Global Lord: My Unit Commander is Vampire Queen-Chapter 45: The Howling Pits

The skeletal dragon’s emergence from the mountain’s depths sent shockwaves through both armies as ancient bone and accumulated death energy formed a creature that dwarfed even Thorgrim’s massive bear form. Centuries of mithril mining had disturbed burial grounds that predated the Ironmaw Clan’s territorial claims, and Lucas had spent months channeling that accumulated necromantic potential into this singular moment of overwhelming force.

Thorgrim’s roar of defiance echoed across the mountainside as he faced the undead monstrosity, his tactical mind recognizing the impossible odds while his territorial instincts refused to yield ground that had been clan property for generations. The Beast Lord’s muscles swelled with transformation energy as he pushed his hybrid form beyond normal limitations, accepting permanent damage in exchange for strength that might challenge a dragon.

"You think ancient bones frighten the Ironmaw?" Thorgrim bellowed, his voice carrying such primal authority that several of Lucas’s lesser undead actually hesitated in their advance. "These mountains remember when my ancestors fought wyrms that were alive and twice as dangerous!"

The Beast Lord launched himself at the skeletal dragon with speed that defied his massive bulk, claws extended for strikes that could shatter stone and rend metal. His trajectory carried him directly toward the creature’s skull, where concentrated necromantic energy pulsed with malevolent light that made the air itself recoil.

But Lucas had not raised this particular undead construct for conventional combat applications. The skeletal dragon was a siege weapon disguised as a creature, its bones reinforced with mithril deposits from the very mines they fought to control and its empty sockets blazing with death energy that could corrode both physical matter and spiritual essence.

The dragon’s head snapped toward Thorgrim with mechanical precision, jaws opening to reveal a throat lined with crystallized death magic that had been accumulating power for centuries. The breath weapon that emerged was not fire or acid, but concentrated entropy that aged everything it touched at an accelerated rate.

Thorgrim’s roar transformed into a howl of agony as the entropic breath struck his charging form, his fur withering and his enhanced muscles beginning to atrophy even as his momentum carried him toward his target. But the Beast Lord’s territorial fury transcended physical limitations, and his claws found purchase on ancient bone even as his life force drained away.

The impact sent both creatures crashing into the mountainside with force that triggered avalanches and opened new fissures in the rock. Thorgrim’s claws carved deep gouges in the dragon’s skull while its talons pierced his torso, each combatant dealing wounds that would have been instantly fatal to lesser opponents.

Lucas felt the tactical satisfaction of watching his strategic calculations manifest in devastating reality. The skeletal dragon had not been intended to survive this encounter—its purpose was to neutralize the Beast Lord’s supernatural advantages while demonstrating power that would shatter the remaining clan defenders’ morale.

The remaining werebears and dire wolves fought with the desperation of creatures who understood that their territorial claims were ending permanently. They carved through undead ranks with weapons that blazed with anti-necromantic enchantments, but for every undead they destroyed, two more emerged from concealed positions throughout the mining complex.

Selena moved through the chaos with fluid grace that seemed to exist between dimensions, her Divine Devourer abilities allowing her to feed on the violence and terror that saturated the battlefield. The Night Priestesses followed at distances that suggested observation rather than participation, their transformed nature making them valuable assets that required protection rather than expenditure.

"Such magnificent brutality," Selena purred, her voice carrying clearly despite the sounds of combat that echoed across the mountainside. "The Beast Lord fights with nobility that makes his inevitable defeat almost tragic."

"Nobility is a luxury reserved for winners," Lucas replied, his attention divided between the dragon’s death struggle and the broader tactical situation that was resolving in his favor. "Watch how tragedy becomes transformation."

The skeletal dragon’s structural integrity was failing under Thorgrim’s relentless assault, but its entropic breath had reduced the Beast Lord to a fraction of his original strength. Both creatures were dying, but the dragon had served its purpose by neutralizing the primary threat to Lucas’s conquest.

Thorgrim’s final roar carried such concentrated rage and sorrow that it triggered sympathetic howls from every surviving clan member, a sound that acknowledged defeat while refusing to accept submission. The Beast Lord’s claws found the dragon’s skull one last time, shattering ancient bone even as his own life force guttered like a candle in a hurricane.

Both creatures collapsed in a tangle of bone and fur and cooling blood, their death throes carving new scars into mountainside rock that would serve as monuments to this battle for centuries to come. But Lucas had not orchestrated this confrontation merely to claim territory—he had created an opportunity that transcended simple conquest.

"Now," Lucas commanded, his voice resonating with necromantic authority that made the dimensional fabric itself respond in compliance.

Death energy that had been building throughout the battle suddenly focused on Thorgrim’s dying form, not to raise him as another undead minion, but to trap his departing soul before it could escape to whatever afterlife awaited defeated Beast Lords. The process required precision that pushed Lucas’s necromantic abilities beyond their normal operational parameters.

Thorgrim’s spirit fought the binding with strength that matched his physical resistance, but two centuries of territorial dominance had not prepared him for enemies who could weaponize death itself. The soul-binding ritual carved patterns into reality that made several clan survivors flee in terror despite their territorial instincts.

"What are you doing?" Selena asked, her voice carrying curiosity that held undertones of anticipation rather than concern.

"Creating something unprecedented," Lucas replied, his concentration focused on magical processes that required absolute precision. "Beast Lord souls retain their territorial authority even after death. But properly bound, that authority serves new masters."

The binding completed with a sound like reality tearing and mending simultaneously. Thorgrim’s trapped soul blazed with confined power that twisted and reformed according to Lucas’s will, transforming from independent spirit into something that existed purely to serve its captor’s purposes.

But Lucas’s intentions extended beyond simple necromantic domination. The Beast Lord’s trapped essence was being prepared for a transformation that would create something entirely new—a fusion of spiritual authority and necromantic control that would serve as the ultimate demonstration of his power.

"Selena," Lucas said, his voice carrying undertones that made her Divine Devourer instincts respond with predatory interest. "Approach the binding circle."

She moved toward the swirling vortex of contained soul energy with grace that seemed to exist outside normal spacetime, her vampiric nature allowing her to perceive spiritual essences in ways that living creatures could not comprehend. The trapped Beast Lord’s soul recognition her presence with resistance that spoke of territorial instincts that transcended death.

"My King," Selena purred, her voice carrying anticipation that made the air itself seem to vibrate with potential energy, "what gift do you offer your devoted servant?"

Lucas began the final phase of his transformation ritual, channeling power that required him to draw on necromantic reserves he had been accumulating for months. The process would bind Thorgrim’s territorial authority directly to Selena’s divine essence, creating a mount that combined Beast Lord strength with vampiric supernatural abilities.

The metamorphosis began with light that seemed to devour itself, spiritual energy twisting through configurations that violated natural law while creating something entirely unprecedented. Thorgrim’s soul-stuff reformed around frameworks that Lucas imposed through pure necromantic will, territorial authority becoming subservient to vampiric dominance.

But as the transformation neared completion, something unexpected occurred. The binding ritual triggered responses in the mountain’s mithril deposits that had been dormant for centuries, and those responses were attracting attention from entities that dwelt in depths far below the mining operations. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The ground began to tremble with rhythms that suggested massive creatures stirring in places where no living thing was meant to exist, and those stirrings carried implications that made even Lucas’s tactical confidence waver for the first time in years.

Something ancient and hungry was awakening in the depths beneath the Thornspine Mines, and its attention was now focused on the necromantic energies that had disturbed its eternal slumber.