Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Smart one heh?" one of Lady Syklon's three elites laughed heartily, the other guards accompanying him weren't laughing, they were all looking at corpses of their comrades, the limp bodies of the monkeys also lying around, the bodies of their lady's forces were riddled with arrows, some of them partially molten, chemical burns all over their skin.

Their clothes partially fused with the contaminated flesh, it was a disgusting sight, even insects and rodents didn't dare approach the bodies, for the blight had already taken root within them, their insides were filled with miasma, the organs reduced into mush already, but the bodies had been left still.

"Must be a threat or something, heheh, what else is happening?" the elite was the shirtless one with an ample belly capable of safely storing away a tarvern's entire stock of booze, his heavy blade resting on his shoulder as per usual.

He took a swing of one of his bottles as another guard sighed, explaining the situation in more detail.

"As you would know, our foods mostly comes from other minor villages and towns, we get it basically for free thanks to Lady Syklon effective threats and demonstrations, however, the fields and cattle have been under attack, the water sources have been getting repeatedly contaminated by a petroleum-like substances, killing most of the agriculture and animals.

The waters have been purified many times, however, it keeps getting stronger, not to mention that the priests and priestesses simply can't keep up with whatever is responsible for it, at this point, they can barely do anything about it, and the crops that didn't need to be watered have been physically targeted, there is basically nothing left, they are all starved and dehydrated, even the grass, trees and wildlife has been infected and pushed away, we can keep going because we are better protected and thanks to the dungeon being capable of spawning edible monsters, but-" the guards could have gone on for a while longer, but he was stopped by the elite.

"I get it, the fucker is trying to weaken us, they use the apes as distractions, attack our weaker men, cuts off access to provisions, as well as pretty much isolating us, soon enough, most populated areas beside us will be deserted" he took another swing of alcohol.

"What about the caravans and carriages?" he realised that he had cut off the guard before he got to those.

"Unfortunately, the roads have been blocked, the carriages repeatedly raided by seemingly rabid monsters, few are ables of making it anywhere safe, for those that do, their stocks are contaminated anyways, the remains of countless caravans litter the roads, they are only still trying to make it despite the danger because they fear Lady Syklon more than they fear what prowls the wilderness" announced the guard, looking over at his fallen comrades.

The elite smiled, turning to the dozens of guards that were with him.

"Why don't we go visit our dear friends? I am certain we will be able to catch the culprit unlike them" laughing boisterously, the guard that had been speaking this entire time couldn't help but question his decision.

"Is this the lady's will?"

"This is the will Guorzo, Guorzo The Fat! And I have served the lady since before you soft-skins were even born! Skeletal hands roaming our city, intrusion upon her manor, murder of her properties, harming her businesses and directly attacking her wellbeing, we must get our hands on the bastard that dares to oppose her!"

Striking his chest, he raised his blade up in the air.

"The lady will be pleased by your contributions and will surely reward you handsomely, so keep you heads high and follow me" Guorzo led the way, it wasn't like the others had a choice in the matter, without the lady around, the words of the three elites weren't to be disobeyed.

Guorzo, referred to as The Fat, or sometimes as Drunken Blade, had much more intricate thoughts as it might appear at a glance, sure, he was an alcoholic, foul-mouthed, perverted unwashed brute with greasy hair, but his wits were easily on par with the lady's most trusted, he wouldn't be considered one of her three elites otherwise.

He stood at the bottom of the list however, Ohrn, the elder and Abbanh, the youth were respectively first and second, but the spear user was only a place higher due to his overall prowess, he was too foolish to be trusted with anything other than fighting.

Guorzo and Ohrn were the only ones that could both serve as her blades and as assistants to her businesses.

'The cockroach is doing it's best to undermine Lady Syklon in every way possible, he clearly aims to weaken her and her forces as much as possible, because he can't stand before us otherwise, one of the three elites accompanied by third-rates warriors, abandoning the safety of Muho Chitai to head to barely guarded shitholes were everyone is already dying is not an opportunity he'll miss… I will be able to earn her praises!' the drunkard smiled foolishly, but his plan wasn't idiotic, it wasn't like his absence would make the city raidable all of a sudden.

Their unknown enemy had to make use of every possible opportunity, even if it was obviously a trap, they had to overcome said trap to hope to progress swiftly.

Not to mention that Guorzo's combat skills always had been heavily restrained inside the city and manor, he couldn't just burn everything or exercise his groundbreaking strength, that would damage his lady's properties, which was unacceptable.

Outside, in a random settlement that barely had any value, he could go all out to ensure that his plan worked out, he purposefully set out for the furthest village possible, by now, some of the guards were catching onto what he was planning, but they couldn't complain.
Your journey continues with empire

"Oh, were we expected?" grinning, his yellowed teeth showing in all their lack of glory as he arrived before the entrance of a small camp-like settlement, it had mostly been thriving thanks to cattle, so it had quickly ran into problems.

Right at the entrance, the guards hesitated, two corpses were hanging from the wooden walls surrounding the living areas, badly decomposed, the entire place overrun by carrion birds, which were all rotting as well, yet, they still flew around, staring at the living with unconcealed intent.

"Hum…" the guard from earlier wanted to emit his doubts but was cut off.

"The cowards will be burned, let's go and visit our dear little troublemaker"

And so, they all stepped inside.