IMPERIUM INSECTUM

 

 

Theresa slumped onto the bed as the last of my eggs went into her.

“Fuck. That was fun.” I threw myself back onto my bed as I took a moment to rest. “ A cigarette would be amazing right now.”

“I'm sure it would be,” Penn said as she headed towards me. Making sure to step over the many pools of white fluid that had made it onto the floor.

“Well, diva, I have to say that was quite something to watch,”  I chuckled. “What? Never seen people properly go at it before?”

Her face went slightly pink. “No, not at all. It’s just….. Would it have hurt you to give me a warning beforehand?”

“ha!” I said, getting up and off the bed. “Why should I? This is my home. And besides, you said you wanted to see everything well; here you go.”Before Penn could retort, I hurried her out of the room to make space for the nurses to clean and get the girls ready.

“You could have just asked me to leave, you know that?”

“I could have. You are right about that.”

Penn rolled her eyes. “whatever. What the plan now, diva?”

That’s a good question. Until these 4 are finished cooking, there isn’t much to do except...

“I’m gonna survey my surroundings and determine what I’m dealing with. If I can, I want to expand my territory to everything in a 2-mile radius from here.”

“That's ambitious diva.”

I gave her a smile. “That’s only the tip of my ambition.”

“Ooh, exciting. I'd love to hear more.”

“Besides that, what are you going to do?”

“Me?” She said with a confused face. “Can't I come with you?”

“Sorry, I'm afraid. This is a solo mission.”

She let out an understanding sigh. “ With the nature of the task, I guess it is easier to do solo. I have seen a lot, so I'll start a full write-up. Maybe I'll study that substance I collected. Do you have a room I can use?”

I pointed her towards the store room and started making my way out of the cave. A basic understanding of what’s around us would prove to be helpful. And besides, I need to begin searching for the city of Spirits. The sooner I can find it, the sooner I can act.

 I kept walking until I finally made it out of the cave. Azuura and the workers had started on the wall. Progress was really slow, but progress was being made.

<I best get to work then>

I flapped my wings a few times, and soon, I was in the air, flying circles around the hive. From my first few rotations, there was nothing to see, just a dense canopy of trees blocking the view of the ground.

<This is hopeless. I guess I have no other choice.>

I flew a bit closer to the ground to get a better look. I wanted to avoid being too low because it helps keep me out of trouble, but the trees are too damn thick. I flew a bit closer until, finally, the trees opened up.

The first big thing I noticed was that only certain beasts lived in certain territories. North of the hive, it was predominately only Mana beasts. They roamed the areas freely and easily, hunting in packs and fighting amongst themselves. Good, that’s a sign there is no distinct leadership among them; however, the downside was that there are A LOT of them, so conquering that part will be a slog.

The South, on the other hand, was different. That territory was owned by these weird airborne creatures; They were like bats but bigger. I don’t have much to say about them right now. Our air power is quite weak, so taking this territory will be a challenge. However, individually, they do not look strong.

Now, the east was interesting as I could not see anything there except for the odd wild animal, but what I did notice was a large amount of spider silk latched onto the trees and ground.

<I have a feeling the east is going to be very interesting for me>

And finally, the West. This part has me the most concerned. I don’t know what’s in there, but my instincts started screaming like a fire alarm telling me to get out. This place was off-limits until I got stronger

<What an intersting place you made home diva. Surrounded on all 4 sides.>

 

 

 

That last one filled me with dread. I think I'll tackle that one last as for what I'm going to go for first. I think I will start with the north with the mana beasts and then take on the east or South. Either way, I will have to build up my forces and unlock some unit types.

<Of course, it is never simp->

“HELP!”

My head snapped in the direction of the cry. It came from somewhere below me. Another scream came, this time still below and a bit away. I flew down and into the forest canopy.

“KIKIKIKIKIKI”

Several demented laughs hit my eardrums. Just What the hell have I walked into? I Perched myself on a tree branch. If I'm right, I should be slightly ahead of them. On cue, the sound of heavy footsteps approached me. I looked in the direction of the sound just in time to see something fast blitz its way past me. However, at nearly the same speed, several green creatures went past.

< it looks like I've bumped into a chase.> I quickly got up and moved forward. They were fast, both of them. But I was able to keep up.

The green things kept on laughing as they gave chase to whatever was ahead of them. The chase weaved left and right as the person being chased tried to shake its pursuers but to no success. The green creature would remake any distance it gained in a few seconds. Something or someone is going to have to give here, and I have a feeling it won't be the green creatures.

*WAAAAGHAAAAAAAAA!” A loud guttural scream echoed through the Forrest

<well, it sounds like this chase has come to an end>

I slowed down as well. Trying my hardest to remain silent. I quietly moved to another tree above, giving me a good vision of the situation. The thing being chased looked like a cross between a rabbit and a human. Hence its speed. I have seen a few of these demi-humans before in Doonvatel, but what is one doing all the way out here? The demi wore light clothing and had a large satchel over its shoulders. He doesn’t look dressed for adventuring. Does he have a death wish or something?

“Shit.. too thin it would end….”

He tried to get up and move, but all that did was cause him to yelp in pain. Unfortunately for him, he had accidentally caught his leg around a tree root, and well, because of his high speed, he might have pulled it out of his socket, dislocating it.

The green figures sniggered some more as they stalked up to him, holding old rusty blades. Yep, he was doomed.

<What to do? What to do?>

Now I could sit here and enjoy the entertainment of this man getting carved to pieces by whatever those are or…..

I leapt off the high tree branch and landed with a loud thud. Letting them all know i was here.

“Hello there”

The green creatures all turned to face me and started grunting wildly. The creatures were tiny, the tallest being around 2 feet tall. Their eyes were big, frog-like, and their ears were huge, nearly going past the back of their heads. It’s a miracle they didn’t hear me with knife ears like that. Thinking back, I think I remember seeing these somewhere…

I continued to study the creatures. Their skin was a patchwork of different shades of green, and their body was scrawny with large pot bellies. They wore torn pieces of fabric as makeshift clothing. Are they a primitive type of species?

“WUIAGHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!” I looked to the side to see one of them jumping at me with a dagger.

My tail instantly coiled and shot forward like a cobra as it speared into one of the creatures. I guess one of them got bored of me just watching.

 

Guts hung off my tail as the goblin's body twitched briefly for a few moments before all the life left its eyes. I looked towards the others and gave them a toothy smile. The other remaining creatures hissed as they drew their weapons. I did a quick count. 9 in total. Nothing I can't handle here.

My tail flexed and curled like a snake as it danced around my body. I could see it in their eyes. They wanted to attack but were too scared to do so. Hahaha. Too easy. Instantly, I flicked my tail, sending the corpse towards one of the goblins at speed. The attack put them in a state of confusion, allowing me to move. My pincers shot out as I lunged towards another one of the goblins who was distracted with the body. Too easy. My pincer curled back and instantly shot forward and buried itself in its brain, killing it instantly and sending brain matter all over the place. Keeping up the momentum, I moved to another target a few feet away.

“WAAAGHAAA!” they all screamed as they focused back on me. The goblins charged at me with weapons fully drawn

< Let's put this body to the test, shall we?> I planted my feet into the ground and instantly killed all my speed in under a second; in that same moment, I leapt into the air. The move was so fast that he lost sight of me.

<Hahaha, I'm so much faster than before!> Before the goblin could realise where I was, I landed on top of him, sending him headfirst into the dirt and breaking a few bones.

“WAAA-“

A Loud bone-curdling crunch rang out through the forest as my foot crushed his skull, causing a small explosion of noxious purple blood, grey matter and bone in a small radius around us.

I looked towards the others who were paralysed with fear. Good. They knew they were out of their depth. I continued, and one by one, they easily fell as they got decapitated, beheaded, and maimed. The once-green forest floor was now stained purple with blood and guts. In that moment, all the acts of violence I wanted to do. All the blood lust I was holding back ever since I entered that damn town all off it came out in one brief moment of violent ecstasy

“WA..wa…w-ACK!”

Tears welled up in the goblin's eyes as my tail wrapped around his neck. At the same time, my 4 arms grabbed each one of his limbs and started pulling. The goblin screamed in agony as I started to pull harder. Those sounds it makes, and those faces they are so…. Funny. I let out a tiny laugh. Look at him! His face is just so funny! I started to chuckle as the sounds of bones popping and skin tearing filled the woods. The more I heard and saw, the more I laughed until I was laughing like a clown. I kept on pulling and pulling his body, kept stretching until-

*RIIIIIIIPPP*

The sound of meat being torn and bones being broken rang out to my ears like music as I held all 4 parts of him high like a trophy.

< I've missed this so much!>

 

I dropped the pieces of meat onto the ground as I enjoyed the moment. The scent of iron in the air, the blood dripping from my claws and pincers. It reminds me of when I was ambushed by those bandits all that time ago.

<Why did I ever think to leave this fun place>

*Shuffle*

“Don’t think I forgot about you, bunny man!”

I turned to the side to see the demi-human staring at me wide-eyed.

“You…..talk.” the bunny man managed to spit out

I chuckled as I walked towards him.

“I can do a lot more than talk”, the demi-human gulped as I arrived beside him. His body shook with fear as he tried to compose himself. My tail curved around and snaked up his body towards his neck.

“Now tell me….. What is vermin like you doing in my forest…”

…….

Pov: Bunny demi-human

I tried my hardest not to shake as this unknown monster dripping in blood and guts approached me. I'm not sure what's worse, getting ripped apart by whatever demon this is or getting sliced up by those goblins.

“Answer my question, Bunny! What are you doing here?”

This monster stood so tall. How the hell had no one seen it before? I can't think of any bestiary mentioning this thing exista-“

“ARAGHHHHHHAAAAAA!”

I screamed as searing pain went across my skin where its tail hit me.

“Talk! My patience is very thin.”

“Okay! Okay okay! I’ll talk, I'll talk.” before I could react its tail moved until it was a hair away from my eye.

“if you don’t start talking, you will lose an eye, do you understand.”

“Sorry! I'm sorry it won't happen-“ The tail got closer again. Sending my heart into overdrive

“I’M A SCOUT FOR THE ADVENTURE GUILD!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “I was searching for points of interest in the adventure guild! Please pull it away!”

“Points of interest like?”

“Errrahhh ANYTHING! It could be rare herbs or flowers, animal dens, dungeons, or anything else. PLEASE CAN YOU BACK THE BLADE AWAY” The blade started to press gently against my eye. I fought every instinct I had to back away, as any movement could cause me to lose my eye.

“Do you keep a log of these points of interest?”

“Y..y…yeah!” I moved my hands to my brown satchel to pull it out.

“DON’T MOVE!” My hands froze. The monster walked over to the satchel and started to rummage through it until she found a green log book.

“Is this it?”

“Y-yes” She flicked through many of the pages. What was she looking for? What could a creature like this want from a scout journal? She kept on flicking until she stopped at the penultimate page. Suddenly, the air around me went cold as her face became more demonic and filled with anger.

“You bastard” She turned the book around to face me.

“When did you find this?!”

“aghaaaaaaa!” I screamed as the blade went into my eye a bit more

“STOP FUCKING WAILING OR ILL FUCKING SKIN YOU ALIVE”

“SORRYEEEE. I'm SO SORRY. PLEASE DON’T HURT ME. I won't DO IT AG- AGHHAK,” I Yelped as her foot planted itself in my stomach. Nearly causing me to throw up everything I ate in the past 5 days.

The monster got low and close to my ear.

“If you don’t, start giving me answers instead of yapping. I will tear you apart piece by piece slowly, do you understand.           Now tell me when you found this. She raised the book again. It was my last entry before going back. I found a large wall in the forest. It was well camouflaged, and I flagged it as a possible dungeon or anomaly in the forest.

“ Around 24 hours ago or so.”

“ Good. Was that hard? Now tell me, are you the only one who knows about this.”

“Yes! All of us scouts work alone.”

“Excellent. Have any other scouts stumbled by this place yet?”

“I'm not sure? But I think I'm the first.”

“Hmmm.” The monster pulled the blade away, allowing me to breathe finally. The cold air vanished, and her face softened.

“you have been a useful demi-human. So for that, I won't kill you.”

Before I could react, the monster grabbed my injured leg, and suddenly, black and green mana swirled around its palm. The pain in my legs jumped severalfold, but just as quick as the pain came, it went, and soon she let go, revealing a healed leg.

“T…thank you.”

“For what? A damaged leg is a pain to deal with. A missing arm, on the other hand?” My eyes bulged, and I tried to get away, but before I could even stand up, she was already on top of me. I raised my right hand to swing for her, but she easily caught it.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have. How sweet”

“No.. don’t you don’t neee  TOAGHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

*CRUNCH*