“And what would you ask in return?”
“As many fresh ingredients as you can spare. Of course, to the extent that it doesn’t put a strain on the village.”
I would use those ingredients to feed myself and produce Worker Swarms. Having to obtain food for myself as though I were one of the game’s units was one troublesome aspect the game itself never had.
“Well, we don’t mind, but is that really all you need?” the elder asked.
“I suppose if there’s one more condition, it’s that you don’t look into what we do with the poachers’ and slavers’ corpses,” I answered with a thin smile.
“Their... corpses?”
“Right. Their corpses.”
And that right there was plan B: using the outlaws’ corpses as a food source. I could kill these people without anyone complaining and use them as my ingredients.
Therein lay the Arachnea’s strength, after all: it trampled other factions, consumed them, and multiplied, only to repeat the same cycle with the next faction. There were other factions capable of devouring the competition, but the Arachnea was the strongest among them.
The more enemies the Swarm killed, the larger their numbers grew, enabling massacre on an even larger scale. Forging that kind of diabolical empire was the very essence of the Arachnea playstyle.
“So, never ask what we do with their bodies,” I demanded. “It has nothing to do with you.”
“Understood. I suppose that’s all right,” replied the elf, nodding cautiously.
This was one act of diplomacy that wouldn’t have flown if this were a human settlement. Their being elves enabled me to strike this bargain.
“We’ll come regularly to collect our resources. Oh, and I have a question: can you tell me where I can find the closest city? Preferably one that has trade and a meat market.”
“The town of Leen to the west sounds like what you’re looking for. There’s a large bazaar there, though we don’t make much use of it.”
Naturally, my plan didn’t stop at just the poachers and slavers.
“Thank you. Well, I’ll have these little ones patrol the area, so if you detect any intruders, just sound some kind of alarm and they’ll dispose of them in a flash.”
This concluded my work here for the time being. All that remained was to see if my upcoming experiment would bear fruit.
♱
I had the slavers’ leader dragged back to the Arachnea’s base. He was bound and gagged with the Swarms’ spun threads, unable to even scream as he was surrounded by dozens of Swarms. I almost felt bad for him, but knowing that he had tried to abduct those elven children and make them into slaves kept my sympathy at bay.
Did a person who orchestrated such a cruel deed deserve mercy? I didn’t think so. I coldly stared down into the man’s eyes, which begged me for mercy.
“Remove the threads from his mouth.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
At my command, a Ripper Swarm used its scythes to nimbly remove the threads keeping his mouth shut. The blades lightly cut into his lips, but considering what this man had tried to do to those children, he had it coming and then some.
“Wh-What...?! What the hell are these things?!” the man screamed. “What are you going to do with me?!”
“Shut up.” I stepped on his head, pressing my heel into his temple. “I don’t want to hear a word.”
I could feel something of a sadistic streak spring up inside me.
No. Bad girl. Bad. No getting carried away by the Swarm’s thoughts.
“Tell me. Have you heard of the Arachnea?”
“Erm, no. First time I’ve heard of it. That some kind of organization? Are these... things... part of it?”
“Be. Quiet.” I lightly kicked his head to put an end to his babbling. “I’m the one asking questions here.”
He didn’t know about the Arachnea either, which would have been impossible in the game world. Just as I suspected. This really isn’t the game world at all.
“Well, if you don’t have any information, I guess I have no need of you.”
“Hold up! Don’t kill me! I’ll do anything! I’ll give you slaves for free! I’ve got plenty of pretty little boys! They’ll definitely satisfy you! So please...!”
Hearing him beg for his life made me want to plug my ears. The very fact that he was trying to bribe me made me sick to my stomach.
“Oh, I won’t kill you. I’ll be putting you to good use.” I approached a certain object standing beside me.
It was a Fertilization Furnace.
I’d had the Worker Swarms produce it ahead of time. If I had to describe what it looked like, it was like a multitude of human wombs that had been extracted and hastily sewn together. Certainly not a shape anyone would be too keen on imagining.
I loaded all the dried deer and rabbit meat I had gotten from the elf village into the Fertilization Furnace, and then spoke to the construct, ordering it clearly:
“Parasite Swarm.”
The Fertilization Furnace began to writhe and pulsate, making repulsive, viscous noises as the uteri swelled up. A small claw poked through the manufacturing flesh, and the creature it belonged to pushed out into the open air.
It looked like a small scorpion, or perhaps something closer to the famously grotesque camel spider. This newborn horror was a Parasite Swarm, and it would soon play a critical role in plan B’s success. It had no fighting capabilities, but it did have a special skill.
“You’re a slaver, right?” I asked, letting the Parasite Swarm creep onto my hand.
“R-Right. But I won’t attack the elves anymore. You have my word.” The leader’s desperate voice began to crack.
It was an obvious lie, of course. If I let him get away, he’d attack the elves again. But if I used him to my advantage instead, that would be one problem nipped in the bud.
“I think it’s time you find out what slavery tastes like.” With that, I forcibly stuffed the Parasite Swarm into the man’s mouth.
He struggled to spit out the nasty monster that had crept onto his tongue, but the Parasite Swarm vigorously burrowed deeper inside. And once it had fixed itself inside his throat, it spread tiny tentacles throughout the man’s body, which eventually reached his brain.
“Ah, aah, aahhh, aaahhhh...”
The man spasmed a few times, and after vomiting once, became completely still.
“Undo his threads,” I ordered.
The Ripper Swarms tore the threads that bound him.
“Stand.”
The slaver got to his feet, just as I ordered him.
“Say, ‘All hail the queen,’” I said.
“All hail the... queen...” The slaver obeyed me with hollow eyes.
Yes, as its name implied, the Parasite Swarm latched onto its victims, turning them into puppets that obeyed any orders its master—or mistress, in my case—gave. If I were to order him to commit suicide, this man would take any measures possible to kill himself.
There were many uses for this unit. It allowed you to take over powerful enemy troops or masquerade as an enemy faction’s unit, which you could then use to scout or even attack the enemy’s workers.
On top of the simple tactic of Ripper Swarm rushes, the Arachnea was also capable of more intricate strategies that assaulted the enemy when they were least prepared for it. That’s what made it such a fun faction to play, and why I was so attached to its units, starting with the Ripper Swarms. Other factions had their good sides, to be sure, but I couldn’t help but love the Arachnea the most.
“There you are. Now you know what being a slave feels like.”
The most awful part was that the slaver’s consciousness was still there. The Parasite Swarm in his body bound his freedom, but his senses and awareness remained as they were. He could feel the Parasite Swarm clinging to the inside of his throat and the tentacles extending to his brain.
It made for a veritable living hell.
His senses were entirely intact, but his every action was dictated by someone else. It was a nightmare. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it felt like to have a creature grip your throat and brain.
But this man was a slaver, so becoming a slave was his just desserts. I could say it with perfect honesty and not an ounce of hesitation. Serves you right, scum.
“You have a very important job ahead of you. A crucial job, even, so you better follow through. Not that you have much of a choice in the matter.”
And with those words, my plan B was set into motion in earnest.
Plan B was to obtain meat through non-aggressive means. Right now, we couldn’t fight a war, but we needed to prepare for it all the same. For that reason, I came up with this compromise.
I won’t know if it’ll work out unless I give it a shot. This is, after all, entirely unfamiliar territory for me, so there’s no telling what problems might pop up. Unpredictable obstacles or society itself might stand in my way and try to prevent me from achieving my goals.
But it’s true what they say: you never know until you try.