Chapter 73: The Undead Way of Life
The griffins beat their powerful wings, their wake slicing a path through the sea of clouds.
Altlais flew at the head of the formation, his silhouette sharp against the morning sky. Behind him, the members of the Lionheart Guard maintained a perfect V-shaped flight pattern. Altlais's gaze pierced through the space between his mount's ears, locking onto the distant horizon.
According to the map, they had entered the airspace above Jade Territory.
"All units: decelerate. Decrease altitude," Altlais's voice, amplified by his Battle Aura, rang clearly in the ears of his subordinates.
The griffin squad began a circling descent, dropping from the cloud layer to a height of about a hundred meters. The world below unfurled before them.
Finn spoke up, his voice tinged with confusion. "Commander... is there a mistake? It's all farmland down there."
No one answered him. Every eye was glued to the ground.
There was no scorched earth. No piles of rotting corpses. Certainly none of the ruin and desolation that inevitably followed an Undead Calamity.
As far as the eye could see, there was only a vast, rolling tapestry of emerald green. The crops were flourishing, and a river snaked through the fields, its surface reflecting the sunlight like a silver ribbon.
Lina flew up beside Altlais. "Commander, this is impossible."
Altlais's voice remained a flat line. "I have eyes, Lina."
"No, I mean—this has to be a large-scale illusion cast over the entire territory!" Lina insisted, her voice full of a desperate kind of confidence.
Just then, they spotted people in the fields. Farmers were working the soil, their movements relaxed and leisurely, their faces wearing expressions of quiet contentment. Along the ridges of the fields, a squad of Skeleton Soldiers marched in a uniform patrol.
One of the farmers spotted the skeletons, straightened his back, and wiped sweat from his brow. He waved a hand at the patrol and shouted something across the distance.
The lead Skeleton Soldier halted. Its empty eye sockets turned toward the farmer. Its jaw clicked open and shut, emitting a dry clack. The farmer laughed, seemingly satisfied with the reply, and bent back over to resume his work.
The skeleton patrol continued its march.
The knights of the Lionheart Guard—the Empire's most elite warriors—fell into a collective, stunned silence.
Silas spoke, his voice wavering with uncertainty. "Is that human... being mind-controlled?"
Altlais extended his senses. He felt no trace of a magical construct, no lingering threads of an illusion spell. This was reality. Humans and undead were co-existing on this land in a manner that defied every law of the world they knew.
Altlais felt a dull throb in his temples. "Continue forward. Target: Iron Fortress."
The griffins banked and climbed, accelerating toward the north.
Inside a manor within Jade Territory, Lust leaned against a windowsill. She watched the seven black specks vanish into the distance, and a pulse of information was sent soundlessly through the link to her Master.
As the Guard flew over a chain of mountains, a new scene emerged. Countless skeleton miners moved in and out of the mine shafts like worker ants. They transported wagon-loads of ore to a massive magic array at the base of the mountain.
A dozen skeletons in mage robes stood at the edge of the array. Simultaneously, they raised their staffs, injecting Mana into the runes. The mountains of ore vanished in a flash of light.
With every beat of the griffins' wings, Altlais's heart grew heavier. In his long life, he had dealt with the undead many times. He knew what they were: chaos, destruction, the enemy of all that breathed. But the place below... it didn't look like a monster's nest. It looked like a civilization.
On the distant horizon, the silhouette of a city emerged. As the distance closed, every knight of the Lionheart Guard forgot to breathe.
Iron Fortress.
High, pristine walls reflected the sun with the natural luster of polished stone. Along the ramparts, a watchtower sat every fifty meters, each packed with Skeleton Archers.
Finn's eyes went wide. "Tier 3 Toxic Archers... no, there are Tier 4 Skeleton Snipers among them. With those numbers... they could turn our griffins into pincushions in a single volley."
Inside the walls, the city was laid out with geometric precision. On the wide stone avenues, many shadows moved. Some were human; some were undead.
"Commander..." Marcus's voice was dry. "The reports said Iron Fortress fell less than a year ago."
Less than a year.
To turn a ruin into a metropolis like this—it wasn't something that could be achieved by human hands.
"All units: land," Altlais decided.
Flying in would be suicide; he had seen enough to know their defenses were absolute. He didn't know if he and the six Tier 5 knights behind him could slaughter every undead in this empire before their Battle Aura ran dry.
The griffins touched down on the grass a kilometer from the city gates. Altlais dismounted, and his griffin lay down quietly, awaiting orders. He led his six subordinates on foot toward the city.
The gates of Iron Fortress stood wide open.
Two skeletons stood guard, wielding massive bone greatswords—Tier 3 Skeleton Berserkers. As Altlais's group came within a hundred meters, the sentries merely swiveled their skulls once, then ignored them.
As they neared the threshold, a figure stepped out from the gatehouse. He wore a perfectly tailored suit of noble's evening wear, his features strikingly handsome.
He walked up to Altlais and offered an impeccable, courtly bow.
Lina's pupils contracted. "A Tier 5... Vampire," she whispered.
Greed straightened up, a polite, practiced smile on his face. "You have traveled far. My Master has been expecting you for some time."
Greed's gaze swept over the seven knights, finally settling on Altlais. "Please, follow me."
Altlais remained silent for three full seconds. Behind him, his team had their hands clamped on their sword hilts, their Battle Auras coiled and ready to detonate.
"Lead the way," Altlais finally said.
Greed bowed once more, turned, and led them into the city.
The moment Altlais stepped through the gates, the first thing he saw was a massive plaza. Children were running and playing. A little human girl was chasing a skeleton. The skeleton was running with a clumsy, waddling gait, appearing terrified of accidentally bumping into the child.
Suddenly, the skeleton tripped over its own feet, face-planting hard. Due to the momentum, its skull popped off its neck and went rolling across the stone tiles, coming to a stop in the center of the plaza.
The Lionheart Guard tensed instantly.
The screams and chaos they expected never happened. The little girl stopped, looked at the skull on the ground, then at the headless body twitching in the dirt. She didn't scream; she giggled.
She trotted over, scooped up the skull like a play ball, and wiped the dust off its forehead with her sleeve. Then, she ran to the headless skeleton, stood on her tiptoes, and carefully snapped the head back onto the spine.
The skeleton stood up, wiggled its neck to test the fit, and then gave the little girl a gentle pat on the head with its bony hand. The girl laughed and ran off to play with her other friends.
The cracks in Altlais's worldview widened into a chasm.
He looked back at his six elite warriors. Lina was rubbing her eyes as if trying to dispel a hallucination. Finn stared with a dropped jaw; not a single textbook he had ever studied could explain the scene before him.
Altlais felt his headache intensify. He set his jaw and continued following Greed.
Today, he would meet the master of this realm. Today, the world would never be the same.
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