Lilith stood before her new army, trying not to think about the gaping void in her treasury. Nine hundred new skeletons stood in perfect, motionless ranks, creating a veritible forest of white and iron.
The new units stood out particularly well. The Skeleton Mages were clad in tattered, dark rags, and in their bony hands, they wielded staves topped with crystals made of solidified dark essence that pulsed with violet light.
In turn, the Skeleton Commanders appeared almost majestic - they were taller, their bones a pure white, and in their hands, alongside bone swords, they held large triangular shields made from hardened ribs and vertebrae of unknown beasts.
Lilith looked at them, but instead of pride, pure, concentrated financial hatred burned in her eyes.
"You'd better be worth every single gold coin I spent on you," she snorted, sweeping her gaze over the ranks of mages. "If you turn out to be even a jot weaker than what the system promised, I will personally grind your shins into bone meal to fertilize the fields."
The skeletons remained motionless, waiting for orders with that irritating, dead patience of theirs. Lilith felt she couldn't bear the sight of them much longer - each one reminded her of her lost fortune.
"To work! I don't pay you to stand around looking pretty!" she shouted, pointing accusingly at the thicket of the Forest of Chaos. "Divide into three groups! First section: cutting trees. Second: quarrying stone. Third: carrying logs back to base. Move it!"
As the ordinary skeletons marched off with a mechanical clatter, Lilith turned to her new elite. She divided the thirty mages and nearly a hundred commanders into six patrol groups.
"You will divide into six-man squads. Five mages and sixteen commanders per group. You are to patrol the borders of our territory. Kill anything that moves; no one enters without my permission. Understood?"
The squads moved off in silence, disappearing into the darkness of the forest with a professional precision that somewhat soothed the pain in Lilith's heart. She was just about to retire to her chambers when her wing twitched with irritation.
Four Skeleton Commanders still stood before her, staring with empty eye sockets. She had forgotten to assign them, and their lack of independent will made them linger in place like exceptionally expensive statues.
"And you?!" she barked, looking down at them. "Are you waiting for a special invitation? A red carpet?!"
Seeing that the skeletons did not answer but merely stared back deadly, she snorted and looked at the gigantic, messy pile of logs and boulders brought in by the previous batch of workers.
"Since you want to stand around so much, you'll take care of this. Stack it! Block by block, log by log. It must be perfectly aligned, aesthetic and by the string!"
Without waiting for their reaction, she turned on her heel and walked away quickly, muttering curses under her breath about army maintenance costs and the injustice of a world where even the undead can drive a woman to bankruptcy.
A moment later, Lilith hovered in the air just a few meters from the castle entrance. Suddenly, she bit her lip so hard she tasted metal. She looked at the digits representing her account balance and let the air out with a loud hiss.
Since I've already started spending, I might as well go all out... she murmured, a dangerous glint igniting in her eyes - the same one that in her previous life heralded maxing out a credit card limit.
In the old world, Lilith was known for a borderline morbid stinginess. She could save on food for a month just to keep her balance right, but once her brakes failed, it was a pure, uncontrolled ride on the edge. Now, that instinct had taken the helm.
She summoned the construction menu for the Obelisks of Cursed Spirits.
If these towers work even half as well as the abilities of that damn tree, then anyone in their range will be showered with self-destructing spirits. This isn't a defense; it's a meat grinder, she whispered to herself, analyzing the territory map. The only question is: where to put them?
For a moment, she considered the perimeter of the castle itself. The Demon King's Altar was the heart of her power, her primary construct. Losing the altar meant game over. However, after a moment, her gaze wandered further, toward the bottleneck leading into the valley.
"The Canyon," she stated with icy certainty. "It's the only passage. That's how the goblins entered, how the 'heroes' tried to slip through. It's a geographical trap. If the enemy reaches the castle, I'm screwed anyway, and my other buildings are probably in ruins. Better to simply make it impossible for them to set foot in this valley."
She folded her wings and shot toward the Canyon entrance like a projectile. The wind whistled in her ears, blowing her hair back as she passed more skeleton patrols.
After flying for a while, she landed softly on a rocky ledge overlooking the narrow passage. The canyon was dark, cramped, and perfect for a massacre. Lilith looked down, imagining every wall of this place bristling with cursed magic.
"I'll build four here..." she said, her voice echoing off the rocks. "I'll turn this place into a foyer to hell. Anyone who tries to enter will bitterly regret being born."
She reached out her hand, and tiny black sparks began to shower from her fingers, ready to summon structures that would forever change the character of this passage.
Lilith took four black-shimmering undead crystals from her inventory and hurled them against the rocky floor of the canyon. Then she pulled out the [Blueprint: Obelisk of Cursed Spirits] and quickly confirmed in the system that she wished to build an obelisk in this location.
The earth trembled, and soaring, ominous structures began to grow from the cracks in the rock.
The Obelisks of Cursed Spirits did not resemble ordinary defensive towers. They were monoliths made of the same dark, porous stone as the mine walls, entwined with vines of clotted blood. Halfway up each one was a rift resembling a gaping mouth, from which a thick, icy mist seeped. Inside these crevices, a blue, ghostly light pulsed - that was where the spirits of despair were imprisoned, waiting for the signal to attack.
"They look promising," Lilith muttered, opening the territory management menu. "Alright, now let's buy the ammunition. How much for one spirit?"
Her finger hovered in the air as she searched the options. The Monarch's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What?! Why can't I buy these spirits? Where is the 'recruit' button?"
Lilith began feverishly tapping the interface, furrowing her brow.
"Don't tell me I spent all that gold on four decorative stones! Is something not working again?!"
Irritated, she looked at the silent obelisks. Suddenly she stopped, and her anger gave way to curiosity.
Or maybe... maybe they work differently? Maybe I don't have to buy them like skeletons, but they generate themselves over time? she thought, rubbing her chin.
Before she could develop that thought, her sharpened succubus hearing caught the dull thud-thud of paws on stone. On the other side of the canyon, from the thick undergrowth, a group of powerful wolves emerged.
"Hooo..." Lilith smiled predatorily, her wings twitching with excitement. "Your timing is truly perfect."
Her gaze jumped from the invaders to the silent obelisks. She wanted to test their effectiveness without risking her own skin. With a quick, agile movement, she retreated into the shadow of a rocky niche, hiding her presence. She licked her lips, feeling the rising adrenaline.
"Go on then, show me where my hard-earned money went," she whispered in the dark, her eyes fixed on the new invaders.