As Horhir was met with an entirely new kind of challenge to tackle, Ourlst had a comparatively easier job, which was to secure his hold upon the southern wall, and in a way that guaranteed that it would remain under undead control even if the sky and earth reversed their position, to this end, he got the assistance of some architects, not like he needed to ask them, they were like children entering a candy store, even if the vast plains and dark yellow shores of the south did not look that novel compared to other flatlands and coasts, to their expert minds, the soil density, its strength, the stone underneath, the scavenging crab infestation, they saw many environments and challenges to overcome.
The first mission of all the architects and builders was to reconstruct the wall, having been taking samples since they had set foot on Belliste, the undeads had already developed variations of their beloved building materials especially suited to this continent, although Ourlst had first thought to just fix the damage and such, even after seeing the progress of the vanguard firsthand, he was still not familiar with how the architects operated.
Those mad corpses tore everything down, made a clean slate and began making their own wall in record time, it was probably not an over exaggeration to say that out of all the members of the vanguard, they were the most efficient at their job.
The new wall, now constructed from pale white stone that refracted light away, only that the shone turned pale, although the black stone was more common, this pale stone was also a great material, in no way inferior in terms of toughness, it had the added advantage when built under a bright sun, to bounce its shine away and turn into light that vampires would not mind at all, the amount of vampires within the vanguard had been increasing lately after all.
Walking upon the top of this humongous rampart, Ourlst had to admit that it was the better alternative, they had torn down and rebuilt a better wall, with defence mechanism worthy of the greatest of fortress, in much less time than the livings had constructed their inferior one, in fact, this wall was more akin to a stretched-out bastion than anything, at the base, on each side large camps were also built, allowing from countless troops to be ready to be deployed at any time.
Seeing the magnificent might of the empire's industry at work was certainly a visual feast, but Ourlst's mind was elsewhere, indeed, even if my all metrics, he had emerged victorious during that last battle, a sour sensation permeated his very being, the feeling of having been tricked, made a fool out of, the left hand wished he could just unleash famine upon the civilians to force Cleavster out again, but he had orders to fulfil, directives to follow.
Non-combatants were not to be touched, but that still left him with options, without hesitation, seeing the occasion laid before him, he ordered from his soldiers to root themselves amidst the farmers, although it would be safer for the livings to leave, growing crops for the south was of extreme importance, the deals to allow fishing parties through was still up as well.
Although Ourlst refrained from setting up camps near the farms, he ensured that the troops present kept especially close to the livings, the farmlands were all rather compact, far-reaching fields of golden hay, their well-being now threatened as putrid undeads roamed.
Frenand was put in charge of this operation, having the battle-thirsty champion lead a mission was certainly bold, but Frenand's second best quality was following orders, like all other undeads.
Standing within the fortified wall, the left hand stared at map, accompanied by the other lieutenants working under him in this invasion, occupying the farmlands was but a way to heighten the tension, even if the southerners knew that no harm could happen to the defenceless, it was difficult for the livings not to be concerned, the farmlands was where the families of many knights lived, the elderly, children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters…
It should be unthinkable to allow the enemy to even interact with them, and yet- What had never happened in years of war without any walls, had happened.
"It needs to be confirmed, but Cleavster probably retreated to his castle, although, for a plan that was supposedly prepared way in advance, I doubt that they just moved back…" contrary to typical, the farmlands were deeper within the safe portion of the territory, than the royal castle itself, which served more as a gigantic barracks for warriors than anything else.
But of course, in the current situation, the direction from which danger came was flipped for the south, moving back to the castle sounded like a natural move but from the warking, it was actually rather strange.
Other factors could be taken into account.
"Do remind me of how your respective fights went" asked Ourlst.
"Aramap is a real piece of work, my mastery of spectral grasp is too shabby, his eyes were capable of perceiving it, and also too weak to be an effective method of damage, after I unleashed my subjugated hands, he just began running around, although I managed to get some good hits on him toward the end, I doubt he is severely wounded, and with ressources from the feasters, he is probably already healed back completely" Erestel reported with his arms crossed, his own injuries had been mended already, no signs of the damage he had suffered.
"You're struggling because instead of focusing on your spectral grasp, you rushed to learn how to subjugate hands to be more like Multaemanus, so both of your techniques are sloppy" Sari chastised him, even if it was sufficient to be a terror to regular soldiers and knights, against a special case like Aramap, it definitely fell short.
The grasping knight did not comment on this.
"As for me, although rather powerful, the knights of the king's guard could not defend against my attacks, only a single one of them managed to survive, well, he escaped without a leg, but as Erestel mentioned, with ressources from the feasters, even this sort of injuries may be healed, especially now that know that teleportation is within their range of expertise" she said, standing tall in a very stylish pose the entire time.
Both of the undeads stared at Ourlst, the black knight was definitely debating something in his mind, suspicious of what the livings had in stock for him.
"Let's not rush, we must first confirm a few things…"