Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Within just a few moments, Loimos vanished alongside Sonnenträger, and the attacking undeads simply turned around and left, overhead, a massive roc just flew by, having seemingly been hiding against the side of the realm's edge, presumably having been lying in ambush had the order to retreat not been given.

Antieeld looked down upon where Milo's corpse had been moments ago, rot had already devoured it entirely, leaving nothing behind, the commandant was uncertain if this had really been the right decision, especially now that the barrier had been shattered, it would never be able to get back to what it was before in a short period of time, if the undeads attacked again, they would definitely be able to break through whatever it was that they used to replace it.

In essence, they were now more vulnerable than ever, so getting them to retreat for now seemed like a meagre consolation, Loimos may not be around, and he might actually meet his permanent end at the hands of the first hero, but who knew how long it would take for their fight to reach a conclusion, during that time, the other undeads could attack again, the disaster beasts might all come back for a round two, and right now, the forces of the living had taken a big hit.

All of the elemental champions had been slain by Loimos, all of the combat capable talent holders, except for Antieeld, had also been killed, not to mention that Milo was gone too now, and the blessing of gold that had been bestowed upon everyone was beginning to fade away.

This situation was bad, the commandant felt that it was beyond saving.

"I… If Helena is still alive, I should go and tell her what happened" Antieeld sheathed her blade with a gloomy expression.

"Antieeld, wait here a moment…" Minli stopped Antieeld grabbing onto her wrist, the healer moving her head from side to side.

"...Do not say a thing, now is not the time for that"

"Are you telling me to lie?"

"Yes, lie with all your might, Antieeld, we do not need division right now, we need to think of a solution to our predicament- Listen, it might be a terrible outcome, but it is leagues above what would have happened otherwise, you made the right decision, there was no fighting against Loimos, it might be difficult to accept, but you are a commandant, are you not? Harsh decisions are part of the job, so I am asking to make another decision, which is to lie to Helena and everyone else, nobody but us two should know the truth of what happened here, so we'll keep it to ourselves and lie if asked" Minli formed a deep frown.

"...Are you certain this is a good idea?" Antieeld asked.

"It's an awful idea, but it is the best that I have to offer- We should focus on what to do now that the barrier is gone, our predicament is worse than bad right now, many of our fellows have fallen, if the undeads come back with a similar force than this again, only the most powerful would have a chance at surviving, the bystanders would also be targeted"

"You are right, unfortunately, my talent as a commandant feels inadequate to tackle such a dire situation, in essence, unless we can build back the barrier as strong as it was before its destruction, we don't have the slightest chance to prevent the undeads from taking over the realm" Antieeld was not optimistic, had the barrier not been shattered, she could have thought of a few things, but now that their greatest asset in this war was gone, they were as good as a herd of sheep deep into wolf territory.

"With Loimos currently gone, the undeads might actually react more harshly as well, from speaking to him, I got the sense that his plan was not foolproof, he isn't certain to win, and if the undeads know that, they will probably want to wrap things up quickly here, this is where both Loimos and Sonnenträger vanished, this is certainly where they will reappear too once things are done, the undeads will want to prepare for the eventually of Loimos losing by turning the Emerald Realm into their territory and preparing for Sonnenträger's arrival…" Antieeld explained her thoughts with a detached expression.

"...To do that, a gravelord might actually take over as the general, and they may not have a keen interest in trying to keep the realm whole"

Antieeld slumped down onto the ground.

Minli put up one hand against the commandant's shoulder, channelling a healing spell to ease the mind.

"I think… I think that the only way that we might realistically survive, is to do it again"

"Do what again?"

Antieeld glanced at Minli.

"Run away, escape to yet another realm like rats abandoning ship, that's all I can come up with that is realistic, but not only do we lack the means to do such a thing, it just doesn't sit right, you know? The Emerald Realm welcomed us, many have made their homes here… And we would have to leave everything behind again? And what? Convince the emerald folks from abandoning their ancestral land? Or leave them behind like ungrateful bastards?"

The healer remained silent, but soon enough, a calm, soft emerald glow washed over them both, suddenly rekindling their spirit as they raised their eyes to see the sun ancestor, Solzmimi, descend in front of them with a soft smile.

"There is no shame in running away in the face of death, you know?"

"This…"

"Shhh, no need to worry about unnecessary things… The undeads are quite the handful, aren't they? Those disaster beasts or whatever just refuse to act like good corpses no matter what you throw at them, but we, the emerald folks can manage it, we will gather all of the civilians and warriors below the ranks of Emerald Herald and Divine Dancing Priestess and hide them in the underground chamber where Hirzartanli used to reside in, and we'll cause untold destruction to the land, but we can manage, I assure you"

Solzmimi put up her hands against the top of their heads.

"I know that you feel indebted, but there is no need, the Emerald Realm itself accepted your arrival because it sensed the good within you" the sun ancestor smiled.

"In truth, I was always of the opinion that you folks should not have had to fight and die for this realm" extending her hand to the side, a flash of emerald light descended onto her palm, revealing a stone tablet, which she handed out to Antieeld.

"The old carver seems to have kept it to himself, but he prepared something to help you escape, take this stone tablet to his dilapidated shack, bring everyone who wishes to leave with you, and live on"

Antieeld grabbed the tablet with a dazed expression, uncertain how to respond.