Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 1222: To Dust
Prikrip had been dealing with increasingly annoying enemies. His conquest efforts were often nullified or reversed because of the tendency for new rifts to form. The Black Fog Void may be nothing more than a by-product of the True Void, but it was not to be underestimated.
The warped creatures inhabiting the fog were feeble-bodied, but they were incredibly dangerous. At first, the white light carried by these beings was basically harmless to undeads. However, like a hive-mind, the black fog had seemingly sensed the struggle of its creations and began manifesting stronger ones.
Currently, even Prikrip needed to be very careful not to be caught immobile within the light. That thing could cause Black Fog Void corruption to pop out of one's body in seconds, absolutely tearing everything apart in the process, on top of twisting internal energies into an unrecognisable state.
These newer voidlings were less numerous, but the weaker ones kept on pouring out of the unstable rifts–Things had appeared somewhat stable when the minor lord had first gotten here, but in actuality, things had only seemed calm because the voidlings had the complete upper hand at the time.
The realm couldn't even deal with the lowest of the low the fog had to offer, after all. Only after Prikrip got here with his warriors did things begin to shift. No matter how many of those rifts were shut down, more would pop up soon after.
A more permanent solution was needed, but the black fog was too corrupting and corrosive to whatever attempted to fight back against it. The methods Prikrip had attempted to use had all proven unsuccessful.
Now, he was eyeing a more… Brute-force-oriented method.
There was one rift in particular that was larger than the others, almost resembling a tower of pure darkness from a distance. This had proven resilient and had never been fully closed at any point in time so far.
It was sort of the anchor that the Black Void Fog had to this realm. It was thanks to it that more rifts could manifest, and it was from there that the vast majority of the fog was pouring out.
Around it, spinning clouds of dark fog had long formed, and the surroundings were crawling with voidlings, but Prikrip knew that this particular rift was the 'heart' of the corrupting invasion of this realm.
If it were shut down, then everything else would follow. Everything would come crashing down, and only then would the minor lord be able to lay claim to the realm in the name of the Undead Empire.
There was a bit of an issue, though. This rift had always resisted being closed, meaning that a brand new strategy needed to be devised to deal with it–And the idea Prikrip had come up with was perhaps… Somewhat flawed.
Some would say that it was reckless, and some would say that it was purely stupid. However, over the course of his stay here, the avian undead had developed a resistance to the effects of the Black Fog Void.
As such, he believed that his plan could work…
What was his plan? To plunge directly through the great rift and tear it down from the inside out. According to what he had been able to learn through a combination of calling upon diviners and questioning the surviving inhabitants of the realm, the Black Fog Void hadn't manifested here for no reason.
Long ago, a rift leading to the True Void had opened up in this realm, but only for a brief instant. Merely a minuscule amount of True Void energy had leaked out, leading it to not do much at all until it degraded into Black Fog Void.
Unlike its greater counterpart, the fog had an advantage, which was that it did not require much to preserve itself and grow in volume. It had formed into a compact mass, hidden underground for an extended period of time.
That is, until the humans of this realm accidentally dug it out, causing the stock-up fog to unravel and explode outward, spreading across a large portion of the realm in a single go. The concentration of fog over a wide area, feeding over the people who couldn't handle breathing in the fog–This allowed the creation of the 'rifts', which were really just pocket spaces within which the lesser void energy was coalescing to give rise to creatures.
The rifts didn't actually lead to another realm at all.
As such, destroying it from the inside was perfectly plausible. One simply needed to be able to handle the corrupting effects of being inside these rifts.
Technically speaking, nowadays, the only livings who remain within the realm are all resistant to the basic effects of the fog. So the Black Fog Void basically can no longer expand, and is mostly consuming its reserves without gaining enough back to be stable.
Thus, in theory, Prikrip could just keep going as he currently was, and eventually, the realm would just be cleansed. That would be playing the long game… It would work, that was for certain, but it was an extremely passive stance to take.
Prikrip was anything but passive. He was a warrior whose fighting style involved endlessly staying airborne by repeatedly swinging until the enemy was annihilated. He wasn't the sort to sit back or stay on the defensive.
As such, today, Prikrip was eyeing the great rift, standing atop a tall, ruined building of grey. His wide blue cloak barely swayed as he overlooked masses of voidlings. They were crawling everywhere like ants.
Within the grand rift, there surely were powerful voidlings that were keeping guard. Perhaps even a champion of sorts that he would have to deal with, whilst the very environment tried to destroy every fibre of his cold body…
Was it really wise to attempt such a risky manoeuvre? No. No, it was not at all wise, especially when you knew of another way that would work for certain without being anywhere near as risky.
Prikrip wasn't exactly a professional thinker or philosopher. He carried a sword taller and wider than a grown man. Thinking was to be done when his blade was being used to kill.
With a powerful scream, Prikrip wielded the damned souls trapped within his skull, moulding and shaping them into wings. He kicked off the building, blasting a wide portion of it apart, turning into a blue, winged blur, heading straight for the dark tower.
The voidlings on the ground could barely even process what was happening. The undead had already pierced right through the rift, finding himself in a lightless place–Perfect for him to use darkness awareness in.
He landed upon the ground, not making a sound as black fog parted under his arrival.
There was only one voidling inside–No, it was not quite right to say that there was only one.
"Oh. Is that what they are for?"
The voidling was nought but a mass of humans who had been corrupted by the white light. Their forms had melded together into an abominable creation that could hardly be described with words. Not only was it utterly bizarre in shape, but it was made of nothing but pitch black bodies fused into one.
It was basically impossible to see amidst the ambient darkness. Prikrip could only do so thanks to darkness awareness and undead synesthesia.
The creature did not make a single noise. It merely used hundreds of its hands to tear its own chest open, revealing a white light hidden within. With a flap of his wings, Prikrip moved out of the way. In one swift instant, he defied the laws of physics and somehow found himself on top of his adversary.
The talons of pale steel, a present from Loimos that had come alongside a matching armour, dug into the body of the corrupted amalgamate, the greatsword poised to stab right down, dust already manifesting from it.
Before the undead could pierce the enemy, it tore itself apart, beaming a powerful light directly at the undead, who had to jump off–Though not without taking two chunks of the creature's body using his talons.
It inhaled black fog, rapidly regenerating.
"Well… This could get annoying pretty quickly. I prefer when the one regenerating is me, and only me, you know?"
The void entity was not very responsive to his words.
'Why is just staring instead of attacking? Is it trying to bluff something?'
The minor lord did not quite get what went on inside that thing's mind, but he was already feeling the strain of resisting corruption. He had somewhat underestimated how bad it would be inside here. Thankfully, he had tricks prepared precisely for when he did something like this.
He raised his greatsword, presenting the side of it to his adversary, causing half of his skull to be unseen.
"Pulvis"
He surged with potent death force, activating his Ierpalam… He had never done so in an actual fight. The sensation of Festering Death Force coursing through his body was incredible.
The encroaching corruption retracted, as though the non-sentient concept was experiencing fear at the idea of falling victim to it.
Prikrip swung into a spinning motion, launching a circular slash of dust that tore through not just the voidling but the rift and other voidlings outside of it as well.
"Mmh… That's what I call a victory"
