Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 848 - 848: Beginning Of Hostilities

Nothing happened for two more weeks- Then the undead empire attacked.

Without any warning, but it intentional or unintentional, a massive ball of compressed stone filled with pungent blood crashed against the life barrier, the sound of the impact rumbled throughout the realm, as was expected, not even a small mark was left upon the defensive measure, it went without a doubt that this life barrier was the most potent the dead had ever had to butt their head against, and it wasn't even close.

In comparison, the barrier they had breached to get to Tamaris and conquer the whole of Viridis had been akin to a wet sheet of paper, whilst this was a solid wall of reinforced iron.

The second followed the first strike, the barrier shifted shape, going for dome-like, to the shape of a pyramid, which further bolstered its defences for what was to come, and indeed, the legion of corpses was not done just yet, the first projectiles was merely a test, equivalent to the the probe of a stick- Before they unleashed the combined power of what might just the strongest artillery in the world.

Somehow, without anyone noticing before it was too late, countless siege weapons just popped out of thin air, and the trees of the real parting to leave space as though commanded by a greater power, and in the blink of an eye, the southern front was turned into a grassland devoid of trees.

The plant life had not been destroyed, merely displaced, but that was all it took to turn this wide area into the perfect battlefield, the message was clear, this was a heads-on conflict, the undead denied themselves any hiding spots and cover so as to deny the same benefits to their enemy as well.

A clear, straight path was cut from the barrer, directly to the dark keep, countless other fortifications standing in the way, or now hidden amidst denser vegetations, through the very light shining down from the sun, nearly all of the livings capable of fighting were gathered; ready to face the rotten tide.

"By the gods…" it was hard to not be in awe as a rain of pure destruction came crashing against the barrier, once it started, neither did it stop, nor did it slow down.

Catapults launched heavy, physical projectiles, large boulders for the most part, some of them hollowed out and filled with explosives, toxic mist or countless decayed parasites.

Trebuchets instead hurled shrapnel-like hails of missiles, some appeared mundane, some were actually countless mana crystals overcharged with their respective element, creating explosions everywhere, furthermore, some were imbued with spells, creating for an especially dreadful spectacle, as tornadoes crawled against the surface of the barrier, storms of flames repeatedly slamming against the side, great tides of water that spewed condensed blades in every directed, or cascades of mud that ended up hardening against the barrier, however, the spells did not linger on for as long as they should.

Their defence was not so simple, even magical constructs were not allowed when coming from an enemy, and so, the spells were slowly being weakened and dismantled for every second they spent near the barrier.

Of course, that was not all, the undeads were a resourceful bunch, so many other energies besides mana were involved some of which no one on the side of the livings could even recognise.

Naturally, there were also mages that directly casted spells their way, a single undead caster was a frightening existence, most of them look exactly the same and wore the same gear, coupled with their sheer numbers, it was obvious that those were merely the energy-wielder equivalent of the rank and file soldiers, yet, each and everyone of them was a precise and powerful caster in their own rights, and when they got together to form a single spell, it was like the world itself was ending.

Dropping pillar of stone that turned to the realm to night for a few brief instants, streams of black flames that felt as though they were being spewed out by a great dragon, each of their group effort resulted into what could easily be qualified as a calamity, but the barrier held without even a single ounce of strain nonetheless.

The corpses wasted their mana, and although impressive, it did take a lot of them to cast such omens of destruction, furthermore, they stood within most intricate circles, or arrays of sort, which seemed to combine everything available to enhance them, so things weren't quite as grim as they looked, if only by a little.

But then, there were some undeads that were siege weapons by themselves, and unfortunately, those weren't even the lieutenants of Loimos, but the giants and humongous beasts, death accepted all into its embrace, and so did the empire, even the most vicious of monsters had become loyal followers of eternity, the remains of species and creatures that were long gone had been granted a right to keep on existing, given back bodies, minds and souls… And given even greater power than during their lives.

The livings didn't even move for several minutes as they took everything in, giants- Ranging from merely three meters tall, to hardly measurable, wielding great bows and firing arrows capable of shooting dragons out of the sky, they were ballistae in their own rights, and this is was merely a show of their titanic might, gods forbid when they channeled energy or used their special abilities…

Great beasts also served the empire, and this including dragon species, as skeletons, decaying bodies, or warped forms- It was hard to tell which of them had once been simple beasts, monsters, greatly evolved animals, or had been wise creatures capable of speech, only their most basic features could be identified, and even the simplest of beings were given a chilling sense of intelligence when crossing over to undeath, death's gifts were plentiful, but this one was perhaps one of the best.

Even if most of them were not anywhere as close as intelligent as the corpses that had come from sapient species, they were still capable of calculative thoughts, and could perfectly understand their allies, as such, even if their own attacks appeared disorganised compared to the rest, it couldn't be further from the truth.

"...Where did they even hide such huge beings to begin with? The dark keep is large, but…" an emerald folk muttered to themselves, but it was best not to question how the undeads did things, fact was, that their enemy had suddenly appeared as an army, equipped with siege weapons and made up of many species, they had moved the forest out of the way, and were clearly challenging the livings to face them on an open field.

All of this, and neither Loimos nor any of his lieutenants were even in sight yet…