Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Pushing up against what felt like a heavy piece of metal perfectly shaped to fit the tip of his spear whilst held in place by the might of a hundred mountains, Isilt could have closed his eyes and been convinced that he was thrusting a toothpick at an immovable, indestructible object.

But his eyes were wide open, everything illuminated by dim moonlight, he could clearly see that his spear had been stopped by a pinky finger, that's the sort of thing he would expect from the most powerful of knights, and even then, a pinky finger was just that, not actually meant to block or deflect anything.

Even as he pushed as hard as he could, trying to force his weapon to slide past and go directly for the head, but not only was his blade not cutting through that measly digit, it was just stuck in place as well!

'I can't even pull it back?!' the trainee was suddenly pushed back several steps as his target slightly bent their finger forward.

"Well, that was weak… But don't worry, it's just your first time thrusting at me! Surely you'll do better next time-" The Death Dealer laughed by herself as Isilt spun his hold on the spear, striking again without wait.

'She doesn't look like an undead… But she is certainly affiliated with them' he felt confident in this assertion despite not actually knowing what was up with this woman, just like when he spoken with Frenand there was this oddness in the words escaping her mouth, they sounded like nonsense if one actually paid attention, so despite the meaning of her sentences reaching him, the assassin was not speaking his language at all, in the same manner as he had been able of understanding what undeads said.

In fact, he felt like they spoke a similar enough language, if not the exact same, at least to Isilt's ears, there wasn't much of a difference.

"Why- Why would a living work with the dead? They don't seem interested in keeping anyone alive" he uncontrollably stuttered as he repeatedly tried to pierce the misshapen, flowing mass of black, Maliah simply, and with startling slowness, blocked and diverted it all using the same finger as before, not even a nick appearing upon her black glove as she not only used one and only digit, but parried the edge across the exact same area every single time.

"Don't try to pull words on me, it's honestly saddening, I thought you people were bloodthirsty warriors, to start spouting nonsense you must truly be crapping bricks" stepping forward, she instead used her palm to block the next strike, as even when attempting meaningless dialogue, Isilt was still trying to kill The Death Dealer.

The iron tip, as well as much of the wooden handle, was ground into shards and splinters, chipped into pieces as Isilt pushed, or at least tried to, against the fin-limier's palm, the knight-in-training letting go of his weapon in a hurry as he was almost pulled in by his own momentum.

'The hell-!'

Maliah pointed at her own palm with a most smug expression, only then did Isilt seem to truly take in the assassin's true appearance, a rare chance, as no one who had seen Maliah's face was alive to tell the tale, either they had never seen through her veil of deceit, or had met a gruesome end.

"Isilt, Isilt~ You must have so much strength in your arms to shatter a spear like that" the trainee was not laughing alongside her, in fact, he just threw what was left of his weapon and instead picked up Pitit, taking off running in a most random direction.

Maliah shook her head "Are you not going to unsheath that sword and try some more?" she asked at his fleeing back, receiving no answer at all.

And just as she said this, all brightness disappeared, the thing stuck in the ceiling instead exploding with sunlight, much sooner than it was supposed to, however, The Death Dealer deciding to reveal herself had alerted not only the other residents of this underground, but the supposedly broken being manifesting the cave's ecosystem in existence had been overwhelmed with something that had been stripped from it a long time ago.

In the presence of Maliah, it feared for its life.

"Now, now… I won't kill you, my bestest friend wants to experiment on you" muttering to herself, she even felt like thanking this limbless being, after all, it was day now.

'What is that sign they do again?' fumbling around her right hand to try and recreate the prayer sign she had seen quite a few undeads do before.

Maliah had never been a natural at this sort of activity, her late parents had been somewhat faithful to the gods despite having been born when the great silence had already been in place for who knows how long.

She had always seen them as fools for it, it was one thing to beg for fortune, but begging to those who couldn't even respond anymore was truly idiotic, but it seems like the allure of the divine is simply too blinding.

'Mmh, like this-?' tilting her head, ignoring everything, even knights surrounding the area from all sides.

"Whatever, I'll ask that blonde chick again…" reaching beneath her oversized cloak, pulling out one of her trademark misericorde daggers, and as soon as her hand wrapped around its hilt- The blade tasted death, a disembodied head already balancing on the small surface of Maliah's blade, warm blood cascading down into a puddle.

Flinging the decapitated head into the air like it was a coin, she launched it at another knight, disappearing entirely as the rest attacked all at once, the dozens of knights having gathered around sported differing level of armoury, not all of them having taken the time to equip themselves when they noticed an intruder, one that reeked of slaughter.

But the greater majority of the south's elite had already perish a while back, although many were veterans, definitely a higher notch that any typical knights Maliah had gotten to meet before, there was no need to deny it, the average warrior of Belliste was a great notch above the regular combatant of Viridis, but to The Death Dealer, it was like a hunter stating that a rat was more dangerous than a mouse, it was obvious, but did it change anything?

She eradicated all of them in a matter of seconds, and that was while taking her time, they all laid either dead or agonising, crawling like insects as their blood and guts spread across the ground, stepping on the nape of one those unfortunate enough to have not been slain instantly, Maliah slowly, and gently, applied more and more force.

Always being careful, after all, she was always stronger than she had been the day before, it would be a waste to crush someone's neck ahead of schedule, especially when she sought to give it a good twist right as the strength hovering right on the edge of squashing everything.

She wanted to see their eyes as, for a split second, thought that they had been spared just before doom, only to kill them alongside that frivolous hope.

All fun was spoiled as a javelin struck Maliah in the head, its point directed directly at the opening for her ear, the iron projectile exploding into a blast of shrapnel.

"You, you have a face so repulsive, I would love for my daughter to have it" Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire