89 The tomb of Tarlakh

Ymir could see the eyes of Leilade turning into something inexplicable. They were still as dark as they could possibly be, but he felt that she was … embarrassed? Shaking his head, he reminded himself that she was still after all a monster in a little girl's body, and shouldn't feel such emotions. Unknowingly, he was actually spot on his deduction. She was already thinking about retreating for the moment and call Malakov to deal with such a dangerous location. Both the Viscount and her were already planning to explore it slowly and steadily, even if it took months.

But as expected in this planet, nothing was evident. At this point, she was even feeling a hint of exasperation, since whatever she did always make her feel like an idiot the very next second. Sending an order to the nearest lich, the undead created a very small skeleton, not even taller than Leilade herself. That sudden apparition provoked a huge uproar among the trolls that were still present. But after seeing the white summon not even looking at them, they returned to their calm state.

Controlling the skeleton remotely, she made it enter the tomb. Barely ten seconds after the undead went past the shadows covering the entrance, she lost contact. Sighing, she was glad that her instincts didn't betray her. It was still very dangerous, just that the trolls were either prudent or a bunch of cowards for never scouting the tomb. Because just a skeleton was not enough, she ordered the liches to create more.

Still preserving half of their mana in an emergency case, tens of much stronger undead appeared. They were barely two meters tall, still smaller than Kardel, but their very bones were visually strengthened. Their arms were also ended by a bone scythe, d this time, the trolls didn't react as passively as before.

The chief shouted some words and the entire tribe was once again in a very defensive position. The hunters that were previously looking in awe at the strength of Ymir were scared by the recent influx of undead. The only good thing was the fact that they didn't proactively engage in a fight. Otherwise, the thin patience of Leilade would have been expanded and the trolls would have been all wiped out.

Seeing this, Ymir didn't stand still and began to convince the trolls that they were not dangerous. All he received was dubious stares, who could be fooled by such words when the skeletons were visibly armed to the bone. Feeling that he may have used the wrong words, he explained that they were not dangerous, for them. Because of this, the trolls lowered a bit their weapons and saw that the small army of undead was not looking at them but at the tomb.

Because she was unsure about the strength of her invocations, one of the skeletons tried to hack the sturdy ice wall. His hand, or weapon, in that case, managed to be deeply inserted, about half of its size. Using herself as a test subject, she also punched the wall, but her fist went way deeper than the scythe. However, it was enough for her, and she took control of her army and enter mentally the tomb.

As she was doing this, she paid no notice to the dumbfounded expressions of the trolls. Because the giant Akûl was so big, they were only focusing on him and dismissed the frail little girl and the undead as weaklings. Even when they knew that they were probably stronger because of the usage of magic, they didn't respect them for that. Only sheer strength was proof of power inside the troll tribe, mainly because that was the only way for them to fight.

But seeing something that didn't even reach their waist have such strength was mind-blowing. Some of the dumbest warriors tried to punch the ice wall too, but they only received mild injuries while not even having their full fist digging a hole. Looking at their hand, then Leilade, then their hand again, their brains had a hard time linking the two notions. But in the end, they still acknowledged her strength, not that she truly cared about being recognized by a bunch of trolls.

The dozens of skeleton warriors entered the tomb by pair. Because the entrance was made for a troll, two of them could enter at the same time. The only one that will probably have a hard time would be Ymir, since he was a bit bigger than the crack on the ice wall. The deeper they went inside the tomb, the more Leilade noticed that it wasn't really one. She could more or less see or guess the form surrounding the undead, and it wasn't something made by a race.

It was a completely natural formation, and the path was only leading to a deeper destination, inside the mountains. She could also feel an influx of mana, and the walls were sprinkled with mana stones. At the same time, the threat that ended the previous connection was still nowhere to be seen. Finally reaching the same location where the first skeleton was destroyed, she encountered resistance.

The link between the undead and her was gradually getting thinner and thinner like something was perturbing it. That was highly unusual. She had not reached the stage where she could control undead from hundreds of kilometers, but she was absolute in her ability when the range was less than ten kilometers. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been forced sometimes to personally land on a planet to destroy all their enemies. She could have just stayed on a ship in the orbit of the planet and remotely control everything while staying safe.

So, to be disturbed when the distance was merely hundreds of meters was definitely not natural. For the moment, she could only input that deficiency to the important amount of lingering mana inside the cavern. Something designed and created by the Ancients always created a lot of problems for those not related to them. Thinking about that, she wondered how the few plants and bugs she released were doing. The hope to remove that major obstacle was entirely on their tiny shoulders.

However, for the moment, the skeletons were still responding perfectly to her commands. One began to carefully dig a hole around a mana stone that was big enough to be interesting. At the same time, she realized that those scythes were extremely useless when they were used for such delicate work. Seeing the pathetic attempt at grabbing the stone between its two hands, if it was still called hand in its case, she gave up and ordered to create a more human skeleton.

They had to wait for a minute before the human skeleton brought back the mana stone. The eyes of the trolls were all shining since they never saw one so beautiful and big. Murmuring among themselves, the chieftain returned to his tent and brought the most precious one his tribe managed to gather. Comparing the two, it was easy to see which one was better. Just from the blue light manifesting the presence of mana, the stone of the trolls lost decisively.

Even if both had a dim light, one was just barely covering the stone while the other was creating a complete additional layer of light. The size was also another indicator; one was smaller than a single inch while the other was slightly bigger than a finger. Whether it was in quantity or quality, it was certain that the tomb of Târlakh would provide a huge amount of satisfying mana stones. Even if the chieftain was not very smart, he was capable of adding two and two.

Looking at the stone hold by the skeleton, he casted his sight at the tomb, visibly seeing the profits he could make. Those greedy thoughts were of course seen by both Ymir and Leilade, unfortunately, it was not useful. If she could, she would have let those trolls here and order them to dig all the resources inside the tomb. However, it was certain that doing this will only cause the entire tribe to die, and she wasn't even sure that they could dig a single mana stone before getting slaughtered.

Because they were dumb and easily convinced, they were the perfect example of proving that Ymir wasn't a bloodthirsty demon. Well, he was, but it didn't really matter. After a week or so at the hands of Meridiana, she was certain that all those morons could join the population of Archet. It will provoke a few tensions, but they were still an incredibly strong workforce. And better to start to make humans and trolls live in harmony before immediately putting two races that were in a perpetual war.

For example, the goblins and the humans. She had heard that the North of Avenio was plagued by that green pest, causing a lot of problems. Because it was at the border with the forest of the elves, and the latter was also under the assault of the green tide, the situation was nearly like a war between the three races. If she asked goblins to live happily next to humans or elves, she was certain that the situation will turn into a civil war instantly.

But on the other hand, the trolls weren't necessarily hated, they were just despised by the humans. So, to promote all races, they needed to start slowly. To be truthful, after living so long inside the Demonic Empire, the very concept of races was rendered useless. As long as one was worthy, one will earn the respect of others. Even if two races that should have been sworn enemy met, they could still become friends. Vampires that were drinking human blood could converse with a human eating a normal meal, and nothing seemed wrong for anyone.

It was not out of kindness or anything like that, just because there was nothing like a perfect being. Well, except the Saksa, but that was the ultimate creation of the Ancients, so it was understandable. As for the rest, there was always something, a domain, whether it was magic, intelligence, strength, durability where they were weaker than another race. Only by using the strongest point of someone to cover the weakest point of another could society progress. The same could be seen inside the human nation, only at a smaller scale, segregating humans and non-humans.

By now, some of the smartest minds of the troll tribe were currently pondering about the reason why they were still alive. Even if some weren't capable of utilizing their brains correctly, the rest at least understood that they were in a bad situation. And not even the friendly and kind interactions they had with Ymir could cover everything. Of course, that the extent of their intelligence, since they weren't capable of understanding that they should try to please Leilade. They were still thinking that it was the strongest, Ymir, that was in charge.

"Bring them all to the base Ymir. I will let you control them, but Malakov will watch you. None of them are to ever leave it or see Agnil. Don't disappoint me."

The Akûl smiled at those words since it was a relatively easy task. But the last sentence was clearly because Leilade was mad at something, and recalling that the group of skeletons was still inside the tomb, he figured it out. Hesitating a second, he still asked about the undead.

"Of course, Empress. About the cavern, should I personally enter it?"

"No, it's fine. They are all dead. You don't have to worry; this wasn't caused by the Ancients or the Saksa." A bit doubtful, the giant became to explain the events that will happen in the future to their new subjects. All the trolls were afraid of leaving the tomb unguarded and also about the long travel filled with dangers. But under the orders of Ymir, the liches sealed the entrance and summoned once again a small troop of skeletons. Their two worries answered the families began to organize what to take and what to leave.

As for Leilade, she was replaying the last scene that was captured by one of the undead inside the tomb. Because of the lack of light and the bad vision of the skeletons, she could only vaguely distinguish the form that destroyed them. A nearly transparent silhouette, without any distinct traits or features.

It could be anything, from a specter to an elemental or a soul. But it instantly destroyed all the undead without even moving, meaning that it was still a dangerous threat. Sealing it for the moment was the best thing to do. But as Leilade thought of this, she imagined the amount of mana that was probably stored in this thing. After the attack on Archet, this will be their priority. She couldn't let a living battery of mana alive so close to her.