"Why are the constructions on the left side lagging behind the ones on the right? Are the architects running into problems?" Horhir asked, jumping from a platform onto a ship.
"A young leviathan lives right next to where the constructions began, Poitirus and his lot have been struggling to even make it move away, I had no clue what a leviathan was until I heard of this one, and clearly, it's no joke…" Ourlst responded, looking over the side of his ship, distant rumbles occurred for the next few seconds, before all went still.
"Should we set up a killing party?" the right hand put up one palm upon the pommel of his blade.
"No need actually, General Loimos took matters in his own hands for this one" and just as the left hand said this, a massive, twisted mass of slimy scales rose from the depths, without a drop of blood following, the life force within this mighty juvenile was snuffed and replaced by death, with a jerk, it swam away peacefully.
"This one was a reject, it cleared the area of other powerful creatures however, the architects should have free reign as long as Poitirus is around" showing up behind their backs, Loimos did not look like he had just fought a legendary creature at the bottom of the ocean in the least.
One of the reasons progress had become harder was also due to the fact that the corruption unleashed by the ships was no longer nearly as potent compared to the lively waters and air, before, many creatures would just move out of the way without attempting any fight, territorialism did not run rampant down below, but now, the vessels of the undeads appeared more like regular ships, the new method in place meant that they were more densely packed however, so even that increased aggression did not result in any of them being sunk, only superficial damage.
This project was dubbed 'Highway To Belliste' by the architects, not quite a stylised as their buildings and concept ideas, but they made up for it with the designs they were constructing, as the name implied, the idea was for troops and all undeads to be simply able of walking straight to Belliste without even touched water, this required some defences on the side however, as the miasma would not go much further than the path itself for a fair while, even if Loimos said one thing, he was accustomed to livings making most odd decisions and choices, they were not to be trusted to be even follow their own internal logics.
The platform constructed were defended by ships, as well as the winged and marine beasts of Loimos, as well as Poitirus obviously, but the latter was still not ready to become the official guardian of the depths, Loimos himself had no issues dealing with the livings around because they did not know how to protect themselves from his festering death, much like of Thanatok could mow through regular undeads by simple virtue of being a walking bane to them, regular livings without knowledge of their life force failed to defend it from him.
And of course, none had ever managed to endure the first strike to learn from their mistake, yet.
I was wondering how we should proceed once we reached Belliste, it has already been a few years since we begun, and we have only been perfecting our approach, so it should for soon…" Horhir asked, ever since Loimos had left the library, getting a hold of their leader had once again become a tall order, having been meeting with the minor lords and gravelords on the regular, probably personally informing them of oceanic regions suitable for their particular influences to be spread upon, or so the two knights guessed.
"We will not launch an immediate attack, to secure ourselves from preemptive attacks from other continents, I have taken an oath to engage in regulated warfare, at least for a time, not to mention that it appears that they have erected a formidable life barrier" Loimos responded.
Ourlst tilted his head a bit.
"But sir, you can break oaths at will, can you not, why respect your engagement?" he wondered aloud.
"For they do not know of this fact, and it is more favourable to let them believe that we are ones to honour and respect our engagements with livings, we shall keep this under wraps until they wholeheartedly believe that oaths are set in stone, they will demand for more as time passes, they will not see it coming" reaching for something in his pocket, not bothering to precise that they should keep their mouth shut about this little fact.
Loimos handed over a necklace to the two of them.
"I have figured how to turn the blessing of comprehension into an artefact, the forges also hold this knowledge, all troops will be granted one in due time" explaining this, he called for another undead he knew to be around.
Basically coming crawling over the ground, prostrating before him and grabbing his hand as though simple touch was an honour.
"Saint Loimos! How may I help?!" even more unhinged than the architects, the faithful members of the main church, of the church of death, were somewhat intense.
Loimos, thanks to his mastery of not simply holy death, but divine death, was considered their patron saint, he himself had trained a few of their members from naturally spawned undeads, the priests, priestesses, monks and such always had good affinities for healing, blessings and curses, not to mention that they could often perform the same duties as mages, although still barely emerging, the affiliated churches awaited the deaths of their chosen divinities every day.
It was often that the pope, Pontiff Pietrus, would show up to speak with Loimos of invading the divine realm to bring true sanctity of the gods, he and the other followers were very dedicated to finding a way into said realm.
This particular priestess was at the head of the missionaries who accompanied the vanguard.
"Alisiana, our arrival upon Belliste will mark the first large scale campaign the vanguard will set upon land, which means that your own work will also vastly increase, you will have to preach of much more people, populations with different cultures and beliefs" lifting the priestess off her knees, it looked like there were sparkles in the dark hollows where eyes should be.
"Of course my saint! I will not disappoint you, I will make sure to convert all those heretics, they will hear the holy silence, I swear!" jumping in place, she clenched Loimos's hand in her own, bringing it up to her face for an uncomfortable amount of time, probably smelling it as well.
And then, she scuttered away, Loimos soon taking off as well, leaving the two knights on their own.
"Ourlst, I think I'll visit the church when we go back to the mainland"