Apart from a few, terribly cared for blades and some arrows, that only met the requirement to be called so because they were shot from a bow, sticking out of him, Loimos hadn't encountered much issues traversing the forest of thorn, it had been home to some groups of people-sized trolls, who wore clothing and had a constant, off-putting smile on their faces, but they seemed to be spending their times herding deers as cattle, so they weren't much of a threat.
Sure, they had managed to surrounding him at one point, pin him down and stab him in the guts about five dozens of time like expert knifemen, but Loimos couldn't ask to be attacked in a better spot than this, there was literally nothing they could do with their shoddy weapons that way.
It had given him plenty of time to engulf them in rot and throw them off, picking them off one by one from there, they hadn't stopped smiling even in distress when he reciprocated the warm welcome and spilled their guts with their own blunt blades.
Their skin was a bit tougher than the average human, so it was a bit more difficult but not overly so, he really didn't know why no one would want to write about this small forest, but once he came out and got a good look at the surroundings, he immediately got a good guess as to why nobody bothered to document the area, it seemed like the thorn forest was situated right in between the freezing mountains and an enormous foggy lake.
And by foggy, it meant that one couldn't see even five meters in front of them, and even then, that little zone of sight wasn't very clear, with his impressive sights and senses, Loimos could probably see further than most, waving his hand through the thick mist, it almost seemed tangible.
The water was similar, not dark, seeming rather clear in fact, however it was also foggy, somehow.
He knew of that lake however, it was just that the maps he had consulted weren't very accurate, the cartographers were seriously slacking on their jobs, there wasn't supposed to be water here according to them, then again, they had missed an entire forest, the slouches couldn't be trusted in their own field of expertise.
That posed a problem however, this wasn't like the waters of the underground world from the beginning, this was crawling with rather unpleasant locals, Loimos couldn't hope to be ignored thanks to being a corpse either, the bottom was teeming with purgatory octopuses, monster that weren't deserving of such an appellation, and certainly not octopuses, but they were numerous and love rotting carcasses.
Which they wouldn't, and couldn't shy away from, as they were nothing but slimes, even if they weren't equipped to eat through his clothes and all, they would swarm him and find a way to get their tentacles on his nasty bones, dissolving them even if they had to kill themselves by nibbling on his death force.
Their population was simply too high, their love for putrefaction meant that he wouldn't be able to easily kill them with rot or blighted blood either, he could only do so by injecting death force, with how large the lake was, he wouldn't make it by just traversing the bottom.
That was without considering the fact that he might just get crushed by another lake dweller, they weren't very keen on rotten flesh, but if they didn't like his presence, they could probably just sweep at him and turn him into a life-size skeleton puzzle.
He examined his other options.
Swimming on the surface should leave him out of reach of the slimes, by dropping balls of rot as he went, he would be able to prevent them from ascending up and latching onto him where they felt that he really was just a snack that warranted the hustle.
Not viable either, much like sharks, some of creatures didn't have the best eyesight and wouldn't recognise a humanoid figure swimming, easily mistaking him for something else and just chomp him down, he could release blighted blood to deter those, but then that exposed him for rebellion from the largest threat, which gave the lake its name and looks.
The Mist-Drowned wasn't a big fan of people messing with the lake, said to have murdered one man, and gone back to kill someone in the next few generations over the course of many years just because he had thrown an old pair of boots in.
No need to say that it might have been an overreaction, but The Mist-Drowned was the one who made the rules, don't overstep your boundaries and it won't do anything, one could fish in the lake just fine, just don't do it too much, a fisher and his group had been too overconfident and the guardian of Mistdrown had given this body of water its name and also given itself a title, by drowning them all by sheer control of the mist, except for one, there needed to be someone to tell the others what wrong had brought forth the marine justice.
Loimos wasn't certain, but he felt that dousing black blood for the entire duration of his swim through the lake might not be seen in the best of lights, although the skeleton had also wondered whether or not the creature was a fellow undead or not.
But he had his answer right there, the mist carried the slightest bit of life force, it was common for other energies to seep in when one used any energy or an ability, and it seemed like the fog that permeated both the air above and the waters was an aspect of The Mist-Drowned powers.
Well then, he doubted that he could just challenge the lake benefactor to a fight and win, so he had to find a boat, or make one from scratch, he looked around the shore for anyone that might have crashed in the past but this place was pristine, as should have been expected.
Thankfully, Loimos could enlist the help of fine gentlemen, they may be monsters but with their builds and habits, surely the trolls could make sense of his words, this continent was blessed by a singular language after all, he hadn't heard them say anything before.
If they couldn't understand with words, then he would speak to them with actions.
He unsheathed his blade, going back into the forest.