Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Like a swarm of bees, the message was rapidly relayed, and soon, there wasn't a single undead who did not know precisely the distance and position of their enemy, from the angle the arrows had taken, it was easy to tell that not only were they shot from a great distance that would leave most archers to shame as this particular one seemed to maintain their accuracy even from there, but it was also shot from beyond a dune that should be obstructing vision, meaning that the shots were perfectly curved over it and that the archer was doing so without a direct line of sight.

As far as ambush sharpshooting went, the living attacking them was acing it, few would be able to see anything coming, few would manage to find out where the shooter might be hidden and even fewer would be able to do it as quickly as the undead had.

Still, despite having their position known already, it didn't mean that the advantage was no longer in the archer's hand, the undeads needed to get over them and hack them to death to win, whilst they just had to sit around and shoot arrows, and just turn tails when an undead was deemed to be getting too close.

But naturally, the two elites didn't just assume that there was only one enemy, the pale blue sun had unleashed five comets, one had been the assassin who had vanished to an unknown location, another the knight, who had taken his own life, and three others that had crashed far away.

That enemy being alone wasn't farf-fetched since they had all been separated at the start, but it was best to assume the worst, and work under the assumption that the archer was accompanied by the other two unknown enemies and the assassin too.

"Do you think you could shoot him down from that distance?" the swordsman asked the mage.

"Distance wise I have the spell to do it, but the terrain is in the way, and it would need to be shot in a straight line- I could also throw an explosive spell into an arc at them, but I don't guarantee any sort of accuracy with that one, I have little to no talent in such unstable spells" spoke the mage, although he wasn't a sorcerer and was thus, technically more free in what spells he could weave together, he did not have any element and was only working with basic mana.

The ingenious usage of temporary enchantments to render things heavier was pretty much the most noticeable thing in his arsenal, apart from that, all of is spells were what one would expect from a typical mage, his elite status earned through his great mana aspects and ability to control his spells in a way that rendered them invisible, something others had only mimicked with mana hands.

So theoretically, he could easily sneak in a headshot at the enemy and take them out, but theory and practice were two very different things.

"I helped mentor all of the other mages present, I can tell you that they don't have the means to do it either" he added, so the swordsman instead asked their one bowmen and crossbowmen, but neither could they certify that anything they would do would actually hit their target, and as they discussed strategy, more arrows formed out of pure pale blue vapour came flying toward them, only to crashed into the barriers set up by the mages.

"These arrows seem to have incredible penetrating power and are incredibly hot, unless three are shot with a delay of less than three seconds in between each and them and they strike the exact same point, they won't penetrate any of our barriers… But they might just show us a stronger arrow eventually" tapping his hand in the palm of his other hand, the elite mage spoke matter of factly, he was confident in his analysis.

"It's strange though, the archer hasn't even tried to take any shot at the birds used by our scouts, does he not realise that they are undead like us? May one of the scouts command their vulture to do lower as they approach the enemy's position?" spoke the swordsman, and one of the scouts was quick to follow through with the demand.

Arrows kept on battering the same barrier, the other magical walls seemed overkill as only one was being struck, but better be safe than sorry, other livings could be waiting in ambush for an opportunity.

"The enemy archer is ignoring the vulture" replied the scout, even having his bird companion land a small distance away from the enemy as it finally reached their position, they should have definitely noticed that the bird was a corpse, but paid in no heed, either much too focused on what they were doing, or deeming it a waste of time to do anything about the feathered fellow.

"Can you provide a description of the enemy?"

"Negative, they have built themselves some sort of small room covered in sand, the vulture could only peer inside by getting right in the firing line, though, their life force signals are stable, and so his their breathing or heart rate, it seems like they can keep on firing arrows without strain for a while longer" informed the scout.

"If they are so focused, perhaps we could sand some of the sand scouts to ambush them?" spoke the mage, maintaining his barrier as easily as he did not breathe, he could literally keep doing this as he could recover mana faster than it was being depleted by maintaining and tending to the barrier.

"Seems dangerous, they might just be ignoring the vulture because it poses no threat"

The two elites discussed for a few more moments, and then, the carriage and warriors went on the move again, the vulture took flight and return to its partner, keeping the barriers up, they merely kept on their way, having seemingly decided to not engage with the enemy at all and push toward their camp instead.

Noticing this, the living archer crawled out of their hidden spot and moved along with them, periodically firing arrows in most exceptional ways, firing them toward the sky and perfectly aiming them still to arc down on the undeads, the time these shots took to reach their targets allowed for them not to reveal their exact position as they moved along.

Despite none of their shots reaching any of the corpses, the archer kept on firing.

All under the unknowable gaze of Watchful Undeviginti, the eye peering without stop.