It only took us four days to reach Lost Forest.

Usually, it takes more than a week because horses need to rest, but our undead horses (neither our undead soldiers who ran next to us) don't. So, we slept while on the road and didn't stop except the certain breaks.

But that wasn't the only good thing. Arthurs surprised face was the actual prize.

"You are telling me you already killed the boss of this fortress."

Arthur was pretty surprised, and yes, we reached the fortress, where I fought against that skeleton knight.

"Well, with some help, but it doesn't matter. I control this place, and why do we call here fortress anyway, isn't here big as a castle?."

"Of course, this place is big, but it isn't big enough to call a castle. Maybe it can be called castle five hundred years before."

It is understandable. The population of this world seems to be larger than mine. (At least for medieval times.)

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We reached the gates, and the skeleton that put me on trial welcomed us. Arthur and Maria were surprised because of the talking skeleton, but they accepted it quite fast.

"I am seeing you are here for claiming this castle, my king. As an undead, your words will be my command."

"Then call some of your friends and help us place what we bring with us. I will go to the throne room meanwhile."

"Of course." Skeleton bowed towards me then shouted towards the fortress. "Be fast and help me, you bone bags!"

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Now, we are in the throne room where I fought against the skeleton knight.

Maria is sitting on the throne and acting like a queen, and Arthur is playing along.

It is a good thing to have some positivity in the air. But who says Arthur and Maria are the only ones to enjoy.

"Now, I will rule this place. But what should be my first move? My acts are pretty much limited in a time of civil war."

Strengthening my forces by recruiting monsters could be great, but because goblins and wolves need to consume food, they are out of options for now.

On the other hand, Draugrs and skeletons don't require food, and they also come with their weapons.

I left the room and began to move towards four skeleton guards waiting outside.

Skeleton guards greet me by bowing forward.

"Your orders, my Lich." Said one of the guards.

"Tell Arthur to create an organized division from skeletons inside the fortress. I will recruit new troops outside."

He nodded with his head.

"And before I go, how many armed soldiers we have right now?"

Commonly medieval lords have around 1000 soldiers and 2000 more to recruit, but considering the population of this world, I might need more than six thousand.

"We have 500 hundred soldier's including guards, my lich, but if I count every skeleton living inside this castle, the number can go up to 3000."

A pretty good number, but considering how weak skeletons are, I might need much more than this number."

"Good, good, I will leave for now."

I moved directly towards the stables and grabbed a horse and enough supplies for a week-long trip.

"We already brought four hundred armored zombies with us, but we still need more."

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"Knights to the flank, spearman to the front. Archers took some step back. Okay, it looks great." Arthur is drilling the skeletons, an amusing scenery to watch. "Now, repeat the positions I told you. The enemy is clashing with the spearman on the front. What do you do?"

Knight began to move forward and created a line in front of the spearmen.

"Good. Now, enemy cavalry is charging what to do!"

Knights took a step back, then moved to the flanks for and at the same time, spearmen created a formation similar to a phalanx in front of the whole group.

"Great, but don't try to do that against heavily armored cavalry. Your weapons are not enough to stop heavily armored horses, so focus on the rider, try to cut his legs, or hook them out from their horse."

They listen to my orders and do what Arthur says. "It is a good thing you are teaching them some tricks, but I want you to remember skeletons are not known for their intelligence."

"Even a skeleton can learn a trick or two, but where were you? We thought something killed you. It's been five days."

I laughed. "This forest didn't manage to kill me while I had nothing. It cannot kill while I have all of these, but now, look at what I brought."

Five thousand monsters began to flow inside our base. Draugr berserkers, giant skeletons, skeleton archers and halberdiers, etc.

"I wish I had this power while I was inside this forest, but I wonder where all of these creatures are coming from."

Arthur was first surprised, but his surprised face turned into one big smile. "Liches are known for absurdly big armies. Legends say one lich even raised more than ten million undead."

"Sorry for not bringing an entire country with me, but we will work with this amount for now."

He laughed. "Fair enough, we can work with that amount as well. Now, we need to find a banner for Maria. Having a banner is like a rule for nobles. No banner means no ruling for you."

I was expecting something like that. "Is that good enough?" I showed the banner I got from the skeletal dungeon while searching for recruits.

"Well, it can do good enough for now. Maria doesn't have a banner, and we can't just make one, and this looks decent."

"Now, tell me what we do next. What should be our first move, remember I am not from this world, and I am alien to your politics."

Arthur took out his map once again. "I will take Maria with me and arrange a meeting at this place." He showed a building symbol on a map. "But you need to take control of this place before we arrive, so we can show them we are capable of something."

I nodded with my head. "You can go for your meeting. I can handle that fort by myself."

And I will take it furiously.

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I learned the fortress's name from Arthur before leaving. Fort Braut. Arthur said there should be around 2500 soldiers waiting inside this fortress if they didn't increase the numbers because of the civil war.

I used my lack of siege weapons to hide my troops in a nearby forest, and because the undead doesn't require food, fire, or sleep, I was successful at doing that too.

As I said, I do not have a proper siege weapon but lots of barrels filled with gunpowder. Thanks to my new toy.

But I have a better plan in my head than exploding the front door and letting my army flow inside.

I caught some of their scouts and killed them. After that, I put the compressed gunpowder inside their bags, clothes, and bodies. I also make them carry corpses of some of their friends as distractions.

If zombie scouts can execute the first step, explosions should be enough to disorganize them, and after that, my army will rush inside and take the fort.

"Scouts, go. You know what to do." They nodded and began to move towards the castle with torches in their hand.

A gatekeeper showed himself. "Where were you all? You guys are one day late. We thought something killed you!"

Scouts kept their silence and showed the corpses to the gatekeeper. His face turned white, and he couldn't manage to talk for some seconds.

"Oh, my god, what happened?" He panicked. "Don't answer me, directly go inside." He moved inside, but some words were heard from him "Guys, open the door! We have a problem!"

The gates opened, and garrison units took their friends inside.

"Good, just wait for a minute." I smiled.

Soldiers began to move towards the corpse of their friends and circle the group of scouts. Because of the sudden shock, no one managed to spot my trap.

"Now, explode," I whispered those words to the air, but thanks to a strange connection between me and my subjects, scouts heard me and began their suicide attack.

In an instant, the sound of an explosion and screams echoed through the area.

"Giants, and break their lines," I turned towards my army. "Everyone one else march behind the giant."

Suddenly my undead army began to jump out from the forest, but the only couple of archer's standing at their positions managed to see them.

I grabbed Maria's banner and raised it to the air, and began following my army.

Some archers showed up and tried to shoot the giants, but it was ineffective. Giants broke the unorganized defense line with ease.

I raised my hand. "Do not stop!"

With a few exceptions, human soldiers are usually stronger than my undead soldiers in terms of strength, but currently, they are both disorganized and still under the shock of explosions.

This difference shines most at our current clash. My undead troops are pushing them back.

The enemy can't escape or take a proper position, which allows my troops to force them harder. Enemy forces are in a loop, which will end up with their defeat.

We managed to penetrate the first line of defense, but more organized and less shocked reinforcements began to arrive.

I looked at my giants. There are four of them in total. Usually, these big and mighty creatures, who stand more than three meters long and more than two hundred kilos only by their bones, are perfect frontline fighters, but I had something different in my mind.

"Lit your remaining barrels and threw them towards the enemy. Then you can join the rest of our forces in front, and my forces retreat!"

Giants threw the explosive barrels right in front of the reinforcements.

"Run!" A soldier screamed right before the barrel blasted.

"I am giving you one last chance. As I a necromancer fighting under the banner of thrones true heir, Maria. I will spare the lives of everyone who surrendered to me."

I raised the banner higher.

A young man showed himself. He is wearing luxurious armor with gildings and gravings. I say he is in his twenties, and I doubt if he had much of an experience from life looking at his baby face.

"Your words mean nothing to us, you filthy necroshit. My man won't surrender!"

I snapped my fingers, and another giant threw their barrels towards the new enemy line.

The barrel exploded and killed at least fifteen men and seriously wounded sixty others. I don't even talk about how much of them were injured by the blast.

I turned towards the enemy soldiers. "Does this inexperienced young man talks for you?"

No one answered, but almost half of the enemy forces are either dead or wounded, and half of the remaining can't fight well because of the shock.

Enemy soldiers began taking a step back, leaving the young man alone in front.

The young man looked at the soldiers with anger then spat on the ground. "Okay, you necroshit. We will have a duel against each other if you aren't afraid."

"Then draw your weapon, and show me what you are worth!" I left the banner and pulled my sword off from its sheet.

Without waiting for a second, I activated Crimson Blade and dashed towards the enemy leader.

I believe he wasn't prepared for that because he barely managed to block my attack, and I managed to cut some flesh from his cheek.

"Before I end this duel, tell me your name," I asked the young man. "So, I can create a proper grave for you."

"Heinn of the Tundrahill, remember that name. Cause I won't allow you to forget."

His hands are shaking, and he is barely stopping my stop. If I even force myself a little more, I can cut his head with one move.

"I need to say I am surprised that the leader of a fortress is weak as you. I expected more."

"Don't get too cocky necroshit, you attacked us, using honorless tactics, and now you are trying to kill me, who wasn't ready with all you got. Let me show you how to dance."

He dashed back and began to glow. From all my experiences in this world, I learned glowing means you gained some power.

"You will learn my power." He dashed forward, but he was much slower than I expected.

I blocked the incoming attack and threw him away.

"I need to admit you are stronger than I thought you to be, but I won't go down like that." Heinn pulled out a medallion from his pocket.

"This you Necro shit. That is a pretty powerful bomb used by only the most elite. Now try to escape from that!"

"At least didn't tell me your trump card." I shot an ice fragment to his hand and made him drop the amulet, then I dashed towards Heinn and kicked him from the chest.

"No, It shouldn't happen like that! You filthy necro-

I punched him one more time before grabbing the amulet and throwing it away.

Amulet exploded in mid-air, and as he said, it was a pretty big explosion that most likely killed me if he didn't ruin it for himself.

"I won't die to cheap tricks like that." I grabbed Heinn from his neck and lifted him to the air.

"I won't surrender till my death. Especially not to a lowly creature like you!"

"Very well."

I dropped the Heinn and stabbed him from the chest before he even managed to react, then I turned towards the remaining enemy soldiers.

"That will be my last warning. Surrender or join your leader on where the fuck he went. Your choice!"