Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 1209: Clump Of Moss

Chapter 1209: Clump Of Moss

Griar was still impressed with just how much the thralls retained of their skills despite seeming to lack certain pieces of common sense altogether. The possessed soldiers wielded an array of different weapon types. Griar believed that these were akin to some sort of small, hand-held cannons that he had heard about.

The bullets certainly seemed to be launched using a similar method, at least in appearance. Without hesitation, Griar swiftly blasted the head of one of the soldiers wielding those long-ranged weapons, but that might have been a mistake as other soldiers immediately aimed at him.

Although plagued by the same issue that made them always aim directly for their target, these ones suffered less as they wielded weaponry capable of firing repeatedly, or weaponry that fired an array of projectiles into the shape of a cone. Simply moving to the side was far from enough to deal with them–If you weren’t fast like Griar was, at least.

Without even having to use mana to enhance himself, he was still a human born and raised in places of high energy density, and born to two parents of impressive build. This realm had basically no energy to speak of, and here, all humans were far more feeble due to it and a focus on machinery to do things for them.

Thus, the thralls were many times weaker than Griar was, regardless of how many of them there were… And so far, their varying weapons have proved to be meaningless.

Like a slaughtered squall, he weaved through the ranks of the possessed soldiers, crushing their infested brains one by one until he ended the last one with an uppercut that sent blood and Black Moss flying high into the sky alongside shattered teeth.

‘I don’t get what this Black Moss is all about…’

Griar would have attributed its behaviour to be akin to that of some mushrooms or parasites, merely acting on pure instinct to multiply, but the accuracy with which it could manipulate thralls to fire weaponry it should know nothing about was most bizarre.

He still couldn’t wrap his head around how such expertise was possible, and yet was unable to understand what to do about a moving target. Something didn’t add up.

He wondered whether the undeads had interfered in some way with the Black Moss, or if this truly was just it behaving naturally according to the instincts it was always meant to have and display. If the latter option were true, it was definitely a strange lifeform… A lifeform that would most definitely be weaponised by the Undead Empire eventually.

Griar had seen firsthand what the involvement of the undead in something could result into. He didn’t know the details, but he knew for certain that they played a major role in Stagnant Water becoming a reality.

If the Black Moss could pull off something like this in its original, natural state… Then I was frightened to imagine what the Undead Empire might engineer it into becoming.

As Griar looked around him, he once again had to dodge shots coming from afar, only that many of them came at once this time, and they came from an angle. They were being fired from an elevated position.

Judging by the fact that all of the bullets had a very similar angle, Griar could only assume that it was not a naturally formed elevation, but that he was instead being shot at from a wall built by hand.

Since it was his best shot at finding an area of interest, Griar channelled wind mana through his body and rushed toward the direction the bullets had come from. The bullets stopped coming as he became too fast for the thralls to follow his movements–Or so he believed, but a bullet came straight for him, and this one was aimed properly, taking his movement into account.

Griar let mana coursed through his brain as he realised what was happening, enhancing the speed of his thought. He realised that the bullet itself was not normal. It wasn’t pristine like those from before. This one was coated and seemingly filled with Black Moss. Not only that, but it was way faster as well, like it had been fired using a far more powerful weapon.

Without further hesitation, Griar directed mana into his hands and clapped down onto the bullet, flattening and sending the Black Moss within flying out into several sprays. He did not stop moving, but was targeted by several more of these bullets, but only one at a time.

He eventually reached what looked like a fort of sorts. The walls were thin and made of solid chunks of steel jammed together into place. Barracks, tents, towers, and platforms had been erected within as well, and the moment Griar stopped in front of this camp, countless thralls standing upon the platforms raised their weapons, firing directly at him.

“Alright… There are way too many of you now”

He muttered to himself with a raised eyebrow. He was only seeing a small portion of them right now, but he counted at least thirty. This was far too many to go about it without using energy. It was best that he saved himself the trouble…

With a burst of wind mana, he darted once, and then twice. First arrived on the far right of the platforms, and then to the far left, and in this last motion, he destroyed all of the skulls of the thralls.

Everything was so fast that some of the corpses stayed standing for several more seconds before collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

The camp itself was… Strangely empty. Griar had expected even more thralls within, but it seemed that he had been mistaken. He could only spot a handful of soldiers, as well as people who did not look much like soldiers at all.

Griar did not linger on for too long and dispatched them as well before extending his mana senses throughout the whole camp. The one who had shot him precisely had definitely not been amongst the thralls he had defeated. That person was concealing their presence–But mana did not lie.

Griar fired a blade of wind toward the hidden target, but they reacted and dodged, revealing themselves before Griar.

It was a man who resembled the other possessed soldiers in all points, except for one, which was the look in his eyes. There was more clarity within them.

The man stood still for a few moments before grabbing a weapon at his waist, firing at Griar. Once again, the bullets were abnormally fast and ridden with Black Moss. Nonetheless, they were still too slow to be a real threat to him.

He lunged forward, striking at the soldier’s head–With a sudden burst of strength, the thrall managed to barely avoid the blow, throwing himself to the ground and rolling before taking off running.

Indeed, this one was clearly smarter than the rest. He actually knew how to retreat.

Griar gave chase, quickly catching up and already in motion to shatter the man’s skull when the thrall suddenly burst with Black Moss, the dark substance wrapped around his body, creating a new one, larger and inhuman.

With a wind spell, Griar cancelled his motions and jumped back, avoiding a strike from the monstrosity.

“…Better be safe”

The creature might not look that strong to him, but Griar knew not to underestimate his opponents lightly and immediately wove several wind spells all around the creature, not letting it even a second to act before its entire body was slashed and torn apart.

Griar gathered the pieces into one pile and set them aflame to be sure.

He had felt the stream of experience confirming the kill, but he wasn’t certain whether the thrall’s human body and the moss abomination were considered one and the same… So, he went ahead and just destroyed everything just to be sure.

As he did this, he noticed the corpse of another thrall suddenly rising in the corner of his vision.

It was the corpse of one of the thralls who had not been wearing the same gear as the soldier. From the looks of it, the body had once belonged to a nurse, and right now, her missing head was being replaced by a clump of Black Moss.

A clump which twisted around, forming a bizarre shape that Griar interpreted to be meant to look like an eye staring directly at him.

“You…Must…Be…The…Invader…Are…You…?”

‘That thing actually talks… And for some reason, I can understand it…’

“Depends what you mean by ‘invader’, really…”

The clump formed some sort of grin.

“So…You…Are…My…Friends…Want…You…Dead…”

“Not to be insensitive or anything, but it is a bit difficult to understand what you are saying–Also, why did you choose to show up using one of the few female corpses lying around? A bit weird, isn’t it?”

“Funny…One…You…Are…I…Incarnate…Using…Bodies…I…Prefer…I…Am…Lady…”

“Huh… I was under the impression that you just moss”

“Funny…Indeed…”

The clump went away, letting the nurse’s remains fall limp onto the ground.

‘I thought that thing was going to attack, but I guess not’

‘Now. Where am I supposed to go next? Maybe there is a map to be found somewhere in this camp…’