Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 607: Operation Polar Winds : Part Twelve

Soon enough, Alkayne went back on an expedition to map out the area and hopefully discover a path leading to the frozen lake, the 'activities' had lasted an entire day, quite literally twenty four hours, most of it had been between him and Cecili thanks to unlimited stamina but still.

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Thankfully, he had trained his soldiers well-enough for them to keep their mouths shut about it in his presence, though he could feel some extra admiration from them now.

On another note, the tests ran on the captured accursed did not reveal any more weakness but it did show what caused further mutations in them, the accursed would gorge themselves on any animal meat they were presented him, going as far as eat the fur and bones as well, but that would cause nothing, however, using a blood sample from Jiji, they had replicated kalt flesh and the result was different.

The accursed would devour it all in the same manner, but mutations could quickly ensue, some would grow a bit taller, some would develop claws, some would have their maw grow even more pronounced, they also tended to become much more hectic and aggressive after consumption of kalt flesh as well, not returning to normal until after a whole day.

The result was simple, cannibalism was what made them grow more powerful and if that was the case, did it mean that cannibalism was the cause of them becoming accursed in the first place? That was an interrogation they couldn't answer for now, and Jiji assured that she had never eaten any of her brethren, or at least, not knowingly.

Alkayne guessed that if cannibalism was the root cause, then that she must have eaten a very small portion of flesh at one point or another, resulting in a single tooth to grow, but without her becoming a true accursed.

Every sign pointed to her being truthful too.

'There are so many accursed roaming around… If they all feasted on some of their fellows, then there is definitely a problem with the kalt's access to food, but then again, Jiji said that they had cattle and knew how to hunt for some of the animals and even gather the rare frozen fruits.

He would need to see things for himself to be sure, her information might have grown outdated with her seclusion to the church.

Speaking of which, he had naturally asked her what route she had taken to even get to it, and it certainly was a lengthy one, a small village was supposed to be near the church, one she had not gone to since the accursed began flooding outside, not because she was afraid of the accursed as they didn't consider her as food at all, but simply because the village had turned to an abandoned one, all of the people, be they young or old, male or female, weak or strong had disappeared overnight.

Leaving behind only small bits of blood red snow and torn open igloos, the accursed were not typically very smart or powerful, and certainly not capable of working together seamlessly as they would instinctively eat and go rabid as a result, in fact, once in that angered state after devouring kalt meat, they would become aggressive to one another as long as kalt flesh was available.

So upon arriving to this ghostly village, Alkayne knew that it couldn't have been the work of a group of accursed, they would have torn one another apart over the available food, nor could it be a single accursed, as the people could have easily ganged up on it, not to mention that the way to their village was well-hidden.

As if to confirm his suspicions, Alkayne heard laughter echoing down from higher above the village, nearly sounding like wailing, but the minor lord knew to recognise this type of laughter, the insane kind, the sort he could expect from Herlbe, although not quite as manic-sounding.

There was insanity, and then there was insanity, the owner of that laugh wasn't just mad, he was absolutely and positively unhinged to his very core.

'He did stop screaming some time ago, does that mean that he recovered from the injuries?' the snowy mountains weren't home to much, there was the Schneebiest, the accursed, whatever that being was, and a few types of animals that were rarely encountered, such as wooly goats, rocky bears and wolves that hid under snow amongst many others.

They were all rather quiet and shy, keeping to themselves, the herbivores would search through the snow for grass and look for transparent, icy plants, whilst the carnivores would rather scavenge for remains instead of wasting energy chasing prey down.

So it was all rather peaceful in general, even without the torches of darkness and sunlight their expeditions would be mostly tranquil, if not for the looming threat of this laughing creature, it had been there, observing since their arrival into the realm, it had approached the bastion, and even after being struck by searing projectiles, it did not seem deterred as Alkayne could sense the creature's presence, hidden away further up.

Hearing the laughter, there was little that the creature was more of a person than a beast, his voice carried enough personality for the minor lord to begin regarding this opponent in a different light.

The zombie was now pretty certain that he was dealing with an accursed that must have eaten a whole lot of people, he would have loved to confirm it firsthand, but the laughing observer never dared to appear before Alkayne or even any soldiers for that matter.

As such, he remained a vague threat as the minor lord expanded his control over the area.

Eventually, one of his many expeditions finally yielded the results he had wanted thanks to perseverance and some guidance from the nun, a path leading directly to the frozen lake, although a bit long, it was much better than the cliff alternative.

Ordering that construction for a proper road to this destination began, Alkayne went and grabbed Jiji for the trip as she was needed to a proper impression, although they had to clip that extra long fang she had, the minor lord thought that it looked pretty cute but no can do, if she showed signs of being cursed, the plan would fall flat.

"I thought for sure that one would have to take right and then left to get there…" she muttered to herself, unfortunately, her memory was far from perfect which meant that while she had a rough idea of where to go, she was likely to get some of the directions wrong, after all, it was pretty hard to orient oneself when everything looked the same.

"Can I call you my husband in front of them?"

"Sure…"

"Can I do that too?"

"Yes…"

The lake came into view.