Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 683: Operation Arid Soil : Part Twenty-Four
This particular creature hadn't been special, its skeleton, or rather exoskeleton, clearly indicated that it had merely been one of those insect-like creatures with raptorial claws, a creature that had been massacred by the hundreds by the undead soldiers already, there had been a good handful of them as puppets that had been destroyed already.
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This one however, was clearly different as it clearly had a sense of superiority as it overlooked the remains of its fellow reanimated remains, gazing with intelligence and poise greater than it could have possibly possessed whilst alive.
Its claws twitched with anticipation.
The red vapour shrouding its body was much thicker and more pronounced than it was for the rest, even extending into chaotic tendrils that waved around as they extended from its back, the vapour seemed to be infused directly into its body, but it did not act immediately.
Before Ir'Houwl could attack and lessen the weight on its shoulders, the darkness of the oasis she was in was suddenly forced to retreat as red light poured in, the reason was simple, yet unexpected.
Directly behind the insect-like creature, the red sun had appeared, casting its sanguine shine forth as though guiding its path, emitting a most shrill cry that seemed melted alongside the throes of agony of a dozen other creatures and people, the insect rushed forward, vapour seeming to grow more dense around it as its feeble bug legs demonstrated incredible power, kicking up black sand back, claws thrusting directly for the undead.
'Definitely intelligent' this speedy attack might have worked on an undead weaker than herself, but Ir'Houwl was a minor lord, and a warrior at heart, the lunge came from too far away to be inescapable to someone of her calibre.
The insectoid's claws seemed to expand in size, as red vapour formed to cover them, expanding its reach with pure solar energy, it was important to mention that unlike the pale blue sun, this one hadn't caused the temperature to fall to freezing, and it had instead stabilised at half of the boiling temperature, which was still much lower than usual, but this should probably mean that its energy was even warmer than the blue sun's.
The arrow from the archer had still carried enough heat to sizzle flesh, the insect might actually be wielding something capable of cutting people like they were sticks butter.
Regardless, Ir'Houwl did not unsheath her stone scimitars and instead raised her right hand, slamming it down on the insect's head as it neared close, slapping it into the ground as its claws elongated by red vapour failed to even brush up against her clothes.
"You're pretty strong" she commented, unsure if the creature had the capabilities to understand her, but it seemed to seethe with fury as it tried to rise back up, but failed to so as she kept her head on its head, like she was preventing a child from approaching using her superior arm length.
"Taking you alive isn't quite the right term, I suppose, but you do behave like a living" despite the fact that they were corpses, they all displayed very living traits, madness, debilitating anger, and fear.
A few other creatures that had been following the insect but had been left in the dust as it lunged forward looked around and decided that it was best to go back the other way as they saw the stronger creature trapped and being handled like it was a misbehaving pet.
'Something like their living mind is hooked up onto their body that is put back together by the red energy? Making them some sort of pure energy being and living chimaeras' she mused as the insect tried expanding its claws with vapour again, but its current position with its face forced against the ground was ideal to swing his claws with much strength.
"Is there any problem?" speaking in death tongue to address her soldiers instead of the pale tongue to try to converse with the insect, her words seemed to be heard by all as she soon received feedback.
From the sound of it, some more creatures of similar power to the one she was currently pinning down had shown up in some other area, launching their assaults as the red sun shifted positions and cast away the dark, and although a few soldiers had been sliced in half, or more parts, no one had actually been defeated, all had used the vapour to reinforced and expand their natural reach, the same trick everywhere.
And apparently, their slicing power was too great for their own good as it the cuts were too cleans and did basically nothing more than carve the undeads up into pieces but without actually inflicting significant damage upon the warriors of the empire, still, they would need to be put back together, which was not so easy in this realm.
The instant she spoke in death tongue, the insect grew still and stopped resisting, trembling like a leaf as though it only just now realised that it was in deep trouble, without imbuing any of the draining properties into it, Ir'Houwl manifested tendrils red sand, binding the creature tightly.
All fighting ceased after a few minutes as the red sun disappeared, or rather, the particular red sun that had appeared to light up the oases went away, as the original one hadn't moved at all in reality, remaining perfectly still.
It would seem that the red sun had access to some of the regular suns that moved as one would expect from suns, she didn't know if it was one of the suns that would normally show up at fixed intervals during the heat days that had shifted form or another entirely that only showed up now, but it was important to remember that this bloody solar star had ways to expel darkness and allow its minions to see where they could not.
Though, it would appear that unlike its blue brethren, it did not have as much interest in the undead as all of its puppets were moved away and sent running like hordes of mad beasts all over the desert.
One could not just know what the purpose of this was, but all undeads supposed that it was seeking to spread death and misery through its thralls, as this really was the only thing these marionettes could do for their master.
And considering that corpses were at the foundation of its control, it would only be logical for it to seek to have more available.
Ir'Houwl dragged the insect back with her, and had everyone report to her in some capacity, but everyone had basically seen the same things, the skeletal creatures had mostly been made up of beasts and monsters that they knew of already and without any signs of any bones that had seemed to have belonged to a sapient species.
Truly, they must be in the middle of nowhere...
