Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 629: Operation Polar Winds : Part Thirty-Four

Stumbling forward, one hand pressing up against the uneven wall to the right in an attempt to support itself, only after walking deep into this dimly lit cavern did the one bearing antlers allow itself to scream out in pain.

"By Dame-Sommer's grace…How was I spotted?" the creature said in its own, strange language, the way it expressed itself sounded natural when coming from its mouth, but there was still something deeply off, like the tongue being spoken wasn't meant to be used in such a fashion.

The only thing one would recognise being the name of this realm's goddess.

Continuing to walk with unsteady step, the unknown being gritted its teeth in agony, that incandescent bolt probably could have been dodged normally, but never, absolutely never would it have expected to be spotted like this, there had been no telltale signs as well, that skeletal undead had just decided to take a shot.

As though well aware that something was hiding there, which was simply ludicrous, the one with antlers had never been spotted by anyone, in fact, never had even suspected or felt that something was amiss under its focused gaze.

After observing the undead leader and not being discovered, it was only natural to assume that those lesser than him wouldn't be able to notice anything either, and yet, that random skeleton, which it had observed many times before without any problem had just had a sudden spark of omniscience and aimed directly for its heart.

Thankfully, it had managed to react enough to not get its blood-pumping organ skewered and cooked from the inside out, however, that fate had instead befallen its left lung, which was better, but far from great either.

The pain was simply atrocious, each and every step, each and all breath was a torture, had it not had a way of escaping, that injury would have rendered the bearer of antlers an east target of capture, it was a shame that one of its beautiful creations had to be sacrificed but its life was more important.

'I underestimated them… I don't understand how that one managed to detect my presence or how the rest somehow knew to follow his call instantly but- But I better lay low for a while, I'll have to restrain myself from observing them from up-close…' this left a rather sour taste in the creature's mouth, not to have been struck and put in a state of near-death, that was problematic but understandable, no, it really was to have to step back, watching these undeads was unexpectedly interesting and rather nice.

It almost overwrote the wish to erase the kalt from existence deeply ingrained in its bones, there was something fascinating to observe them at work.

But alas, after that setback, it wouldn't be reasonable to continue in the same manner.

First of all, that injury needed to be tended to… Continuing to walk through a cave illuminated by torches set up on sconces, wobbling around due to the pain and loss of blood, even if the heat contained within the bolt at the time of impact had cauterised the wound, it didn't make it any less urgent to deal with, but thankfully, the bearer of antlers wasn't without resources to take care of this problem, moving deeper and deeper, passing by many diverging paths and crossroads.

The cavern was a veritable maze, but one that was known in its entirety by the sole denizen, soon reaching a place much warmer than anywhere else, steam floated in the air here, collections of bones belonging to various species were laid out over finely crafted tables and other pieces of furnitures, all carved from ghost wood, an entire wardrobe of the same sort of outfit line-up in one corner, and even a comfortable-looking bed with plenty of beast fur to keep someone warm.

And tucked away in its own little private area, was a small statue of Dame-Sommer, before it, an altar ripe with various offerings.

The source of all the steam was hard to miss, there was a bonafide hot spring here with plenty of space for many people to dip in, there was a shiny aspect to the warm waters, walking up to it, the bearer of antlers felt relieved, staring down at its own reflection for a brief instant.

The creature's most striking feature was of course its deer-like antlers, they were rather thin and small, even though they were often shed and would fall off, the pair was quick to regrow to their previous size.

Next was its head, one would be forgiven for thinking that it too, was a sort of undead being, as its head was nothing but bones, a bare skull, mysterious symbols etched across the surface of this, also, deer-like skull.

Garbed in an ample amount of beast pelt, it soon began to carefully remove its clothing, making sure to not have the bolt embedded into its flesh be moved or for anything to press or brush up against the general area of the strike.

Compared to what was about the shoulders, the creature seemed much less mystical below them, its body was similarly pale like that of the kalt, its hand possessed five fingers and a thumb each, its nails appeared more like claws but weren't excessively long or large.

The bearer of antlers was rather skinny however, to a point that most species of similar builds would be considered near-death and starving, but the flesh gave the impression that it was perfectly normal, adapted to the size of its bones.

A stifled, warped groan escaped its maw, as the bolt was barely touched by part of the clothing, causing an excessive amount of pain that made it want to fall over, holding on, the final layer was finally dropped down, although blood had not been allowed to flow much out, the fact was that the creature was probably bleeding internally right at this instant, and so, didn't waste any time entering the hot spring.

Anyone seeing this would have probably been surprised as the creature with a warped, monstrous voice revealed itself to possess the physical attributes of a woman, one would be hard pressed to guess that it was a female if judging by typical humanoid standards.

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Her figure and voice would make one more akin to assume that the creature would lean more toward being a male.

The water touching the wounded area wasn't exactly pleasant at first, but quickly grew satisfying as the pain was numbed.

"Ah… One… Two-" grabbing the bolt with both hands, although it had inflicted severe damage, the projectiles hadn't actually penetrated deep enough to come out the other side, and that despite stabbing through without encountering any bones.

With a sudden, forceful motion, she removed it, a scream echoing through the cave, warm water flowed into the wound and miraculously, it began to heal at an impressive speed.

Sighing in relief, she was out of harm's way for now.