Chapter 1127: Two Undeads

‘Death Knight they say… Truly the naming conventions of a world who knows nothing of death and undeath, those knights are clearly alive!’ Dimios had gotten intel on secret forces held by the livings, but it was only today that he had learned of the name of one of them, and it was frankly not a great one.

Death knights were a reputed type of undead, especially since they were one of the few kinds one did not have to be spawned or risen as to become, some might call it evolution, but it really was just a matter of skill and dedication.

Some Death Knights were zombies, some were skeletons, some vampires, and some were even ghouls! It was a respected group of undeads with minor capabilities to channel bits of death force through their blades and with good odds of being able to learn some of the techniques created by King Nitok and the Gravelords.

Although they most often took the spots of defenders and were thus not very involved in expanding the Empire, many of them were very powerful and could naturally empower other undeads with their mere presence… So seeing their name being used to qualify paltry livings who were but mere knights like all others, only more powerful…

If Dimios did not know that the livings here knew nothing of undeath, he would have assumed that this was a deliberate insult- Though admittedly, their suit of armour was quite nice, but once they were converted to undeath, they would have to change names, it would lead to confusion otherwise.

‘They are impressively powerful though, and their life force is abundant and tough… They were clearly trained to a high amount and through means that were probably nearing the edge of torture.

A living did not simply acquire such life force naturally or through regular training, they had to be beaten down to near death many times for their life force to grow so horrendously resilient.

To come so close to liberation on multiple occasions yet never be able to truly grasp it? That would be the truest form of torture imaginable…

As a testament to the difficulty of the training they had gone through, their durability was rather impressive, they were more than willing to take certain hits if it meant that they could land one of their own in return, but nonetheless, Dimios knew well that these livings stood no chance of seeing the sun rise tomorrow, they might have been able to win in a one on one situation… And they might have been able to retreat in a two on one situation, beyond that, they didn’t have much hope.

‘They will make a fine addition to our ranks once this is all over’

Dimios was floating high up in the air with his arms crossed when he slightly turned his head to the side to see a crack form out thin air, it oozed darkness before splitting open and an undead poked out of it.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon, Carnifex” the leader of the Verfolger said, not too surprised to see the leader of the Erado as he was the only undead around that could open rifts with such ease, Carnifex was a real expert in that department, it allowed him to seemingly teleport around when he really did it quickly.

The horned undead simply held up his right hand.

“I encountered a bit of a pickle, you could say” his skeletal hand was covered in cracks, and it looked like it would fall apart at the most gentle of breeze.

“This does seem to be somewhat of a snafu, can you not repair the damage?”

“Oh, I can, I just wanted to show you the results- This happened as I attempted to rip out an intruding living’s spine”

“You ran into one of those? So this all but confirms that the living spirits are the results of Antieeld’s ability and not just a coincidence with a knight of this realm possessing a similar ability?”

“I believe that we were near one-hundred per cent certain of that once we started seeing the living spirits of people from beyond this realm, but yes, I encountered a young living male who looked suspiciously like the departed Milo”

“I certainly hope that you weren’t damaged by a burst of gold? That would actually be horrible news”

“There was no gold, it was more like a presence, it felt like some sort of being or creature had left an imprint upon the living, and it managed to detect my intent and subsequently countered me… I do not claim to have particularly tough defences, but I do not believe myself fragile either, and yet you see what just a mere imprint did to my hand”

As he said this, his bones mended themselves back into their original state, at least, it wasn’t like the gold and did not linger on after dealing damage.

“I would assume that you wouldn’t appear here to only tell me this, you must have a little theory you want to share” Dimios slightly tilted his head and Carnifex did the same thing as though they were mirroring one another.

“You know me well- Well then, listen to this… The living then jumped away from me and popped out of existence with a burst of the exact same thing that damaged me, do you get it? Whatever shielded him is also the thing responsible for sending the livings into this realm in the first place! It is very likely that this being is something aligned with life, or whose alignment is in conflict with death”

“Oh, you think Lord Loimos should be informed of this development?”

“Precisely, I need to keep marinating Saturnina and Aldanaiel, would you have some of your guys to spare?”

“Of course, I brought the trainees as well… But even if what you believe is true, even Lord Loimos can not find the realm that being dwells in a snap of his fingers, otherwise the escapees would have been caught a long time ago”

Carnifex just shrugged.

“I merely believe that he should be informed of the potential presence of being of this sort, Lord Loimos is the champion of the Empire, he needs to be aware of potential challengers, as he says, the world is vast and unknown even to us undeads, we can not just keep pushing forward without even preparing for the possibility of pushback”

Dimios brought out what looked like a talisman and the item just went up in flames, signalling that it had been activated and that one of the trainees of the Verfolger should soon be returning to the main world to inform Loimos of what Carnifex believed he had discovered.

“By the way, what do you think of the human king’s Death Knights? I have not gotten the occasion to observe them in action” asked Carnifex, switching the topic since the previous one was resolved.

“They are not bad at all, it seems like they have been rigorously trained, but I can not help but feel that something is a bit off about them, what do you think?” Dimios felt that they did not behave in the same way as other livings, that there was something a bit stiff about how they acted, not literally as they were very swift and reactive, but more so in the way that they were reacting almost too perfectly to everything.

Almost like automatons or golems rather than people.

“I frankly didn’t manage to gain access to the deeper areas of the royal palace just yet, but I think that they seem odd merely because they have been so brutally trained by the human king in person, he is quite the odd character”

“Is it not possible for you to trick him like you did with those two mages?” asked Dimios, what Carnifex had been doing so far was all according to the original and basic plan, but of course, the horned undead could act and make decisions on his own if he saw it fit.

“I am afraid that the king is too powerful for me to be able to do much, both Saturnina and Aldanaiel tried to attack me at first, but they were far too weak to be a threat, allowing me to take a position above them when negotiating… But the king, I am afraid that I can only fight him to a standstill at best” replied Carnifex.

“Is that so? I did not realise that there would be a living of such a high calibre in this realm, even if you go all out against him, you wouldn’t be able to gain the upper hand?”

“I do not believe so”

“What about the supreme elf leader, did you get to see their identity?”

“Still as elusive as ever, I don’t even know whether they are a man or a woman, or if from which elven region they are from, all that I know about them is that they exist”

“That could prove inconvenient in the future… Say, what do you reckon our chances are if I joined you to fight the human king? Do you think we could restrain him enough for you to make an offer that he’ll agree to?”

“The two of us could probably do it as long as we don’t hold back at all, but I frankly do not think he’ll agree to anything at all even with a knife to his throat, he is of those livings who only realise that they are most afraid of death when it is already too late for them”

“Unfortunate”

“Unfortunate indeed”