Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Chapter 890: Green World

Amongst the minor lords, only one had been given a mission that did not involve invading and conquering a realm- Instead of that, Yuolrt had received a far more dangerous mission, which to travel many seas and instead explore the continent of Verdoyante, amongst the great, known continents, it was the most peculiar, for it was said to solely inhabit plant life, despite bustling with natural wonders and being filled to the brim with resources, seemingly no one had ever chose to settle upon it.

Bearing an infamous reputation as anyone who attempted to explore it was said that have never returned, of course, although Yuolrt had read all the reports and intel available on the continent, she could not truly be certain that this was factual truth, after all, information was sparse, it seemed like the superpowers and other great nations had all ceased trying to take advantage of the resources of Verdoyante several hundred years ago, so it seemed like there was credence to the stories.

If all attempts ended in abject failure, it was only natural that they would eventually give up, but the minor lord knew that to make them all collectively stop trying, that the losses must have always been great, and probably without even the slightest of gains.

The journey to the continent was long, even with The Arbor, a wondrous object of transportation that could challenge any ocean or dweller of the depth, it required several months to even begin to see Verdoyante, at which point, The Arbor emerged from beneath the tides and continued on its way like a ship would.

What the druid and her followers first noticed, was that amongst all that they had gathered about this place before setting off for it, was that nothing they had available had made mention of just how horrendously massive the continent actually was, nor had they been informed of just how it was shaped.

Typically, one would expect a continent to be a large block of landmass surrounded by the seas, but Verdoyante wasn’t just that, as countless pieces of land stretched out from the main body like thousands of tentacles, twisting and bending, some going so far from the main body that one might be able of living their entire life on just that one stretch of land without ever realising that it was connected to something even larger.

Furthermore, there were countless of islands just around where the undeads were traversing each bustling with plants and trees, thick with potent life force, they made some stops to check some of them out, but as expected, they found no traces of anything besides plant life, no beasts, no monsters, no animals… Not even insects.

Yuolrt, as a druid, was well-versed in how nature and the cycle of life worked, typically, the different types of living beings would function together, some animals eat the plants, but in doing so, allowed said plants to propagate and reproduce, for example.

Insects and critters in particular were usually instrumental, so for them to be completely absent was strange.

The only creatures that were spotted were aquatic and avian ones, but never did any of them seem to even think about going close to any piece of Verdoyante, they kept to themselves, and maintained distance, clearly, much like the people who once sought to take advantage of this wild, unclaimed land, they too had learned to not mess with this place.

The undeads were not threatened however, and kept on moving forward, within about a hundred kilometers of the main body of the mainland, they encountered sharp, and tall rock formations, some of which even protruded from the waters, the waves were also strong and unpredictable, meaning that one would normally struggle to even approach in this manner, so Yuolrt assumed that the expeditions before them had instead approached by anchoring near one of the tendril of land instead, as although they also seemed surrounded by rock formations, it was far less severe than this, and lack the turmoil of the waves.

But the minor lord was not impressed, and controlled The Arbor to simply float up into the air, just enough for them approach the shore, upon which, they cleared an area of its rocks and placed themselves right by the beach, The Arbor once again demonstrating its magnificence as it transformed in the blink of an eye, going from great ship capable of diving into the ocean, to a stronghold that was deeply anchored into the ground, all of the trees and plants cultivated aboard that had been selectively bred and created to serve as means of defences were brought forward.

And just like that, the undeads created a pocket of safety for themselves.

Still, even if they were strangers to fear, it did not mean that they were reckless, Yuolrt did not allow for anyone to go too far or to be out of the senses of everyone else, stepping forward as looked at the immense jungle standing before her.

She had seen a few times where Verdoyante was called ‘the green continent’ and indeed, green was the dominant colour by far, the leaves of all visible trees were green, and their barks were brown, much like the typical, mundane trees that pretty much everyone was familiar with, at a glance, there wasn’t much that was impressive about the vegetation.

But in fact, its mundane nature was exactly what was so fascinating.

The green crystal tucked within her split skull shimmered, and the antlers protruding from the sides of her head lit up with a green glow, allowing her druidic senses to spread far and wide, taking in the bountiful nature.

“Incredible, those trees make no use of ambient energies whatsoever, neither do they seem to have been affected by any energy in any way, or be under the influence of any way of power…” muttering to herself, several of her followers began to take notes.

“If we were to compare them to the likes of beasts and monsters… Then those humongous trees are like simple animals, only relying on their physiology, natural evolutions and environment to thrive, nothing extraordinary aided them into developing to such greatness, they are just regular, simple trees that happen to be capable of growing so tall!”

“…Of course, tests are needed to make sure of that… But this suggests that the soil is so rich that it can supports to the growth of what seems like hundreds of thousands of those trees alongside intense vegetation”

Yuolrt’s jaw snapped shut.

“This only makes it more suspicious that seemingly all previous expeditions were lost, if there is truly no creature roaming this place, and the trees are simply mundane… Then what could have caused, allegedly, every single person that came here to go missing and presumably die? A plant that naturally spreads an airborne toxin? Hazardous terrain?”

“Stay on guard and remember to never venture alone or allow anyone to not be within the sensory range of others, in fact, always move in groups of at least five if necessary…”

And so, Yuolrt’s exploration and invasion of Verdoyante truly began.