Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Many of the livings were forced to switch from their trusty bows to their blades carved from the bones of great drylurkers, arms they were not quite as familiar with, but wielded with powerful intent nonetheless, clashing against the more refined weapons of the nightbirds, sharp blades, daggers which point was treacherously piercing and other tools of assassination that one would not see in the hands of another caste.

Cribler himself retrieved two thin, bone blades, the irony of swinging such things at undeads not lost on him, but he did not have time to laugh about it, and anyways, nearly all of their equipment was made from the bones of their preys, arrows and bows and even their main construction material was all nothing but remains of what they had hunted down.

His strikes parted the air with barely any sounds, the two nightbirds he went after evaded all of them with terrific ease, the smaller one with colourful feathers dashing behind him, the warking already sensing her needle-like blade aimed at his spine.

Meanwhile, the taller one instead dodged and deflected his strikes whilst remaining mostly in place, her body twisting and bending like she was breaking bones to do it, the hooks the lanky nightbird wielded allowing for the strength of Jaral's slashes to be diverted.

Jumping up with unexpected swiftness, Cribler avoided the needles aimed at his back, keeping the two special-looking undeads in view, which was easier said than done, the small one, Topi, was not simply a small-sized woman, she was ridiculously small, some little children were taller than her.

Coupled with the neck-breaking dashes she would enact on a whim and the sort of strength she had to be capable off to fold a western hunter in two like before, it might be manageable if it was a one-on-one, but Liotra was also around, and the warking was not willing to let either of them to freely rampage amidst his people, they could handle the other undeads well-enough right now, but those two were of a different breed.

'Alintair has already gone on her own… My other best hunters are stuck in fights already, I am the only one that can do something about this duo…' all around the warking, those who had gathered were preventing more of the undeads from joining his fight.

Rushing forth, struck with both of his blades on quick succession, always making sure to keep one ready to defend as the other attacked, the living had to never stand still, as Topi always sought to get out of his line of vision whilst Liotra attempted to tear him apart, it was doubtful whether she was even aiming to kill him, it looked more like the vulture wanted to gut him like a fish or to pull out his organs specifically as ninety-five percent of her attacks clearly aimed for this result, the remaining five percent forcing Jaral Cribler to stay on his toes.

Keeping this up for a few minutes, and a red line appeared alongside the king's cheek, a mere graze, but one to look out for considered what sort of usage Liotra's hook saw on the regular, similarly a small bit of bloody bandage remained stuck to one his blade, the living had not allowed himself to be struck without responding in kind.

But a slash that draw blood on one end, was nothing but a meaningless cut on the other, especially as Jaral felt that the vulture's skin was very much like that of a corpse left to dry under a desert's sun, there was no blood to be drawn, unlike what the bandages she wore suggested.

Leaning forward, he evaded a kick from the hummingbird, trying to slash her as well only for the petite undead to move out of the way like the volatile she was named after, landing on her brethren's shoulders.

Topi's weight was so derisory that Liotra didn't even move at all as it occurred.

"If I may enquire, how come you were able to attack without declaring any battle beforehand? And I suppose this means I can't ask for a small truce?" asked Jaral, the vulture making a sudden, creepy tilt of her head at the question, the hummingbird also tilting her head, but to the opposite direction and with much less creepiness. Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"You don't need to know"

"You supposed correctly"

Both answered a different question at the same time, the living crossing his blades, having expected those responses, lunging forward, his yellow eye shining brightly, Jaral's presence changing to something more aerial.

Stepping forward like he was ascending a flight of stairs, Cribler found footing where there was none, solid ground where there was nothing but air, entirely different from typical aerial techniques that forced a footing by condensing air, or like the nightbirds, who could all lighten themselves to do it.

Having not been expecting such a thing, Liotra's hooks missed their mark, Topi preparing herself for what was coming as she took in her fellow's blunder, but it was far from a one time thing, the warking, propelled himself away with deceptive force compared to the strength he used when kicking off the air, swiftly taking out his bow again, firing rapid shots that soared toward the two nightbirds.

More surprising however, was the fact that after pulling out both blades again, even when taking off after them, the warking caught up and moved ahead of his own arrows, bone swords grinding against Topi's black needles, managing to force her off Liotra's shoulder, the vulture quickly rising up in the air, hooks meeting with blades.

'There is no difference at all between when he has his feet on solid ground and when he is in the air…' she instantly realised, the nightbirds compensated the loss of strength and power when airborne through many battle arts ingrained into their bones, but the Bellistian king knew nothing of the arts, he knew nothing of energies and conditions either, all that he had access was raw skill, the system like all beings, but clearly, it was all due to the west's own method of power, transplantation.

The transplanted yellow eye seems to be the root cause of those powers, so obviously, the vulture sought to gouge it right out, after all, the eyes were one of the first things scavengers took from their prizes…

All arrows suddenly changed their courses, the winds diverting them into most unconventional and favourable trajectories, Liotra managed to knock half of them down, the other half instead kicked down as thee hummingbird used them as platforms as she homed right on the living, daggers like darts as they shot forward.

But it was Jaral Cribler who held sovereignty of the skies, easily sidestepping the attack, striking with strength but slashing nothing as the nightbird remained ludicrously fast still.

"Now, how does transplanting a measly little eye make one walk in the air?" knowing that they still held the advantage for now, Liotra figured that Cribler would be willing to waste time discussing, since he could not hope to defeat the two of them swiftly, he could only keep them focused on him alone.

"It's simple really- Currently, flying and walking are the same thing to me" the man and bird had become one, and as such, the air had become ground to stand and walk upon.

The vulture scowled, that was not useful information at all.

Both nightbirds landed on the ground, side by side, exchanging a few words in death tongues.

"I want to gut him"

"There is no point in committing to any strikes, his people are being decimated, he'll bend the knee when our sisters join the fight anyways, besides, we don't know the full scope of his current abilities"

"Fine… But what about that girl he sent away? She might go and do something that will make us regret not doing our best to take this guy out earlier"

"Trust in Tilmiel's judgement, not one living should be allowed to their own devices, but you are not wrong, let's force him to come meet us, instead of the opposite"

Liotra snickered, agreeing to Topi's plan.