Swarming Sovereignty

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 enormous 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 before, since she only saw it for a couple of seconds, but it couldn’t be that different. It was just a transparent woman who looked remarkably like her dorm supervisor.

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

I…don’t think so. Lia said. The troll really doesn’t need to be enlightened to do its…I mean her job, and I feel bad giving her sapience just to make her a glorified baby-making machine. As for the banshee…well, it makes sense to enlighten her, but I also don’t want to force a soul into undeath, it just seems…cruel. If she ends up being super inefficient without sapience, then I’ll enlighten her, but…yeah.

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

I…didn’t think about that. Lia admitted. Um, give me a second to consider that. She turned to Analysis, asking it if that was possible.

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

I…think I’ll give it a go, actually. Lia said. Analysis is telling me it’s pretty likely she could evolve back into life. 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.

Be enlightened. 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.”

It’s fine, take your time. Lia said. I expect this is rather overwhelming.

“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.”

Oh, good. Um…do you want a name?

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

Okay, you’ll…you’ll be Violet, then.

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

You’re going to be the second in our scout corps. Lia said. If you follow me, I’ll take you to your boss. She’s resting right now and won’t be able to go scouting with you for a bit, but, in the future, I imagine you’ll be working together rather closely.

“Understood. Please, lead the way.”

This way. Lia said, sauntering off before pausing and turning back to the troll. You, um…go to the back of camp and find a secluded place to do your thing, alright?

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?”

The observatory is probably a good next place to check, Amelia and I used to hang out there all the time. The other place I would check is my homeroom classroom, but that’s a bit harder to find and will be harder to get away from if you need to run. So, yeah, check the observatory, it should be listed on the map.

“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.”

Good work. Lia said. What did you do with the corpses?

“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?”

No, that’s fine. Lia said. We’re still processing the goblins and the bees, so we’re not desperate enough to need to use undead yet. How does the place smell?

“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.”

Most likely. Take another two of the knights and another squadron of foot soldiers, and have them occupy the building until it stops spawning monsters. Have them…camp out in the lobby and send raids out periodically or something. As soon as it stops spawning monsters, we can move in. Once you’re finished with that, come back here and rest up. We’re hoping to get the location of our next boss soon, and I’d like to strike at it as soon as possible, so I don’t want you tired.

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

Thank you.

“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. Apologies for the delay. Lia said. Have you begun your checks yet?

“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 way 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. I’ll allow you to go out if you’re accompanied by me, Rose, or Bella. And if you feel even a hint of being more tired than usual, I expect you to let us know so we can take you back, understand?

“Yes!” Chrys replied. “Thank you!”

How have things with Violet been going?

“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.”

So, there was a boss in the observatory? Lia 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.”

What’s that?

“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.”

Did she say how big it was? Hopefully we can deal with it by just sending a bunch of foot soldiers and covering it with modeling wax.

“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.”

Not…good. Lia replied. That sounds like it’ll be a pain to deal with.

“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.”

If I can get there unseen, I can unload my dimension storage. Lia offered. But the problem is getting there unseen.

“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.”

I…do, actually. Lia replied. Then we just need to get me in there without any doors opening or anything that would alert it.

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

Not necessarily. The statue of the moon in question is most likely the one in the main gallery. That’s the only “really big” one, and if that really is the one, then it’s right in front of the entrance. The main gallery spans two floors, and if I could get onto the walkway on the second floor, I would be able to get the drop on it no sweat.

What this means is that we can enter the building from the side and try and make our way into the main gallery from there. Hopefully the snake’s hearing is as poor as regular snakes, and it won’t be alerted by the opening of doors that are a few rooms away, but if not…then I can retreat, and we’ll come up with another plan.

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

I am. Lia said. I assumed that was the crux of the plan. I need to get there without alerting it, and to do that I need to block its perception of me. Blocking perception of multiple people is a lot more Mana intensive than blocking perception of just one, and I don’t think I’ll have the reserves to do that and dump my Dimensional Storage on it.

“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.”

I…suppose that works. Lia said. I’m going to go grab some modeling wax, and when Bella gets back the two of us will go take care of it. We’ll probably have to convert the boss on the spot, since I doubt we’ll be able to carry it back here, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

“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.”

Good idea. Sorry you won’t be getting any action here, Chrys. Lia said. But I guess that’s just how the cookie crumbles. You’ll probably get to go with us when we go to the last boss, though.

“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. You will stay here and watch over your daughter. She instructed. I know you’re concerned about me, but I am capable of taking care of myself. If it gets dangerous, I will flee, but it shouldn’t get to that point.

Rose let out a sigh. “I know, I just…I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. What would any 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 really don’t like the idea of you just…dying and leaving us alone. It scares me, scares me a lot.”

Be that as it may, we can’t make progress without taking risks. Lia said. This seems to be the best course of action right now, and it’s not even that risky. I’ll be fine, and Bella will be there. And…well, it’s what I want to do. I don’t want to be behind the scenes doing nothing, I want to be out in the action. Rose, surely you relate, you were always on the front lines in your previous life.

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

And, right now, I’m the only one who can do this. Even if I wasn’t, we can’t just coddle me forever. There will almost certainly come a time where I’m separated from everyone in the presence of an enemy, and if I don’t have practical experience fighting then it’ll hardly matter how strong I am. Please, just…let me have this, okay?

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

Of course. Lia said. I wouldn’t be doing this if I thought I couldn’t handle it. I’m going to go prepare now, I’ll bring you news of success as soon as I have it, alright?

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