Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Chapter 891: Stagnant

The livings awaiting in the Emerald Realm could not possibly know anything about the order of Loimos to the minor lords, but even if they knew, there was something that would have put them on an even greater edge than this information…

For currently, the great hall where the two ancestors had met and spoken was empty, the resident was no longer in the dark keep- In fact, he was no longer in the Emerald Realm at all, the job of taking on the restrictions imposed upon the undeads by the realm itself had been passed onto the Disaster Beasts, all of them were hidden within the dark keep, and only The Song was currently operating outside, all of the others were simply laying around and substituting their master, allowing the other undeads to operate normally.

Obviously, if the livings were aware of such a thing, it would have caused quite a stir, for whatever Loimos did was a threat to them, and him leaving the realm could only mean that he was preparing something big, something that required his own presence to be accomplished.

The order he gave to the minor lord was simple, to focus on performing well enough in their missions so that their absence would not change a thing about the situation within their respective realm, as only Yuolrt did not receive any order, and furthermore, they were to bring along powerful undeads sourced from their realms.

Though, the timeframe they were granted would be viewed as very much generous from the perspective of a living.

In the meantime, Loimos took action himself, just like he had done for the soul realm, he chose to tackle a realm that would be tricky and highly restraining to other undeads.

Naturally, for the champion himself to decide to take action upon a particular realm during the invasion of the Emerald Realm, it had to house something of great interest, but on the surface, it was a most simplistic realm that would seemingly yield nothing of value- The livings within were but mere humans, who needed to go through intense surgeries to be able to use basic means of magic, and the materials and resources were all most mundane and already known.

At a glance, apart from the difficulty for undeads to work like usual due to the rules of the realm, there was really no reason for Loimos to get involved in person, it could have very well been left to someone else.

But the pure undead had been closely monitoring every realm discovered, always seeking opportunities to further strengthen both the empire as a whole, and himself- Realms that forced strong limitations typically allowed for the acquisition of special ways of power or otherwise useful things.

As typically, anything of value coming from such realms would not be subject to limitations in other realms, if it was a way of power, undeads practising it would face no issues at all when invading a realm with different rules for example, if it was a material, weapons and such could be forged from it, ensuring that it would remain as it was after entering another realm.

Of course, not all restrictive realms would yield such benefits, but Loimos had since long realised that this one absolutely could, and he had been visiting it from time to time for a long while now, though, when he did, he was always accompanied by One.

Firstly, because the vampiress definitely had something to gain by being here as what Loimos was after related to her alchemy skills.

Secondly, because although the realm did not prevent Loimos from existing like the soul realm had, it did pretty much strip him of every aspect a regular corpse should not possess, in short, he could not speak at all in this realm, so he needed someone to do it for him.

One thing important to note, the way people lived in this realm was rather different from what the undeads were used to dealing with, in fact, plenty of realms seemed to exist on completely different levels, some were primitive, some had adopted very different types of societies due to energies being absent or inaccessible, or even realms where a single way of life was available to people…

The black fog realm seemed to be the ruins of a city that had developed through the ages without any magic, monsters or the likes, for example.

This one was somewhat similar, although it did not seem quite as advanced, farming was the main source of income for the majority of the population, and governments were still nascent, after having just moved out of monarchies as the main form of ruling.

Though they still had some form of access to magic, being able to use it on a superficial level required one to undergo severe surgeries, which resulted in the death of the patient in most cases.

However, whilst the nations of this realm were competing for who would manage to form a real army out of these super soldiers, Loimos and One were more interested in a remote region lost amidst a country that had been ravaged by war, where a lord still ruled over the peasants.

Descending deep into old mines using a rusty, unstable elevator, Loimos and One were standing side by side in silence, only the groaning of weathered steel and the shaking of the elevator punctuating the journey.

Both currently dressed in professional, business attire of this realm, One could not help but throw glances at Loimos from time to time, wondering if there was a way to convince him to shape his outer layer of rot like that in the main world.

That outfit was definitely having an effect on her.

Soon enough, the elevator came to grinding halt, trembled one last time as though someone kicked it, and then the doors struggled to open up to allow them through, they found themselves in a deep underground, which had clearly once been the theatre of great mining efforts.

Now however, it had found a new purpose, as several pits had been dug into the ground, each filled with a dark, still liquid, one of such pits especially large compared to the rest.

“Lord Loimos, Lady One- This lowly servant greets you!”

“Stand up, Fe and show us your progress” the vampiress spoke in a cold tone, looking down upon the blindfolded living.

“Of course! I believe that the Stagnant Waters have reached their penultimate level under our care, if I am not mistaken, only the intervention of the lord or lady can possibly push them to a higher level!” Fe spoke with reverence, within that small piece of forgotten land, despite being the highest authority around, she did not hesitate to get on her knees and press her forehead against the ground for the two visitors.

“Yes, only divine intervention can possibly be of aid!” she added with a bright smile.

Fe was the leader of a cult, but the cult truly only gained momentum and a true, holy purpose when the two undeads arrived, turning the falsified faith of Fe and her cultists into something tangible.

“For divine intervention, you can only expect that from Loimos” One responded, although she had worked a lot on the Stagnant Waters, the real magic depended on Loimos.

The skeleton silently walked up the larger pool of dark liquid, which indeed was water.

Water that had been made to remain stagnant and had been injected with a variety of nasty things.

The product was undoubtedly impressive for such a realm, and it could certainly wreak havoc as it was.

But everyone knew that the finishing touch could only be bestowed by Loimos, if he deemed the current product to be the best they could achieve without his assistance.

Both Fe and One were tense looking at him.

He was a bit more expressive in this realm as he actually needed to use his hollow sockets to look at things properly, but the utter silence as he just walked around and inspected the pool of dark water was nerve wracking.

Fe looked like she could have a heart attack at any time.

Until eventually, Loimos nonchalantly raised one hand and using his thumb, dislodged a bit of rot growing upon his index, letting it fall within the pool.

“W-We are blessed!”

The Stagnant Waters remained still, but something definitely changed about them.

Still utterly silent, Loimos walked up the cult leader, and most casually grabbed her shoulder before throwing her into the pool.

“Huh… Is that how it works?” One wasn’t certain the liquid would show its effects in this manner.

But Loimos was not done as he walked into the pool after Fe and basically performed a rather rough baptism, which involved pushing her head under the Stagnant Waters before letting her out for her, only to do it again.

After it seemed like the living lost consciousness, he pulled her out and drew something on her forehead, just before the entire pool of Stagnant Water seeped into his skull before he spat a sort of serpentine-like mass of it back into the cult leader’s mouth, which woke her up instantly.

“Loimos…? Was it successful?” asked One.

Loimos nodded affirmatively.

The Stagnant Waters had successfully been created.