Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Chapter 357 Rocky Lair

As an unseen blur, Loimos went in ahead of them, reaching the lair of this island's defacto master, he perched upon the ceiling like a bat, unlike his loyal soldiers, he had sensed the life force of this slumbering beast, although terms like drake, wyvern and dragon were thrown around without much consistency, Loimos had managed to put his finger on what this draconic creature was.

Fairly small in size, if standing straight up, it would be just barely above the height of a regular elephant, two wings, and two legs, a long tail ending with a rugged, roundish protrusion, most certainly meant as a way to club foes, without horns, eyes small, barely perceptible, this drake was entirely stony, resembling a rough sculpture, especially as it stood perfectly still, the movement of its chest as it breathed was unseen, it too was a master of camouflage, to hide from what, nobody knew but it.

Loimos could tell that it had lived for a long time, whatever had forced this creature to become invisible was long gone, perhaps bested, perhaps it had left of its own, its lair was filled with the remnants of many creatures, very few actually belonging to beasts of the island, the drake hunted the marine monsters, dragging them here, where it feasted, leaving only the bones.@@@@

A great being to be sure, an ancient living that had existed for countless years, it was strong, to his soldiers.

Remaining in place, they soon arrived upon the scene, without making a sound, silence was an aspect of death after all, so unless necessary, their advance was always made in perfect lull, and immediately, they perked into action, although silent, the winged drake sensed that something was off even in its slumber, being approached by death was not something its instincts left out, turning its fairly long neck toward the large group of undead, already into position.

The two knights showed their quick thinking, as the foremost of Loimos's knights, they had to demonstrate their capabilities to lead and fight, they had a wide array of soldiers equipped with different weapons to choose from, the ones carrying warhammer and other blunts weapons were quickly set to take the lead, the defences of their enemy was obviously of a great calibre, soldiers carrying tower shields stepped forward, supporting one another as they slowly inched closer, the drake howling, reeling its head back, it would appear that this small draconian was in possession of a breath of its own.

But no fire came out, instead through the throat, from the depths within the chest, a spew of rocks emerged from its maw instead, striking the shields hard, but the shield-carriers were in formation, taught collective battle art to reinforce their guard, they were able of maintaining the line.

The beast soon fell, and as it did, all flames dispersed, the men of Loimos all ceasing attacking as the pure undead turned back to his typical form, dropping from the ceiling, arranging themselves orderly once more, a few soldiers have been wounded, but their armour helped them recuperate as it mended itself as well, as far as it went, it had been a success.

But of course, Loimos wanted them to do even better, so he went over every single details of this encounter, pointing out every single flaw or things that could have been done better, overall though, the two knights had handed things well, now, it was time to take care of the dying drake, that might have attempted one last stand had it not been utterly frozen in fear.

Without resistance, Loimos put his hand over the beast's forehead, a bone spike emerging from the undead's palm, piercing right through, reaching the brain, injecting his festering death directly within.

Forming a pure crystal of death directly within, Loimos could have done many things, but the drake was a living being and he wished for it to keep its memories, and thus, leave its abilities the same, the stone drake would remain as is, even in death.

Making specialist and specific creatures was left for those that would naturally emerge from the miasma-ridden soils, although creatures like dragons were rare to appear, it was not impossible and the more land were conquered the more likely it would become.

Installing a miasma generator upon the very top of the high hill, Loimos left the dragon to watch over this island for now.

The next stop was right within sight.