Soul of Blades - interlude & Chapter 35: The Hidden Queens / Four Options III (Patreon)

Authors note: I'm getting into the habit of writing two chapters in one go. So the posts are ending up much chunkier than usual. Anyways, Enjoy!

The hidden queen

Perched above her immense, transparent womb filled with unborn Spiderlings, the hidden Queen shifted in surprise.

She sensed the minds of the soldiers outside her chamber instantly fade into nothingness. Snuffed out in a blink. Had they killed each other during the rite? She wondered. How pitiful.

Shock engulfed her further as the door to her chamber opened, and an arachnae mind she had not yet sensed entered her chamber. How had she not sensed this one? She could feel every mind in her swarm, every birth and death if she wished, and this one had somehow remained unnoticed until now, but how?

It must be an evolution, she concluded. She studied the strange arachnae's form, yes, definitely a new evolution, she concluded. The queen relaxed and sagged into her throne as she saw two humans enter the chamber along with it. She had requested more humans, she remembered.

They must have been the humans she had commanded her brood to bring. A small batch, only two, but they looked fit and healthy. More delicacies for her unending appetite. Very good, she hoped their cores- mana hearts, as the system called them- would enhance her speed even further.

A swift predator herself, she was obsessed with breeding offspring that epitomized speed and agility. Silently, she admired the traits of races known for their agility, and in her relentless pursuit she had targeted races known for their agility, seeking to claim those qualities for her swarm. She firmly believed that in the art of war, speed and agility were paramount, and in her mind's eye, she saw her brood excelling in speed. Or ‘Dexterity’, as the system called it. Its application had furthered her desires by leagues, painting a clear path to her swarm: her legacy would be a lineage of unmatched swiftness and agility, dominating their realm with precision and speed. She and her brood would become demigods of swiftness- of dexterity.

In the grand, opulent underground throne room, the hidden Queen sat still. She observed Alex and his two companions, the unnamed girl and John, who had just entered her chamber. The door behind them blended seamlessly into the surrounding stone as it shut closed, leaving them enclosed in her domain.

She studied the two humans for a moment, dismissing them as mere food, and then studied the evolved arachnae that accompanied them.

She had never seen such an evolution before, it reminded her of one of her sister-queens, but smaller. Much smaller.

It was a strange evolution, to be sure. The sight touched upon her singular obsession: breeding offspring unparalleled in speed and agility. In her relentless pursuit, she had meticulously selected traits from races known for their agility, crafting her brood into the epitome of predatory swiftness before they were even born. Humans were a necessary first meal for her young to gain some semblance of sentience. A good start.

The evolved Arachne that accompanied the humans- strangely pristine and conscious humans, the queen noted- had experienced an evolution that had caused all eight of her legs to fuse and intertwine into two powerfully thick limbs, like her soldiers. Except, her arms had fused too- four arms becoming two powerful ones- condensed in a way that hid their true capabilities. The hidden Queen suspected that this young one could most likely display powerful bursts of speed while using the limbs as equally powerful weapons. But the thin, almost invisible seams on the surface of the girl's legs and arms suggested the possibility that two legs could become eight once more. Perhaps it was a skill?

And the wrappings that covered a majority of the young arachnae female’s form and features were strange.

The queen could sense her surroundings in myriad ways, as all arachnae could. She could sense vibrations through substrate, feel the subtle shifts of the currents in the air through the microscopic hairs that covered every inch of her form, detect chemical signals in the environment through specialised organs, and he many legs could feel the texture, shape, and vibrations of her chamber.

The young arachnid girl’s wrappings meant nothing to the queen, she could see the girl as if she had no coverings at all, as all arachnae could. So why did the girl cover herself? Small sections of her form could be seen beneath frayed webbing, and each resembled a human's skin identically, with seams and hidden layers of carapace only an arachnae’s acute senses could detect.

It must be because of her form that so resembles a human- she must be ashamed, the queen reasoned.

But it was a good evolution. A powerful one that made her as strong as any soldier, it should be a point of pride.

“Congratulations on your evolution.” The queen called without words. “I see you have brought the humans I requested.”, her gargantuan mind sounded like thunder through the Hivemind’s thought-space. The young Arachnae flinched at the message but did not falter. She straightened her back unperturbed, and the spark of her mind blazed brighter at the queen's thought-message. To the queen, it looked like a sputtering flame; brighter than most others within her hive, with strange colours and contours- but not brighter by much.

“The humans. Bring them closer.” She called out once more.

“No, they’re mine.” The young one replied with tightening fists, at the last word her thought-voice shook the mindspace subtly as a Queen’s would. Was that a Queen’s order? The hidden queen wondered. Strange, lesser arachnae were not capable of giving orders. Whatever it was, it was a pitiful imitation.

Time stood frozen as they communicated at the speed of electric synapses; the speed of enhanced thought. None moved through the stalemate, the soldiers observed, vibrating with imperceptible rage, and the luminous moss arachnae cowered in fear, unable to disobey the queen's orders and flee as they truly wished to.

“Oh?… No?” The queen laughed, and a sound like chiming bells and chittering hordes washed over the minds of all present. “They’re ‘yours’? Are you an evolved drifter? That is new, and new is good.” The ground shook as the queen shifted to gaze at them with her many eyes. “Everything here is mine, drifter.” Her thought-message blazed. “Everything in this land, including your body and your humans.”

She pointed a large finger towards the group and spoke with thoughts “Your evolution will be tested, studied, and recreated before you are disposed of. Your humans will become a feast. Your achievements will strengthen the hive, you should be proud. Bring the humans closer. That one looks strong.” The queen's head tilted to focus on Alex’s frozen form. 

“Fine, I will bring them myself.” She released a mental sigh that felt like a cool breeze running through the minds of those near, then she began to reach towards Alex, John, and the girl, her gargantuan porcelain joints clicking as they stretched across the chamber.

***

Alex

As soon as Alex realized his surroundings. His attention flashed in all directions, soaking in information and assessing his options.

The queen was stationary on a throne of opulence, webbing, metals, and treasures, and she was large, nestled with a transparent womb filled with countless tiny cores of unborn Spiderlings. The top half of her body appeared like a porcelain doll with beautiful, near-perfect features, save for the twelve eyes arrayed around her forehead like constellations, and the dark, thin lines that patterned across her form, detailing the segments of deceptive carapace that shone reflectively in the light of the chamber. She had eight long, thick, spindly, and hairy limbs, each able to stretch the width of the cavern. The womb was many times larger than she was and seemed to root her to her throne as a trunk would root a tree. He mentally sighed in relief at the sight. She did not seem like an immediate threat, but the length of her large limbs caused him to pause. He shifted imperceptibly, his back touching the wall, and his grip on his blade tightened until his knuckles turned white. The words ‘Mana Blade’ were on the tip of his tongue- if she made a move he wouldn’t take any chances.

If she made a move he’d make the monstrous thing regret it.

For a second, the queen seemed content to just stare at him and his group, for some reason. All three held their breath in anticipation, none of them wanted to break the stalemate and initiate hell. Even Alex found himself hesitating at the prospect.

So she’s just going to watch us? He thought, still surveying the contours of the room to find an escape route. Ok, he thought, so the way out has to be through one of those hallways, we just have to kill the soldiers and the queen bolt before their evolution ritual ends. He doubted his companion's ability to survive the encounter, it made him hesitant to act. He knew that the moment he acted, the two of them would most likely die.

But at some point, he would have to. How do I guarantee their survival? The question rattled his thoughts as he desperately searched for an answer amid the stalemate.

His eyes flicked to the queen's body and finally noticed her swords. She had two weapons close to her body- a sword of pure gold and a sword of smithed bronze, both blazing with mana. They looked somewhat dangerous to Alex’s Outer Vision, but he was pleased to see that the queen had not reached for them. They lay on the ground beside her womb, ignored as she swallowed beast cores and studied him in turn. She reached towards a metal pile beside her and retrieved a core of mana, consuming it with relish.

Arachne soldiers stood guard around her, three m in total, as silent monstrous knights, myriad swords sheathed. We’ll have to deal with them, first, Alex decided. I'll take two, and John and the kid will have to take out the other one, somehow. The prospects for his companion's survival looked grim, but they would have to make it work, somehow.

The chamber lit further as dozens of seemingly harmless luminous Moss Arachnae entered and left with each breath, each lighting paths to execute unknown tasks required of them.

An Arachnae soldier entered the chamber through one of its many pathways, accompanied by a congregation of glowing Moss variants, but this soldier was different from the rest. Its chitin armour held a deep green hue, and light seemed to emanate from between the gaps in its carapaced helm and torso- a contained luminance. Antenna crowned its head with twists and splits, forming something akin to antlers. It joined the other Arachnae soldiers and stood at ease, Silent with their nightly forms. Its movements appeared rigid and forced.

That one’s clearly evolved, but how dangerous can a stringy Moss variant really be? Alex decided he would target it first with swiftness- to remove any unpredictable elements. But now there were four soldiers present for them to face, alongside the Queen. The quest had claimed she would be defenceless, is this what the system considered defenceless? Alex's gut sank further. So I'll take two, and John and the kid will have to face two? The probability of his companion's survival had just dipped further

There had been humans present also, but they had seemed incoherent and barely cognizant. They had stood and sat as if in a daze, and had barely begun to protest until they belatedly realised Queen's grasping palms had engulfed them. Some of them hadn't even screamed as they'd been consumed. They were under the influence of some lesser form of venom, and the mouth and fangs of all Arachnae present would have to be avoided like a plague, Alex decided in an instant.

There was a pile in one corner of the room, slightly to the right of the Queen. Alexis' eyes widened as he realized it was items taken from the town: swords, armour, and a pile of metals of all colours, interspersed with glowing cores and tiny red gems that sparkled like fireflies, reflecting the light of the chamber.

A gasp escaped Alexis' lips as he realized he was looking at about 20 healing potions, nestled beside the Queen. He swallowed hard.

That was it. That was how all three of them could survive the encounter. He would have to make it to the potions.

A rumble shook the chamber.

Alex was pulled from his concerns by the sight of the queen's large hand raised. She pointed a finger towards his group and spoke with a delicate voice that croaked as if barely used.

Still, her words swept across the chamber, and all the arachnid beings present shifted in discomfort at her command. It was as if her voice affected them in some unseen way, the sound of her words appeared uncomfortable to the surrounding Arachnae in a way that Alex couldn't fathom. Alex noted the girl beside him had subtly shifted with discomfort too, in perfect sync with the surrounding Arachnae.

Shit. He thought, she’s one of them, isn’t she?

“Come, humans,” the queen's voice bounced through the walls of a chamber as a church organ would, demanding obedience. As she spoke she stretched a carapaced limb, thick as a tree heading in their direction. The limb reached for them, grasping, fingers as thick as men, splayed “GREET ME,” she said.

***

At the sight of titanic fingers reaching toward him, Alex immediately crushed the dark crystal in his palm. To be honest, he should have done it before entering the room, but he hadn’t given up on the second quest despite their attempted escape. he had planned on waiting until they found an evolved creature before deciding on whichever skill the crystal held that would allow him to counter and slay it.

But they had found something much worse.

The world went dark as Alex's consciousness was transported, and he found himself strapped for time once more, swimming in a sea of systemic inky blackness and forced to make instant decisions with consequences that would fray the lines between life and death.

That is to say, Alex had to pick a skill, and whatever he picked would have to be chosen fast as hell.

[Skills limited by differing race]

[…]

[Skills Altered for host race compatibility]

[System Message: Choose one of 4 Skills]

[Lesser-Hivemind (Passive): Grant mutual mental cognition and communication between yourself and accepting beings of your choosing. The number of hive mind members will be limited to skill mastery. Current mastery: 0% - 1 member]

[Beastial Senses - Arachnae (Passive): become highly attuned and sensitive to vibrations transmitted through surfaces such as the ground, plants, or the walls. detect air currents and vibrations and sound waves, chemical signals in your environment, and gain a detailed, almost three-dimensional view of your surroundings that transcends several mundane materials and limitations]

[Predation (Active - 5 minutes): consume the flesh of your enemies to gain temporary stay boosts, by consuming the the flesh of living foes gain a chance at temporary stat gain. Consuming the hearts of living foes will guarantee temporary time-limited boosts to your stats. Stronger foes will yield better and more guaranteed results. High mastery will yield better and more guaranteed results. at mid to lower mastery, the consumption of beast cores will result in mana overload and subsequent death]

[Abyssal Chitin - Arachnae (Active - 5 minutes): consume a large portion of mana to transmute your skin into a layer of dense Chitin. This skill grants the ability to alter your exoskeleton at will, morphing your body's surface shape into different forms. Lower levels of mastery will produce limited shapes, Higher levels of mastery can range from growing exoskeletal constructs to sprouting additional limbs for added defense or offense.]

As the shadow of the Queens grasping digits loomed, Alex reviewed his options in a blink and instantly made his decision.