Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

You did not need to be a genius to understand that the goblin chief was a battle maniac, standing a whole head taller than his fellows, and possessing a much wider, more powerful build, it was like he had been born to fight… Though, it was questionable whether this was due to natural traits, or if submersion in Brine Pools had actually physically changed him, as from the sound of things, those pools were actually quite miraculous to the goblins of this island.

Making someone who worshipped strength and craved battle bend the knee to you and unconditionally submit was actually rather simple, Loimos had once done something similar in the past- When fighting the Warking of the Northern Swamp, to demonstrate that the enemy held no chance of fighting back and could only accept the Empire's rule, he faced the greatest pyromancer in a duel by only using the man's own specialty against him, therefore crushing him in an area of domain where he was the best.

When faced with such a defeat, the opponent in front of Loimos could only give in, having been made painfully aware that what they could do, the pure undead could do better.

So as the chief of the brine goblins issued his challenge, barring his stone axe and seemingly wielding magic capable of manifesting and controlling both salt as well as brine water, Loimos stepped forward, and in the blink of an eye, from all over the island and from Saline Sea, streams of water emerging from each and every Brine Pool and from the depths of the ocean came rushing toward him.

Swiftly decayed and consumed through the power of primeval rot, this wasn't all, many more materials were also seemingly pulled toward the skeleton, and in just a few moments, Loimos had everything he needed, the rot wrapped around his skeletal body twisted and shifted, tearing and weaving itself into something new.

Imitating the current garbs of his adversary, leaving only a skeleton with a piece of cloth tightly wrapped around his waist, instead of small, tumour-like growth of rot upon his bones, crystals of salt adorned his body, and if one were to crack them, brine water would come flowing out instead of black blood.

The finishing touch was the manifestation of a stone axe crafted in the same manner as that of the goblin chief's.

Unconsciously, the chief tightened his grip upon his weapon, unsure of what he had just borne witness to, this was nothing short of extraordinary, a power he was unable to identify, something never seen before by those two eyes of his, but as Loimos had suspected, the chief felt his blood boil with excitement instead of fear, the promise of a difficult battle made it hard for him to stand in place.

He barely even registered that his opponent had revealed himself to be a skeleton, judging by the appearance, he assumed that Loimos was some sort of ancient being of this realm, for he seemed to be one with the very nature of the realm itself, embodying the salt to what looked like perfection.

Meanwhile, as Ehll-Giablo was preparing himself for a glorious fight, Gobo-Dalo had crawled to the other side of the cavern, absolutely terrified, he would have wanted to run down the stairs, but that's where the other two that accompanied Loimos were at! Especially the blonde one who had drained his fellows of all their blood, he did not want to get anywhere close to her!

He could only silently pray that his chief could actually win, or else he did not know what would become of him, or of the entire tribe for that matter!

At the same time as the brine goblin was having a panic attack, One and Maliah were also witnessing the unfolding events.

"Oh…"

"One, calm down"

"...I am… Perfectly calm" the vampiress was covering the lower portion of her face with her right hand, and for some reason, some blood seemed to be flowing out.

"This is just like when he fought Irlke Combuscrus, those bare, exposed bones… It's so beautiful!" the vampire was starstruck, but at least it was better than that time she was mentioned, she had been rabid back then, and Maliah had had to restrain her.

In comparison, One was appearing far more composed this time around, her eyes darting around as she took in every bit of the pure undead's skeletal form, it was incredible, each and every one of his bones were utterly perfect.

"Come on, Maliah… Don't tell me that you can't appreciate this… Look at that magnificent spine! Don't you just want to touch it with your bare hands?"

"I think I am fine"

As the assassin said this, the goblin chief surged forward, and indeed, for a goblin, he seemed rather powerful and talented, in just an instant, he launched a hail of salt forward with a stomp, which was meant to serve as a distraction, before jumping into the air, manifesting brine water that was so concentrated with salt that he was able to step upon it, and gain footing, allowing him to deliver a powerful axe blow toward the undead's neck, a place the goblin could naturally not reach easily normally.

After all, even though he was taller than his fellows, he remained far shorter than the skeleton, who was above two meters in height.

Loimos raised his own axe in defence, slightly the stone head against that of his opponent's weapon, hooking Ehll-Giablo's axe, and Ehll-Giablo too since he was not intent on letting go, with a swift turn, the goblin chieftain was spun and thrown hard against the ground, his body bouncing against the salty stone before falling into the large Brine Pool.

It was not as deep as some might have imagined, the goblin's feet could touch the ground without problem, hastily, he raised up his own defence as the undead threw a devastating kick his way, the blow pushing the chief back against the edges of the pool.

With a smile of gritted teeth, Ehll-Giablo grasped the handle of his axe, and infusing the weapon with the power of salt and brine combined, threw it through the air straight at the undead, who replied by also infusing his weapon in the same manner and shattering the flying weapon in a single strike before raising one hand toward the goblin, manifesting a great quantity of brine water.

Which gathered and engulfed the chief before he could dodge, the water he was submerged into got in the way of what would have normally been an easy dodge…