Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

The shadow that Milo had originally noticed had been the shape of a large rock protruding from the ground, and naturally, it had seemed like it could potentially be a good place for the invader to perhaps decide to hide, and the fact that an elite that spoke a comprehensible language had fallen, seemingly from the sky, right as they were near it was a bit suspicious.

So the trio were expecting to find something, but after Helena cleared the rubbles with a little bit of wind, there was simply nothing but the ground, Milo punched through the stone to check if there was something underneath, but no, it was just regular ground like everywhere else.

"Did they really station an elite to watch over a decoy? They really don't seem to care about their troops…" Toby used his inspect ability to check the area, but similarly found nothing of interest.

"That, or they have so many soldiers and elites, that they can just afford to lose as many as they want" Helena felt that the undead wouldn't waste any resources unless they could afford it, and that 'resources' included livings.

"I am quite curious who that 'Tsarina' he mentioned was, I don't recall any of the gravelords having that sort of title" Milo had not forgotten to listen to the invader's words, and although he couldn't truly be certain whether 'Tsarina' was a name or title, the way the goliath had said it made it seem like the latter.

"True… But I guess a lot of things could have changed outside the realm, maybe they got more gravelords now?"

"Don't say such ominous things, Toby…"

"In any case, we should keep moving, we still haven't found their portal"

The trio went back to moving, as somewhere else within the thick steam, a quartet was approaching an area that looked the exact same as any other.

"Wait a minute…"

"What's the matter, Eppie?"

"Is your magic detecting something?"

"No, the ground feels weird here, it's a bit… Flat? And look around, the pebbles that are usually dispersed all over the place are missing and packed up a distance away instead"

"You are supposed to be mage, yet you find stuff like a rogue"

"Is that supposed to be criticism?"

"Just an observation… But what does this mean anyways? Do you think they are hiding below here? It doesn't sound hollow in the least' Lynn tapped her feet against the suspicious area, and it sounded exactly the same as anywhere else.

Tahnee made a series of nondescript hand gestures, and the other three women nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, we should just smash through the ground"

"Yeah, this is probably nothing to worry about"

"You two- She clearly meant that there is probably a mechanism hidden somewhere!"

Cassi, with her kanabo raised up slowly brought it down, and Lynn backtracked as she had already been leaving.

"Girls, let's be a bit serious here, alright? We could actually get attacked at any moment here, and if we are actually above their secret hideout, then a strong one will surely show up eventually!" the mage threw her arms to the sides, the other three not looking very impressed.

"Speaking of which, we haven't met any beast for what? Five whole minutes? I was under the impression that they could track us down through the steam, so why has it been so quiet?" Cassi remarked, looking around in suspicion.

"She's not wrong, we haven't been shot at by those weird energy bullets for a while either, something is off…" Lynn slightly tugged on the string of her yumi bow, an arrow already nocked and ready to be fired at the first thing that showed up.

Tahnee similarly readied her yari spear, whilst Eppie fell back at the center of the group, focusing mana onto her eyes to check the surroundings with further attention, so far, her senses had been expanded to around ten meters around the group, and although the steam obstructed her mana sense, she pushed it further to check and found nothing at fifteen meters, nothing at twenty, nothing at twenty five, at thirty, something rushed right into her area of awareness.

"Something is coming!" she said, trying to follow the swift figure, but it wasn't necessary, as they came to a brutal stop the instant their shadow became visible to the four women.

It was no beast, but a clearly humanoid being, an invading soldier, this one wearing a wide cloak that concealed their body completely, alongside a large hood, giving them the allure of a shady cultist that performed seances in dark caves.

"That chill… It's one of those that are abnormally cold" remarked Cassi, waiting for the enemy to step closer so that she could smash their head in, even with a suit of durable armour, her club could probably kill in one hit.

"Dressed differently though, must be a so-called elite, do I shoot first or…?" Lynn asked, at this distance, it would be pretty hard for the enemy to dodge, especially if she used a battle art to empower the attack.

In response, Eppie performed a set of hand motions behind her back, and simultaneously, the archer held her breath and began to count down, both of them performing a battle art of their simultaneously.

The nocked arrow blazed with flames, fired out in the same instant, with dreadful speed and power.

The elite was quick to react, but the fiery arrow still pierced right through their shoulder, and with much ease at that, it would have gone right through if not for striking a bone.

Flames spread from the arrow to the soldier in white within moments, but the cloaked figure was quick to react, doing something with one hand that extinguished the arrow itself, and ripped off the burning cloak with the other, lunging forth without hesitation, revealing that there had been a trident hidden underneath the mantle this entire time.

Forged from a steel imbued with deep frost, the opponent, which seemed to be a man, got close to skewering Lynn right through the abdomen, but the archer was shielded by Tahnee, who hooked the trident and threw it upward using the cross-like horizontal blades.

Cassi approached from the side and swung her weapon at the man's stomach, but he was able to dodge by moving backwards, twirling his trident around like he was performing a battle art, scraping the ground with his weapon, hurling a mist of frost at the group, trying to separate them.

Eppie recited something, reciprocating with a stream of fire as tall and wide as a person, consuming the frost, and threatening to do the same to its caster.

A volley of arrow pierced through the air, he first wanted to dodge by running to one side, but the two close-combatants were already blocking the way, so with only one arm operational, he tried to deflect the oncoming projectiles, only for them to pass right through him like ghosts, only a single one, aimed at his knee, was real.

Cassi and Tahnee were already closing in on him, he blocked a heavy strike from the former, but was in turn, skewered in his back by the latter, who twisted her spear in his chest, before ripping it out and swinging at his ankles, throwing the soldier to the ground, right before the club felt down and launched part of his brain a few meters away, as both his skull and the ground below were left broken.

"Why did he show up alone? He was pretty strong, but not strong enough to just go solo"

"Huh… Eppie! Burn it!"

The fallen soldier was not turning into spirit life, for he was not dead just yet, his life force kept within as the flesh mutated and the bones expanded, antlers growing from the mush that used to his head.

"What the hell?! I much prefer the explosive ones!" the mage quickly performed an art, causing the moving remains to combust, continuing to pour energy into the flames until nothing but cinders were left.

"By the gods… That was disgusting"