Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 1233: The Prince

"I… Must… Feast… More…"

Digging through the deep earth, the centipede prince of the hour burst through the wall of another settlement, overlooking the majority dwarven population with nigh uncontrollable hunger… When faced with something worth devouring, it was as though his very being had been starved for weeks.

The only reason he was able to control himself right now was because he had eaten so many sapients already with the previous settlement… Otherwise, he would have entered a state akin to a berserker's rage, only regaining control of his body once nothing and no one was left.

He crawled out of the hole, climbing downward in silence, spotting and counting the number of prey–Of meals… His body was unlike that of the rest of his kind–Unlike that of many other princes. He was far from a giant compared to them. He was tall, for sure. But his form was more closely humanoid, standing at around two and a half meters in height.

Two legs, six arms, and countless other squirming, insectoid limbs on the sides of his neck, and… 'Tail' of sorts… Its tail was nothing more than the end of a regular centipede's body, however.

His compound eyes scanned the black and white silhouettes, whilst his antennae did most of the rest in terms of providing sensory information. He slowly rose to his full height. Venom boiled within him–But there would be no need for it.

When he moved, it was as though death itself had become a blur. He tore through the people of the settlement, slashing them to pieces with such speed. That they barely even realised that their heads had been lopped off until their skull bounced against the ground.

In a few mere seconds, without anyone actually seeing the threat, countless were killed, and the tunnels leading in and out of the settlements collapsed under the strength of the centipede prince's strikes. The survivors were locked inside with him.

No one present in the settlement could stand up to the insectoid prince. Thus, the vile creature got to enjoy a lengthy meal, gorging down upon every ounce of flesh, bones, and blood available. His power surged with every feast… Midway through the process of eating, one of the collapsed tunnels was blasted wide open with a surge of holy energy.

A group of paladins and clerics, headed by three archbishops, appeared, in particular, led by Doloctkar. The stone bull was rather aggrieved that another massacre had taken place. He could feel it… Not a single soul was still alive in this entire settlement. The monster had not spared anyone.

Of course, expecting mercy from a creature whose species would gladly devour its own young to survive was highly illogical. That thing devoured and devoured, but it gained no moral compass or empathy from doing, nought but power and intelligence meant solely to wield the accumulated strength more effectively.

The newly arrived group reflected countless times in the prince's compounded eyes, stopping what he was doing, his body covered in fresh blood. His antennae trembled, perked up to pick up on the slightest motion.

The centipede extended his six arms, flexing his murderous claws as his countless, small legs squirmed without stopping. Venom mixed with blood dripped from his mandibles.

Meanwhile, the stone bull archbishop signalled for the paladings and clerics to step back while the other two archbishops moved behind Doloctkar's back.

'This thing… Is definitely strong'

"Send the signal. I'll hold it back…"

He motioned for the other two archbishops to cast their sacred blessings upon him. The stone bull cracked his knuckles as he circulated his own holy energy throughout his body. Although the prince in front of him was definitely powerful, it did not mean that nothing could be done.

Doloctkar was mostly focused on offensive applications and usage of the holy energy provided from the diligent worship of the surrounding earth, stone, and all else to be found beneath the surface.

He was a being made mostly from stone as well, so when under the effect of this holy energy, he could greatly enhance his durability, and also… Crystals and minerals began to grow upon and within him, his softer organs crystallising. This was not a random process. He was wilfully and specifically growing those to acquire their special effects for himself.

Thus, he not only enhanced his durability. He was also able to acquire a large boost across the board.

Nonetheless, when the centipede prince moved, Doloctkar nearly lost the creature instantly. The prince was aiming for the paladins and clerics. All amidst this group were far too weak to resist on their own.

Thankfully, bright blue minerals shone upon the archbishop's back, and he was granted a sudden speed boost. Without hesitation, he charged the centipede directly, stabbing the creature in the abdomen with one of his horns, lifting the prince into the air before launching him into the ground, and then into a wall on the edge of the settlement.

The creature howled, but was regenerating at a visible pace–Not to mention that the attack had not dealt much damage to begin with… Doloctkar reached up, and sure enough, the tip of the horn that had skewered the prince was gone.

This little, one-sided strike had been enough to damage one of his horns.

The stone bull had to admit, this wasn't looking too good… The only saving grace was that the prince seemed to be somewhat… Immature. He was very clearly, very strongly angered due to being hurt. It made a series of loud noises, even as he was fully healed up before launching himself directly at the stone bull, not even bothering to target the weaker targets, Doloctkar felt himself being slammed into, and subsequently felt his feet rise from the ground as was tackled across several now empty habitations and into the opposite wall from the one the prince had just been launched against.

'Good thing I ran into this thing so early… It doesn't have control over the emotions it gained access to from becoming fully sapient. Its rage is exploitable… it will stay here and try to kill me until reinforcements arrive, or until I die, I guess…'

The archbishop brought his guard up as the centipede reeled all six of his arms back, launching a barrage of punches that pushed Doloctkar further into the wall, shattering the surrounding earth with every blow. The stone bull did nothing but focus on defence. Every time his rocky skin cracked, he would mend it with holy energy.

'Shit… What did that thing eat?'

Every punch not only drained energy on impact, but it disturbed it as well. Doloctkar was being whittled down at a dangerous pace–He needed to fight back at the risk of enduring great damage.

It seems as though the prince had not been expecting the archbishop to drop his guard, the centipede was struck directly on the face by a punch, making take a couple steps back–The result for the stone bull was not ideal though, winding up the attack and dropping his guard had been enough for many hits to go through and deal damage to his rock body.

He was littered with cracks that weren't going to mend themselves swiftly.

The prince shrieked, the insectoid roar deafening to the ears. The two combatants stepped forward, exchanging blows. Doloctkar mixed holy spells into the mix, but it seemed that devouring Kalestop's arm had been enough to grant it a surprising amount of resistance against attacks made purely out of holy energy…

"Stop resisting!"

The humanoid insect landed a strike of his claws directly against Doloctkar's lower jaw, shaving off more than half of it in the process. The centipede prince followed with another claw swipe, tearing through the archbishop's side and ripping out a mangled spleen.

"Your flesh will be a delicacy-"

Just before the creature could deal the killing blow, its vision suddenly went low to the ground. Somehow, it was like he had sunk into the ground down to his shoulders, and right before him, the stone bull sank into the ground as well, but he completely disappeared, an unfamiliar figure soon crawling out in the archbishop's place.

A short, ugly creature with a bent back, dressed in a uniform of some sort and wrapped in a green cloak that nearly dragged against the ground.

"Hello there. I am Vwoldtnir. Can your queen speak? If so, I would like her to testify for me about something… You wouldn't happen to be willing to show me the way to her, would you?"

In response, the centipede burst out of the ground and swung at the undead. Only the slash through empty air, the ghoul somehow finding himself on the centipede's back without the prince noticing the movement.

"There is always a need for discipline with children like you, isn't there?"

The centipede surged with holy energy, but the strike was dodged again. Vwoldtnir was simply, brutally swift.

"I know you can speak. Don't force me to lessen you of your limbs. We are future fellows, it would do no good to start an enmity–As one-sided as it would be–Is there?"

"You're dead meat…"

"...Mmh. Yes, and?"

"You annoy me, little creature…"