It was soon after embarking upon one of the empire's many great steel ships that Herlbe spotted the land of interest, an island fairly close to the reaches of the royal miasma, on its own, the place didn't have much to offer beside a plot of flat soil, covered in thin grass, its ability to remain tough enough to stand upon despite the fact that high waves often covered the entire island in water was relatively impressive, but nothing too out there still.
The life here was only insects, a few birds and trees for the majority, not exactly an area difficult to conquer, but also not a very strategic one as the lack of great amounts of life prevented it from serving as a point for an explosion of death force.
But of course, Herlbe, most physically imposing of the minor lord, a revenant of an ancient goliath species, had not been sent here by the general to crush some bugs, only one of his soldiers could have done that job, the point of interest laid in the center of the land, a pulsating portal, somewhat transparent, it felt like staring a incredibly warm air, twisting and bending what laid behind.
"Thanks for the ride" giving a pat over the ship's helmsman, Herlbe leapt off, landing with a loud crash followed by others of lesser strength as his elite troops followed his lead, a smaller figure landing soundlessly upon the minor lord's palm as he held it above his head.
Certainly in dichotomy to the other undeads, Herlbe only picked the physically powerful and imposing, he himself, even when hunched over, was over three meters tall, with his tree trunk-like arms and great vermillion cloak draped over his back, the minor lord resembled a huge block.
Accompanying him were the likes of high-orcs, great ogres and grand trolls, none of them capable of the slightest bit of stealth, the intent of Herlbe when putting together his own troops had been simple, pure power and might, this one-minded approach was why General Loimos had pitted him against the denizens of this realm.
There were none wandering around the gate right now, but they came from a realm were the countless and boundless ambient energies that hung in the air and permeated nearly everything were absent, as such, to them, the world beyond their realm was poisonous and they only cultivated physical strength, well, Herlbe supposed that it wasn't only that, certainty energies were found directly inside of people after all so some energies might still be in usage, but General Loimos had assured him that the norm there was indeed brawn.
Pitting him and his troops against an enemy that followed the same philosophy of strength as them was a clear demand to prove that they had mastered and earned a deep understanding of the one thing they had decided to focus upon.
"You probably won't be getting to make many reports" bringing his hand in front of the central head, the main one which was in a state of advanced decay, all of the teeth exposed, cold flesh riddled with slash and stabs, especially his hollow sockets.
"Why is that, Lord Herlbe?" coming alongside this big and rowdy bunch was a nightbird, one having been assigned as the messenger in charge of carrying reports from the realms to each of the minor lords venturing into such parallel realities.
"Me and my crew don't intend on being smart and slow about it" gritting his teeth into what was supposed to be a grin, which was not obvious due to the lack of important muscles to exercise such an activity- He placed the nightbird on his shoulder and marched forward.
The heavy footsteps of both him and his troops rattled the island until they stepped through the pulsating portal, arriving into a place gently caressed by a pale white light falling from a massive star, so large that it covered the entirety of the sky.
Their heavy feet stomping upon feeble white grass, cracking and snapping under the slightest of force being applied upon it, manifesting one by one, feeling no strain upon their undeath, just as expected.
Just before them, a wide span of what must be the idea of a city here stretched far into the distance, everything built of bleached rock assembled together in what looked a crude fashion but it was rather obvious that random rocks wouldn't just slide together so easily, some work had gone into perfecting their shapes.
Still carrying around just large pieces of stone and then assembling them with other big portions required exceptionally manpower, of which there was plenty it seems.
"Now, wouldn't those guys make for nice living soldiers?"
"Sir, I fear that their tendency to get energy-poisoned disqualifies them for such an endeavour…"
"Urgh, we will solve their problems once they bow their heads a bit… Until then, since there seems to be so many of them, don't hesitate to slaughter as many as you want, we'll be heading straight for this important-looking place!" Herlbe clenched his hand into a fist, leaping forward and leaving his own troops in the dust as he crashed right on top of one of the rocky structures, the impact leaving only a few cracks upon the stone.
'Pretty tough…' he had been hoping to go right through and convert the few livings he could sense underneath into crimson soup, but alas, the building materials were far from ordinary.
"The guys from the forge will lose their freaking minds once they get their hands on this" he commented aloud for his little passenger, who listened attentively but was most focused on staying latched on.
His loud arrival attracted the attention of many, beginning with those he had just tried to murder, who came bursting out through their door, which was also made of stone, and narrowed their eyes instead of shouting at him as they realised that it was not the regular idiot parkouring on the roofs but a clearly a corpse standing upright.
Even when mostly covered in a vermillion cloak, what little of Herlbe remained visible was clearly, and without a doubt rotten, most odorant as well, the stench of putrefaction hit the livings quickly, but instead of being rightfully horrified or at least taking a second to process that sight, they hollered and climb up on the roof to send the cadaver where it belonged.
"Ahah! Recklessly idiotic! Exactly how I like them!" the brooch keeping his cloak together was carrying the gift of comprehension, so his words of pale tongue were perfectly comprehensible, but they fell on deaf ears that neither cared for the insult or for the fact that they were understanding a clearly unknown language, they only wished to punch his rotten mug into the dirt.
End Of Volume 4 : Enchanting Lull
Start Of Volume 5 : Rolling Smog