Her Majesty's Swarm

The elf village's tragedy

Six months had passed since we started trading with Baumfetter in exchange for their security. The number of slavers and poachers had diminished considerably. Apparently, they had realized this was a forest of death. But that meant we were gradually losing a source of precious meat.
Still, my force of Ripper Swarms had grown to numbers that made attacking another country possible. Had this been the game, I would have been ready to rush an enemy base right about now. Except I had no idea who I was supposed to attack in this world. Thousands of Ripper Swarms were an excessive force if all I was up against was groups of poachers.
Now that things had calmed down, I only had five or six Ripper Swarms patrolling Baumfetter, and that was more than enough to handle any slavers harassing the elves. Deploying a larger number for no reason would simply frighten the denizens of the village, and it ran the risk of my Swarms being spotted by benevolent humans who did their work in the forest.
"It's so peaceful." Despite being part of a dangerous, aggressive race like the Arachnea, I enjoyed peace. The stew the people of Baumfetter served me was always tasty, and through selling the Worker Swarms' dresses, I could obtain meat.
That said, the demand for the dresses was gradually decreasing because of the excessive supply.
"Your Majesty, shouldn't we go on the offensive?" Sérignan asked me.
"Who would we attack, though?" I asked back.
"Hmm. Let us attack the town of Leen. In doing so, we would obtain all that they have. We would do well to work on our research." In the game, research unlocked new units and structures. Research required gold and souls, though different types of research required different amounts and varieties of resources. Developing new units required souls,
while new structures required gold. Some factions were exceptions, though;
those who used golems needed gold to unlock those units, and ghost-type factions used souls to unlock their structures.
We had gained quite a healthy stock of souls, which allowed us to unlock newer units, but we hadn't yet gotten around to unlocking structures.
"I just don't like the idea of attacking Leen for no reason. We're using them for trade, so they've been useful to us." We used Leen to cash in the Worker Swarms' dresses and periodically stock up on meat. I didn't know where we'd go to trade those things if we razed Leen to the ground.
"Once we destroy Leen, we can assail the Kingdom of Maluk. That would settle all our problems, for we would obtain meat, souls, and gold." What Sérignan was suggesting might have been ruthless, but it was logical nonetheless. The Arachnea wasn't a faction that employed trade. It thrived on pillaging, pillaging, and more pillaging until there was nothing left to take. In making the Arachnea dependent on trade, I was using it in a way it was never meant to be used.
A true Arachnea player was as merciless as possible, unflinchingly wiping out the enemy and using their flesh and souls to further fuel her unholy crusade.
"You're right. We should consider a plunder economy." As the Queen of the Arachnea, I had promised to lead them to victory.
Hiding in the comfort of our tunnels and hunting stragglers down like we were fairy-tale forest monsters wasn't becoming of us, and it didn't bring us any closer to fulfilling our aspirations.
If we wanted to win, we would have to stain our hands with blood.
"Your Majesty." A voice suddenly called for me from the collective consciousness.
"What is it?" "We've detected a large force marching toward Baumfetter. They are not poachers or slavers. It's a well-armed, highly trained force. What should we do?" "What...? Do you mean an army?" An army indeed, but from where?
"They carry what appears to be the banner of the Kingdom of Maluk," the Ripper Swarm scout replied. "They will reach Baumfetter shortly. Your orders, Your Majesty?" "Intercept them for as long as you can." "Acknowledged."
That Ripper Swarm would likely die. A single Ripper Swarm was no match for an organized army, and even if we hurried, we wouldn't make it to Baumfetter in time.
"At least now we have pretense to open hostilities." The Swarm's spirit is definitely alive within me.

♱

"Humans! Humans are coming!" "They're knights, not poachers or slavers!" Knights were marching into Baumfetter from all directions. Their plate armor and shields deflected the elves' arrows.
"Look! The Arachnea queen's servants are here!" Just as the situation in Baumfetter was turning critical, two Ripper Swarms rushed into the fray, engaging the knights in battle. Their scythes penetrated the shields and armor, cutting into the knights' flesh and spilling their blood.
"Ooh!" However, the knights barely flinched at the Swarms' attacks. One knight drove his sword into a Ripper Swarm that had crunched down on his arm,
causing it to fly off and curl up as it entered its death throes. He then had another knight-an apparent sorcerer-heal his wounds.
"Damned monsters!" the knight spat before resuming his march. "The rumors were true. There really is a witch here." "Go, go, go! Destroy the heretics' roost!" Cavaliers appeared from the forest, stabbing the elven archers with lances.
The infantry also moved forward, standing in a line as they shot a flurry of flaming arrows into the elven village. Screams rose from the settlement as elves fled the buildings and houses that had caught fire. They were noncombatants: women, children, the sick, and the elderly.
The elves who could fight aimed their arrows at the gaps in the knights' helmets, but young Linnet wasn't capable of such a feat. He simply fired arrows at random, just barely keeping the knights' progress at bay. It wouldn't have been a surprise if he were suddenly told to run.
"Linnet!" "Lysa?! What are you doing here?!"
Linnet was fighting desperately to protect the elder's house when Lysa ran over to him.
"The fire is everywhere! Linnet, we have to run!" Lysa begged him,
struggling to catch her breath. "If we go where the trees are thickest, their horses won't be able to follow us!" "But I have to protect the village!" Linnet violently shook his head. "If we abandon this place, where will we go? Besides, it's not just these knights in the forest! There are dangerous monsters out there too!" "But if we stay here, they'll kill us!" "You might be right, but we have to try!" Linnet wanted to protect his village, while Lysa wanted him to be safe.
The chances of either of their wishes coming true were decidedly slim. The elves were being completely overwhelmed by the knights. Walls of flame blocked their escape routes, and the infantry were gradually surrounding them. The cavalry were galloping through the village, hungrily seeking new victims.
"Gah!" Another elf fell, tumbling to the ground as one of the soldiers fired an arrow right through him. The enemy's archers may have been inferior to the elves, but they were skilled enough to hit their targets' vitals with deadly accuracy.
"Urgh..." "Azlet's down too! Can you still fight?" Only three elves capable of fighting remained, Linnet included.
"Slaughter the long-eared heretics! Charge!" Another group of heavily-armed knights charged them, intending to finish off the few elves that could still fight and then kill the ones hiding in the elder's house.
"Dammit all! Is this really the end?!" Linnet's life had been saved once before. He had managed to escape the clutches of slavers. And yet now his hometown was being put to the torch,
his friends and loved ones slaughtered before his eyes. Why does such a terrible thing have to happen? Does God really not exist in this world?
But just as that thought crossed Linnet's mind...
"That's enough." A woman's dignified voice echoed throughout the burning village.
"What the...?" "A girl?" The soldiers turned around suspiciously, their eyes falling on a single girl clad in a beautiful dress. Her black hair fluttered around her like a dark halo,
boldly contrasting with the surging flames behind her.
"An ally of the elves?" "Looks like it. Archers!" The knights aimed their arrows at the girl and fired at once. The arrows zoomed through the air, whistling as they cut through the wind on their way toward the girl's chest... only they never met their mark.
"You shan't lay a hand on Her Majesty. On my honor as a knight, I will never allow it." The arrows flying toward the girl-the Arachnea's queen-were flicked out of the air by Sérignan's sword. She stepped forward, her Swarm half on full display, and stood before the queen to guard her.
"Another monster!" "Kill them! In the name of the God of Light!" The knights turned the tips of their blades away from the elves and in the direction of the Arachnea's queen.
"Too naive. You're pathetic," the queen said, her lips curling upward in a sneer. "You thought you could beat me with those numbers?" She cleared her throat, and declared in a resonant voice:
"Tear them to bits, my servants." Not a moment later, Ripper Swarms exploded from the trees. But it wasn't just a handful of them. Tens of thousands of Ripper Swarms spilled out of the forest. The ones who had remained in the tunnels until now. The ones made from feasting on the flesh they bought from Leen, from the poachers' and slavers' corpses, from the bodies of the Lisitsa Familia. The never-ending banquet of flesh had compounded their numbers. Clicking their jaws menacingly, they surrounded the knights.
"Know the strength and terror of the Arachnea," said the queen.
And with that as their signal, the Ripper Swarms surged forward.
"Blast, where did they get these numbers?!" "Cavalry! Cover for us!" Faced with an army of Ripper Swarms large enough to cover the whole area, the knights were in a state of panic. Surrounded on all sides, they huddled together in a defensive formation in an attempt to push them back.
For the Ripper Swarms, however, these men were but spoils to be plundered.
The cavalry that had oppressively circled the village were the first to fall.
Each cavalier was engaged by three or four Ripper Swarms that bit into their limbs and dragged them down from the horses. The men's bodies were stabbed with scythes, their throats penetrated by fangs. Those who died on the spot were fortunate. Those who were unlucky enough to avoid fatal blows were dissected alive by the Swarm.
"Form a circle! Hurry up!" shouted a man who looked to be the knights' leader. "The Knights of Saint Augustine will not fall prey to such beasts!" "Captain! We must summon the Angel! If we don't, we'll be wiped out!" one of the subordinate knights cried ominously.
"Ngh... I can't believe we have to summon the Angel for something like this!" The captain clenched his jaw in frustration, but then quickly started chanting, "Servant of the God of Light who resides in the heavens, I beseech you to descend before us, Angel Agaphiel!" Once he finished his chant, an angel descended onto the village. She was a majestic girl with white wings and clad in a white fluttering robe-truly worthy of being called an angel. She descended from the heavens and landed lightly on the ground, her eyes closed. Her face bore a cold, mask-like expression.
"Children of man. Do you seek salvation?" the angel's voice echoed in the minds of everyone present.
"We seek salvation. We beg of you, put these vile monsters to death!" the captain exclaimed.
"Very well. They are without a doubt beings of a malevolent nature.
Incarnations of evil that stand in offense of all that is good." With that, the angel lifted one hand, unleashing a blast of blinding light.
The Ripper Swarms hit by the blast evaporated without a trace. The remaining Ripper Swarms unflinchingly continued their assault on the circle of knights, but Agaphiel continued to vaporize them. At this rate, they'd be wiped out, no matter how many of them there were.
The angel Agaphiel. A servant of the God of Light worshipped by these knights, able to manipulate light as a subject of faith. The knights' guardian angel was exceptionally suited for battle.
Her appearance made it clear that the holy knights of the Kingdom of Maluk made use of these sorts of units. They protected the Kingdom from invasion by neighboring countries and enabled it to rule over this region in a sort of hegemony.
No matter how well-armed a country's soldiers might have been, no matter how great their strongholds, they were all too brittle to withstand an attack from an angel like Agaphiel. In this world, angels were a symbol of power that could not be opposed.
Until now, that is.
"Oh, they've got an annoying one on their side," said the Arachnea's queen. "Sérignan, can you handle her?" "Leave it to me, Your Majesty," Sérignan answered with a smile.
It was a smile of one confident in her victory. A savage, delighted smile.
"Come at me, you pitiful flies. I shall carve the weight of your helplessness into your flesh as I cut you down." As Sérignan said that, she was charged by all the knights at once.
Sérignan leapt toward Agaphiel, who held up a hand to shoot her down, but twisted her body in midair to avoid the attack. Another blast of light came her way, which Sérignan avoided by firing a string to reel herself back toward a tree, and then kicked against it to continue her assault on Agaphiel.
And then Agaphiel entered the range of Sérignan's sword.
"Haaah!" Sérignan swung her crimson sword, slashing into Agaphiel. But it was no mere laceration.
She severed Agaphiel's head completely.
"Aaagh..." The angel did not bleed, but instead burst into particles of light, which soon disappeared.
"What...?" The match was decided in the blink of an eye, leaving the knights aghast.
A moment. A moment was all it took.
The angel, their symbol of absolute power, had been cut down and destroyed with a single sweep of the blade. The only forces able to defeat angels were other angels, or an army tens of thousands of times larger than the angel's.
But the insectile knight before them had cut the angel down,
overwhelming this indomitable icon of strength with mere swordplay.
They shivered in unison. The angel who once struck terror into the hearts of all who saw her had been taken down with a single blow.
"The way you cut down the angel was lovely, Sérignan," the queen said,
visibly impressed.
"My blade is a sacred sword, meant to cut through the holy powers held by corrupt paladins." Sérignan had a hint of pride in her voice. "If an opponent tries to do Your Majesty harm, be they angel or god, your knight will cut them down." "Let's mop up the rest of them, then." The queen turned her gaze to the knights, who shuddered in fright.
"I can't believe it... Agaphiel..." "We're done for..." The realization had sunk in that they were no longer hunters-they were now prey.
"Ripper Swarms. Leave no one alive." At the queen's order, the Ripper Swarms moved in as one, tightening their circle around the knights. Each knight was attacked by anywhere between four to seven Ripper Swarms, leaving them with no hope of survival.
Heads were lopped off. Hearts were pierced through armor. Limbs were torn from trunks and torsos. One by one, the knights died in gruesome fashion. Rushing at them in waves, the Ripper Swarms tore their enemies apart, leaving only a mountain of corpses in their wake.
"Good work." Once it was all over, the Arachnea's queen bid the Ripper Swarms to carry the corpses off. Naturally, these would go on to become materials for new Swarms.
"Now, let's hear what happened. I'm pretty pissed right now, I must say," the queen huffed as she made her way to the elder's house.