Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 840 - 840: Architectural Expansion

Although constantly pelted and fired at with all sorts of projectiles, the undead did not stop their movements in the least, with the retractation of grounds units, the livings had granted their enemy much more flexibility in their movements, although the emerald light, spells, bolts and arrows were also problematic, enough that some rank and file had been defeated despite the overall power used to attack them wasn't the maximum- Despite that, the undeads still managed to erect outposts and camps beyond the dark keep, and even some small forts made from the same black stone.

The construction of such architectures was remarkably swift, as the mad architects of the empire had figured out ways to pre-build their creations somehow, made them into small cubes and then, only a simple activation was needed to make the building or assortment of buildings just spawn out of thin air.

Considering that they hadn't done this for the keep, there was probably a limitation on the size of what could be reduced to a mere cube that could fit in one's palm, but that wasn't very important right now, the undeads were expanding their territory.

Moreover, they seemed to be revealing their cards little by little, soon after they began installing new structures, they revealed torches of dark flames, the fire absorbed light and created a pocket of abnormal darkness around itself, which made targeting them much more difficult, the unnatural bubbles of dark could be pushed back by the sun worshippers, but it only added something else to worry about.

"I am starting to believe that we should just start the hostilities already, we may be preparing with everyday without open conflict, but so are they, and I feel that they are doing a better job at this than us" Milo wasn't the greatest user of range spells, so he had mostly been sitting out of the actions since stepping outside was forbidden, but he was still well aware of what was going on, although the undead were only present in the south, and that they had put every measures in place to prevent them from tunneling out from their view, he was worried.

The dead were cunning, nasty and without any qualms about anything, they had already slain some of the livings with the death of that first group, and whilst they may be unable to get past the barrier, it made no doubt that eventually, both sides would have to meet head-on, if they were allowed to spread further, they would be able to surrender the barrier, and they would have the Emerald Realm in a chokehold.

Right now, the people of the realm were simply buying time so that the future battles would be fought in the best possible circumstances, but believing that this was something that could be so easily achieved was a great underestimation of the empire.

They were already erecting new fortifications, and everyday that passed, was a day during which more and more undeads were arriving in the realm, this made no doubt.

Although it was surprising that they hadn't razed and destroyed the environment the moment they had the occasion to, it did not change much, if given too much time, who knew what their enemy would be able to figure out? The barrier was incredible, but if placed under scrutiny, any flaw would be laid bare eventually.

"I understand your worries, Young Milo, but we are not yet ready to fight, wait a bit longer" that was what Solzmimi told him, the fact that she was so cryptic and didn't outright state what it was that she was waiting for was simultaneously concerning and reassuring, there was an unhealthy dose of unknown to this statement, but also, if the kind sun was keeping it a secret, then it had to be something big…

Usually, Toby would come by to tell him how the day of endlessly taking shots at the undead had went, but this time, the otherworlder stayed until much later, the corpses were moving around like they were insects that had been hiding under a rock, they were simply everywhere, of all sizes and shapes, doing the usual stuff of placing structures like they were seeds that instantly grew, the diversity in castes was far greater than anything seen in the previous days, and Toby used his appraisal ability so much that he actually experience a strain for the first time from overusing this feature of his special system.

Coupled with his numb arms from shooting arrows all day and for a great portion of the night, when Toby was told to go and rest, he did not hesitate and basically rushed over to crash in his bed.

Toby had not really participated in the war against the undead back on Viridis, the king had mostly kept the otherworlders out of conflict, so ironically, the strongest being he had personally gotten the chance to see was the strange creature that the defilers had summoned back on that island, the Nameless King, apparently, it had been used as a weapon against one of the gravelords by Pierrre-Ornée, and yet, somehow, it was the undead who had emerged victorious from this battle anyways.

Everyone feared Loimos the most, and it was understandable, many had faced him personally and come out with scars, both physical and mental, but the champion was far from being the only one that should be worried about, the greatest warriors of life had been defeated by the gravelords, none of the valiant ones had come back, none of them were here, in the Emerald Realm.

And seeing who little effect he was having on just the soldiers, Toby was feeling grim, of course, he wasn't using his best arrows and such, but he knew very well that if his basic bowmanship was so lacking against them to begin with, even with his better tools, it would be far from simple still.

"Toby, why do you look so sad?" Ooaluz asked as she sat up right beside him, it seemed like he had not been stealthy enough to not wake her up.

"It's nothing, I am just tired, is all"

The beast sorceress grinned, her rabbit teeth now so pronounced that one could not miss them, in fact, she was so rabbit-like now, that she hardly looked the same as when he had first met her, though, despite not considering himself as one that was into that much animal-like features, he thought that she had only been getting prettier since then.

"Are your arms sore? Let me massage them, you can't sleep properly if it hurts- Or do you want a hug? A late-night bath maybe? Or perhaps… You want to rest your head on my lap again?"

Toby blinked and smiled.

"Can I say yes to all of the above?"

"How greedy!" Ooaluz chuckled and nodded "But of course you can~"