Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 1235: Talking Head

The archbishops did not try to push things any further, leading the centipede attacks to decline until they vanished altogether. Peace had been restored to Durter, and as far as the perpetrators were concerned, no one knew of their involvement in the matter. They had gotten away with it, but had still utterly failed to complete their objective–if anything, their plan had not only gone haywire, but it had also backfired. Accomplishing the opposite of what they set out to do.

In short, the council of archbishops was in shambles. They could only wait and hope that things would turn out all right…

In the meantime, following his overwhelming victory in front of a holy crowd, Vwoldtnir returned to the nice little dwelling area he was granted here in Durter. With a flick of his clawed finger, he momentarily opened a small rift in the air, causing something to fall right into his grasp.

"Hello. I am surprised you are still alive and full of vitality, you know?"

"Unhand me. Vile abomination!"

"Oh, and you can even talk still… How curious a creature you are. You only hatched… What? A month ago at most? You are already impressively powerful. I don't know whether it is best to keep you alive and let you grow, or to make you an undead right now–But I assume that the former is the best right now"

"I will tear you apart"

"Having a goal is a big portion of one's journey, so I am happy that you set yours so high"

"Bastard"

"Come, Mister Prince. Do you have a name I can refer to you by? If not, what about-"

"I was named Millepaat by my queen"

"Millepaat? It does have a nice ring to it, I suppose. Listen, when I chopped off your head, and you somehow survived, you were instantly promoted from prince to living soldier. I intend on sending you to a very nice junior of mine, his name is Loimos, and he has had much success in all of the people he has trained–Both living and undead. One just needs to look at the roster of lieutenants of the Vanguard to see it"

"What makes you think I will follow any order?"

"I know I am rather nice, and I restrain my presence, but I could have shattered your soul if I had wanted to, alright? You are living much weaker than me. I only need to will it for you to die. Do you understand? Loimos can do the same, and I am sure you'll find him to be someone you could learn from, Mister Millepaat"

"Why do you call me 'Mister'?"

"That's my way of being polite"

"Polite? By calling me something lesser than I am? I am not a common prince!"

"Is there a special title for powerful princes?"

"No. That's not what I mean. I am a rare variant. I am a princess. Not a prince. Just like my mother before me. I am set to grow into a queen! The most powerful queen of all time!"

Vwoldtnir scratched his neck. He had not even considered the possibility that the centipede was actually female. She had a deep, guttural voice as well… But now that he knew, it might be due to the fact that she was a monstrous centipede–Or maybe she had eaten male sapients first and based her speech on them…

"Oh. I did not realise. Do tell me… Is this your normal voice, or did you make it up after devouring a few people?"

"I tried copying the voice of the first sapient I ate. Why do you ask?"

"That explains it, then. Listen, if you want people to address you as a princess, you'll need to not sound like the most masculine devil from hell. Male and female sapients usually sound different from one another, and you sound like a male, ergo, people are going to assume that you are a prince instead of a princess"

The centipede–Who was currently just a disembodied head with little legs wiggling around–Seemed to think for a few moments as she went silent. She couldn't see anything on account of having had her eyes scorched away completely by Vwoldtnir's blinding light, but despite it all, she was still perfectly fine.

Quite literally at that, the undead could tell she was brimming with life force and vitality. Everything that wasn't her well-protected brain was seemingly unneeded for survival. She breathed through her chitin, and for some bizarre reason, her brain was beating like a heart, pumping blood around.

If left alone, she would actually recover to her best shape. Not to mention that when Vwoldtnir had beheaded her, he had felt the familiar stream of experience coming to feed the system–She could very easily fake her death to come back stronger.

Unfortunately for the princess, she had faced an undead who was able to very easily tell that she was not dead despite the dozens of lethal injuries she had been inflicted… Regardless, her survivability was impressive, so Vwoldtnir had swiftly caught her rolling head with a rift, certain that she could potentially make for an incredible asset.

If sent to train under Loimos, the ghoul lord was positive that she could very well turn into an especially prominent trump card in future endeavours.

"Is it better like this?"

After a minute or so, she spoke again, but in a distinctively feminine voice. She sounded like she was speaking through a cheese grater, but that just seemed to be a quirk of being a centipede.

"Definitely better. Listen, I'm going to put you back through a rift, but instead of me, you'll be meeting Loimos. He'll probably seem intimidating at first, but the actual threat will be the two women who follow him around! They are legitimately insane, and highly jealous–It is more obvious with the blonde vampire named One, but the other? She hides her thoughts well. Maliah is a natural-born killer. Be careful around both of them, but especially Maliah, alright?"

"Wait"

The princess spoke up.

"What about my mother? I can not leave my mother's side. She expended too much energy laying my egg. She needs my support"

"Don't worry about her, everyone will be undead eventually-"

"My mother is special like me. She should stay by my side"

Vwoldtnir tilted his head.

"How special are we talking, exactly?"

"We are only different in our appearance and special abilities as princesses–My mother was actually born with two abilities. One is to change her appearance at will. This is how she evaded detection for so long. When transformed, her presence as a centipede queen disappears as well, and also… Unlike other queens, she has no limits on the number of eggs she can lay"

"Other queens need to grow stronger to lay more eggs per laying cycle, my mother does not abide by any cycle. As long as she has food, she can lay eggs endlessly, and it also allows her to lay more than a single prince egg"

"I am not her first creation, and I won't be her last. You want strength, right? My mother is an invaluable asset if you truly desire power. Once I mature and become a queen, my egg production might also be special. With her, you will have the possibility of not just an endless amount of workers and soldiers, or even princes–But more princesses who will grow into queens"

Vwoldtnir looked down at the disembodied bug head.

"...You are certainly more glib-tongued than I would have expected… Especially since I saw you enraged at a slight pushback previously"

"Now. How I am in a fight, and how I am outside of one are two completely different things. I lose my cool a little when I am fighting. My devourer side drives me crazy when the prospect of high-quality food is right in front of me"

"I see… Very well. You make a very compelling argument… Where is your mother?"

"She is not far from the place you mutilated me in. She was hiding a small insect"

Millepaat spoke a bit more about the accomplishments of her mother. For example, her transformation ability actually worked just fine even when she was carrying a prince egg within her. In this manner, she would turn into an unnoticeable critter, sneak up on another centipede queen, and then transform back to swiftly kill her kin, and subsequently take over her soldiers and workers, forcing them to fetch food in her stead until they died off due to starvation or dehydration.

Then rinse and repeat… That was how she kept a low profile and focused solely on nurturing prince eggs–Until she finally got Millepaat. The best offspring so far.

Indeed, Millepaat's mother–Who apparently called herself Sidehuit–Was quite the uncommon queen.

Quietly, Vwoldtnir returned to the site of battle, and let Millepaat guide him–Somehow, this wasn't actually a trap as the Gravelord had been expecting. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

As such, Millepaat and Sidehuit–Who wasn't talkative in the least–Were sent through a rift, directly to Loimos.