Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Smashing his back against a nearby tree, alongside the pesky little monster that was currently repeatedly stabbing Loimos in the neck, only to get appallingly fruitless results, the agile little creature’s frame was mangled upon being crushed against the trunk, allowing for the undead to easily grab it and throw it to the ground.

Pulling out the bone dagger grinding the surface of his neck, the skeleton looked over the surrounding, quite a few of the same sort of monster were sprawled about around the lush scenery, the first one had let out of high-pitch cry, bringing its friends over, forcing Loimos to enact great violence upon them.

They had dark grey skin, eyes receding into their skulls, big droopy ears and messy teeth that seemingly couldn’t grow properly, their bodies were frail, lacking much strength, even some of the larger individuals, who had been carrying heavy-looking clubs turned out to lack explosive strength, they just let themselves be carried by their swings.

Their tendencies to stop in their tracks to scream also made the job easier for the undead, still, he had to remove a few additional dagger and small spears stuck in his body at the moment, after his trek through mountains, snowy tops, fall off said mountains, traversing a forest, getting knifed by trolls, a desert expedition under exceptionally harsh weather, a small trip in water and now getting stabbed again, he was really looking like a mess.

His dark coat was riddled with countless holes and tears, worn out by the environment, the white mask stuck on his face was visibly cracked and shifted to greyer tones, the red kiss mark on hit standing out even more now.

The soles on his boots wished to separated from the rest, all in all, he was truly looking like an errant madman, the dark sword was also chipped, duller than it used to be, the cosmetic enchantment supposed to fool opponents was malfunctioning, actually giving a more threatening look to it as it seemed like the blade could actually blow up at any moment. Your next read is at empire

The bow and arrow were the only objects he owned that were in a good state, at least compared to the rest at least, he took a few of the monster’s bone daggers, although of rather poor quality, they could do the job.

Clearing the colourful area of the additional red and bodies, Loimos still had some way before reaching Muho Chitai, it wasn’t exactly near the border and Tochi wasn’t exactly small either, the terrific strength of the siamese suns weakened as he left the desert, but calling the rays they emitted weak would be a gross understatement.

Also, whilst one of them retained the appearance everyone knew a sun to have, the other one was taking on a darker shade, the splitting of the sun during the summer season wasn’t abnormal, however, that new development was far from typical, the suns were supposed to fuse back into one at the end of the season.

Some were worried, but worry was something for the living, Loimos passed by a few small cities, ignoring them as he traversed some more rivers, quite a few dazzlingly colourful forests and clearings, and then lastly, a swamp that was no less colourful than the rest of this country’s wildlife.

Finally, he found himself before Muho Chitai, a city said to inhabit a crypt-like construction, he couldn’t find much intel on the nature or description of the point of interest, but it had been clear that there was something for Loimos to investigate here.

Tochi was an old kingdom, it’s roots had already been firmly planted back during the war, the nature had certainly recovered greatly since back then, it hadn’t always bore this name but by connecting the dots between Faraday’s memories and what Loimos had gathered on his own, it seemed clear that Tochi was one of the few nations that had technically survived the undead legions.

The skeleton remained at a distance for now, hidden in the muddy ground of the swamp still, he hadn’t really bothered with Pezerx’s constructions and such, so the way things were built here was his first true experience with a completely different architecture, everything was different here, even the way people dressed and acted was distinctively different.

Loimos could decel such things easily, the areas weren’t very dangerous, as such, the city didn’t really have high walls,only small walls, which appeared more as tasteful decorations that defensive measures, apart from the swamp and one forest opposite to where he was, the area was flat and flower filled, devoid of any of the small monsters he had encountered on a few occasions, they knew not to mess with the humans.

Although the population wasn’t entirely human, they didn’t lean very far from humans but other species could still be seen here and there, beastfolks with no more than the basic apparels of animal ears and a tail, and some horned people.

The houses were tightly packed, but not directly stuck to one another, some buildings reaching a bit higher than others, but all in all, no constructions exceeded the few watchtowers built around.

Using his synesthesia to gather information from his position for a week, Loimos quickly came to realise that Muho Chitai was overrun by a slight problem, although very different from Tamaris, the basic structure than interested Loimos was of course the guards and keeper of peace of the city, they were always the main problem.

Unlike Tamaris, which was a primarily trade-focused nation ruled by a merchant by trade, Tochi was known for its many mercenaries, whilst Tamaris also dwelled into such things, not nearly as much as them, learning how to fight was deeply ingrained into the very soil, for it was the greatest and most respected way to earn income here, as such, many things were developed around that, even if it didn’t make much sense.

Anyone that held some sort of influence had to also hold actual power, it was an iron rule, however, the way the people of this achieved power wasn’t typical, they didn’t dwell into the learning of energy or into the system much, innate abilities were also not what they prioritised, Tochi was the pioneer of battle arts, mostly weapon arts.

All in all, Loimos had been expecting resistance of a kind he had yet to experience, having only witnessed the usage of arts for certain from two swords wielder from this very place, Three from Alizé, and the nameless bandit.

However, what hadn’t been expected was for the city to be completely under the control of criminals.