Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

What laid behind the false wall was nothing grand or special, just a most regular cave with snow at entrance, truly, the projected all was what truly tickled Alkayne's interest, he spotted a singular hex-totem nearby, shaped like a pyramid and made up of three femurs as its main parts.

The base of it was constructed from phalanges held together by strands of pale hair, forming a sort of small basket within the skeletal pyramid, within which an assortment of pickled organs which were arranged in what would look like a random manner to most.

And atop the peak of this small totem was a skull missing its lower jaw, a strange symbol written upon its forehead- The illusion seemed to be projected from its hollow sockets, all in all, it was remarkable work, the amount of material used wasn't that high at all, and judging from certain details, it had come from an accursed rather than a kalt.

What the minor lord found most interested was the symbol however, it didn't look like any runes, sigils or the likes that the empire knew, in fact, it didn't seem to be of that kind of things, rather, it was merely a letter in an obscure language, one that the blessing of comprehension could not even begin to decipher.

In any case, that symbol wasn't just decorative, it was the mark of a hex-spell that had been cast upon the hex-totem, that was yet another impressive things, hex-spells were meant and were geared toward being casted upon beings to inflict a lengthy effect, so using one like it was an enchantment wasn't basic application.

"The enemy is a master hexer, both in spellweaving and totem-making, exercise extra caution" Alkayne was pleased with the capabilities his opponent was proving themselves to possess, it would make defeating harder, that was for sure, but he had the sensation that he might have just stumbled upon a person who could turn out to be minor lord-material.

How exquisite, how magnificent would it be for him to discover a diamond in the rough? There were countless undeads within the empire, many of which possessing powers and strength at an exceptional level, but what was required of one to become a minor lord was rather high, which was why even after the great expansion and boom that occurred within every sectors of the empire, the ranks of minor lords remained unchanged.

But right now, the zombie had an inkling that he may have found a soon-to-be undead that could potentially reach that level eventually.

'Mmh… But what to do? This cavernous environment is restrictive to the cohesive function of my troops, the ceiling is pretty high in some places, but the way quickly gets narrowed further in… Unleashing powerful spells could cause a caving and the winding layout renders my ranged units much less effective…'

There was no cutting it, the formation he had been using until now would only be a disadvantage within this cave.

'...Moreover…' he turned back to the illusory wall, by projecting an image in this manner, it could even fool an undead, who would normally be immune to such tactics, but that wasn't the only problem with it.

It wasn't related to the wall itself however, but the cave was lit-up, very much so by many torches, meaning that one's darkness awareness could not detect the dark, empty spaces behind potentially more fake walls.

That probably wasn't intentionally done to counter their extra sense, but it was there nonetheless.

Alkayne had his troops form small groups instead of one big unit, prioritising the ability to move around effectively and to prevent any blockage within the tunnels, the melee fighters were the most useful here, but the minor lord did not leave the mages and ranged fighters behind, they simply remained well in the back for now.

Descending deeper into the cave, they soon ran into the first fork in the road, the cave splitting into five different ways, each narrower than the last.

The soldiers waited for orders.

Alkayne preferred to only give commands as it was best to get his troops as involved as possible for them to stack up practical experience, but manifesting frigid winds and letting them flow deeper in the cave, he realised that this place was not just humongous but an utter maze, with countless ways, path that circled around, dead ends, pits and the likes, with the restriction of darkness awareness, the time it would take to fully explore this place would be enormous and with how much his soldiers would have to split up to cover ground and check passages, they would be vulnerable to ambushed around every corner.

So the zombie simply focused more on manipulating his freezing winds, he would just uncover the proper way himself, there was no point to potentially losing troops in this manner, although they would just be brought back by The Graveyard, losing soldiers as a commander was a bad thing nonetheless.

He would have been willing to let them explore everything and get lost if not for the threat of the golems that could be hiding anywhere.

And so, he led the way through a series of way too many paths and tunnels, toward the only area that wasn't a dead end, or rather, seemed to hold significance, the trek was rather lengthy and arduous anyways, with such a large congress of undeads and so many narrow passages that really required one to squeeze themselves through, it was a wonder how the actual person that seemed to live here managed to make the trip back and forth and not go insane.

But the travel was relatively safe, as Alkayne used his frigid winds to snuff out all the torches, meaning that no undead could not sense a threat approaching without being well-aware of it before it was even close to being upon them.

In the end, the zombie and his soldiers arrived before a heavy-looking stone door with a a symbol and a variety of bones hanging from it, not knowing whether the hexes present upon it were supposed to reinforce the door or blast anyone who touched them to smithereens, he ordered his mages to put up barriers and kicked the door open, nothing happened and he let himself into what look a very cosy room.

There was even a hot spring in here, but more importantly, the place clearly belonged to the one they were seeking, bits of carved ghost wood, stashes of bones, hair and other body parts neatly arranged and with words carved upon the boxes, which probably detailed what was stored inside.

Rather different from what would expect a hexer, the place didn't look gloomy at all, it was even- A bit girly, in some way Alkayne could not quite explain…

In its own private area, a small statue of Dame-Sommer was to be found, having been carved from ghost wood with the same expertise as the golems, but had been painted over, giving it a very lively appearance.

'The hexer is a believer of Dame-Sommer as well?'

There were a few questions that needed to be asked, but one took the lead.

'Where is the hexer?'