Free Web NovelChapter 41: Chapter 40: Tomb of the Dead
Li Ziyu’s roar reached the ears of the Lizardman Warriors. They subconsciously turned their heads and saw the human standing tall, holding a severed head high.
"Is that... Ah Mu?"
"Ah Mu is dead!"
"How could this be..."
The Lizardman Warriors panicked. Ah Mu was the leader of this attack on the Undead, the Lizardman most familiar with them, and the one who had led their charge onto the fortress. And now he had been inexplicably killed!
Their morale instantly plummeted.
’Our leader is dead. Is there any point in fighting anymore?’
’Even if we found the Undead’s weakness, they fight too recklessly. We’ll die!’
The Lizardmen grew flustered and looked for a way to escape.
While they were in disarray, the Undead were completely unaffected. They just kept attacking, attacking, and attacking again.
Holding the head aloft, Li Ziyu saw the Lizardmen’s panic. A savage smile spread across his face again. ’Not only will I summon new Undead, but I’ll also crush your morale!’
A leader is always a banner, a bellwether. Now that their leader was dead, the blow to the Lizardmen’s morale was immense. Their will to fight was fading.
What Li Ziyu did was essentially cast a negative buff on all the Lizardman Warriors. ƒreewebɳovel.com
The Lizardman Warriors wanted to retreat, but the Undead weren’t about to let them go. More and more Undead were summoned, joining the battle.
Facing a tide of ever-increasing Undead, the Lizardman Warriors were terrified. Their morale collapsed even further. They no longer thought of destroying the Undead, only of how to escape this place.
The collapse happened in an instant. When the first Lizardman Warrior turned and fled, the others completely lost their fighting spirit and broke apart. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"RUN—"
"Help me! Don’t leave me behind!"
The Lizardman Warriors fled in a panic, leaping from the fortress and scattering into the Wasteland under the cover of night.
Li Ziyu wasn’t about to let such a good opportunity slip by. He immediately ordered the Mobile Fortress to activate and give chase!
The pursuit continued for a long distance. Only when he sensed they were nearing the enemy’s cemetery did he stop. The Mobile Fortress turned around and headed back into the Wasteland, collecting the corpses of Lizardman Warriors along the way.
Leaving the cleanup to the Undead, Li Ziyu sat on his White Bone Throne, gasping for breath. He glanced at the severed head of Ah Mu still in his hand and tossed it aside in disgust.
"Damn it, I almost died... no, wait, I *did* die. And then I came back to life."
Li Ziyu rested his hands on his thighs, muttering to himself in utter confusion. ’How can you resurrect after dying? Is it because I’m the Undead City Lord, so I have an immortal Attribute?’
Looking up at the Undead cleaning the battlefield, Li Ziyu opened the system interface.
When in doubt, ask the system.
After a careful search, he actually found an explanation.
In fact, the system had already told him the reason for his resurrection. He just hadn’t paid attention, habitually overlooking it.
When he had first transmigrated, the system had prompted him that his life was bound to the Mobile Fortress. If the fortress was destroyed, the City Lord’s life would end. As long as the fortress stood, the City Lord’s life would not end. To kill the City Lord of the Mobile Fortress, one had to destroy the Castle Main Tower!
So long as the castle stands, the City Lord stands. The two are one!
The Lizardman Warriors could kill him, but they couldn’t destroy the Castle Main Tower, which was why he had the chance to resurrect.
Theoretically, as long as the main tower wasn’t completely destroyed, he could resurrect infinitely. However, after this resurrection, the system gave a new prompt: each time he resurrected, the time required for the next resurrection would increase. Upgrading the Castle Main Tower’s Level would shorten this cooldown.
’That makes sense. If I could just resurrect whenever I want, what’s the point of having Warriors? I could just fight myself. Since I can’t die, it’d be perfect for any situation.’
The system couldn’t possibly leave such an obvious bug. The extended resurrection time was its solution. If he died too many times, he might not be able to resurrect for years, decades, or even centuries. What would be the difference between that and being truly dead?
Besides, the sensation of death wasn’t pleasant. ’If I can live a happy life and just have fun, why would I choose to suffer through dying?’
Having just died once, Li Ziyu had no desire to experience the feeling of resurrection a second time.
’Not being afraid of death isn’t the same as wanting to die.’
Having figured out the reason for his resurrection, Li Ziyu felt relieved and began to check his other data.
In the recent battle, he had lost over a hundred Undead—nearly half his forces. But afterward, the corpses of the Lizardman Warriors were all summoned as new Undead. Not only did this replenish his losses, but he also gained over two hundred more. The final number would likely be even higher, as the battlefield wasn’t fully cleaned up yet and there were still Lizardman Warrior corpses to be converted.
Looking at the results, he hadn’t suffered a loss in this battle; he had profited. The number of Undead under his command had at least doubled.
Li Ziyu gave it a quick scan, then looked at the system prompts. He seemed to have heard a notification sound when he resurrected, but he didn’t have time to check it during the battle. Now was the perfect time.
[Friendly Reminder: Your first death and successful resurrection have been detected. A new building has been unlocked.]
Huh?
’Dying can actually unlock a hidden building?’
’This is ridiculous! If I had just kept playing it safe and never died, would I have been locked out of this hidden building forever? This damn system is such a troll!’
Li Ziyu felt a sense of exasperation. ’What kind of system makes the host die once to unlock a building? It’s so damn... Undead-like in style.’
He opened the building interface, and sure enough, a new building had appeared.
[Tomb of the Dead]
[Introduction: A Cemetery that produces Undead]
[Building Requirements: Skeleton x100 units, Soul Energy x500 units, Wood x5 units, Stone x5 units]
[Area Occupied: 1 unit (expandable)]
Li Ziyu’s eyes bulged as he read the description for the Tomb of the Dead, and he nearly choked on his own saliva. ’A Cemetery that can produce Undead? This thing is amazing! I have to build it, even if it costs me everything!’
He scraped together what he had in the Warehouse, and adding the newly collected corpses of the Lizardman Warriors from the battlefield, he finally gathered enough resources. He immediately started construction on a Tomb of the Dead.
Perhaps due to its special nature, the construction of the Tomb of the Dead was incredibly fast. It was completed in just over ten minutes. Li Ziyu went to take a look out of curiosity and was a little disappointed.
The so-called Tomb of the Dead was just a patch of black earth with a Wooden Stick stuck crookedly in it. It had the distinct style of a Desert Tribe’s ancestral grave.
’That’s it?’
’All those resources for a miniature version of a tribal ancestral grave?’
If it could really create new Undead, Li Ziyu wouldn’t be so picky. He eagerly checked the building’s information.
One look, and he sucked in a sharp breath. This thing really could produce new Undead. All he had to do was invest Soul Energy. Every 10 units could create one new Undead, and a single tomb could produce a maximum of 10 new Undead per day.
’This miniature ancestral grave is awesome!’
Until now, for Li Ziyu to summon new Undead, he had to expend Skeleton. Each unit of Skeleton could summon one Skeleton Undead. But Skeleton was a strategic resource for the Undead Fortress, needed for all sorts of things. If he used it all for summoning Undead, he wouldn’t be able to construct any buildings. This had always limited the number of Undead under his command.
But now things were different. This new method consumed Soul Energy. While also important, Li Ziyu had a much larger surplus of Soul Energy compared to Skeleton. Using it to expand the number of his Undead wouldn’t be a problem at all!
