Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Rest in peace" said Milo, snapping the neck of the soldier he was currently holding in a chokehold, feeling a bit weird as this exact way of holding someone in a chokehold was one he more often used on Helena.

Shaking his head, he watched as yet another invaders broke apart, there was an awfully high amount of them around here today, after the hound and first soldier he encountered, he ran into another lone one and then into a group of three, he tended to only find traces of passage or nothing at all, so this sudden development caused him to narrow his eyes.

Were they doing something around here?

'Did they manage to establish a camp, perhaps?' if that was the case, Milo would have to boot them right out, such things weren't allowed anywhere near his family, these fools would be better off steering clear of the surroundings, he was nice enough to kill them in a single strike, but if they got too close, then they would get to experience what it would feel like to get caught in a storm filled with razors.

Without looking, he elbowed at something that believed itself cunning, cracking open its skull, some sort of thin, humanoid monster seemingly appearing out of thin as it fell to the ground right where it stood like all its bones turned to jello.

"My friend, you should have seen maces not dealing any damage" even if a bloodthirsty monster, it definitely should have put two and two together, but even the non-sapient creatures were completely brainwashed, their instincts and animalistic cunning would hardly ever show themselves, and when they did, it wouldn't be to ensure their survival.

'Monsters too, though… Something really is up'

His actions left no corpses behind, but the lingering sensation of his fists and arms having snuffed life out remained, he had grown used to it a while ago, but that didn't mean that he liked it any better, monsters and beasts were one thing, but it always felt filthy to slay those soldiers.

He would always try to establish communication, on the faint hope that his interlocutor would understand and at least show that they cared for their life, but every time was a repeat, they just threw themselves at him and would not stop even after realising that the battle could not be won, it that wasn't the definition of insanity, then Milo did not know what it was.

They only existed to kill and be killed, the essence of their being was murder, which was probably why facing them felt like facing people who had gone hollow, everything else besides what was good for soldiers had been scooped out and discarded, the empty space stuffed with whatever the undeads saw fit.

The soldiers had already surrendered their lives, or at least, they were convinced to have done so, they were without their own goals, just conduits for something that shouldn't be their problem, and yet, whenever one died and their and Milo's eyes met, there it was, the fear.

It was all nonsense, in truth, they weren't willing to die for the undead, they were still living, breathing beings, each with their own aspirations and personalities, but all of it only peered through when the death they believed to be yearning for greeted them.

The fear would always remain, everything that lived was terrified of the end, only one that could not know true death could possibly be without dread when their heart would stop beating.

Even if indoctrinated by the undead, livings would remain livings, which was why Milo made sure to either destroy the head or have them face away when he killed them, the look of distress and call for help was one he would like to answer, but could not.

'Huh? That wasn't here before…' looking to the side, there was large boulder protruding from the soil amidst the trees, the bright pink leaves of a nearby one were covering its surface, and upon the side Milo was facing, there was a way carved through the stone and into the ground, it looked very much natural and not made by hand, but Milo knew by now that the Emerald Realm had no true caves like that, the closest thing to one would be the place he installed his training room and later built a house next to.

And even then, that was nothing more than an empty rock formation, what he was looking at very much looked like a bonafide cavern, one he knew for certain had not been there before.

'Impressive thought… But they must not have realised that caves were not a thing here' he thought, extending his mana sense deeper into the darkness, he sensed no presence, which was more suspicious than the contrary.

'They dug this place in less than a day?' stepping inside, he had to admit that whoever had done this was pretty talented, although using the word 'day' in this realm wasn't saying much as that length of time wasn't set…

Careful in his steps, he circulated golden mana into his eyes, this simple augmentative spell was no darkvision, but the emerald light was strong and night vision still worked deep within this place.

'There's an odd sense of familiarity again…' leaning back, he evaded a claws that looked like brand new knives, their sharp edges leaving deep gashes upon the stone.

"...Oh, I had forgotten about you guys… You've been recruited by the undead? Or did they copy the methods and turned livings?" unlike with the hound however, he quickly understood why that was.

Looming over him, a slender figure garbed in a cloak, face covered by a porcelain-looking mask stitched to its wearer's visage.

Its limbs and body were thinner than Milo's forearms.

The figure titled its head.

'Did it understand me?'

"I don't know you…" responding in the same language as the soldiers in white, it slowly ran its claws against one another.

"...Golden boy?" speaking to itself whilst staring at the ceiling, the oddness was definitely the same as Milo remembered.

The undeads were really employing the Ironic Puppeteers as foot soldiers, well, perhaps it wasn't so surprising, the undeads had already used both them and the Defilers Of The Holy back then.

'Still, this one seems a bit more advanced…' Milo was surprised that the undead would be capable of working so well upon the creation of a living creature, as despite the strange looks, they were supposed to be people before being morphed into tall puppets.

As he sized-up his opponent, shadows within the cave seemed to come to life, revealing more of them who had been pressed up in corners and completely immobile.

Milo glanced up.

"...This place better not collapse on itself…" one of his opponents tapped against the ceiling, as though feeling the need to confirm it for itself as well.

"…You aren't confident either? Why don't we take it outside instead?" he smiled, but the lanky figures just flung themselves at him.

In the next instant, the artificial cave shuddered, flashes of gold peering out from the entrance periodically, whilst the sound of air and rock being sliced rang out constantly

For a few seconds at most.