Chapter 221: Nehekhara

(A brief history of the Warhammer version of Egypt)

No survivors were left among these heinous Dark Elf pirates who harbored deep-seated racial grudges; they were slaughtered to the last. A massive amount of blood stained the entire beach red.

"Their cloaks are not bad! It's quite nice to wear them after capturing them!" Panuosen said as he took a piece of loot and gave it a shake.

"Sea Dragon Cloak, is it?" Sinuoli looked at the object and smiled. He took the cloak and gave it a squeeze.

"You even know this? Generally, only we sailors have the chance to come into contact with it. This scaled leather comes from a Sea Dragon; although it is called a dragon, it cannot fly. As a material for armor, it is very light yet extremely sturdy," Panuosen introduced, and it was clear he had a good understanding of this item.

Sinuoli took the higher-quality cloak belonging to the Black Ark commander as a matter of course, though it was clearly much too large for a Dwarf. Sinuoli simply cut it open and split it with Panuosen, each taking half.

After looting the wealth within the Black Ark, the Dwarfs packed it with explosives and detonated it completely. Otherwise, the Dark Elves might have used some spell to raise it again.

Sinuoli gained a very generous profit; pirates would often spend years repeatedly raiding foreign coasts, returning home only when their holds were about to burst with slaves and spoils.

The cost of the expedition was partially recovered before even going ashore, and through the victory, he made up for that bit of experience gap to reach level five. Sinuoli felt very satisfied with the new strength surging from the deepest part of his body.

After releasing the captured Humans and returning a portion of their plundered wealth, the Dwarfs returned to the warships via a pontoon bridge amidst a chorus of profuse thanks.

Sinuoli returning some wealth was not to do charity; he wanted to lay a bit of groundwork for future events.

Sinuoli could see the location of the heart of the Skaven Under-Empire and the birthplace of the Skaven—Skavenblight—on the strategic map in the system. It was near the northwestern city-states of Tilea, deep within the Withered Swamp.

There were not many powerful Dwarf city-states around Skavenblight. To destroy it, Sinuoli would likely need to borrow the strength of the surrounding Order factions, so building good relationships with them in advance and spreading his name might be helpful.

The Skaven destroyed the Dwarf holds of the entire Grey Mountains and Black Mountains during the End Times. If these big rats were not dealt with, Sinuoli would not be able to sleep soundly even if he killed the Everchosen.

Once they left an inland sea like Blackwater Bay, the ocean waves grew larger. Although Lady Shuman used her Divine Art to soothe the anger of Mannan'en, even waves within a normal range made many of the clansmen who had never set foot on the sea feel unwell.

A large number of reports regarding symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, nausea, and vomiting were compiled into Sinuoli's hands.

He certainly knew this was the result of seasickness, but even in his past life, there was no completely certain cause for this, and the effects of medical treatment varied from person to person.

Lady Shuman had some Divine Arts to suppress seasickness, but her strength was not enough to cast them on the entire fleet.

Sinuoli himself had some symptoms, but he decided to share the joys and sorrows with his clansmen. Under Panuosen's suggestion, the symptomatic clansmen took turns going to the deck to get some fresh air, and by eating small, frequent meals, the seasickness reaction was somewhat alleviated.

A few days later, Sinuoli felt the waves gradually calm down, and he knew he was about to arrive. The fleet would sail upstream from the mouth of the Great Mortis River; the place they were about to enter was known as the Land of the Dead, and before it became the Land of the Dead, its name was Nehekhara.

More than two thousand years before Sigmar established the Empire of Man, many Human city-states appeared along the banks of the Daming River, and eventually, they were unified by a powerhouse named Settra.

Hundreds of years after that, in Settra's city—Khemri—a great demon appeared: the Lord of Undeath, Nagash, though at the time he was still a Prince of Khemri.

In Nehekhara, the eldest son had to become a Priest, and the second son would inherit the throne of the city-state; Nagash was dissatisfied with this arrangement.

As luck would have it, a group of Dark Elves were blown off course by a storm and fled to Nehekhara, eventually falling into Nagash's hands. He imprisoned these Dark Elves and, through coercion and inducement, learned the mysteries of Necromancy from them.

This genius mage combined Necromancy with the skills he originally mastered, pioneering the prototype of Necromancy. After gaining power, he usurped his brother's throne and dominated the entirety of Nehekhara.

Like every hegemon, he also wanted to live forever. To achieve his goal, he used the strength of the entire nation to build the Black Pyramid. Eventually, the other kings were exploited and oppressed to the point of being unable to survive, and they united to resist Nagash.

The Lord of Undeath at that time was not yet strong enough; he was defeated but still escaped. In the hundreds of years that followed, dynasties rose and fell, and every kingdom tried to rebuild their lands after Nagash's destruction. Nehekhara fell into division once again.

Another few hundred years later, a hero known as the Conqueror—Alcadizaar—unified this land once more. But good times did not last; Nagash returned with an army of the dead, and he had become even more powerful.

However, Alcadizaar was prepared; he knew Nagash and his followers would not give up, so he came up with many methods targeting the Undead. The living actually managed to withstand the Undead's offensive!

The impotent and furious Nagash actually hired the Skaven to poison the Daming River—he had struck up a friendship with the rats while he was accumulating power. The poison contaminated everything in the Daming River basin, and when Nagash arrived again two years later, only three digits of living people remained in Nehekhara.

Nagash specifically made Alcadizaar immune to the deadly poison, capturing him alive to satisfy his own twisted sense of humor. After consuming a massive amount of Warpstone, Nagash released an Awakening Spell of immense scale, attempting to awaken and enslave all the dead in Nehekhara's history.

The Skaven were terrified; they had witnessed Nagash's power. For this reason, these fellows released the imprisoned Alcadizaar and gave him a weapon powerful enough.

The last king of Nehekhara took advantage of Nagash being halfway through his spell to go in and hack at him wildly. The Lord of Undeath, his strength exhausted, was beaten directly into the underworld this time, and Alcadizaar also paid the price with his life.

The awakened dead were not enslaved but retained their original consciousness, and these former kings began to wage war against each other once again.

When the warships collided with a large number of shipwrecks at the bottom of the water, the Dwarfs were prepared. The Great Mortis River delta was filled with the sunken ships of adventurers who had come looking for wealth and the remnants of Nehekhara's former navy.

Sinuoli saw a magnificent pyramid from afar. "King Amenhotep's Pyramid! The most prominent landmark of Zandili, we are arriving!" Balin's voice rang in his ear.