Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Looking down from above, Jaral Cribler unleashed multiple arrows, his shots following the paths he wished for them to take, bending the air and winds to his will, dozens projectiles soaring downward as the smaller undead jumped up on the taller one’s hand.

Grabbing Topi’s ankles, Liotra spun her little brethren around like she was doing a hammer throw, launching the lightweight hummingbird right through the volley of arrows, the vulture instantly taking off into a completely different direction, away from the western warking.

Understanding what those two were up to, Cribler gritted his teeth as he took out both bone blades, letting himself fall to meet with the petite nightbirds as all previous arrows headed straight for the other.

Jaral was somewhat fighting blindly, he could feel that something was off with those undeads, when he clashed with them, when his blades grinded against hooks or needles, clearly, the sensation that resonated throughout the body was that the warking was physically more powerful than the both of them, yet, everytime, it always went as though their strength was similar to his.

Or sometimes a bit greater, or a slight bit lesser, whatever was causing those anomalies, Jaral Cribler needed to figure out how it worked- Slashing both blades as he fell upon the hummingbird, the pitifully small and light undead used a battle art to temporarily make herself incredibly prone to air resistance, so much so, that she practically locked herself into place for the impact, her two needle-like daggers meeting with the living’s curved blades of bone, and indeed, logic would usually dictate that Topi would be blown away, or that her feeble arms would break under the pressure.

But obviously, simple logic was often beaten into a pulp… The western king did not know about battle arts, but he had been expecting something of this nature, unlike his opponent, who could only hop around in the air, his feet could find firm hold anywhere, at all angles, and even without standing upright…

He followed with many more swings, taking the nightbird by surprise, as Cribler’s strange ability to walk in the air also allowed him to stand at whatever angles he wanted, when he willed for himself to stand upon the air as though it was solid, whether standing normally, in reverse like bat, or as though his feet were glued to a wall.

As he had claimed, flying and walking were the same thing to him right now, and he did not hesitate to show the full extent of this ability to rapidly overwhelm his opponent, demonstrating the range of his combat skills, marksmanship, duel wielding of his swords and kicks.

Even without understanding the power in usage by his opponent, Cribler had every advantage, the sky was his true battlefield.

Meanwhile, Topi had to make do with her arts to move through the air, which did not provide actual footing, the living’s constant barrage of attacks was not allowing for her to set up a proper counter attack, but it was not necessary… Down on the ground, Liotra headed straight for the other livings, the little instants provided until she reached the first was not enough for Cribler to defeat his slippery opponent, his yellow eye shined brighter for a short instant, allowing for greater sovereignty over the skies, wrapping air around his right blade, launching the blade of raging winds at the humminbird, forcing her away as Jaral let himself fall downward, aiming fall in front of the vulture before she could do any more damage.

In the little time given to her, Liotra had already gutted two livings with the help of other nightbirds, both hooks already stabbed deep into a third, lifting them up as she twisted her head backward, staring directly at the oncoming warking, hair parting from the movement, giving sight into her hollow sockets, dry flesh covered in rips, even in this state, Jaral could swear that he could read a maddeningly mocking expression anyways.

Lifting the westerner she had just stabbed in between her and the king, pulling the poor living apart into a deluge of blood, guts and organs, blocking sight of the vulture with its gory curtain, allowing her to jump back and explode into a burst of feathers, reappearing directly behind Cribler as he set foot upon the ground, having already seen this trick when the two nightbirds, he blocked both hooks before they could pierce his throat.

Another cloud of feathers manifested in between the two of them, jumping back reflexively, something pierced the warking as he saw a nightbird appearing out of the feather, one with an arm missing and covered in wounds, not the small one he had been expecting.

No, the hummingbird was standing right behind him, one of her needles piercing his flesh with dreadful ease, puncturing his liver, something cold flowing alongside blood…

"Just a flesh wound…" he forced out from in between his gritted teeth, grabbed hold of the hummingbird’s wrist, clenching it strongly enough to shatter it instantly.

Having let go of both sword, he followed by grabbing her head, squeezing it, cracking resounding, neck elongating, slowly rupturing, until it came right off, alongside the wrist as the undead slashed her own hand off, moving away from Jaral Cribler’s hold, headless and down on one hand, she quickly moved to the side of Liotra and the other nightbird.

"Great timing there, what is the matter?" nevertheless, words of death tongue were spoken by Topi, barely any blood flowing from her missing parts. Your next read awaits at NovelBin.Côm

"Should you not give all reports to Tilmiel-" Liotra stopped herself as she gazed in the corvid’s direction, her own fight definitely harder to find a moment to bump in than theirs.

"One of the westerners went down a cave and unleashed many drylurkers, I would say about sixty of them- And there was also a bottom-prowler hidden under the ground, she was poisoned so the exact amount she managed to release is uncertain…"

Putting one hand on the nightbird’s head, the vulture thanked her for the intel and told her to leave as she had suffered debilitating damage, and it wasn’t like they were short on numbers.

Cribler pulled out the needle from his liver, throwing it away, as he picked his sword back up.

"Unbelievable…" his expression was dark, already feeling tar-like blood beginning to drip from his nose.

The sky had turned even darker by now, the countless birds truly blocking light in a wide area, rays chaotically managing to pierce through all over, creating a most flamboyant light show alongside the feathery rain.

"...To think I would struggle against mere subordinates… This Loimos truly has many powerful assets…" raising one blade up in the air, his yellow eye once again shone brighter as he pulled onto the transplantation’s power.

Transplantation was not as simple as taking something from another creature and putting it on yourself, it was a lengthy process as typically more than a single ’part’ was refined and melded with the body part that was aimed to be replaced, most westerners would have their right eye undergo this transformation, carefully plucking it and merging it with multiple eyes of birds, allowing for greater vision, but as one connected with the transplantation, more power could be pulled from it, the very essence of the being, or beings used to fashion this new part.

There was of course a personal element to it, not everyone could use the full range of power granted by a transplantation, and this was why the greater majority only went through a single of those, as more than one could have dreadful consequences.

"...My people are not quite as strong… And it does not matter, we are not warriors, we are hunters, what our arrows pierces… Are naught but prey- And a hunter does not need to be stronger than what they hunt, they just need to kill it…"

"...The responsibility to defend against other hunters is mine alone"

He marked a pause, breathing in and out, pain radiating from his wound, veins growing cold as poison spread, threatening to reach the heart.

"I am going to ground you into paste and send it back to your general for him to paint his interior with"