Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Sparks erupted, only to be instantly smothered by the pouring rain, which looked like endless ropes crashing down from above, a plethora of dark clouds, all united to appear as one, shimmering with the shine of distant lightning, the rumbling of thunder reaching from far away, bolts striking down beyond the reaches of the continent solely, cascades of mud flowed down the great pit, failing to bother the workers, all devoid of warmth. Read exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

Armed with pickaxes, shovels and mattocks, the skeletal, rotting and mummified or simply their claws, the specialised mining caste worked upon the ground and soil without a single care for the heavy rain falling from above, no care for the constant streams of mud crashing down upon their heads, necks, shoulders and backs, some of those stream were strong enough for send an unsuspecting person straight to the ground, but the miners of the vanguard were trained to keep working even if they were actively targeted, or of the walls collapsed in on themselves.

They even had machines and various greater tools as well, but considering the fact that they were digging in direction of enemies, and that stealth was preferable, the chief of the mining crew had deemed it better to take out the more regular kit, although, these tools created from black iron and the latest wood-type straight from Yuolrt's greenhouses were crafted with the intent to be perfectly silent when swung.

"Shouldn't they focus on getting rid of the water right now?

It's nearly pooling up to their waists already" Horhir was not exactly familiar with the ways of digging and mining, obviously, no one could drown or die from exposure, those pedestrian problems were for the living, not the exalted dead, but it could definitely impair their movements, especially if it rose high enough to fully submerge them.

The mining chief just waved his hands dismissively, dressed in a dark blue protective suit that covered the entire body except for the hands, head and feet.

Ghatr was a ghoul with a link to Lord Vwoldtnir, as evidenced by the claws meant specifically for digging that he could retract at any time, as well as the teeth one could hear grinding inside of his chest from time to time, but he was otherwise taller, and certainly less capable of digging than them.

Vwoldtnir and his ghoul followers were exceptionally suited to the underground, however, although they could achieve great things when working together, they were more geared toward digging from themselves and themselves only, rather than employing such ghouls, Loimos had opted to make the mining crew more diverse, allowing to welcome more different kinds of undead, mostly due to the fact that their missions could be rather diverse, from simply digging holes like right now, to extracting ores and participating in the architects mad ambitions.

"Don't you worry lieutenant, we are prepared for all eventualities, the pump is being assembled, it comes directly from Gharl's and Tiloh's workshops!" laughing boisterously, he pointed to the side, where many others of the crew were busy bringing parts together, including an undead cave troll carrying the heaviest parts on his own.

"You know Sir Horhir, Gharl and Tiloh are like my brother and sister, they are always coming up with things to help the mining and building crew, which is why we have barrels of gunpowder lying around, but we can't just blow through for this mission" he explained casually as the machinery was assembled and wheeled closer to the pit.

Horhir naturally had to know about each caste and their leaders due to his special position, he and Ourlst were pretty much the second-in-commands of Loimos, although the current operation had them dealing with limited resources and imposed overall strategies, they were still aware of every important name.

Though, Horhir did not really know everyone personally, he knew that Gharl was the head of the researches and creators of various things, such as machinery, mechanism and most importantly gunpowder, as well as the leader of the future gun forces.

Whilst Tiloh was more of an expert on siege weaponry and mounted weapon, but apparently, she was also working on tools for the mining caste.

"You're lucky actually, this is brand new, we would have needed to use buckets before" walking up to the device, Ghatr pushed a few buttons, and pulled a lever down, causing a big tube to start flapping around like a fish in a desert.

The tube was lowered into the pit, extending its length as it descended, and once it touched water, another lever was pulled, causing all of the muddy water to be quickly syphoned away, like a drinking elephant.

And just like that, the workers were back to a more manageable environment.

"By the way, lieutenant…"@@novelbin@@

"Yes?" Horhir turned his attention back to the leader of the miners, having been rather impressed by the machine before him, that thing used no arrays, no ingrained arts, no enchantments, no nothing, it was pure mechanical wonder, which the undead found more impressive than intricate magic circles or runes.

'I should go check out what Gharl and Tiloh are up to, when I get some time…' he thought as Ghatr looked around curiously.

"I was under the impression that the nightbirds would be around, or is it that I just can't see them?"

"Ah, considering the time it would take for us to reach anywhere near our objective here, after a report came in from the Western Cliffs, I decided to deploy Tilmiel and the other nightbirds there instead, there is no need to have them wait around with nothing to do" responded the knight.

"Why do I feel like you're disappointed?"

"Well, you know…"

"Know what?"

"Forget it, my lieutenant, nothing important…"

Turning their attention back to the pit being dug, the rain managed to grow even more intense, this rainstorm falling over Belliste was not a random event, but it was not willed into existence by anyone either, the continent was simply overtaken by a rain of this strength every year, when summer ended and the season moved on to autumn, even if the temperatures and weather did not fluctuate heavily on Belliste, the changes in season was still a moment of great importance, at least to the continent itself it seemed.

The south and east drowned under the rain, whilst the north and west only suffered from a faint drizzle, and under the ambient heat of the Western Cliffs, it was pretty much like nothing was falling at all, from summer to autumn, and even during winter, the western region remained rather suffocating.

In fact, the rain only made the atmosphere heavier, a problem that could not be qualified as such for the nightbirds, who began scouring the guts of the territory rather than its surface, Topi had brought great intel, and Loimos had deemed the deep sludge as inoffensive to the undead, at least, as long as they didn't leapt into a pool of it and completely submerged themselves, it would be alright.

Led by Tilmiel, known as The Corvid and flanked by the two most prominent nightbirds beside herself, Topi, dubbed The Hummingbird and Liotra, known as The Vulture.

Horhir had given the nightbirds much authority on this mission, if they were to encounter the elusive westerners, it was up to Tilmiel to choose the approach, the black knight believed that she had already proved herself capable enough, both as a nightbird, and as a leader.

Not to mention, that the nightbirds were far from a weak caste, even if not professional of direct combat, they were still far from helpless.

So while Horhir overlooked the progress of the digging efforts, he could rest easy, knowing that the other region under his jurisdiction was in good hands.

And anyways, it was not like finding the westerners was easy now that they knew that the ravines were not that dangerous, the livings had certainly done more than hide behind something or gone deeper.

Now, the question was which of the two hiding groups of livings would be unmasked first.