Her Majesty’s Swarm - Volume 2 - Chapter 11

End of the Usurper 

We stood before the entrance to the duke’s residence. 

“Guards! Guaaards! Assume your positions!” 

A company of soldiers was stationed around the entrance. They were armed with crossbows, which they quickly pointed toward us. Evidently, they had learned that they needed to use crossbows at minimum to do any damage to the Swarm. Indeed, a crossbow bolt could badly injure Sérignan. 

Assuming it hits, that is. 

“Fire!” an officer shouted, and the guards all let off their crossbows at once. Their sights were fixed on Roland and Sérignan, who made up the front line of our little force. 

“Haaah!” 

The two of them knocked away the crossbow bolts with quick swipes of their swords. 

“Lysa, keep them pinned down!” 

“Roger that, Your Majesty!” 

Lysa pulled back the taut string of her longbow and began firing one arrow after another. Her arrows pierced the guards’ throats, and they crumpled to the ground, clawing desperately at their necks as their screams refused to come out. Lysa kept up her attacks, shooting down as many men as possible. 

A crossbow and a longbow were extremely different when it came to reload time. Crossbows had powerful force to their shots, but they took time to reload. Longbows were weaker, but they had a much faster rate of fire. Now that she was a Swarm, Lysa wielded a huge bow that gave her monstrous strength a wide range. Even if you didn’t consider her new Swarm status, however, Lysa was a far speedier shot than any of the guards. 

“Well done, Lysa! We shall handle the rest!” Sérignan called out, a savage smile on her lips. 

She leapt toward the guards, her black blade swinging through the air. The remaining guards desperately tried to reload their crossbows, but they simply didn’t have enough time. 

“Aaaaah!” 

Sérignan’s battle cry reverberated through the air as she split a guard’s head in two. The guard wobbled to the floor, his body spasming as the crossbow slipped from his hands and clattered on the ground. 

“It’s not over yet!” 

After a graceful landing, Sérignan spun where she stood, jabbing her stinger into the fray. Then she lopped off another guard’s head. 

“Damn you!” 

At that moment, another guard finished reloading his own crossbow and cocked it at Sérignan. He was too close for her to evade or cut down the projectile. 

“I’ll cover for you!” Roland cried, jumping to her defense. 

I let out a sigh of relief. Roland sliced off the guard’s hand, then used the momentum of this slash to cut off the guard’s head. Blood flew through the air, dyeing Roland’s black carapace a dark, metallic red. 

“Nice job, Roland. Let’s keep moving.” 

Sadly, I couldn’t contribute much with my significantly below-average stats. And so, while Sérignan, Roland, and Lysa handled the screaming guards, I turned my consciousness toward the battle going on at the city gates. 

We had already succeeded; the outer gates were open. Hundreds upon thousands of Swarms were rushing through them, flooding the city of Doris. The remaining mages desperately fired off spells, trying to blow the Swarms away along with the gates if they had to. But at this point, their magic wouldn’t stop the flood. 

The army of Swarms entered the city streets. Men who had run away from the gates and the militia had barricaded themselves inside civilians’ homes, using furniture to block off the doors. They made a desperate attempt to resist, shooting crossbows and casting spells through the windows. 

“Crush them,” I ordered. 

My Swarms, faithful creatures that they were, executed my order unflinchingly. The Digger Swarms we’d brought over on the ships burrowed beneath the houses and broke through the floors, devouring everyone inside. Meanwhile, the Ripper Swarms that had passed through the gates broke through the barricaded entrances and set about killing anyone they encountered. 

No one could stop these creatures. The militia was pathetically armed with scythes and hoes, which did nothing to suppress my giant insects. These farmers’ tools bounced off their exoskeletons without doing any damage, leaving the militia exposed to attack. 

The guards failed to reload their crossbows in time, so they only managed to take out a Swarm or two before they were devoured. Even if the Ripper Swarms were hit by a crossbow bolt, they could still charge onward so long as they hadn’t been hit in the vitals. It took three crossbow shots or a blow from a claymore or halberd to permanently down a Ripper Swarm. 

But these humans couldn’t be expected to act calmly in the heat of the battle. Dizzy with fear, the guards fired their crossbows in all directions, and they lacked any larger weapons. 

It was pitiful, really. Leopold’s incompetence as a leader had driven them to this point. I almost had to be grateful for how awful he was; if he’d have anticipated the possibility of our landing on the island and set aside men to deal with us, we might have been the ones tasting defeat. 

All hail Leopold, huh? Thanks to this useless duke, Doris is now ours. 

“Your Majesty, we’ve suppressed the guards.” 

Oh, whoops. 

While I had been occupied with the fighting at the gates and within the city, the duke’s security had been totally wiped out. It happened all too quickly. The other two weren’t hero units like Sérignan, but they were still immensely useful. That was a given, of course. The only member of the Arachnea who wasn’t talented and skilled was me. 

“You’re a skilled individual, Your Majesty. If you weren’t, we would not have won this battle.” 

“I appreciate the compliment, Sérignan.” 

My stats are still as significantly below-average as they were before, though. My intelligence and leadership skills are apparently extremely high, but who’s to say how trustworthy that appraisal really was. 

“If we’re done handling the guards, let’s go meet the duke. We’ve got so much catching up to do with our good friend Leopold,” I said, leading the others into the manor. 

Once we were inside, we looked around for additional guards, but there were none in sight. Evidently, they were all dead. It was honestly a little anticlimactic. When we took down the Kingdom of Maluk, they had at least used that weird jewel of theirs to try to put up a fight. Here, on the other hand, we were only met with silence. 

“No angels or monsters hiding around the corner, are there?” I wondered aloud. 

“The Dukedom of Schtraut doesn’t have any knight orders capable of summoning angels,” Roland answered. “And it doesn’t have anything like the Jewel of Evolution the Kingdom of Maluk possessed. I think their resistance is at an end.” 

“Right. Well, I hope he doesn’t try anything else. I’m not one to look for complications when there’s no need for it; I’m not masochistic like that. I’ll take my easy wins when I can get them.” 

I’d had enough of angels and monsters. Seeing those things crawl out of the woodwork was bad for my nerves. I was all for more human methods of fighting. I’d take battles using primitive weapons over supernatural phenomena like angels every day of the week. 

“Let’s look for the duke, then. He and I need to have a little chat.” 

With that, we began searching for him. 

Come out, come out, wherever you are... I have enough bones to pick with you to build a skeletal model or two... 

“Ripper Swarm, can you pick up on his scent?” 

“It is possible, Your Majesty.” 

“Great. Aren’t you a good boy? Handle it for me, okay?” 

My reliable hound would sniff out this cowardly bird who seemed to want to just fly away. 

Now, let’s have Duke Lorraine come out and greet us, shall we? 

“Lysa, can you keep an eye on the entrance? I wouldn’t want to be surprised by any reinforcements. Use the collective consciousness to call over Ripper Swarms from the streets if you have to.” 

“Leave it to me, Your Majesty. I’ll be on the lookout.” 

Thankfully, there was only one road that led to this building. So long as we kept an eye on that, the enemy shouldn’t be able to reach us. They could decide to take an unpaved road instead to avoid detection, but I doubted any one of them could think that far ahead in this chaos. The soldiers were scattered around town, and their chain of command had long since fallen apart. They were at the Ripper Swarms’ mercy... which didn’t exist, of course. I didn’t anticipate any tricky moves. 

Truth be told, the only reason I really left Lysa to watch over the entrance was because I didn’t want a young girl like her to see what was about to happen. What we had in store was a touch too radical. 

“There is someone ahead,” the Ripper Swarm said. 

“Good. Sérignan, open the door.” 

“By your will, Your Majesty.” She kicked the door open, then entered the room, her sword held high. 

“There you are, Arachnea.” 

Sitting there wasn’t Leopold, but an aging man. He was clad in a Schtraut military uniform, and its decorations informed me that he was a marshal. His expression was heavy with the sort of resignation I had seen countless times before in our conquests. 

“Yes, here we are,” I said. “We’ve got an appointment with one Duke Lorraine. Would you happen to know where we might find him?” 

“I believe he took some soldiers with him and barricaded himself in the wine cellar. Tell me, miss queen of the Arachnea: why did you destroy the Kingdom of Maluk? That was the real catalyst for these events, after all. If you hadn’t done that, things would never have come to this. Where did you come from, and why did you do such a thing?” 

“To answer one of your questions, we came from another world. A place that’s far unlike this world of yours. I don’t believe I have to tell you where our base is and where our journey began.” 

“You’re right. But... another world, you say? Who could have imagined there was a world where monsters like you reign supreme...” 

I was somewhat thankful that he didn’t ask me why we had come to this world. I didn’t know why I’d been brought here, either. 

“As for why we destroyed the Kingdom of Maluk, it’s because they provoked our wrath. Besides that, the Arachnea has a guiding instinct, a never-ending hunger to invade and conquer. We kill, we eat, and we pillage. It runs in our blood.” 

“The never-ending hunger to conquer, eh? You’re quite similar to mankind, then, aren’t you?” 

“What?” 

Did he just compare the Arachnea to the human race? 

“Humans kill their enemies just the same. We humiliate our foes, wanting to deprive them of as much as we possibly can. Our weak conscience keeps this desire in check, but those chains come off far too easily. I’ve seen enough wars to know this to be true.” 

“Yes... You’re right. We aren’t too different from humans. I’d forgotten.” 

Every day, the news back in my world was filled with reports of gruesome wars, murders, rapes, thefts... The list went on and on. Yes, humans could be just as savage as the Arachnea. I had thought we were special, but strangely enough, that was its own sort of conceit. 

“However, I must admit your invasion was a truly barbaric one. You consumed entire villages, cities... entire nations like animals. If you call that instinct, then I can understand. You are indeed a living tidal wave.” He unsheathed the sword at his waist. “Queen of the Arachnea, I am a soldier from Schtraut’s military. I’ve sworn fealty to the Dukedom. To abide by that duty, I will fight.” 

Apparently, the old man had been waiting here all this time because he was resolved to die. 

“Sérignan, be his honorable opponent.” 

“By your will, Your Majesty.” Sérignan stepped forward to meet his challenge. 

“Then let our match...” 

“Begin!” 

The aging marshal swiped with his sword, and Sérignan swung her own down to meet him. Their blades locked together, and hers pushed his aside by the smallest of margins. Sérignan’s blade then slid into the man’s chest, and crimson blood gushed out from the wound. 

“I have done... my duty.” The old man fell to his knees, then collapsed headfirst into the ground, breathing his last. 

“He was an honorable man,” I said. 

“Yes. Worthy of respect,” Sérignan murmured, looking down at his corpse. 

“That was Sebastian de Silhouette,” Roland said, entering the room from behind us. “He was a veteran known for being stubborn, but I didn’t think his obstinance would go this far.” Roland approached the man and gently pressed his lids shut. 

“He said Leopold is in the wine cellar, right? I’ll show you the way. It’s protected by a metal door, but that shouldn’t be much of an issue.” 

I hoped Roland was right, but I got the sinking feeling that things wouldn’t be that simple. 

We approached the wine cellar. Its door was bulky and made of metal, more of a vault door than anything else. 

“The wine cellar also doubles as a shelter in times of emergency, so the entrance is pretty sturdy.” 

“It doesn’t have any escape tunnels, does it?” 

“None that I’ve heard of, but I can’t deny the possibility. This is their final stronghold, after all.” 

It wouldn’t be funny if they slipped away now that we’d come this far. I had to catch Leopold no matter what and teach him a lesson. 

“Sérignan, can you open this door?” 

“I will handle it.” Sérignan drew her corrupted holy sword and faced the door. “Haaaaah!” 

Sérignan’s voice erupted from her lungs as she swung her sword at the door. To my surprise, she actually cleaved it straight in two, sending both halves falling to the ground. The thing was four centimeters thick, so I was shocked her blade had managed to cut through it. 

“I detect multiple beings in this place, Your Majesty. Not all of them are human,” the Ripper Swarm warned me. 

“Be careful, you two. There’s no telling what might be hiding down there.” What the Ripper Swarm said bothered me. 

What’s down there that doesn’t smell human? 

“By your will, Your Majesty.” 

“You can rest easy.” 

Sérignan and Roland advanced into the dark wine cellar. I could definitely sense something lurking down there. An animalistic growl issued from below, as well as the sound of something writhing and squirming. 

I never was good with these kinds of jump-scares... 

“Seriously, be on your guard, there’s something down there—” 

But before I could finish my sentence, an animalistic shriek nearly ruptured my eardrums. 

“Dammit! Didn’t I say no more angels or monsters?!” 

I could hear shelves and bottles crashing down on the floor as the beast came closer and closer. I had no idea what kind of creature could produce that sound, but as it approached, I found myself frozen in fear. 

“Your Majesty, you must get back!” The Ripper Swarm grabbed me and pulled me out of the cellar. 

As I was flung out of the cellar, the beast came into view. It looked like a giant serpent, except it had a rooster’s legs and wings. A substance that looked like noxious smoke was rising from its mouth. 

“That’s a basilisk!” Roland exclaimed, pulling out a black longsword similar to Sérignan’s. 

“A basilisk? You mean one of those venomous snake things?” I asked, vaguely recalling hearing about this creature. 

“Yes, the Dukedom is the basilisks’ natural habitat. Their venom is said to have been used in the past to assassinate dukes. They’re a famous type of monster, and the Adventurers’ Guild even often issues quests to cut down their population.” 

As he spoke, he used his sword to deflect the basilisk’s sharp fangs as it shook its head and lunged at him. This only made the creature angrier, prompting it to attack Roland even more ferociously. 

“Poison, huh? This thing must have been their trump card.” I gazed at the toxic smoke trailing up from the Basilisk’s mouth. “They’d have the enemy carelessly enter the cellar, where the basilisk would poison and eat them. That won’t work against us so easily, though. Don’t mind the poison, you two. Just kill it.” 

“Understood, Your Majesty.” 

Each time the Basilisk breathed out, it exhaled more toxic smoke into the wine cellar. Were any normal human to enter the cellar, they would likely start coughing up blood until they succumbed to the poison. It did nothing to Swarms, however, which had poison resistance as one of their racial skills. They could easily walk through lethal poison and nerve gas without so much as a tingle. 

Roland had become a Swarm, and Sérignan was one to begin with, so the poison didn’t faze them one bit. They only had to face off against this vicious monster. I, on the other hand, wasn’t a real Swarm, so going into that toxic fog would kill me. 

“Haaah!” 

“Graaah!” 

Sérignan and Roland leapt at the basilisk, their swords drawn. 

“Skreeeeah!” The basilisk shrieked as blades sliced into the scales along its torso. 

Despite its injuries, the basilisk kept up a steady stream of attacks. It swiped its claws at Sérignan and tried to sink its fangs into Roland, but they each deflected and blocked the attacks. By now, the basilisk was no longer a threat; it had fallen prey to a stronger predator. 

Sérignan’s and Roland’s attacks were gradually cornering the creature. 

“Roland, let us finish it off!” Sérignan exclaimed as the basilisk staggered backward. 

“Understood, Miss Sérignan!” 

The two of them moved perfectly in sync, driving their blades into the basilisk’s body. Sérignan’s sword pierced its throat, while Roland’s stabbed into its heart. Bloody froth bubbled out of the basilisk’s mouth, spilling onto the cellar floor. 

This creature could be dispatched by mere adventurers, so of course it was no match for Sérignan and Roland. The basilisk pathetically slumped on the ground, spitting up poison, and breathed its final toxic breath. 

“Is it done?” 

“It is, Your Majesty.” Sérignan wiped the basilisk’s blood off her blade. “All that remains is to find Leopold the coward.” 

“Now then, there should be a hidden room somewhere in this wine cellar,” I said. “They probably didn’t stay in the same room as the basilisk, assuming they’re not completely stupid. Ripper Swarm, sniff them out.” 

We were back to the hunt. I entered the wine cellar after waiting for the air to clear, taking a look at a cupboard the basilisk had knocked askew during its rampage. 

“Your Majesty, the smell seems to be coming from behind the cupboard.” 

Apparently, I’d accidentally happened upon the secret entrance. 

“Good job, Ripper Swarm. You probably get in by moving this cupboard aside. See, look at the floor; there are marks that look like something skidded against the ground. Roland, you open the door. Sérignan, Ripper Swarm, cover for him.” 

“By your will.” 

Roland shoved the cupboard away, while Sérignan and the Ripper Swarm prepared to charge into the room. 

“I’m opening it!” Roland exclaimed and whipped open the secret door, his sword at the ready. 

“Yaaargh!” 

As the door swung open, a group of soldiers stormed out of the secret room. Sérignan jumped forward, cutting them down one by one, while the Ripper Swarm used its scythes and fangs to slay the others. 

“W-Wait! Don’t kill me!” whimpered someone from inside as the last soldier fell. 

“Come on out, Leopold. Well, I guess they call you Duke Lorraine now.” 

“Wh-Who are you?!” 

“Grevillea, Queen of the Arachnea. You’re Leopold de Lorraine, right?” 

I didn’t even have to ask; I knew this was the same man who had mocked me during that evening party. A man so cowardly and wretched, Roland couldn’t even consider him a brother anymore. 

“Th-That’s right. I’m Duke Lorraine, the ruler of Schtraut. I-I’ve been preparing to make peace with you. I have a... proposition! Yes! One that will benefit us both. I know neither of us wants this war!” 

“Do you, now? Well, unfortunately for you, I’m not looking for peace. The only thing I want is your head on a pike.” 

With that, the Ripper Swarm dragged Leopold out into the open. 

“Now, what are we going to do with you? I should mention that seeing what you did to Marine really pissed me off. I figured it’d only be fair to get back at you for that. Hmm, how should I go about it though?” 

“Please don’t... I beg of you! I was only trying to protect my country!” 

Maybe he did believe that deep down, but the way he’d gone about it was so awful that it gave our methods of “peacemaking” a run for their money. That aging marshal had said human instinct is kept in check with the small cuffs of one’s conscience, but this man completely lacked anything of the sort. 

Obviously, I wasn’t one to criticize people lacking a conscience, but I still hated this man with a passion. Why had the adventurers and the receptionist who’d treated us well had to die? Why had the people we’d chatted with in the tavern become part of this? Why did this man have to keep killing everyone we became involved with? It was infuriating. 

I hate him. 

“He has to pay,” I concluded. I turned to Roland. “You don’t mind me doing whatever I want with your brother?” 

“Go ahead. He’s no brother to me now.” 

“Roland! Have you forgotten that we’re family?! All the things we did together, everything I’ve done for you! Yet you abandon me?! The God of Light will never forgive that! This is treachery!” 

Roland winced, but not because those words pained him. 

“You were the one to abandon me first, Leopold. You’re the one who caused all of this. I told you to be cautious about impeaching Duke Sharon, but you ignored me. If hell truly exists, I hope you’ll spend eternity down there, stewing in regret.” 

The man-turned-Swarm had no familial love in his eyes. He stared down at Leopold with disgust, as if he were filthy vermin. 

“No objections? Good,” I said, taking a Parasite Swarm out from my sleeve. “Then let’s begin your execution.” 

I always carried a Parasite Swarm with me in case I needed it. And boy, was I going to need it. 

“Sérignan, pin him down and hold his mouth open.” 

Sérignan did as I told her. I unceremoniously shoved the Parasite Swarm between his lips. It slithered into his throat, fixed itself in place, and began extending its tentacles into his brain. 

“Tear off your own nails,” I ordered. 

Leopold did as he was told. He began tearing off his own fingernails, screaming all the while. 

That must be painful, Leopold. A true, agonizing nightmare. But didn’t the people of Marine suffer something much worse? 

“Break your own fingers.” 

“Tear off your ears.” 

“Gouge out your eyes.” 

I gave one command after another, and Leopold obeyed, yelling and weeping all the while. 

“Roland, is this hard for you to watch?” 

“No. This man betrayed his own country and sentenced millions of innocents to their deaths. If anything, what you’ve done isn’t nearly enough.” 

“Really? Wow. You’re one hell of a guy, you know that?” 

If I had to watch a relative go through something like this, I’d try to stop it no matter what. I’m a weak human being at heart. 

“Then this is the last one. Use this sword to tear open your guts, and pull out your own entrails.” 

I handed down his final order. Hurting this man any more would do nothing to bring back the kind people of Marine. This revenge was only a form of self-gratification. It only served to satisfy my sadistic streak. I wasn’t sure if it had been born from the collective consciousness or if it had been a part of me to begin with. 

“Gaaah... Aaagh...” 

Leopold tore his own stomach open and weakly began pulling out his internal organs. As his blood pooled all over the floor, Leopold fell down into it and stopped moving. 

“It’s over now. Revenge really is such a hollow thing,” I whispered, looking down at his mangled body. 

“You have brought him to justice, Your Majesty. This was right.” 

“I can only pray that it was. Well, not to the God of Light, anyway.” 

With that said, I left the wine cellar behind me. It was finally over. 

Or was it...? 

With Leopold dead, the Popedom of Frantz would likely cross the border to occupy the Dukedom’s territory. The task of stopping them fell to me, the queen of the Arachnea. 

It is my... I am... I... 

“Your Majesty?!” 

I’m... really tired all of a sudden...