CHAPTER 47

Duke Lamorak, a warrior knight known as the "Knight of the Storm," was praying in a grand cathedral when the massive doors swung open.

"I told you not to interrupt me during my prayers."

A knight, dressed in the same noble fabric as the duke, lowered his head as he approached. The duke, with his handsome face and curly hair, turned to face him, clad in noble white garments, standing before a colossal golden statue of an angel holding the scales of justice—a figure who had stolen the hearts of many maidens.

"Duke... Marquess Tor, your brother, requests your support in military and border affairs."

Lamorak turned back and continued his prayers, clutching his star-shaped emblem.

"If I go to aid my brother, the noblemen whom I have ignored during recent crises will call me biased and withdraw their support. You know that the bastard Gavin does not even bother to hide his hatred for our family and my late father, even in these troubled times."

The kneeling knight, one of the duke's closest protectors and privy to many secrets of King Pellinore's family, nodded.

"I will tell the messenger that his problems remain his own."

Lamorak smirked during his prayer, always entertained by the reasoning of the knight who had grown up beside him and fought alongside him in countless battles.

"You may go. The Holy Father will arrive soon for the blessing; be here for it."

The knight rose, bowed, and left the cathedral.

As he stepped out into the vast city of twelve million people, he observed the paladins, too numerous to count even by estimation, engaged in training and battlefield maneuvers. Among them, the Red Thunder Knight, Fusard, strode through their ranks. As he passed, every paladin drove their sword into the ground and knelt before him. The knight made his way to the public square to deliver his lord's message to the messenger.

A week had passed—two weeks of rest granted to Hazard after his last war, allowing him to rebuild his army to its former strength and even greater power.

[5,000,000 ordinary demonic undead units, 150,000 undead archers, 100,000 undead swordsmen, 20,000 elite swordsmen, 10,000 elite archers, 1,000 undead sorcerers, 50 undead giants, 2,000 undead knights, 10,500 demonic liches, 100 undead generals, 1 grand undead knight, 1 undead champion, 1 Death King, 500 undead colossi, 1,000 hellhounds, 35 greater hellhounds, 1 colossal undead hellhound along with a greater hellhound, 30 mares, 6 death cyclops, three infant thunder dragons of death, 30,000 death eyes, 11,750 hellcats, 600 undead witches, 1,300 witches, 1,000 undead miners, 324,763 warlord-rank elite undead.]

However, his coffers were empty. Many buildings, including towers and sections of his walls, had been damaged. With human armies gathering and marching toward his territory, he could no longer sustain himself by hunting their patrol squads. Still, his income from the gemstone mines was substantial and could increase further. Yet, Hezhna had advised him not to sell obsidian, predicting that he would need it soon. Hazard himself had no intention of selling it—he sought a blacksmith to forge the missing pieces of the Obsidian Knight's armor rather than searching for them, hoping to unlock its benefits.

Meanwhile, he discovered that his obsidian miners—blue-scaled kobolds, ordinary creatures resembling one-meter-tall werewolves with lizard-like tails—had been secretly consuming the obsidian. Upon catching them in the act, he slaughtered them all, resurrected them, and evolved them into elite undead miners. Theft ceased, and mining efficiency doubled.

"My king, the army awaits your command."

Hearing the voice of his grand general, Hazard descended from his castle's balcony. Over the past two weeks, thanks to his Abyss summons, he had spread eyes and ears across all neighboring territories. No movement within his domain escaped his notice.

Hezhna descended beside him.

"The Death King crushed Count Maximan's army, and it is said that the count himself perished in battle."

Hazard recalled the duel between the two counts. The vampire count had been experienced and formidable, yet the Death King was on an entirely different level. Even now, the number of subordinates under his command exceeded three hundred thousand, including a double-digit number of warlord-ranked undead—an achievement in mere two weeks that even many demon kings, with far greater system assistance and time, had failed to reach. Hazard was pleased with his success. The Death King's massacres continuously filled his treasury with gold and the souls of fallen heroes. Soon, with his help, Hazard could activate his first sixth-tier ability.

"His rampage will end either in glorious victory or in our demise…"

Hazard understood that the Empire had yet to summon its main armies, as he had not yet presented himself as an equal threat. True peace would not come. If the two Dark Princes' factions joined the conflict, they would crush him from three sides.

He now stood before his army.

Yet, the force before him was not what most would expect—it consisted of five hundred undead lord-ranked colossi from ancient tombs and three thousand undead of varying ranks, meant to serve as bait. Overhead, ten thousand liches hovered, awaiting his command and carrying the true might of his force.

Hazard did not dwell on it long. He took to the skies, his army following.

However, he was unaware that the Death King was not his only means of amassing gold and hero souls.

To the north, under the command of a massive hellcat and an undead spearwoman riding it like a ghostly wraith, hellcats were terrorizing the villages of the northern kingdom, depriving the eastern people of sleep.