Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

As Griar trained everyday in hopes of rescuing the girl that stole his heart, a year passed, and he turned seventeen years old, he probably got close to death a few times because of Louizon's reckless idea of teaching, but as absurdly unsafe as it is, it was indeed efficient n getting him to improve.

Lizi attempted on multiple occasions to get him to pick a weapon to train with, but Griar's essence itself seemed to resist the idea of carrying a weapon, so in the end, he focused on hand-to-hand combat.

He learned how to fight by sparing with Lizi, by fighting the giant animals of the realm and eventually, Lizi also got Antieeld to assist despite Griar's reluctance, Auntie Antieeld was nice and all, but she honestly scared, he always felt that there was something a bit off about how she carried herself and behaved around him, his sisters and his mother.

But Antieeld's help proved very useful, Lizi had been able to sharpen her skills with the sword because Auntie Antieeld would manifest fighting spirits to spar with her, spirits with their own minds, distinct battle styles and tricks, training with the commandant was like having a whole army of distinct individuals to spar and exchange insights with.

Griar would often get beaten at first, even if his raw physical strength and magic power was high, his opponents were just too experienced and were able to play him like a fiddle, absolutely demolishing him without any effort, indeed, if they had wanted to kill him, he would have died a thousand times over.

But what he learned from all of these fights was incredibly valuable, alongside asking for tips from just about everyone he knew within the realm and learning new spells, Griar felt much stronger than before, not just in raw combat power, but also in mind.

"I feel ready" after a training session on the plains, he said that he felt like tackling the Stagnant Realm again, even the mysterious robed figure that had pursued him through the halls of the castle no longer seemed so scary and insurmountable.

"Really? I never went into that realm, so I can't judge, but are you truly certain that you are strong enough now that you won't run into any problem? You said that there was an undead in it last time… Mom doesn't want any of us near the undeads, as if there is an undead it means-"

"Yes, I know that it could mean that 'he' could be there too, but I just can't leave Flor behind!" he declared.

"Fine- But you need to take us with you"

"Huh?"

"You heard me correctly, you can go back to that realm if you want, it's not like anyone can stop you, but for safety, we'll come along and make sure that our little baby brother doesn't get hurt- Don't worry, we won't embarrass you in front of your girlfriend" Lizi smiled whilst Louizon just nodded along.

"...Can this be negotiated or…?"

"No negotiations, in your own words, you almost died on several occasions last time, just because you got stronger, it doesn't mean that you are invincible, with three of us, we should be able to manage ourselves, right?" after this, albeit reluctant, Griar could only sigh in resignation, he would rather not take his sisters into the Stagnant Realm as, just like they were saying, it was a dangerous place.

It was odd, because he was definitely the one in the most danger there, so any help should be welcome.

He could just go into the realm without telling them, but he was pretty confident that if he came after pulling that sort of stunt, some sort of torture chamber would be waiting for him, so he refrained from doing that, and the next day, after a good night's rest, Griar and his two oldest siblings were taken into another realm.

The young man steeled himself for action, he would appear where he had left, meaning that the undead, Vostes, would surely be present too, and the corpse was unlikely to let him go a second time if given the chance.

The scenery suddenly change, the world felt much dimmer, the air colder, and everything seemed to have been overlapped with a shade of grey, this was the Stagnant Realm, a once safe and secure realm that the carver had deemed a good fit to send the people that got lost during the transportation to the Peaceful Realm, but had been turned into a most terrible, dangerous place.

Griar already had his fists raised up when he appeared upon the island, but there was no one.

Vostes was simply gone, nowhere to be found, and neither was anyone or anything else present in his place, the island had simply been deserted…

The undead had claimed himself to be a humble researcher, so perhaps his research had simply concluded, or he had moved somewhere else to pursue them? In any case, Griar couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"Seems like we won't have to deal with an undead- Wait a second" he was alone.

Lizi and Louizon were not with him.

'How? Does the realm switch not work like I thought it did? Were they taken somewhere else within the realm?' he felt a slight panic, and so, after a few moments, focused to cast a spell.

The realm still restricted the usage of magic, so he had to stay focused as he manifested winds to allow himself to soar through the air, he definitely did not want to swim through the water again, just looking down at it made his heart grow cold with fear.

'They might have been teleported to the place where I was taken the first time I arrived into the realm…' that was what made the most sense, so before doing anything else, he would get there and reunite with his sisters.

Or so he would have liked.

But from the corner of his eye, he noticed… Something, a movement, shadow growing in size in the waters below.

Griar was several dozens of meters high above the surface of the lake, but his wariness of it still prompted him to react as though he was submerged in the water, still maintaining his flight spell, he pushed himself to the side, and suddenly, from the water, a tendril shot out directly toward him, attempting to latch onto his ankle.

And when that failed, instead of simply trying again, the shadow dived deep underwater.

It did not give up.

What could only be described as a malformed, giant killer whale surged out of the lakes, its back and body covered in countless tendrils, each many times longer than the creature itself.

Those tendrils lashed out in all directions as the orca barrelled through directly for Griar, he barely avoided the beast, and a tendril slammed into his forearms that he raised in defence, making them momentarily numb as the mutated animal fell back down into the water.

'I… I am not dealing with that!'