Necromancer: Kingdom Building with My Legion of Undead Knights

Green light started slowly from the thinnest part of this massive corpse, the fingers first, then the ribs, then the hollow spaces where the organs used to be.

It spread like liquid seeping through cracks, glowing brighter with each passing second. The light moved to the larger parts of the corpse, the thick bones of the arms and legs, the broad chest, the heavy skull.

The entire body began to shimmer with green energy until finally it engulfed everything. The corpse was no longer visible beneath the glow, just a shape of light in the shape of a man.

And then, a big green boom.

The explosion wasn’t loud, more of a deep thrum that Darion felt in his chest rather than heard with his ears. But the light flashed bright enough that he had to step back and throw his hands up to cover his face. The green afterimage burned behind his eyelids even with them closed.

”What the...” he muttered.

Then it was over.

The light faded. The thrum stopped. And standing in front of him was perhaps the largest undead he would ever see in his life.

The creature was massive, easily over seven feet tall, maybe closer to eight. Its frame was broad, its limbs thick, its skull large and heavy. Even in death, even with the decay and the rusted armor, it looked like something that had been built to crush enemies. Darion was tall himself, taller than most men he had met in this world, but this undead made him look like a dwarf. He would have to look up just to see its face.

Darion was genuinely surprised at the size. He had seen the corpse in the coffin, had noted that it was large, but seeing it standing, fully animated, was something else entirely. The coffin had contained him. The graveyard had contained him. But now, standing in the open air, Ghet Ulg seemed to take up more space than any one person should.

He now looked like a giant. Large skeleton hands that could wrap around a man’s skull entirely. Large skeleton everything: arms like tree branches, legs like pillars, shoulders broad enough that he would have trouble fitting through a standard doorway.

Every part of him was oversized, exaggerated, built on a scale that seemed almost unreal. Darion found himself staring at the hands for a moment, imagining the force they could generate. One punch from those fists would not just hurt, it would shatter bone. He could crush an enemy’s face with just one blow. Probably crush a helmet too, with the head still inside.

The undead’s eyes shone green, bright, burning and intense. They locked onto Darion’s face immediately, not wandering, not blinking, just staring. Its armor, rusted and ancient, somehow made it look even more menacing. The combination of the size, the eyes, the armor, the silence, it was cool and terrifying at the same time.

Darion stepped back a bit, panicking slightly.

This was one of the downsides of reviving a corpse, especially a menacing one. At first, when you stared at it, you forgot you were a Necromancer. You forgot that you were the one who had raised it. You forgot that it was bound to your will and could not harm you. All you saw was a towering figure of death staring back at you, and your body reacted the way bodies were supposed to react when faced with something that could kill you.

The way it stared at you, unblinking, unmoving, just waiting, it triggered something primal. Fear. Instinct. The part of the brain that said run before the logical part could say calm down, you raised it.

That was how Darion felt now, staring at this corpse. His heart had picked up speed. His muscles had tensed. His hand had drifted toward his weapon without him telling it to.

Then Ghet Ulg bowed.

The massive frame bent at the waist, the rusted armor creaking slightly. The movement was slow, deliberate and respectful. A bow that said everything that needed to be said without a single word:

’Ready to serve!’

Darion exhaled. His shoulders relaxed. The panic: stupid, irrational, human panic, drained away.

Darion stared at the undead, impressed with what he had done. First, he had revived the corpse of Edric Vorne despite the system rejecting him earlier. That had been a victory in itself, proving that he had grown, that his rank meant something, that the system’s rejection was not permanent.

And now he had revived some dude named Ghet Ulg. Not a commander. Not a leader. Just a soldier who had been one of the best on the battlefield.

Hell yeah.

The system screen appeared before him.

[Undead Knight – Rust Tier]

Former Rank: Percvale Infantry

Combat Instinct: Preserved (Fragmented)

Strength: 90

Endurance: 95

Loyalty: 98

Pain Response: None

Morale: Irrelevant

Special Trait: Tireless (Does not fatigue)

Weakness: Core Destruction (Skull / Spine)

Darion blinked. Then stepped back a bit.

Strength 90 was higher than Edric Vorne’s 80. Endurance 95 was higher than Edric’s 91. And loyalty 98? That was nearly perfect, the kind of loyalty that meant this undead would walk through fire, would take a killing blow for him, would never glitch to an order no matte.

This was even better than Edric Vorne’s stats. By a significant margin.

Darion stared at the numbers, then at the massive undead standing before him, then back at the numbers. A smile spread across his face.

Edric Vorne had been a commander. A leader. Someone who had given orders and had men follow them. Ghet Ulg was just a man in Percvale’s infantry, a foot soldier, not a general. But infantry with stats like this? Infantry that was seven feet tall with strength 90 and endurance 95? That wasn’t just infantry. That was a weapon.

But then, rank didn’t determine how good one was. Darion had learned that lesson long before coming to this world.

A commander didn’t necessarily mean he would be the strongest fighter on the field. Commanders gave orders. They strategized. They stood back and directed while others did the bleeding. Some of the most dangerous soldiers Darion had ever seen were not commanders at all.

They were just men who happened to be very, very good at killing. Ghet Ulg was proof of that.

Darion laughed now, not villainous this time, just genuinely pleased.

Darion reached out and placed his hand on the massive shoulder. The bone was cold, the rusted armor rough beneath his palm.

”Welcome to the team!”