The soldiers’ metallic armor screeched unpleasantly as it was torn apart. As the men were literally ripped in two, the sticky sounds of their flesh tearing like rubber could be heard all over the battlefield.
“Don’t let them scare you! Fight! For the God of Light!”
“For the God of Light!”
Still, the infantry fought back against the Genocide Swarms. The halberds and greatswords they wielded would’ve been effective against Ripper Swarms, but they did very little to the upgraded version. Even when repeatedly bludgeoned by a steel weapon, the Genocide Swarms continued their composed attacks.
“Their defense is on another level,” I mused. “Those men have no chance.”
There was a huge gap in defense between the Ripper and Genocide Swarms. Naturally, the increase in defense came at the cost of speed. The Genocide Swarms were slow and bulky, which was their major flaw. Or perhaps the Ripper Swarms just moved so fast that the Genocide Swarms looked sluggish in comparison?
“Your Majesty, the enemy is retreating from the walls. What shall we do?” Sérignan asked.
“We move forward and give chase. We’ll show them the power of the Arachnea.”
Onward, onward! Onward to Saania, where Isabelle’s killers are. Let the military cadence be played for our march! The surge of death called the Swarm will soon be upon our foes!
♱
“Fall back! Retreat! Go, go, go!” shouted one of Frantz’s officers.
The soldiers who’d stormed through the walls had been massacred. Faced with those terrifying monsters, the remaining men had no choice but to run for their lives. Their attacks didn’t so much as scratch the enemy, which had torn the soldiers apart without even flinching as the heavy weapons struck them again and again.
“I did not give you permission to retreat!” barked an inquisitor, thrusting a saber into the officer’s throat.
“What are you doing?! Do you want all of us to die?!” another officer cried out.
“We have the God of Light’s blessing on our side! We cannot lose.” The inquisitor pulled his bloodied blade out of the man’s body. “Anyone who says we will be defeated is a heretic, and heretics will be met with death. Onward, I say! We must take Schtraut back from the clutches of these abominations!”
The inquisitor took over for the officer and started giving instructions to the soldiers. Confused as they were, the soldiers abided by his commands. Yet all that lay ahead of them was death; advancing meant willingly marching into their own graves.
“Go forth, for the God of Light!”
“The bugs are crossing the walls!”
But while the mad inquisitor continued barking his orders, the Genocide Swarms and Toxic Swarms came after them. As they approached, the Genocide Swarms tore into the heavy infantry with their fangs. The Toxic Swarms clambered over the walls, shooting off their projectiles and turning anyone they hit into puddles of goo.
“Archers! Open fire!”
Crossbowmen were deployed to engage the Swarms’ advance. They fired thick bolts at the Genocide Swarms all at once, successfully managing to fell a few.
But the Genocide Swarms behind them climbed right over their comrades’ bodies, and at the same time the Toxic Swarms finished crossing the walls.
“Keep firing! Victory is o—” Just as the inquisitor was proclaiming their victory, a Toxic Swarm’s stinger pierced through his chest.
He was assailed by indescribable pain and quickly fell to the ground. In mere moments, he had completely melted into liquified flesh.
“Are we really going to keep fighting?!”
“Those are our orders!”
As their commanders died one by one, the army’s chain of command was also falling apart. Many of the soldiers had even seen their officers cut down by inquisitors for ordering retreats. And all the while, the Arachnea’s queen snickered where no one could see her.
“Oh, the enemy’s certainly divided, aren’t they?” she said, her tone ecstatic. “There are lunatics who believe in their god and sane people who don’t. Perhaps I should thank Paris for giving the inquisitors so much authority.”
The queen then turned her eyes to the Swarms engaged in battle. She watched them with a mixture of joy and sorrow as they crushed the enemy and perished from the crossbow bolts.
“Those crossbows are annoying. And their archers are heavily armored, too, so the Toxic Swarms can’t take them out. Oh well. Winning with numbers is the Swarm’s style, I suppose.”
There was no need for a change in plans. The Swarms continued their rush into the enemy’s formation with the Toxic Swarms raining their venomous stingers on enemy lines. Every once in a while, an unfortunate crossbowman took a hit in the flesh and quickly melted.
As ever, the Arachnea’s charge was relentless. The Genocide Swarms cut through the enemy’s front lines while the Toxic Swarms dropped soldiers in the rear guard. This surge of death, this black tidal wave washed over the border walls to drown the soldiers beyond.
The soldiers couldn’t hold the Swarms back and were thus reduced to corpses in a heartbeat. Those who survived began thinking less like an army and more like a frenzied mob. All the conflicting orders and agendas drove them to act erratically. Some tried to retreat while others thought to charge, and others still tried to simply hold their ground and prevent the enemy from moving forward.
It was complete chaos.
“Your Majesty, what shall we do next?” Sérignan asked.
“You know, the classic move would be to overwhelm them with our numbers, but I feel like doing that alone would be terribly tasteless,” the queen replied. “If we force our way into the rear guard and kill their commander, they’ll lose their line of communication. Then we can surround them. Sérignan, Lysa, Roland—I want you three to join the battle.”
The vanguard force, which consisted of Genocide Swarms, was already closing in on the commander in the back row, who was desperately trying to regain control of the army. His death would be the last nail in the coffin of the enemy’s pecking order, and then it would be all too easy to back the rest of the soldiers into a corner. That was the Arachnea Queen’s plan.
“By your will, Your Majesty. We will take to the vanguard at once,” Sérignan said with a bow.
“Leave it to us,” Roland added.
The two of them quickly sprinted ahead, catching up to the other Swarms, while Lysa hung back and shot down anyone who tried to flee. Before long, Sérignan had severed the commander’s head, and the battle came to its effective conclusion. With their line of communication severed, half of the enemy’s army—roughly 120,000 troops—was surrounded by the Genocide and Toxic Swarms. As that deadly circle tightened around them, the soldiers’ fate was sealed.