Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Surprisingly, the amount of casualties was far lower than expected- Well, they were not exactly low, but everyone had thought that at least half of the warriors that had volunteered to face off against the undead's head-on would perish, including those very same warriors, but thanks to the arrangements the two ancestors made, Solzmimi and Hirzartanli were able to provide some assistance, preventing many from succumbing to their wounds, many more would have died from having internal organs or bones frozen otherwise.

They had never faced an army that used exclusively frost and cold as their main weapon, quite literally too as their equipment and weapons were incredibly chilly, to the point that one could see frost with their naked eye rising from the steel or their blades and armours.

Getting stabbed was bad enough normally, but when it also meant that literally ice would start forming inside of you on top of it, it immediately made getting stabbed normally to be a far more pleasant experience, a good chunk of the undeads had wielded things like harpoons and other hunting tools however, and they combat skills had been easier to handle than those of the undeads that were garbed closer to have one would expect of soldiers.

Some of the undeads also suddenly mutated mid-battle, some into atrocious beasts, some merely acquiring a monstrous arm or extra limbs… When it first occurred, quite a few people had been killed on the spot as they were unable to defend in time against attacks that no one could have predicted.

If there was a consolation, it was that they didn't have to gather headless bodies and crushed remains as all was turned into spirit life by the Emerald Realm…

"We won?"

"Yes, we won for today, Irlitimiz" replied Iliz, looking at the rather poor state the wolfish priestess had been left in after hours of fighting Alkayne, although she had been doing rather good during the first few hours, it quickly began to show that having basically infinite stamina was an enormous advantage, now matter how much the zombie was slashed or struck, his ability to fight and react never decreased, trusting in his sturdy suit of armour, he had merely needed to make sure not to lose any limbs and that would ensure that eventually, he would naturally gain the upper hand.

For both sides, it had looked like both Irlitimiz and Alkayne had had a rather casual confrontation, rather detached from the maximum power they could both unleash.

"Ah… How did that guy used to say it? Hell yeah!" the Divine Dancing Priestess was pretty satisfied with herself though, although appearing somewhat hotheaded, she knew not to underestimate undeads, so since Alkayne had not gone all the way and gone all out, she had not done so either since that would make him do the same.

She might have actually had a clearer upper hand if she had gone all-out, but Irlitimiz had preferred not to risk it and had instead engaged in an arguable equally risky play and played the long game with an undead, but it had paid off, night eventually fell, and as promised, the undeads immediately retreated, not even finishing off livings that they could have slain.

There was one warrior that suffered as an undead who had stabbed him in the guts had naturally retrieved their weapon when it was time to retreat, thus having to pull it back out, but the man survived, so all was well.

However, quite a few warriors would probably need rest for a while to heal back up, Irlitimiz in particular, she had come back with half of her face frozen, an arm only holding on by a slight bit of skin, and a good portion of her chest was being eaten away by necrosis, having been hit squarely by bolt of dark lightning.

No one in their right mind would allow her to fight again anytime soon, and this was without mentioning the myriad of other wounds and injuries she had accumulated throughout the fight, though, Alkayne had not left without getting struck a bunch either, though he had clearly willingly taken some of these to perform counterattacks, clearly believing in his defences.

"When did Dracula say the next assault would be?" asked Ioleznta whilst casting some healing light atop all of the warriors.

"In two days, and then, we'll apparently get a week without anything happening" replied Liliazin.

"Those undeads are being awfully accommodating, it's suspicious" Artazun growled, there was nothing more off putting than an enemy that was too nice.

"They are surely simply trying to get us on their good sides… And I fear that it will be effective on many, remember that they want to conquer us, not destroy us- Dracula is certainly attempting to get us emerald folks to have a more positive view of the undead empire, we should remain vigilant, but I do believe that they'll keep their words" Zilania offered some wisdom, and no one had any rebuttal to that.

Meanwhile, in the dark keep, Alkayne returned with his troops to find that the undeads who had fallen during the battle were already back into the realm after being rebuilt by The Graveyard, any enemy that would have to face the full brunt of the empire would suffer greatly as the troops that were eliminated would be back at their posts within just a few hours…

Alkayne's halberd disappeared out of his hand as he crossed his arms.

"To my new soldiers- You have performed well for your first battle against sapient livings, you should not be called upon again to fight against the emerald folks, but remain on ready nonetheless" he said, dismissing his troops.

His mangled armour had already mended itself, he had actually been planning on not repairing it mid-fight, but as it turns out, the bestial energy was potent enough to stop him from doing so anyways, it was a shame that he didn't get to see what the wolf-woman was truly capable of, she was strong.

From the darkness above, a large, skeletal bird head suddenly emerged, garbed in a dark blue hood and cloak, the partly broken skull filled with captive souls screaming and begging from freedom.

"Are they strong?" asked Prikrip, his beak awfully close to poking Alkayne's eye out.

"Very strong, you'll love them" he simply replied, not surprised as he had already sensed his fellow minor lord hanging from the wall, it was such a common thing for Prikrip to do, no one even bothered to ask why anymore.

"Is that so? I hope they'll hold on until it's my turn to go- By the way, your priestess and nightbird are waiting for you, don't make the ladies wait!" clacking his beak as a way of expressing laughter, the corpse rose back up into the darkness and skittered away like some sort of creepy, labyrinth-patrolling monster…