The wires emitted buzzing sounds, sometimes, it almost felt like sparks would explode from them, but that never happened, they never faltered in their unknown task, carrying what felt like lightning into the sealed room, surely to allow the one inside to work upon something, but without knowing the way in which this contraption functioned, it was hard to guess what that work might be all about.
To know for sure, the death hunter would have to take a look inside, but for that, the door would have to open again, and an occasion would need to present itself, and this could take a while.
Who knew what might be happening inside of here, perhaps the one inside was a recluse who rarely, if ever actually exited the room…
"Irtop, we just got new intel on the targets lister by General Loimos, it seems like their increase in power was above the predictions for the most part, and the golden boy in particular seems to have seen a most dire improvement in strength" after shutting the reinforced door, Ayelah reported what had been said to the one currently sitting in front of dozens of machines, some showing images, some insteads giving readings on various things.
Inside of this realm, the machinery of the empire was very reliable, the wires could fulfill their functions without fail, and over the course of the invasion, Irtop had become very familiar with how it all worked, in fact, he might just be on the same level as the undeads operating such machinery in the main world.
"That's just great to hear…"
"Do I detect some sarcasm?"
"Our achievements remain at zero, Ayelah… I know that we are fulfilling orders very well, but it still does not sit right with me, we are just throwing ourselves against the wall repeatedly, the enemy is so much more powerful than us, it's not even funny, their weakest can match our elites, and their strongest… It isn't even worth talking about, did you see the images of the heralds and priestesses dropping a sun on the camp? How are we supposed to fight that? The strongest of us livings were culled when trying to resist the liberation by the undeads, only us are left behind, and we need too much time to grow…" Irtop's mask was laying on the desk before him, his hands supporting his chin as he continued to stare at the machines without stop, various images being replayed over and over as he attempted to find something useful.
But it was no use, the enemy was overwhelmingly powerful, and they could only hide like rats and harass them without stop, even the damned wildlife tore through them at every occasion.
Even if their job was being done as intended, it left a sour taste in his mouth, Irtop simply yearned for them to grasp a victory, something that would impress their undead overlords, an unexpected achievement that would pave their way to the truth in laurels…
"You worry too much, you shouldn't exhaust yourself " Ayelah wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him from behind.
"Sleeping reminds me of the weakness of my flesh"
"I feel that mindlessly mulling over things is also a sign of weakness"
"You are right, I suppose that no matter what I do, I'll still retain the feebleness of life… I wish that I could let go of this weakness everyday, but my mission requires me alive" he glanced back at the machine displaying the image of the living sun conjured up by this realm's leaders, that attack was something like nothing he had ever seen before, the size and scale of this manifestation of power was already impressive, the mere power it packed was a cause for worry.
And it made him wonder if the gravelords or General Loimos would be capable of enduring such an attack, but furthermore, it was seemingly alive somehow, which meant that it was packed with life force, making it without the shadow of a doubt, something that could actually be a threat to the undead, although an entire camp and more had been wiped out, the information of this thing's existence was worth a lot.
It should allow the empire to get a better grasp of the strength of an Emerald Herald and Divine Dancing Priestess, assuming this was actually their most powerful.
"The attack in the south also went poorly, that giant grab was annihilated in a single blow, and most of the troops were slain, only a few are still managing to hide around, but I doubt that we'll be able to establish any camp there"
"Once again, you worry too much, everything is progressing just as planned… Come on, go and take a nap, you'll think more clearly after getting some rest, I'll take over until then"
"Very well, since you insist…"
The wires cracked loudly, but that did not stop him from sleeping like a log, but as his body had been ruthlessly taught, he woke up the instant he had slept enough, even after not having to go through any training at the hands of the undead instructions, he still remembered everything vividly.
When he stood up, Ayelah was sitting before the machinery, her pointy ears protruding from the sides of the seat, Irtop found himself staring at them for longer than he would like to admit, simply mesmerised by the small twitches they would have from time to time.
Honestly, Irtop felt like he would have gone insane already had she not been here with him, his duty as a soldier of the empire and the weight of his feebleness as a living weighted too greatly on him to carry it all alone.
"We need to prepare the new batches of troops now, just keep monitoring everything" he spoke, and he saw the ears move up and down as she nodded in response.
Then, he opened the heavy door, and the first sight that greeted him was the tip of a blade going straight into his left eye.
Twisting around, a deep cut was left on his mask, as he grabbed the attacker and threw them further into the hallway, moving into the center, right in front of the door as he grasped his sheathed sword.
"What do we have here? I can't believe something could sneak into there without triggering any alarm or trap"
He looked at the spirit, but the opponent did not respond and took a stance instead, the surprise attack had failed, and there was no time to lose.