Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 1230: Centipedes And Feelings Of Love
Chapter 1230: Centipedes And Feelings Of Love
Many areas of Durter had been struggling with a centipede infestation lately. Not the usual, normal kind of the many-legged critter… When a denizen of Durter mentioned the word ‘Centipede’, it referred to an invasive, dangerous species that could be likened to a sort of ant colony. They acted in unison together, dug tunnels, and had a queen–A colony could only have a single queen. The queen could not be replaced, and if she were to die… Then her brood would enter a state of berserk until they were killed, or starved to death due to no longer feeding themselves.
They would thrash and attack anything that isn’t kin without respite. Nonetheless, when facing an infestation by the centipedes, the only good method was to locate the queen and slay her. It might cause chaos for a while, but it beat having to deal with endless amounts of the critter.
The centipedes were divided into several castes–Just like ants–With each caste having its own sub-categories… The basic ones were the same as ants. Workers, who dug tunnels, gathered food, marked explored terrain, and tended to the grubs…
…And soldiers, who handled direct threats through force and overwhelming numbers.
Both groups had a great deal of variants amongst them, but the most well-known to inhabitants of Durter were a kind of soldiers, who, unlike their oversized fellows, were only thirty centimeters in length at most, but were often even smaller than this… These special soldiers had the freaky ability to create clones of themselves when eating food.
The clones could also clone themselves as well, meaning that a single one of these creatures could turn into hundreds, or even thousands, within just a few seconds–Of course, there was a limit, and the original one would eventually die by itself from using this ability, taking the clones with it…
However, it did not change the fact that, for the little while it was around, it could cause incredible damage–Its bite might be nothing, but as a legion, they could devour a person down to the bone… Its venom may be feeble, but it would kill nonetheless when a nigh endless amount was poured into your bloodstream.
In short, it was terrible, and was only one of the many problems centipedes could cause in Durter, although the regular centipede was not exactly smart, capable of running in circles if a pheromone trail left by another of its kind ‘told’ it to do so.
On rare occasions, though. The queen might get involved, and a queen was otherwise smarter than her endless mass of drones, she could direct them to use more refined strategies and tactics… Though this was not the most feared ability of a queen.
Although a queen’s power to produce and lead countless amounts of centipedes was frightening, the one ability that had made this species of giant critters truly feared and reviled amongst the people of the underground continent was its ability to produce a prince–A single one of them.
The name did not tell much, especially since there was no concept of succession in a centipede colony… Instead, the prince was actually more of a unique soldier centipede. A queen would need to halt egg production for a full month to nurture and lay an egg capable of giving birth to a prince. She would be left feeble and weakened for a long while afterwards as well.
A prince was unpredictable. There was no telling what one would turn out to be, what it could look like, or what its abilities would be. Often, a prince was not much to worry about for the ancestral continent of Durter, but once. Just once in the past… A prince had been born with exceptional strength and the ability to simply cut through anything its mandibles touched.
In simple terms, not only was it powerful, but no defences could stand against it. It had slaughtered its way through countless people before being smitten down. Crushed by a single stalactite conjured by none other than the Hierophant-Queen of today, Artratac Dursol, who at the time, had still been but a mere nun.
This story, Vwoldtnir knew it well. He had heard it directly from Artratac Dursol’s mouth. Of course, since it was the main reason she had gotten the occasion to become the Hierophant-Queen in the first place.
She was rather humble about it, though. She knew very well that many others could have defeated the prince back then. She had just so happened to be the first with the means to do it to run into the reviled creature. Nonetheless, for a young nun whom no one had ever heard of to appear and utterly slaughter a threat that had managed to claim the lives of several powerful combatants was far from nothing.
When Artratac Dursol had to compete with other men and women for the title of Hierophant, she hadn’t thought that it was possible for her to attain it–Despite the fact that in the end, she claimed the mitre with relative ease. It wasn’t that the other participants had been weak. It was just that, without her realising, she was actually quite a big deal.
It was to the point that people were wholeheartedly believing that she was the chosen one, and that she was destined to bring the whole of Durter closer to the earth they worshipped…This belief had stuck to this day, resulting in Artratac Dursol being massively popular with the people–Except the archbishops.
Vwoldtnir was not a fool. He had long noticed that the council wasn’t just uncomfortable with his presence, or his relationship with their Hierophant-Queen… No, they seemed to have a certain… Not quite a dislike, but a wariness for Artratac.
They didn’t quite trust her to make the right decisions in certain instances. They viewed her as too optimistic, not pragmatic enough. That was despite the fact that the mole woman had been the leader for a very long time now, and had done just fine through many crises and issues.
Vwoldtnir did see what it was that they were worrying about. They were concerned that if an especially difficult dilemma came her way, she wouldn’t be able to actually make a choice… The ghoul lord, while understanding their point of view, couldn’t help but realise that this was an idea one could only have by knowing Artratac on a very superficial level. Vwoldtnir had spent a lot of time with the mole woman, and he could confidently say that the scenario the old archbishops were imagining would never come to pass.
For some reason, they rarely had a direct interaction with their Hierophant-Queen, and when they did, it was purely for official matters and nothing else. As such, they did not actually know what she thought or believed. They were only aware of what she proclaimed in public or would most often mention in passing.
As such, considering how little they actually knew about her, the decision–They thought–They had taken in secrecy was baffling.
The archbishops thought they were safe having their little meetings in a hidden, reinforced room, hidden away from everything else. They were not. Vwoldtnir had been listening to their every word by making good use of undead synesthesia, and his natural capabilities as a ghoul meant to dig and exist underground.
He would get rid of all unnecessary senses, immerse himself in the ground, and listen to their every word through the vibrations caused by their voices against the stone. Thanks to undead synesthesia, the slightest bit he sensed was translated into his other senses–Specifically, hearing.
The Gravelord had heard every word and every bit of scheming they had partaken in. He was not exactly happy about that. At this point, it was no secret that he was rather… Fond of Artratac Dursol.
There was no shame in enjoying the company of a living. She would become an undead eventually anyway… And also, he wasn’t the only Gravelord who found the appearance of some living women alluring. Dracula and Nosferatu did too!
Regardless, Artratac Dursol was his ideal woman in literally every aspect. Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming power he wielded as a Gravelord, Vwoldtnir was nonetheless rather inept at detecting signs of attraction from the opposite sex–And the Hierophant-Queen was not obvious in how she felt about it when it came to affection.
She was a nun basically all of her life as well, so she wasn’t going to be direct about it. Even if, as Hierophant, she was absolutely allowed to have a partner, it did not change the fact that she had been a firm and unyielding follower of chastity for a long time.
Vwoldtnir felt that he was going to have to make the first step, and now that the archbishops were basically committing an act of treason, he might just flip their plan around and find the occasion to express his cold, rotten feelings of love to the lovely, pint-sized mole woman.
He couldn’t just come out and accuse the archbishops without proof, so he would have to be patient and attentive for something to come up…
