Chapter 201 - 201 Natural aversion
201 Natural aversion
“Why did you make that deal with them? You could have demanded much more and I didn’t see much advantage for our side.” Kalesi asked doubtfully.
“It’s nothing very important. I don’t want the Gods war to start yet and I needed them to retreat, but letting them go without demanding something would sound strange, so I put an absurd condition and then offered a more reasonable one for them to accept the withdrawal without many suspects.”
I knew my former disciples would accept and that arrogant one would be forced to back down with the two of us working together.” Illum explained with a shrug. He sat down in a chair next to hers as a cup of coffee floated from the kitchen into his hands.
“Hmm...I see. But what do you think of this war to come? What are the chances that humans will be able to defend themselves from the invasion?” She changed the subject after nodding her head in understanding.
“Without the armies of the human empires and just the guild, church, and order of magic to back them up? I’d say around a 30% chance for the port cities of Mirkor and 10% for the islands of Belaster.” Illum spoke while scratching his chin thoughtfully.
“Why so low? Are the evolved demihumans that strong?” Kalesi didn’t seem to believe their words. She knew demihumans were strong, but if humanity joined forces, she believed they could at least fend off the first wave of enemies.
“The problem is not the strength of the demihumans, but the humans. Even if they join forces and the order of magic shares weapons and technologies to help defend, the cities’ own defenses will be weak, since they were not created with intended to serve as strongholds.”
“A month and a half isn’t enough time for them to upgrade every city’s defenses, so the most they can do is bring in magic cannons or artifacts to aid in the defense. Humans can also use mages to cast temporary large-scale spells, but I still have confidence that the evolved demihumans will win most battles.”
“Speaking of which, do you know how these demihumans are getting their giant blood back? I thought the lineage of giants was lost forever.” Kalesi asked as he ordered a coffee as well.
.....
“It’s a mystery to me too, although I know of some spells that were lost that could have similar effects, but were unstable and incomplete spells and would shorten the lifespan of demihumans.” He said and refused to share anything, making Kalesi pout.
She had hoped to use these spells on her lesser kin, like the wyverns or drakes, but it wouldn’t be worth it if they died in a short time.
“The only thing left to decide is which side we will take in this war. Are we going to ally with the demihumans, ignore the war, or attack both sides?” Kalesi asked, the idea of joining forces with the humans not even crossing his mind.
“It is geographically impossible for us to get directly involved in the war and until I find out the goals of the evolved demihumans and how they managed to evolve, I want to avoid associating with them. Just keep attacking the human empires to stop them from sending their armies in the guise of mages of the order of magic or paladins church.” Illum decided to keep things as they were.
“You’re right. The only undead realm we have on the continent is Darkwood and they’re on the other side of the continent.” Kalesi agreed with him and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered. “Do you have any news of the new species?”
“Not much. My spies went to the fortress they were in, but the undead had already left for the deserts. The fortress itself had been destroyed and all they found were a few bones left behind.” Illum spoke and an excited glint appeared in Kalesi’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
“I’m sorry, but the bones are old and have lost all their energy signatures, so they won’t be of any use to you.” He said quickly before she demanded the bones.
“It would be difficult for my spies to continue chasing them across the desert, so I’ve asked Selena to continue the search on the other side. These new undead seem to be moving further east, so they should find each other eventually.”
“Isn’t it dangerous to leave the undead alone in the desert? From what you told me, these undead are too weak to survive in such an environment.” Kalesi seemed uncertain that leaving Athos and the black skeletons alone was the right decision.
The desert monsters were powerful, but that wasn’t the only thing she was worried about. All living things have a natural aversion to the undead, but while intelligent races feel fear or hatred, less intelligent monsters would feel threatened and attack undead on sight.
It was an instinct to destroy something that wasn’t natural and shouldn’t exist. An undead in such an environment would be constantly attacked by monsters until it was destroyed or killed all monsters.
It was the reason why Athos and the skeletons were attacked so many times and why Selena was able to create a kingdom of her own in such a short time. If the new species didn’t have enough power, they would be destroyed before Selena’s search parties could find them.
“It won’t be a problem. He has a dragon to protect him.” illum explained all the information his spies could gather. The dark elder had been arrested in the middle of the order’s main headquarters and the water elder was keen to spread the news to all human realms, so the news reached Illum quickly.
It was a huge surprise that the new species had gathered enough power to kill a juvenile zombie dragon, even if its mind had been destroyed by the necromancer who transformed it.
“Then he must be safe. I can’t wait to find out what abilities he possesses.” Kalesi said relieved and left the hut. There were few creatures that could match dragons, even if it’s a juvenile.
‘It may still be months to years before the search teams find the new undead, however.’ Illum thought with a wry smile, but kept the thought to himself. Both were immortal beings and saw time differently than mortals.
Months or years passed in the blink of an eye for them.
*************
In the Demi-human Empire, in the temporary base on Athos.
Treevor was standing outside the base looking up at the sky, which was returning to normal now that the eclipse was over. They were being attacked by a pack of tyrannical Mammoths when the solar eclipse began, giving the undead an overwhelming advantage.
The tyrannical mammoths were huge monsters over 7 meters tall, but they panicked upon seeing the eclipse and became momentarily unable to see, so the undead monsters had an easy time against them.
The surviving tyrannical mammoths were now retreating and Athos was leading the chase, using his new set of equipment. Since receiving Dwarvin’s equipment, Athos has been on watch on the walls to always be the first to fight when monsters attack.
Treevor was here mostly on watch and to make sure nothing happened to Athos, as the generals always liked to have someone around to make sure nothing happened to him.
Not that they doubted his ability, as between his fourth layer core, his magic organ, and his equipment, there wasn’t much that could threaten him in the vicinity, as long as he wasn’t surrounded. What they feared was that he would get carried away and run away from the base to continue fighting.
“Looks like it’s over.” Treevor muttered uninterestedly as he turned his gaze to Athos and saw that he was standing around the furthest corpses and turning them into skeletons.
He watched until Athos approached and entered the gates, making sure he didn’t run away and went back inside the base.
“The willow is low on energy, so I’ll leave the guard to Ruy and Astrus for now.” Treevor reported to Athos that he was too busy cleaning the blood on his sword to listen.
“Of course, I agree too. Did you see how the shield managed to block a tyrannical mammoth’s charge without retreating a step? Or how my sword pierced the mammoth’s skull as if it were made of paper?” He started bragging, ignoring everything Treevor said as he boasted about his weapons.
He was like that for hours, ignoring everything the skeletons told him.
Treevor turned his back on Athos and walked to a building far from all the others, a small one-story building he had built for himself and ordered that no skeletons enter.
Athos had already invaded the place out of curiosity, but the building had nothing, just a small empty space.
Treevor entered the building and waved his hand, making the door behind him disappear and darkening the interior of the building, but it wasn’t a problem for him. Treevor used every sense he could to make sure he was alone and only when he was sure, did he step out of the corrupted willow tree.
“Why did you make that deal with them? You could have demanded much more and I didn’t see much advantage for our side.” Kalesi asked doubtfully.
“It’s nothing very important. I don’t want the Gods war to start yet and I needed them to retreat, but letting them go without demanding something would sound strange, so I put an absurd condition and then offered a more reasonable one for them to accept the withdrawal without many suspects.”
I knew my former disciples would accept and that arrogant one would be forced to back down with the two of us working together.” Illum explained with a shrug. He sat down in a chair next to hers as a cup of coffee floated from the kitchen into his hands.
“Hmm...I see. But what do you think of this war to come? What are the chances that humans will be able to defend themselves from the invasion?” She changed the subject after nodding her head in understanding.
“Without the armies of the human empires and just the guild, church, and order of magic to back them up? I’d say around a 30% chance for the port cities of Mirkor and 10% for the islands of Belaster.” Illum spoke while scratching his chin thoughtfully.
“Why so low? Are the evolved demihumans that strong?” Kalesi didn’t seem to believe their words. She knew demihumans were strong, but if humanity joined forces, she believed they could at least fend off the first wave of enemies.
“The problem is not the strength of the demihumans, but the humans. Even if they join forces and the order of magic shares weapons and technologies to help defend, the cities’ own defenses will be weak, since they were not created with intended to serve as strongholds.”
“A month and a half isn’t enough time for them to upgrade every city’s defenses, so the most they can do is bring in magic cannons or artifacts to aid in the defense. Humans can also use mages to cast temporary large-scale spells, but I still have confidence that the evolved demihumans will win most battles.”
“Speaking of which, do you know how these demihumans are getting their giant blood back? I thought the lineage of giants was lost forever.” Kalesi asked as he ordered a coffee as well.
.....
“It’s a mystery to me too, although I know of some spells that were lost that could have similar effects, but were unstable and incomplete spells and would shorten the lifespan of demihumans.” He said and refused to share anything, making Kalesi pout.
She had hoped to use these spells on her lesser kin, like the wyverns or drakes, but it wouldn’t be worth it if they died in a short time.
“The only thing left to decide is which side we will take in this war. Are we going to ally with the demihumans, ignore the war, or attack both sides?” Kalesi asked, the idea of joining forces with the humans not even crossing his mind.
“It is geographically impossible for us to get directly involved in the war and until I find out the goals of the evolved demihumans and how they managed to evolve, I want to avoid associating with them. Just keep attacking the human empires to stop them from sending their armies in the guise of mages of the order of magic or paladins church.” Illum decided to keep things as they were.
“You’re right. The only undead realm we have on the continent is Darkwood and they’re on the other side of the continent.” Kalesi agreed with him and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered. “Do you have any news of the new species?”
“Not much. My spies went to the fortress they were in, but the undead had already left for the deserts. The fortress itself had been destroyed and all they found were a few bones left behind.” Illum spoke and an excited glint appeared in Kalesi’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
“I’m sorry, but the bones are old and have lost all their energy signatures, so they won’t be of any use to you.” He said quickly before she demanded the bones.
“It would be difficult for my spies to continue chasing them across the desert, so I’ve asked Selena to continue the search on the other side. These new undead seem to be moving further east, so they should find each other eventually.”
“Isn’t it dangerous to leave the undead alone in the desert? From what you told me, these undead are too weak to survive in such an environment.” Kalesi seemed uncertain that leaving Athos and the black skeletons alone was the right decision.
The desert monsters were powerful, but that wasn’t the only thing she was worried about. All living things have a natural aversion to the undead, but while intelligent races feel fear or hatred, less intelligent monsters would feel threatened and attack undead on sight.
It was an instinct to destroy something that wasn’t natural and shouldn’t exist. An undead in such an environment would be constantly attacked by monsters until it was destroyed or killed all monsters.
It was the reason why Athos and the skeletons were attacked so many times and why Selena was able to create a kingdom of her own in such a short time. If the new species didn’t have enough power, they would be destroyed before Selena’s search parties could find them.
“It won’t be a problem. He has a dragon to protect him.” illum explained all the information his spies could gather. The dark elder had been arrested in the middle of the order’s main headquarters and the water elder was keen to spread the news to all human realms, so the news reached Illum quickly.
It was a huge surprise that the new species had gathered enough power to kill a juvenile zombie dragon, even if its mind had been destroyed by the necromancer who transformed it.
“Then he must be safe. I can’t wait to find out what abilities he possesses.” Kalesi said relieved and left the hut. There were few creatures that could match dragons, even if it’s a juvenile.
‘It may still be months to years before the search teams find the new undead, however.’ Illum thought with a wry smile, but kept the thought to himself. Both were immortal beings and saw time differently than mortals.
Months or years passed in the blink of an eye for them.
*************
In the Demi-human Empire, in the temporary base on Athos.
Treevor was standing outside the base looking up at the sky, which was returning to normal now that the eclipse was over. They were being attacked by a pack of tyrannical Mammoths when the solar eclipse began, giving the undead an overwhelming advantage.
The tyrannical mammoths were huge monsters over 7 meters tall, but they panicked upon seeing the eclipse and became momentarily unable to see, so the undead monsters had an easy time against them.
The surviving tyrannical mammoths were now retreating and Athos was leading the chase, using his new set of equipment. Since receiving Dwarvin’s equipment, Athos has been on watch on the walls to always be the first to fight when monsters attack.
Treevor was here mostly on watch and to make sure nothing happened to Athos, as the generals always liked to have someone around to make sure nothing happened to him.
Not that they doubted his ability, as between his fourth layer core, his magic organ, and his equipment, there wasn’t much that could threaten him in the vicinity, as long as he wasn’t surrounded. What they feared was that he would get carried away and run away from the base to continue fighting.
“Looks like it’s over.” Treevor muttered uninterestedly as he turned his gaze to Athos and saw that he was standing around the furthest corpses and turning them into skeletons.
He watched until Athos approached and entered the gates, making sure he didn’t run away and went back inside the base.
“The willow is low on energy, so I’ll leave the guard to Ruy and Astrus for now.” Treevor reported to Athos that he was too busy cleaning the blood on his sword to listen.
“Of course, I agree too. Did you see how the shield managed to block a tyrannical mammoth’s charge without retreating a step? Or how my sword pierced the mammoth’s skull as if it were made of paper?” He started bragging, ignoring everything Treevor said as he boasted about his weapons.
He was like that for hours, ignoring everything the skeletons told him.
Treevor turned his back on Athos and walked to a building far from all the others, a small one-story building he had built for himself and ordered that no skeletons enter.
Athos had already invaded the place out of curiosity, but the building had nothing, just a small empty space.
Treevor entered the building and waved his hand, making the door behind him disappear and darkening the interior of the building, but it wasn’t a problem for him. Treevor used every sense he could to make sure he was alone and only when he was sure, did he step out of the corrupted willow tree.
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