Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 838 - 838: First To Everything

Following this first successful hit and run, many more teams were set in motion, all had the exact same objective, to merely annoy and pester the groups of the dead, simply get in their way, but never actually engage them in combat unless absolutely necessary, maintain a presence that would force the enemy to be more careful and to move slower, but not actually deal damage that could lead to rapid escalation in the conflict.

The livings were buying more time to prepare, everyday that passed, was a day that they spent improving their defences, learning about the many types of undeads, learning about the powerhouses, days spent training under the watch of the two great ancestors, although the sun and beast worshippers naturally benefited the most from receiving guidance from the two most accomplished people the Emerald Realm had ever seen, those who were not emerald folks also saw improvement.

Solzmimi and Hirzartanli were accomplished fighters as well, in fact, just like the other worshippers, they were strangely, highly competent at combat despite living in a realm that had been free of conflict for a very long time, in fact, if asked, the two ancestors would say that they too had never seen any such thing in their times.

But it was of no importance, what mattered was that they could receive training from far superior warriors, although all had made great progress in view of the possibility of a conflict, it was not be underestimated just how potent it was to have remarkable teachers, and indeed, despite their unserious attitudes most of the time, both were incredible instructors.

However, war was a cruel affair, and it did not take long for a group that ventured outside to never come back.

Molc was nearly always overlooking those who went beyond the barrier up from a tower, ready to provide ranged support if necessary, but even him did not see anything coming, the group composed of two beast worshippers and warriors that had come from Tamaris was sneaking around one moment, unnoticed as they approached a small group of rank and file headed by fire knight, in the next instant however, blood gushed from their throats as unseen blades were driven right into their jugulars.

The crossbowman immediately noticed blood that stopped and hovered in place, leaving no doubt that an invisible enemy was right there, and he took a shot without hesitation, but the blood fell right back down as though it had never been hanging out in the air, his bolt ending its course in the soil without showing any sign of even grazing anything.

Invisibility was one thing, but for a second, Molc blinked in confusion.

'Why did I shoot my crossbow-?' another second passed before he managed to remember why 'What the hell is this?'

Invisibility was one thing, but this went beyond that, the beast worshippers had been two of communed with predators possessing a strong sense of smell, they should have to know that something was approaching them, especially considering that most of the undead smelled like decaying corpses, or dust at best, when it came to scent, they were rather easy to notice even for those without sharp noses.

It did not take long for the felled livings to disperse into spirit life, their corpses thankfully left undefiled by the undeads, although, the time it took was definitely greater than it should have been considering that currently, nothing was going to take advantage of the free food, beasts had deserted the area for the most part, so normally, the process should have been quicker.

Once what occurred was known to the other livings, a sombre mood settled in, the first casualties of the war, it was strange, but even those who had faced the dead and lost everything to them had gotten used to the fact that no one had been slain yet, the soldiers in white had not managed to claim any kill for themselves and for a time, it seemed like the undeads wouldn't manage to kill anyone either, but they were rapidly reminded of the grim reality.

One mistake was all it took for them to lose their lives, and now, the strategy of going out and perform small attacks before retreating seemed compromised, its purpose was to not allow the undead to settle in easily and inform them that they could be targeted at any time, but now that at least one invisible enemy was spotted and claimed the lives of multiple of them, it did not appear to be worth the risk.

Especially with the description Molc made of them, not only did that undead seem invisible, but it was likely that all other senses could not perceive their approach either, and the simple fact that the crossbowman had momentarily forgot why he had taken a shot was simply mind numbing, implying that they could even disappear from the mind of those that knew of their existence.

That was a most concerning ability for certain.

"I do not want to risk anyone else, those two beast worshippers were beast followers that had greatly advanced in their communions and completely allowed their bodies to be changed by the influence of the beasts, if they could not see it coming, I doubt many others could, even with knowledge of an unseen threat" Hirzartanli could know the strength and abilities of beast worshippers by just looking at them, so she was well aware that the two who had died were far from beginners who barely knew anything.

"I agree, although it might make it seem like we are afraid, we'll just move on to attacking from within the barrier instead, we have the means to launch long-ranged attacks after all, but let's keep it simple, not show too many of our cards just yet" followed Solzmimi, their ability to attack from afar was something they would have preferred to keep under wraps for longer, but that strategy was not worth sacrificing anyone for.

Though, as she said, they did not show the full extent of what they were capable of.

In fact, only the sun worshippers and some from beyond the realm partook in it, as they were the ones who could obviously strike from a distance, they controlled emerald light after all, it would be weird for them not to be able to.

With them, the very sun became a weapon, rather than pulling into the light they kept within, they bent and redirected the rays of sunlight directly, launching small, but annoying attacks whenever undeads made the mistake of appearing within their range, said range being anywhere light could reach in any amount.

And even at night, the invaders were not safe, for the light reflected by the moon was just as good of a weapon…