The Collector made preparations to leave. It utilized Sapia to leave the specimen exactly as she had been, covering her corpse, closing her leather bag, and returning her to her original position.
Notably, however, the Collector took the record crystal with it, for in doing so, it would ensure that even if the tinkerers found the corpse and the undead swordsman, they would lack significant context and thus have fewer ideas of how to investigate the undead threat approaching them.
This would soften the tinkerers' military might greatly while the Collector traveled beyond the Rift where it would be untouchable to them. Then, when the Collector emerged from the Rift with another Shard and more military might, it could more easily engage a weakened tinkering force.
There were of course ramifications for this situation regarding the conquering force the Collector had left behind beneath the Rift.
These, the Collector would communicate with later and tell them to be wary of undead presences, and at the moment that one was spotted, to navigate a path northwards beyond the Rift to join the rest of the swarm.
The Collector took one last gaze at the female human specimen that it had buried once more in the snow. In terms of physical capability, she was slightly above that of the female daemon specimen, but largely, both were quite similar in terms of maturity and capability.
This was what would have happened if the female daemon specimen had survived and gone with the Collector to this biome. She would not have survived even an hour in such a harsh environment with her lack of resistance to the cold and no garments to wear to fend her against it.
She would have succumbed to the elements just like this. At the least, she had died in peace knowing of the Collective's all welcoming breadth unlike this specimen that had frozen alone.
The Collector broke the lingering thought chain and flew upwards, its twin red wings of energy flaring like the thrusters of a jet as it soared high before marking out a quick path northwards, back to the goblin swarm.
If the adventurer's record was accurate, then in the area immediately beneath the Rift, where the swarm was headed now, there would be the presence of creatures known as 'Amoraks'.
These, the Collector knew in slight passing from one of the goblin elder's tales.
Amoraks were bipedal and yet far more beast than tinkerer. They formed rough social units through tribes, but they functioned off of a basic hierarchy of power where an 'Alpha' specimen controlled the movements of the pack and retained all rights to reproduction and child rearing.
They were canid in appearance and possessed great strength, speed, and a heightened tracking sense that allowed them to hunt for creatures across vast swathes of land regardless of whether wind or snow obscured scents and tracks.
Yet, it would seem that the adventurer could easily dispatch them, indicating that they were far too weak to challenge the Collector.
The Collector was becoming to realize that its power had now reached a threshold where a vast majority of specimen on this world could not stand up to it, but it could also sense that the higher it went, the higher it would have to reach, for the absolute zenith of power of this planet in the form of the gods was still dramatically higher than what the Collector could match now.
The Amoraks would not pose much of a threat to the Collector, but they could potentially be a threat to the goblin swarm.
The swarm could quite reliably fight them as well, with champions boosted by the Breath of Life's physical stat amplification and regeneration likely matching the Amoraks and the elites far exceeding them, but if the adventurer's hypothesis was correct in that they were infected with Undeath, then they posed more of a threat.
As if to confirm the Collector's train of thought, it received another distress signal from the swarm ahead, and it boosted its flight speed, easily surpassing the sound barrier as it shot forth as a blur of red and white.
The Collector happened upon the goblin swarm engaging in a fierce fight with specimens the Collector could easily identify as Amoraks, for though the Collector had never seen them, it had enough description to quite easily identify them.
The Collector observed from above.
The Amoraks were stronger than what the goblin elder had led the Collector to believe.
They were savage beings of primal musculature and ferocity. With guttural growls and savage yells, they surged forth with claws bared and lupine jaws bared. They were furred thickly in grey with bloodshot red eyes that gleamed through the fall of Grain.
The champions and elites were fending them off. The champions seemed to be equally matched against each individual Amorak, of which there were approximately seven. Purifying light blade slashes rent deep and grievous wounds in the Amoraks, with slices reaching their flesh through their thick, armor-like fur causing explosive, caustic reactions that left their bodies riddled with holes.
Yet, the Amorak kept fighting. Their cores were highlighted in red, visible through their fur and skin, pumping immense amounts of blood and mana through their bodies in overloading magical energy. They veins were highly visible, engorged with blood, acting as vessels to transfer power.
The accelerated blood flow even acted against them, making blood pour out from their wounds in free falling waterfalls and spurts, but the Amorak still fought, regenerating all the while.
The Collector understood then: the Amorak specimens were all undead.
Yet, curiously, the Collector noted that the goblins were not suffering from the Undeath pathogen. Many of them were getting bit, scratched, and wrestled with, and though black splotches appeared on their pale white skin, the Breath of Life ice crystals encroached against it, completely reversing the process.
An indication then that the Breath of Life, an ability of the Jotnar to fulfill a planetary function to cultivate life where there was none, was the direct antithesis of Undeath.
In essence: the Breath of Life rendered specimen immune to Undeath.
Regardless, because the regenerative ice crystals had to cure the spread of Undeath, they could not aid in regeneration, and thus the goblins were slowly and surely becoming overwhelmed.
The elites beat back the Amoraks quite well with the exception of a single anomaly who was far larger and fiercer than the others, possessing a thick black mane as well as surges of crackling mana golden mana that lined his every move.
An 'Alpha' specimen, or something close to it, the Collector presumed.
Regardless, the Collector decided now to intervene.
The Collector shot down into the ground, in the direct midst of a few Amorak, and the impact of it landing generated a shockwave that blasted away the Amorak.
"The Sovnar! The Sovnar has come!" came a shout.
A roar of triumph spread among the goblins, and they pressed forward with renewed morale.
"I will deal with these pitifully weak specimens," stated the Collector as it flexed out its magical energy, forming an enormous, swirling pillar of red around it that lit up the entire battlefield with crimson.
The undead Amorak sensed the Collector's massive energy levels and stopped their assault on other goblins, instead lunging at the Collector, determining it a new threat.
One Amorak snarled as it leaped in the air, snapping at the Collector's throat.
The Collector reached two of its hands out and jammed them into the beast's mouth. The Amorak's teeth clinked against the Collector's ultra durable hyperalloy carapace, yielding no damage.
Then, with a burst of red mana, the Collector completely tore the Amorak in half from the jaw down. A shower of red blood and entrails scattered all across from the bisected specimen.
There were more Amorak approaching, and the Collector noted that the split halves of the Amorak were trying to merge together.
An easy solution.
The Collector took either half of the severed Amorak and whipped them at two other Amorak, splattering their skulls with the halves of their fellow specimen.
With their heads exploded, the two Amoraks slumped down to their knees initially, though for only a mere second before they started to move again even with their pulped heads.
The Collector unleashed its purifying light blades and cut through the three Amorak corpses, blowing them up into bloody, heated chunks from which they would take far longer to regenerate. It puts its light blade to its side, tensing its body and drawing in a breath, and looked ahead to the other Amorak charging at it.
Then, the Collector slashed forwards in rapid succession, and each time, it shot forth a projectile blade of purifying light. The adventurer swordsman's technique.
The crescents of purifying light slashed into every Amorak with pinpoint accuracy, severing them in half at the waist before initiating a cataclysmic explosive reaction in their bodies.
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