Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Chapter 277 The Expansion

Within the next day, no longer attended to, the barrier protecting Ircron from the undeads collapsed, the capital city of Starkefolten was invaded and made into a fort for the eternal legion, the same happened for the holy lands of Millipolo, both populations had been evacuated entirely to Tamaris, the wilds of the last standing nation of life were invested by countless new people.

All tacitly allowed by the Monarch Of The Eternal Night, who seemed as though he could not care less that all of his enemies were banding together, right after everyone evacuated, miasma began emerging from the countless bastions erected all over the continent, the darkness that had surrounded Tamaris also appeared everywhere, concealing various areas completely.

Miasma clung to the edges of that pyramidal barrier, slowly threatening to break it down if left to do as it wished, still, nothing else happened to directly menace the living, instead, nothing much seemed to change for them, Loimos, now left without victims to pursue in the badlands, instead led the advances of undead vegetation covering Viridis in growths of paleness and blood, the dominion of King Nitok was expanded into the ocean, made firmer on land.

A loud hum began resounding throughout the lands, further growing the concerns of the living, undead wildlife was starting to scour all around, the thickening miasma allowed a faster growth, hidden behind the abnormal darkness, Dracula was gathering troops all around Tamaris, organising them and setting up training camps within the mountains, his movement unseen, but the intent carried by him and the countless troops could be felt, radiating killing intent, the air felt suffocating close to the edges.

Agilulf Wanneck had gathered all of his troops, which had now grown significantly, he looked over them all, evaluating his chances were a full-blown conflict to break out suddenly, logistically speaking, how would the full might of the living hold up against that of the dead?

He lacked intel to do so properly, but considering the reports received concerning the might of mere minor lords, things were rather grim, the sanctity of the multi-layered life barrier was not to be worried about, with the new assistance of many priest and priestesses of Phanes, as well as those of many other callings, the life force barrier was further reinforced with various holy energies, many were always standing ready to repair damage if needed, but the day the undeads decided to launch an all-out assault was one to be dreaded still.

The royal courier had said that King Nitok could ignore some livings on the continent until they were the only one left, that the full force of the undead army would not fall upon them as only the gravelords might attempt it, but it was hard to believe anything Loimos said, his tone lacking in all emotions, lacking in everything, it was like reading words on a piece of paper when on the verge of collapsing, this odd stoicism that was completely unwarranted.

He looked down at his feet, unknowing that Vwoldtnir and his ghouls were digging endlessly under the continent, going as deep as was possible, what laid beneath the soil was also the territory of the dead, lines upon lines of soldiers walked underneath at all hours of both day and night, miasma flooding the underground, seeping into the earth and corrupting it.

Ecosystems of rot were sprouting within the caves, mountains hollowed out, the sheer amount of death permeating the air and ground laid way for naturally occurring undeads to appear en masse, further bolstering the ranks of the eternal army, most were mindless, some were special, few held reasoning, but few amongst such terrifying numbers was still high.

Not to mention that the forges of the undead palace were hard at work, forging weapons and equipment for each and every members of the legion, no expertise of craftsmanship were foreign to them, golems stepped out at a constant flow, under the directive of Atsalinopalo, the corpses that were missing pieces of them received prosthesis, amongst the tide of regular golems that served as mere fodder in the army, no matter how refined and powerful some of them might be, the only golems that were kept hidden were the ones with a spark of consciousness.

Those animated with what was neither life nor death, they received blood from the vampire lord, steadily forming a veritable army of vampiric creations, the chambers of the king's crypt were filled to the brim with knights and reserves of soldiers, still, everything remained mostly silent within.

When night fell, Vespertillo would take off from the bastion he currently resided in, taking flight above the ocean, the high skies and depth filled to the brim with monsters and animals of great might, many ancient vampires that he had turned during the first war still lied in wait at the bottom, but he was not here to gather them, he was ordered to conquer it all.

Without fail, once the sun hid away, he would spread his wings and dominate the flying and the swimming, injecting his blood and forcing them to submit to his will, and by extension, to King Nitok's will, the oceans were slowly but surely becoming a part of his dominion, extending it much further than it had ever been.

Multeamanus remained elusive as usual, hordes of ghosts and spectres were circling around the continent, she was busy rousing the vengeful spirits from their sleep, Körpersucher would have normally been helping in this endeavour.

As for Nosferatu, he remained by the side of King Nitok alongside the two royal guards, or rather, he remained close to the crypt, awaiting someone.

The focus on the part of the undead was mostly put on further growing their ranks, reinforcing the king's dominion, before thinking about setting sight on another continent, the king first wished to make his hold over Tamaris as firm as was possible, miasma was to reach to the very guts of this world and to the top of the skies before such.

Although Tamaris was supposedly the last bastion of life on Viridis, certain areas were harder to conquer than others even without active push back, Loimos approached a familiar body of water, accompanied by one of the minor lords there were seven of them five of them had been with Loimos at Ircron, the other two had remained in their bastions.

Ridfoirn remaining on stand-by, and lastly, Ir'Houwl had simply not been needed for anything until now, but it was important to get them on the field as much as possible, they were gravelord candidates after all, they needed to kill as much as possible and exert their powers to progress.

She was rather obviously from Pezerx, dressed in sand-coloured, ample clothing typical of the country, dual scimitars forged out of a lustrous black stone, an ancient mask stuck to her face, giving the impression that her headpiece was resting on nothingness.

A sign that she had been a close guard of an old emperor of the desert, her special ability was perfectly suited for the mission at hand, so even though Loimos could have done it on his own, he was going to stand on the sidelines.

The sound of sand brustling against fabric and itself was heard every time she took a step.

Both of them stopped near the edge of the water, Loimos had only come here once, back then, he had peacefully traversed the surface of Mistdrown's water.

Today, he was here for violence, for the aptly named guardian was a rather powerful agent of life, his will prevented the miasma and death from spreading naturally to the lake.

Like two loathsome bill collectors, Loimos and Ir'Houwl were going to knock on the Mist-Drowned's front door and have him pay up using aggression, although, not too violent, as a competent guardian of life, he could make for a competent guardian of death as well.

Loimos told the minor lord to get to it. Find exclusive stories on empire