadowlings also had a special way of communicating. They were intelligent, of course, but no one could understand their language.

Their weakness was naturally light. They were more suited to being invisible in dark environments. Once they merged into the shadows, they would completely lose their presence, coming and going without a trace.

However, according to the book, the power of light could directly dispel them. It was what they feared the most.

Both the Titans and the Angels possessed this ability.

The Vice President wrote down these characteristics, intending to inform all the mages.

If there were Shadowlings on the front lines, their losses would be multiplied. They had to be on guard.

"Your unintentional act has made a great contribution to the Mage Guild."

The Vice President thanked Alex and handed her a high-level earth magic book.

"This is what you deserve. This information alone is enough."

"Thank you."

Alex politely accepted the magic book and returned the original mid-level magic book.

Just then, a mage walked in. Her badge had been engraved.

Along with it was her Honorary Mage personal record. The Vice President took it and examined it, a strange look on his face.

"Do you know the basic requirements of an Honorary Mage?" he asked, looking at the blank file.

Alex was taken aback. So there were requirements for Honorary Mages like her?

"I'm not sure. Eldrin didn't tell me," Alex shook her head.

"One month, complete a task for the Mage Guild. This is the basic requirement. After all, Honorary Mages are considered part-time personnel of the guild," the Vice President explained.

"Then I should be considered to have completed two tasks this time, right?" Alex asked, relieved.

The Vice President just laughed.

"Discovering the Shadow race can be considered a first-class honor for the guild. You won't have to complete these basic requirements in the future."

Alex was speechless. Then why did he even bother telling her?

Although she complained inwardly, she still put on a respectful expression.

"It's my honor to serve the guild. I just don't like being restricted, which is why I didn't join. However, my passion for magic remains unchanged."

"Very well," the Vice President said with a gratified smile.

As evening approached, Alex bid farewell and left the Mage Guild.