Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Upon a small hill carrying a weeping tree sporting atypically coloured leaves, being a bright purple instead of the more common fiery orange, many different colouration could be found if one wandered enough in the nature of this realm, the nature of this particular tree allowed for three men to go unnoticed as they observed the nearby edge giving into a deep void of green.

No longer garbed in their former clothing, instead wearing simple attires offered by the locals, although very much lacking in anything beyond practicality, they were far from uncomfortable on one's skin.

One seemed older than the rest, a big, bushy brown beard covering the lower half of his face, giving the impressed that there were no mouth to be found as it grew invisible unless in motion, his face carried the marks of past, brutal encounter, scars running long and deep all across the visage, the top of his left ear had been cleanly nicked off.

Filiusorci, the champion of earth sat motionlessly, staring straight ahead, right at the very edge.

Leaning against the tree's trunk, a young man with slicked back hair, their shade a soot-like black, did the exact same, his gaze only rarely and with impressive haste, darting from side to side, he could not help but tap his left leg constantly, and instead of flesh, it was stone that the finger constantly struck against.

Alosfit, the champion of fire had a hard time getting used to this new limb of his, even though it was barely noticeable unless paying conscious attention to it, the fact that it was made of stone troubled him to no end.

Standing tall and actively checking the surroundings instead of the edge alone, a blond man with a stern disposition held a simple sword on one hand, part of the weapons brought by the refugees in their escapes from Tamaris, which was a boon as the people here did not use any weapons, at all.

The beast worshippers enhanced their own bodies through their communions, and the sun worshippers simply seemed to rely on their faith-fuelled powers as well, tools were crafted from stone or bones, if not simply wood.

For people used to wielding weapons in conjunction with their magic, it was important to have access to such equipment still.

Forven, the champion of wind was of course the one checking the surroundings, thanks to the affinity he possessed, his mana senses aligned with the air currents, giving him a finer sense of approaching threats, which was of importance as the three former champion of Starkefolten were currently in beast-territory.

Technically speaking, anywhere that wasn't a city or tower was the territory of wildlife, but the inhabitants would not be attacked, and neither would the refugees who had been given 'permission', which was a nice way of saying that a few divine dancing priestesses went around and rubbed their odour on everyone, a smell which would apparently not go away no matter what.

No one but the beasts could smell it, so it was fine save for the few priestesses who were suspiciously frisky about it, especially that wolf-like one, Forven shuddered just thinking about it, she was probably very nice but animal-people was really not something that he found appealing in the least- Unlike many of his fellows.

"Don't you guys think that we should just head over the edge and check directly, instead of waiting for something that isn't even guaranteed to show up?" Alosfit uttered in a quiet tone.

"Too dangerous, they said that this beast could move around with exceptional stealth, so much so that even my awareness of vibrations in the ground and Forven's awareness of air currents might fail to pick up on its arrival…" responded Filiusorci, not budging a millimeter from where he sat, fixated on the edge still, carefully controlling earthen mana that he had injected into the ground allowing for him to get a much greater feel of the ambient mana beneath.

"A strong enemy that will not hesitate to kill us is the best way to progress" stated Forven.

Alosfit agreed with all of that, but he felt that they had picked a beast that was much too difficult to get a hold of, they might just wait around for weeks before running into it, and then, they would have quickly engage it into a fight it could not simply run from.

The three men had been taking on beasts for a while now, seeking to better themselves in battle, and although they could have just asked for the locals to help in that regard directly, it obviously wouldn't be actual fights, both sides would be holding back from beginning to end.

So instead, they took on hunting.

Having taken on powerful beasts such as the Tirtaptz, a sort of woolly rhinoceros with light green fur, three horns and a sort of protective mask upon its face, a rather aggressive kind of beast, its eyes were significantly better compared to its regular animal counterpart, but due to the mask, it could not see in very wide angles anyways.

But although rather easy to outmanoeuvre, actually bringing any of them down required incredible fire power and endurance, their woolly hide difficult to penetrate, their brutal power meaning that any mistake would be punished with excessive force.

Although the beast they had met that was the hardest to actually damage had been the Polpitir, a creature not only special because it lacked a Z in its name but also because the beast worshippers considered it the one with the toughest defences by far.

A polpitir was an elephant-like being, although larger and wider, its body a pure white, flesh looking like a carapace, even its ears and eyes were incredibly difficult to damage.

But what had surprised the three most was its two additional tusks protruding from the lower set of teeth, all four were rather straight and would strike and grind against one another when it closed its mouth.

Producing a most ear-wrenching sound.

The latest had been the Ortotomzm, a leonine beast with an enormous beak on its face, which was the only feature that could be discerned actually, the fiery red mane obstructing everything else, calling into question whether it even had eyes, or if it could see with them through all of that fur.

It was far from being as resistant as the previous two, but definitely the most dangerous anyways, agile, fast and wielding with dreadful flexibility and precision its tail, with was entirely hairless, thick and chaotically lined with spikes and thorns, even a graze of it could cause severe bleeding, lacerating down to the bone with ease.

Apparently, despite its overwhelming power with just its beak and claws, this predator would usually just ambush a prey using its tail before backing away, waiting for the future meal to bleed out without having to expend any more energy than the initial strike.

Today however, the champions were aiming for a rare beast, having first heard of it when the three otherworlders mentioned that whale-like one floating through the void, indeed, there was an ecosystem clinging to the underbelly of the great floating landmass, there were two major players however.

The Ahltaizth, who were the undisputed rulers for the most part- And the Arahtazthat, a monstrosity whose description inspired disgust in the heart of the three refugees, the hunting tactic of those beasts was to use the acidic venom they could spit out to strike a floating whale, aiming for one of the tentacles specifically before cutting into the hit area before running off with the prize.

This venom, which entered one's bloodstream by simply eating through the flesh, caused intense and debilitating pain, enough to momentarily stun a creature larger than a whale, so for the people, it meant instant defeat.

Just as they were reminded of it, a leg emerged from the edge, carefully tapping around the soil.

"Here is one" whispered Filiusorci.