One strike, two strikes, three strikes… Soundless as shovels plunged into dirt and clay, as pickaxes pierced stone, as mattocks split rocks and boulders into two, as odd, pipe-like tools were used to humidify especially tough pieces of earth.
The untiring workers had carved a perfect passageway through the ground of the Eastern Peaks, encountering all sorts of minerals, some known by the empire, some simple variations, other brand new, the composition of the soil itself was different, even if not so exotic on the surface, Belliste was rich with many things to discover.
Even wandering upon fossils and old remains, especially interesting findings for the undead, as those were not just remnants of the past, they were future fellows, the past and present were hardly distinguishable within the empire, the past always remained one with the present, both slowly eating away at the future as time progressed.
Ghatr stood at the forefront right now, many kilometers deep, watching over the progress diligently, every swing of a pickaxe was known to him.
…Four strikes, five strikes, six strikes… A small undead, one the skeletal kind, carefully extracted a magnificent formation of amethyst, its clarity and colour simply incredible.
Its purple shine was especially appreciated as it was reminiscent of their general's flaring eye sockets, this gemstone was often viewed as a sign of strength thanks to the association, even if the purple colouration was not the same as that of Loimos.
"Boss, are they still obsessed with those at the forges?" the tiny skeleton asked as he shoved himself into an opening few could hope to even retrieve their arm from.
"Not quite, I heard they have begun working with lapis lazuli instead, they found out that it had exceptional capabilities for everything relating to energy circulation and such… But they will be interested, everything interests them, even when better variations will be produced later anyways" indeed, all materials that were to be used by the people of the empire were directly created and produced by the dead, always improving on the designs the world had naturally come up with.
The ghoul turned his head to the side, they were currently digging a horizontal tunnel, they had arrived along the axis of where the target was situated, now, they simply needed to expand the area a bit and then breach the wall separating the livings from certain doom, Ghatr had received orders to not break it down just yet, after all, Horhir was supposed to be using famine and pestilence, they needed to be lowkey and not alert to their presence just yet.
"Oh, Lieutenant Horhir! I was just thinking about you" the undead stepped down the immaculately carved steps, the way there looked more like one was going to visit some sort of pretty cave rather than a path made for military purposes, but the caste had links to the architects after all, precise work was amongst their talents.
"You seem to be nearing the end" remarked the knight, hand upon the pommel of his blade.
"Absolutely, we should only be a few dozen minutes away from reaching our goal, at most…" the leader of the miners leaned forward "...So, are you going to call back the nightbirds?"
"Well yes, I can't really do it by myself, my stealth capabilities are subpar and the spreading of the plagues is precise work, although, it should definitely be simpler than what they had to do on the surface, the ecosystem is most certainly singular and controlled by the feasters, making it easier to poison" either oblivious or ignoring what the ghouls was implying by his question and incessant probing with elbow strikes, Horhir responded simply.
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"Welp, apart from all of this, even though it wasn't our aim, he got quite the haul, minerals, precious metals, pockets of gases and radiant gemstones, even just the stone down there is rather impressive, it's not as dense as expected, but surprisingly tough anyways- Stop!" suddenly interrupting himself, all workers freezing in place as Ghatr moved straight to the end of the tunnel.
Bringing his face close to the wall, one claw extending from the indeed finger, scraping lightly against the stony surface.
"It's here, boys and girls! Widen this place up! Do not dig any deeper in this direction!" barking his orders, he licked the one claw that had been brought out before retracting it, getting a taste of the stone.
"I guess my estimation was a bit far from reality… My bad Lieu- Lieutenant Horhir?" the ghoul felt like the knight was even stiller than usual.
On Horhir's shoulder, a small, inconsequential mosquito had landed, rubbing its spear-like mouth with its front legs, it emanated some life force, yet, the undead was not bothered by it, as he heard the voice of Loimos emanating from it, relaying a few words only.
It was one of Loimos's personal spies that had arrived, a ghost possessing the body of an insect and maintaining all signs of life, so well that Horhir had needed to hear his general's voice to realise it.
"I see, thank you for telling me…" he thanked the ghost, knowing that the fellow undead was merely carrying Loimos's voice, Horhir would be well aware if the champion was speaking directly to him.
Stepping forward, unsheathing his longsword, he kicked open the way to the hideout of the feasters, blasting open a hole with ease.
'Oh… There was still quite some thickness left to make sure it wasn't accidentally breached… And he just- kicked it? That stone?' the ghoul had never gotten to witness any sort of combat or strength prowesses ever, to him, doing was Horhir just did was beyond impressive, Ghatr was so gobsmacked that it took a few moments for him to register the implication of it.
"But Lieutenant! Were you not supposed to be sneaky and all?!"
"All restrictions have been lifted by Sir Loimos, the testing stage is over, it's time for true war and conquest!" twisting the pommel of his sword off, the right hand retrieved a rolled up scroll, which perfectly spread out the moment it was allowed to, falling to pieces.
Casting a high-level spell that Horhir himself would never be capable of, doing so through the means of a magic circle, transporting a miniature army composed of Loimoisian knights and soldiers, as well as one knight whose armour was concealed under a torn red cloak and a hood, carrying a very specific weapon.
"No need to bother Tilmiel and the nightbirds for this… Ghatr, seal the way behind and us"
Raising his sword high, Horhir beheld the magnificent sight of a lush, jungle-like forest below ground, what looked like a false sun illuminated the wide span of this cavern.
"Try not to burn this place to the ground- Make them see Oblivion's beauty"