Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

All of those enslaved people were dressed roughly the same, cloaks covering most of their bodies, each toiled away without stopping, hours on end, the signal for respite being one of them collapsing to the ground, physically incapable of standing any longer, two others went over to help him.

Or so Milo and Griar first assumed, instead, they tore his cloak off, revealing a shirt covered in holes, held close to the body of its wearer with ropes of web, the holes allowed for bloated mounds to enjoy the outside air, malignant protuberances that were far from solid, small creatures crawling inside, doing their utmost to break through the elastic skin.

Taking cleavers out, the two that had approached chopped off the arms of their fellow after ripping the sleeves, carefully soaking them in the salty mixture, each of them seemingly carrying a pot on their person at all times, uncaring for the rivers of blood spurting over their shoes and the floor, one picked both of the limbs up, carrying them to the closest.

He stopped for a second, just staring at the content without any particular reaction, this lasted a dozen of seconds before just placing the arms inside, sticking them to the web with utmost attention and precision.

Both of the young men felt like they had already seen enough but the spectacle was not yet over, only the arms were kept in reserve, the legs and head were apparently left as treats for the hard working servants, without hesitation, without adding anything or cooking anything, all of them feasted upon the the remains, leaving only the torso intact, placing it onto the butchered man's cloak, wrapping it with the same care they used for the arms.

Not even the bones were left after they were done, gorging themselves like wild beasts, but without their ferocity, like automatons programmed to enact this very action, watching this was certainly disturbing, but by now, both of the young men had already tempered themselves.

And now, the choice of which one to follow was easy, without saying a word, they set sight on the one that picked up the torso, one of them once again passed awfully close to their hiding spots, quickly, they set off after their target.

"What was that inside his body?" Griar whispered, focused on the back of the slowly walking man, he was moving with exceptional attention to his surroundings, his posture completely different to the rest as they simply rushed off looking like their blood was one-hundred percent alcohol.

They had heard and seen a bit of the ravages the drug produced by Alizée could have, but the people under its effect were usually dressed like they belonged to a cult of some kind, and seeing the way they had reacted to various situations, it seemed like the so-called mindless servants could actually receive multiple orders at once.

"Not sure… But why did they all show up moving like they could barely stand, when they also clearly showed that they could move around normally and act with care?" Milo wondered, something was definitely fishy, even beyond the apparent involvement with the undeads.

Debating these questions inside of their minds, the two of them followed the enthralled man until they reached a small village, people of various species walking around, many houses and accommodations in the midst of being constructed.

A typical sight these days, many had first come to the cities, only to eventually wished to live in a more rural area, Milo understood very well, the stone roads and packed shops of the capital had a tendency to make him uncomfortable, like they were going to close in on him, the wide space of the backcountry were much more refreshing and less oppressive.

However, this man did not enter the village, instead, keeping to the forest as he circled around, until he arrived to the very end of the village, where an old, partly collapsed tower was still standing tall, it was about the size of a three storey building in terms of height, the back of it was shrouded in deep shadows, trees and vegetations was closely packed, not allowing on to peer beyond with just their sight.

This was where the man was headed, delivering the package they presumed, as he stepped in, and then out in seconds, without the torso, walking into the tower, disappearing within.

He passed by a pretty blonde lady dressed in a buffy dress, the sort noble women would wear, she was just sitting on a long chair outside, a shiny necklace around her neck.

"Should he check it out?" Milo asked.

"Do you have a death wish? We don't know what's in there, and the people of the village look like regular folks too, engaging in a fight here seems like a poor idea… Also, we know that this place had ties to Alizée for certain! Let's just retreat and call for backup" Griar reasoned, knowing that Milo was actually quite thoughtful.

"Will it be given priority however? The undeads are seemingly preparing for an attack soon, and no matter what may be happening, all of our forces will be needed for a chance to push them back, allowing them to breach the kingdom-wide barrier is a worst-case scenario, I doubt they will dispatch much forces during such times…" perhaps a bit too thoughtful for his own good.

"The undeads are still in the middle of preparations though, a quick intervention wouldn't be pushed back-" both of them jumped away, whistling right where their necks had been a moment before.

A spear was swung around with much elegance.

"Two men hidden in bushes, I wonder what you might be gawking at?" dressed in black, ample desert clothing, a dark-skinned woman with a missing ear casually asked them, as though she had not just attempted to lob their heads off.

"Nothing! Just passing by" Griar felt incriminated by that question.

Considering where the two of them were, trying to wiggle their way out with lies seemed improbable.

Milo stood up, not circulating his mana just yet.

"We were just following a suspicious man, do you live here ma'am?" she was not impressed by the attempt at switching the focus on another topic, instead swinging her spear up in the air, somehow managing not to hit a single tree.

Sand began to form around, spinning and spinning, she turned into a raging sandstorm, blasting the trunks off and ripping the grass off the soil as she flew forward at Milo.

"Move!" Griar moved in the way of the tornado, bending his knees, grasping the handle of his sabre, a light blue glow enveloped him in a circular shape for a brief instant, before wrapping around his blade, swinging defensively, he was pushed back out of the cover of the trees.

The storm dissipated suddenly, his blade slashing the chest of his enemy, only for a shallow cut, still earning some surprise.

Griar did not like the way she was looking at him right now.