Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"...They fought valiantly, but the might of death triumphed over death in the end… That sounds good, what do you think, Lieutenant Horhir?" standing next to Loimos, a mousy-looking skeleton recited as he wrote things down for the records, one might never even noticed that he was nearly always around Loimos when in public, hanging around in the shadow the champion casted.

A member of the records keeper, one of the more obscure castes created by Loimos, they were to properly and accurately write down both major and minor events that occurred, be it victory related or any sort of breakthrough, the small skeleton, Ilitorsi, mostly wanted to record things about the general, but since he was always around, he was also putting down Horhir's successful conquest into words.

"Well… It is very nice of you to refer to me so highly, but it might be a bit misleading, we certainly won, but it was not a simple affair, I should have taken more troops with me, even I was nearly defeated, I had clearly overestimated my capabilities and that of my troops, I had also assumed too little of the capabilities of the feasters, Maulerd's mastery was far beyond my imagination-"

"It is true that this battle could have been a great loss, you were too eager to prove yourself, that was the problem, in this emotionally driven bad decision however, you did demonstrate your own power and the resilience of your troops"

"Thank you, Sir Loimos!" Horhir bowed his head.

"Do not let it happen again" added the general, making the lieutenant hold his head even lower.

"Hum… So should I revise the record then?"

"See that it accurately transcribes everything, Ilitorsi, write as if those writings were meant for a nascent undead empire without any knowledge of us, they need to know all mistakes as well" the small record maker nodded and scrambled away, from the sound of it, almost slipping and falling as he tried to descend the stairs too quickly.

Leaving Loimos, Horhir and the ever-so silent apocalypse by themselves, the latter not even daring to make a noise at the moment, assuming the same mobility as a statue.

Although it had been a victory, there had been some loss of soldiers and knights in the fray, something that would have avoided if Horhir had not decided to immediately go for it the second he had learned that all restrictions were lifted, not like it was a big issue, The Graveyard had since long brought back all undeads that could be reformed, so those defeated members of the vanguard would be back in little to no time, but that was beside the point.

Horhir had been too eager to unleash death upon the easterners, with all restrictions lifted, he could have taken some time to gather more troops than what the single scroll he carried on his person could transport to him, so definitely, Horhir was the more brash of the two hands, Ourlst would have never begun any attack unless he knew that he held a massive advantage, but that was a welcome difference in their point of views, the right hand was more decisive and willing to take action instantly, which was why he even carried this scroll in the first place, Ourlst instead, kept a scroll to instantly retreat.

Even if it had not been the right situation, Loimos did not want to iron out this side of his lieutenant, at least no completely, just remove the need he had to rush into conflict and taint his sword red with living blood.

"Horhir, your martial prowesses and overall strength is impressive, managing to defeat Derdlim Maulerd is no small feat, your utilisation of corrosive back blood to force the ever-regeneration Gartran into a permanent knockout by allowing it to constantly flow through his brain was also a proof of good thinking, and you rescued a fellow undead in the same stroke" as Loimos spoke, Horhir just remained silent, certain that the praise would be followed with a critic.

"Do think to extend this helping hand to all of your troops through your strategies, not all are strong enough to resist a powerful enemies for long, you will go and observe Ourlst in his work, he is currently maintaining the illusion of a guerilla warfare with the southerners, although I told him that it was unnecessary, he views it as a rare occasion to train troops and better his command in an environment that is both dangerous, yet somewhat controlled"

The champion told Horhir to raise his head.

"I am not asking you to be like him, I want you to be as offence-oriented as you are now, but in a smarter, more efficient manner" explaining this, he signalled for him to take his leave, which he did after promising to no longer disappoint his general, which was an easy promise as Loimos could not feel disappointment, or pride for that matter…

"My General, may I ask one last question?" Horhir questioned, immediately receiving approval "What about the nightbirds? Am I not still supposed to be their leader of operations?"

Receiving a succinct answer, the right hand left, not certain why Loimos wanted them to deal with the west on their own…

"As for you, you fought well despite the lack of combat experience against livings" indeed, saying that he had no combat experience at all would be a lie as the members of the vanguard's idea of friendly spar was just actual fights that occurred in a special room that prevented them from falling apart when they went past their damage threshold, so even those that had yet to step into the field had very much experienced true combat, and that after getting through the instructors.

"Thank you, My General! But I felt lacking, I was trusted with defeating a single enemy and failed miserably, even before he entered that rage-like state… I had been struck with a devastating hit for being complacent… Is there any way to further improve my understanding of war?" the apocalypse knight, now as good as new, asked.

"You have already progressed with this fight, and the only way to further understand, is to simply immerse yourself in your chosen aspect" Loimos simply responded, motioning for his interlocutor to stand up.

"Go back to your caste members, and inform them to also all go to the south, there will be experience to gather for a little while there" with these words, the knight left the tower as well, leaving Loimos all alone, no longer any sign of the massive object floating above.

That last attempt had been a failure.

Currently, all was going well everywhere, the mainland was thriving to unimaginable proportions, Horhir had successfully conquered the Eastern Peaks, Ourlst was handling the Southern Shores with expertise, the Northern Swamp would only require a single duel and the Western Cliffs were under the supervision of Tilmiel and her nightbirds, although not full-on warriors, they were a good match-up against the likes of the westerners.

Poitirus was handling the marine expansion very well.

As for Loimos himself, his next appointments involved visiting Nosferatu and giving special missions to the other minor lords, as well as figuring out a few other things.

One of such things that he had been trying to figure out was the distance separating Belliste from Yoreterre, a long time ago, he had ridden a carriage headed for Weafewand accompanied by a talkative living, who had mentioned the other continents, having claimed to be from Belliste, and also that the ships there would often make trips to Yoreterre without being torn apart.

Back then, Loimos had not questioned him and just ended up slaughtering the living, but either that man had been an excellent liar whilst spouting nonsense, or something did not add up, for he now knew without question that Yoreterre was much too far for even one ship to possibly make the trip back and forth, not only was the distance too great for livings to not starve, but also, only the south had ships, and they were only used to fish, those things were not built to traverse long distances.

Then again, that living had given a pretty good description of Belliste itself, and mentioned the gift of comprehension taking effect.

After Loimos had bashed the living's head in, he had decayed him away, meaning that he had not been made into an undead when the empire took over, either his soul had been broken apart by the rot as well, which Loimos had no way of knowing since he could not sense such things at the time of the murder, or he had been sent through one of the many paths, it was likely that he had lucked out and ended into oblivion or one of the related realms of death, instead of being sent into one of the many afterlifes.

Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

If that was the case, then Loimos would have to do some digging to determine whether there was something of importance to be found…

Loimos was a busy undead with many plans.