Swarming Sovereignty

Chapter 36: Violet

A few hours and one much happier Chrys later, Lia was looking over her two newest recruits. Not the worms, those had been turned into burrowers and took almost no time to convert, but the troll and the banshee.

The troll was…well, significantly smaller than it used to be. Yes, it was still over ten feet tall, which was still big, but it wasn’t the twenty or thirty foot behemoth the cocoon had made it look. Most of that mass seemed to have gone into a layer of carapace that encased it, as well as an abdomen behind it, nearly as big as the troll was.

The banshee, on the other hand, had been relatively unchanged. It appeared as a ratkin instead of a human, but other than that it looked about like Lia remembered it looking. Not that she had a great image of what it looked like , since she only saw it for a couple of seconds, but it couldn’t be different. It was just a transparent woman who looked remarkably like her dorm supervisor.

“So, are we going to enlighten them?” Rose asked.

Lia said.

“I’m sure undeath is better than just death.” Rose pointed out. “And who’s to say she’ll undead? She could…evolve back into life, maybe?”

Lia admitted. She turned to Analysis, asking if that was possible.

Without more information it is difficult to say for certain whether or not an undead can evolve into a living creature. However, given the nature of the swarm and the options previously available for its conversion, it is more likely than not that a return to life would be available for this monster in her future.

That…did change things rather significantly. It wasn’t a sure thing, but it made her feel a better about the prospect of enlightening the banshee.

Lia said. She stepped forward, placing a paw on the banshee…and immediately realizing that wasn’t going to work, as her paw just passed through, throwing off her balance. She took a moment to right herself, thought through what to do, and then decided to just leave her paw inside the banshee as she spoke.

She commanded.

There was a pause for a few moments, nothing happening. Lia was beginning to worry that it didn’t work, and that she had angered the gods by trying to grant an undead sapience, when suddenly a spark filled the banshee’s eyes.

She opened her mouth, made a strange, loud sort of yelp, then clapped her hands over her mouth, her whole body turning ever so slightly red. She tentatively took her hands away from her mouth and massaged her throat, then opened her mouth once again. “T-thank you, Y-your Majesty.” She whispered. “I a-apologize for the n-noise, I–” She made that odd yelp again and turned even redder, looking down at Lia’s paw. “S-sorry for my i-insolence, c-could you r-remove y-your–”

She cut herself off with another yelp as Lia realized the problem and withdrew her paw from inside the banshee. “My apologies.” She whispered. “This voice is rather…difficult to control, and your paw was tickling me.”

Lia said.

“Not as much as you think, I just…never had practice going any quieter than a full screech.” The banshee whispered. “I imagine with practice I will be able to speak normally.”

“Please.” The banshee replied. “It would be my honor.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Violet whispered. “How can I assist you?”

Lia said.

“Understood. Please, lead the way.”

Lia said, sauntering off before pausing and turning back to the troll.

The troll lumbered off, leaving Lia to lead Violet to Chrys’s beside. As Chrys came into view, Violet gasped and rushed over to her side. “I am so sorry.” She whispered. “Are you alright?”

“What?!” Chrys jumped, looking up from the book she had been reading. “I…ah, I see. I’m feeling all better, but these two are making me rest some more before they let me go out. You’re the new scout, then?”

“Yes.” Violet whispered, dropping into a curtsey. “Violet, Swarm Ghostwalker, at your service. I’m ready for any assignment you give me, so, please, give me something to do.”

“Umm…” Chrys stuttered, looking over to Lia. “Where are our next targets?”

“Then, go ahead and check the observatory.” Chrys said, looking at Violet. “Don’t engage any enemies, just get a read on what they are and what the boss is, if you can.” She turned back to Lia, a pleading look on her face. “Can I at least walk her to the map? I’m dying to get off of this bed.”

Lia, in turn, looked to Rose, who heaved a sigh. “I suppose that’s acceptable, as long as I’m there and as long as you get right back into bed when you’re done.”

Chrys pumped her fist, folding the corner of a page in her book and setting it down. “Let’s get going, then!”

“My Queen, I have a report to make.” Bella said, kneeling in front of Lia. “As you commanded, I and a team of soldiers have been working on clearing the dorm buildings, and am I happy to say that I have entirely cleared your old dorm building. Furthermore, in the process I made a point of collecting the undead in cocoons when prudent, and have built up a small stockpile of a few dozen, which I have left in one of the storage areas. I believe the building is now livable, though it might take a day or two for the dungeon to stop spawning monsters there.”

Lia said.

“After some investigation, I determined that they were not suitable for consumption and conversion into modeling wax, so I let the dungeon reclaim them. Should I start saving them in the future?”

Lia said.

“Remarkably fresh, for a place that was just a nest of undead.” Bella replied. “I can only assume that is the dungeon’s doing as well.”

“Understood, My Queen.” Bella said, rising. “I will make haste, then.”

“No need for thanks.” Bella replied, turning around and walking off. “This is simply my duty.”

That done, Lia headed off to her next task, meeting with Rose and Chrys to evaluate whether or not Chrys was fit to return to active duty. She scurried off towards where Chrys had been resting, and found Rose and Chrys already waiting. Lia said.

“I’ve done some preliminary checking and found nothing wrong yet.” Rose said. “We were taking a short break before doing more.”

“For the record, I’m completely fine, Queenie.” Chrys said. “I’m ready for anything.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Rose said. “I’ve heard that line from people who weren’t ready for anything too many times to believe you. Anyway, I think that’s enough of a break, let’s get back to it, shall we?”

Rose had Chrys do a series of tasks such as running around, using her Skills, and other simple exercises, all the while Rose carefully monitored her. Lia watched in silence for a few minutes, before Rose finally had Chrys stop.

“I…cannot find anything amiss.” Rose admitted. “However, I would still recommend another day of rest if we wanted to be as safe as possible.”

“What?!” Chrys exclaimed. “But you just said there’s nothing wrong!”

“I know, I just…worry for you. I don’t want you getting hurt because of something like this. But…at the end of the day, the decision is Lia’s.”

Chrys turned to Lia, a pleading look in her eyes. “Please?”

Lia thought about that for a moment, then nodded. if

“Yes!” Chrys replied. “Thank you!”

“She’s given me her report on the observatory, and I’ve sent her to check out the classrooms. Once she’s back I’ll compile a report on both of the bosses and we can decide where to go from there, I think.”

wasLia asked.

“Yup.” Chrys replied. “It took notice of Violet, so she only got to observe it for a minute or so, but we were able to get a good idea of what it is.”

“A giant snake, apparently. It was curled around a statue of the moon.”

“Frustrating.” Rose said. “Snake monsters are among the most annoying, in my opinion. They have a tendency to rely on status effects, so you have to be extra careful when fighting them, even if they’re much weaker than you.”

“It was covering most of the statue, apparently.” Chrys said. “She had a hard time estimating the size, but she said the individual coils were as thick as her body, and that even when coiled it was as tall as she was.”

Lia replied.

“Perhaps not.” Rose mused. “That likely means that its venom is weaker than a smaller snake of similar strength, and it relies more on its strength and size to deal with enemies than its venom. Plus…she said it was coiled around a statue of the moon. If we’re lucky, it will stay coiled there unless disturbed, so we could theoretically drop a glob on it that will cover most of it in one go.”

Lia offered.

“Do you have any magic that can remove yourself from its perception?” Rose asked. “If so, that should be a simple way of getting close enough to do that.”

Lia replied.

“That…is troublesome.” Rose admitted. “I suppose we’ll need to wait until Violet gets back to plan further.”

is

Rose took a second to take that in. “ you aren’t implying that you would be attempting this alone.”

Lia said. lotand

“But…you could at least take someone else with you, just in case. Bella can be pretty stealthy, and she brings considerable power to the table in case of an emergency.”

Lia said.

“Take a contingent of soldiers with you to guard it once you’ve taken it out, then.” Rose said. “They can wait outside while you go about your business.”

Lia said.

“That’s fine.” Chrys said. “I get it. Mom isn’t going either, so…yeah.”

Rose looked like she was about to speak up, but Lia silenced her with a look. She instructed. am

Rose let out a sigh. “I know, I just…I don’t know what I would if I lost you. What would of us do? Our purpose would be…gone.”

There was a silence for a few moments, then, to Lia’s surprise, Chrys nodded. “She’s right.” Chrys said. “I don’t like the idea of you just…dying and leaving us alone. It scares me, scares me a .”

Lia said. thatIwantalways

“Yes, but…I was then, and if I wasn’t on the front lines, everything would fall apart. I to be out there, I was the only one who could do it.”

“I suppose we have no right to deny you that.” Rose sighed. “Just…just be careful, okay?”

Lia said.

She didn’t wait for a reply, instead choosing to walk off towards their stores of modeling wax.