Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Loimos raised his blade, shifting the position of his feet, he prepared to cut right through the open maw of the first dog that got to him.

’...’ he thought nothing but slashed at the air, he had noticed something coming but was way off in his attempt at deflecting it.

A first arrow lodged itself right in his chest, the tip digging into one of his ribs, he hadn’t thought that anyone would be able to see him, much less aim for him at all, from his position, he couldn’t even make out enough details to tell who was shooting at him.

Or rather, he couldn’t make out the people planning to shoot him down, before he could do anything else, a flurry of arrows rained down upon him.

Going right through his clothing and rot, some leaving cracks in his bones.

’They are accurate’ he noted, barely a few of the shots missed him, and not by much.

Dozens of shots struck him in the chest and abdomen area, a dozen others spread out between all of his limbs, he didn’t release his grasp on his sword, even when arrows hit him in the skull, one right in his left socket, the tip protruding a slight bit from the back.

The impact of getting struck by so many arrows at once forced him back and somewhat off-balance, allowing the fastest hound to dig its fangs right into his ankle.

The animal stopped, wanting to recoil as the blighted blood splashed into its mouth, Loimos wasn’t fazed by the extensive damage he just received, he stabbed down on the canine’s nape, killing it instantly before sending its body away with a kick.

The rest of the dogs suddenly seemed hesitant to go after him, the undead jumped into the field to his left, opposite to the pumpkins were long lines of green beans, crouching down, his figure should be out of sight of everyone.

An arrow still somehow managed to land squarely on his back.

Loimos wasn’t bothered much by getting shot, he could only wonder about who was aiming so distinctively, were he not an undead, he would have probably been killed by that first arrow.

In fact, most undeads wouldn’t have been able to just move away after getting damaged so extensively.

____________

"Men! We give chase!" the captain of the guards lowered his bow, undid the string, and put everything back into a bag strapped to his back.

He said this, but he ran much faster than any of them, leaving them mostly in the dust.

’This is no reason to call for Sir Thomas’ the captain couldn’t have been certain before, but it had become clear that the sad faced man didn’t hold a candle to anyone who actually knew what they were doing.

He could only prey on non-combatants and use surprise attacks, it was a good thing the mob was preoccupied with preventing their homes from burning to a crisp, otherwise the death toll may have ended up being much higher.

Whistling, the hounds broke out of their fearful daze and resumed the chase.

The captain had nothing in common with the men working under him, all were enrolled locals, they lacked much training and rarely ever encountered difficult situations, one look at the adventurers was enough to know that Throdqdmond was a peaceful place.

When the best were Eppie’s team and the two brothers, it was to be expected that the most dangerous thing around wasn’t anything much.

Even the mayor, he ruled the city but he had not even a drop of noble blood, he only had sufficient wealth.

Throdqdmond wasn’t anything grand, still, the captain wasn’t from around here.

He went right through the field without caring for the damage, managing to catch up to Loimos before any of the hounds or anyone else by cutting him off, bashing his shoulder into the undead as they neared the edge of the field.

’What a strange response!’ the feeling he felt when he tackled the abhorrent murderer was odd to say the least.

The captain watched as Loimos was sent flying against a tree, they had found themselves in an orchard, the sound of water flowing could be heard in the distance.

he watched as Loimos stood back up immediately, seemingly unbothered and unharmed.

’I definitely felt his right arm being crushed and broken…’ but it didn’t appear as such at all, the mysterious man didn’t even make a sound as he got back onto his feet, not to mention all of the arrows were still stuck in his body.

It was like he felt no pain whatsoever.

’He does seem to be breathing… What the hell is he? He has an arrow through the freaking head!’ the captain unsheathed his sword, a slight blue glow seemed to encompass both his body and blade, but Loimos saw none of it, he only felt a slight change.

He prepared the rush forward, but Loimos threw his sword forward, aiming at the captain’s midsection, making sure that he wouldn’t be able to simply dodge and continue his movement as the undead took off in the opposite direction, weaving in between the trees.

He began running like a beast, making him much harder to follow, as well as surprisingly faster.

"No fucking way you are human!" the man shouted out as he deflected the thrown blade and began running, the captain was faster than Loimos was, but the undead had much more ease navigating the place.

Still, the captain was gaining ground, slowly approaching the sad faced man, raising his blade, he was nearly on the verge of reaching Loimos.

The sound of water flowing got louder and louder, the living soon realised what the killer was aiming for.

Loimos leapt into the waters below, the captain was forced to stop, the river wasn’t at the same level as the two of them, it was deeper into some sort of ravine-like formation, the flowing of water was raging.

He wasn’t going to let Loimos get away, however, even through the ambient darkness, the captain was still able to pinpoint his position as he was falling down.

Rising his sword above his head, grasping the handle with both hands, he sent it spinning through the air with lethal force.

Splitting the air, the center of the edge lodged itself straight into Loimos’s skull, splitting it and his mask down to the upper jaw.

A splash sounded throughout the area, the captain steadied himself waiting for the feeling of XP flowing into his body, only relaxing when he felt the rush entering him.

’He is dead’ he naturally and correctly concluded, they would only have to fish the body back up, show it to the people and everything would be good.