Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 850 - 850: Switch Gear

Trying to take on the undeads in a battle of attrition was like attempting to drown water however, an utterly useless affair, even if that was not impossible when it came to energy reserves, that was only on a technical sense, in there current situation, they could win a conflict of attrition, their enemy had too many innate advantages, had much more manpower than they did, and far more resources as well.

So eventually, when the livings had to take a breather, the hail of destruction from the other side was allowed to start once again, crashing against the barrier with renewed intensity, this did not seem to worry anyone at the top of the chain of command however, the two ancestors weren't even there, and as for the heralds and priestesses, they sported the usual expressions they normally wore, which wasn't too surprising for the Emerald Heralds, but usually, the Dancing Divine Priestesses were more willing to let you know how they felt about something…

The fact that even they seemed totally unmoved probably meant something, but no one knew for sure as it seemed like they were keeping certain things under wraps.

"People, take a rest" Irlitimiz was the one who spoke up, the wolk-like priestess scratching her chin with one claw.

And so, the livings rested whilst the entire world seemed to be quaking, vibrations could sometimes be felt directly through the air when especially ferocious attacks reached the barrier, they didn't know what was the source of such blows, at least not all the times as they did not occur regularly, one time, it had been the work of monstrously big ballista, another time, it had been the arrow shot by a giant so large, that the word 'giant' sounded like an euphemism when applied to it.

Still, the barrier was unbothered.

Then, the undeads momentarily stopped, only for a minute at most as they reorganised their ranks and switch weaponry, since combining many things at once was not doing the trick, they decided to attempt to focus on a single method at once, some were simpler than others, whilst some were simply too bizarre or precise to receive a clear description.

The thing that the livings saw… Any other army in the world would have been disheartened if they witnessed their enemy wielding such power, but they refused to give in to despair, and moreover, even as great storms of frost slammed against them, even as miniature suns of varying colours crashed from above, even as quantities of water that could overflow an empty ocean were compressed into razor thin projectiles and thrown their way… No matter what ridiculous thing tried to reap their lives, the barrier did not weaken, it didn't even make any suspicious sound, it just remained in place and took everything like they were pebbles thrown by children against the wall of a fortress.

And although grim nonetheless, there was always one thing that the livings remembered : Which was that these manifestations of pure destruction were a group effort that required preparations, many undeads and great skill to execute, apart from the titans and great beasts, there was nothing happening that wasn't teamwork, it was not reflective of the abilities of a single undead in the least.

The main problem, somehow, was that actually getting some rest or sleeping was incredibly difficult with the mess outside, some of the ways they attempted to break through were rather quiet or even silent, but that was only a handful of them, most of their methods were incredibly loud.

Trying to fall into slumber whilst your entire body and bed frame was constantly vibrating was a challenge no one expected to encounter after learning that they would be fighting corpses who worshipped death.

It hadn't really sounded like it would be part of their skillset.

This went on for an entire week, the moments of peace were rare, and oftentimes short-lived, but as time passed, everyone started to notice that somehow, the trembling and high volume began to gradually go down despite the undeads not slowing down whatsoever.

"Is the barrier…?" Antieeld asked something, Artazim turning her beak toward the commandant.

"Indeed, it adapts"

"No wonder they couldn't wear it down, their attacks just get less and less effective as time goes" not to mention that the barrier had already been incredibly resilient to begin with, the barrier was essentially indestructible unless you could tear it down with the first usage of an attack, if you could not, it would just grow more resistant to it.

And apparently, it could even adapt to prevent loud sounds and vibrations from getting through the barrier.

"The undeads are a smart bunch though, I doubt they began their attacks without collecting information on the barrier beforehand, and even if they didn't, they probably could have figured out that something was off by now…" Échalas stepped past the two with both hands in his pockets, looking strangely forlorn.

"Is- Wait, the undeads are moving" Antieeld wanted to speak with the vampire hunter, but her, and everyone else's attention was drawn to the distant mass of the undead formation, tyrannical beasts disappeared from view alongside the great giants, the weapons of siege were taken away, and the troops were replaced.

They began to march forward, their ranks were perfectly orderly, but the composition wasn't balanced, the soldiers were mismatched, castes and ranks were melded together.

"They are advancing? When they haven't even put a dent in the barrier?"

"Are they going to go for melee attacks next?"

"Maybe they will try to interfere with the barrier directly…"

"None of that" Artazun landed next to her sister, voice sounding like a deep growl.

"The undeads have been launching destructive attacks, but have yet to arm the environment of the realm just yet, now that we know the sort of things they are capable of, it makes no doubts that they can tear the Emerald Realm apart if they want to… And they'll threaten it, or perhaps even make a demonstration if we don't play along" the leonine priestess stood upright, roaring up at the sky, which filled everyone else with an odd feeling of power.

"Meet them head-on, with the way they built their ranks, they ensured that even if we pierce right through their first line, that we'll end up surrounded by enemies with varying abilities, you won't be able to tell where the elites are, or what kind of attacks will come your way, so be careful" Zilania manifested out of light besides the two priestesses, doing something similar to Artazun as a soft light washed over the warriors.

"May our kind sun shine brightly upon you"

"Fight like a beast, and you will be recognised as one yourself"