Chapter 344: Suzy

Several Months Earlier…

Aegis, Yuki, Savika, and Celestian wandered the lower ruined tunnels of the Darxon hideout beneath Rene. Aegis took the lead, peering through doorways only to find caved-in room after caved-in room, until finally spotting one still intact. 

There was nothing special about it; most of the stonework from the old keep had given way to crumbling rocks and dirt, but it was space, and that was what they were looking for.

“This should be fine, right?” He said, to which Yuki shrugged. Aegis opened up his inventory and pulled out the Mosmir Hatcher eggs he’d collected after defeating the Mosmir queen. He had 16 in total, all ready to start hatching, and rushed to place them around the room apart from each other while the others stood in the doorway, watching.

“Do you know how to control these creatures? Will they be a threat to us?” Celestion asked with concern.

Aegis scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Eh… Lanusk and Savringard copied us to get voidsilk, but they left the hatchers alive in the Queen’s boss room, and have been harvesting voidsilk from there. One of the hatchers keeps evolving to be the new queen, but they kill it to stop it from happening.” Aegis watched as the tiny black ant-like creatures hatched from their eggs, poking their heads out curiously.

The names above their heads were in white text, indicating they were non-hostile. [Mosmir Hatcher - Level 30]. 

Once all had hatched, a single hatcher eyed the others, wandered around for a moment, and suddenly began wrapping itself in a void-silk cocoon, with the name changing to [Mosmir Queen - Level 30].

“Ah, look, it’s happening already!” Savika pointed it out frantically.

Yuki moved to stand protectively in front of her. “Should we kill it?” 

Aegis double checked to make sure he wasn’t livestreaming, and kept an eye on the Queen. The silk formed into a sack around the hatcher, pulsating several times, but the name remained white. The other hatchers gathered around the Queen, waiting curiously.

“I don’t see why we have to. As long as they remain tamed, having a Queen hatch more eggs will lead to more voidsilk, won’t it?” Aegis shrugged.

Celestian had a look of concern. “What if they get out of control and become hostile?”

“We’ll deal with it if that happens, but as long as we’re nice and feed them, I don’t see why it would. They’re not Elite.”

One of the hatchers noticed them and, curiously, turned its head toward the four. It scurried over, clicking its tiny mandibles together and wiggling its antennae.

“It’s a little bit cute, don’t you think?” Savika whispered. The others gave her a look. She stepped in front of Yuki and Celestian to hold out her hand towards it. Aegis readied a heal just in case, but the hatcher playfully nudged its black chitinous head into her hand. “It’s okay if we don’t kill them, right?” She turned to the others with puppy eyes.

“Nah, we won’t kill them. Let them grow a colony here, under Rene, and we’ll have loads of voidsilk for whatever crafts we need.” Aegis replied.

“What about food? What will they eat?”

Aegis pondered for a moment, pacing about and rubbing his chin. “If we let them tunnel to Reltrak forest, the players who are adventuring there will notice. Better to keep these guys secret, so Savringard and Lanusk don’t scry on us. Have Chax exchange excess voidsilk for meat to feed them. The profit margin should still be massive,” Aegis said.

“Do you hear that, Suzy? We’re gonna get you and your friends lots of tasty meat, you can stay here, below Rene,” Savika said with a babying tone, scratching the Mosmir hatcher playfully, who seemed to enjoy it. The others got jealous and swarmed around her, nudging her for their own head scratches, making her giggle.

“It’ll be hard to keep something like this secret, though, especially with you livestreaming and people scrying on you,” Yuki said, holding back laughter at the scene of Savika and the hatchers.

“Hah? I’m not going to have anything to do with this,” Aegis raised his hands defensively. “I’m leaving them in your hands, master tailor. Make sure the Queen follows your orders, and as long as they don’t destroy Rene and produce voidsilk, I don’t want to know anything about them.”

Yuki gave him a look, but Aegis persisted with his stare of indifference. 

“If they get rowdy, let me know. And, work diligently, I’ll need a lot of void silk for my grind to 150,” Aegis turned and walked out of the chamber, leaving the three. Yuki rolled her eyes at him, staying behind with Savika and Celestian. 

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Present…

“Send any and all defenders up who can fight; keep the women and children below ground. Any, and all defenders, got it?”

“I need you to construct two watch towers facing north east, as fast as possible, as sturdy as possible, but most importantly, as high as possible.”

Two narrow, tall mithril towers had been crudely erected, standing apart in the direction of Kordas. Between them, reinforced strands of Voidsilk had been strewn about, creating a gigantic, reinforced aerial speb of the strongest silk from the strongest, level 150 elite Mosmir Hatchers. The same original 16, minus the Queen, had worked to spin the silk strands under Savika’s orders. One of them was named Suzy. 

The second wave of airships was airbursting directly into the strands and being sliced into pieces, with all members aboard the ships being killed by slashing damage. It was an absolute slaughter, and it happened so fast that none of them figured out how, why, or what was happening. 

As the broken shards of those airships rained down on Aegis, the mounds of dirt rising all around Rene exploded, with black Mosmir heads swarming out in all directions. Primarily Mosmir Soldiers, with a mix of Mosmir drones. None were elite, most were under level 100, but the Vindicators, Sages of Destriny, and other members of VGN on the ground were disorganized with their leadership all having been taken out. 

The ground shook violently as Kalmoore’s island crashed into the ground, finally settling on the floor of the world at the depths of the abyss, adding to the chaos.

In addition, several bursts of purple void magic appeared all around the ruined Rene structures, and from within, [Mosmir Voidreaver - Level 120]’s appeared from the magic. They focused purple void magic between their pincers, and after a few seconds, blasts of void beam energy shot through the skies of Rene, ripping into the sides of the Airships flying above, melting the wood within seconds.

It was absolute, utter chaos. Aegis frantically cast Bless on as many of the Mosmir’s as he could, while spreading his Aura of Healing out to them all. As Residents of Rene, they were also benefiting from the defensive bonuses of fighting within the walls.

Aegis was forced to fight off a few eager Vindicators himself, but was joined by Tullan, Amlie, Ruffily, and Chax, who helped him out, the five of them huddling together while the Mosmir’s swarmed over the attackers.

“I didn’t want to call in Jael, but I wasn’t strong enough to beat that wizard my own, I…” The regret hung on his face.

Tullan quickly pressed his hand into his shoulder. “Yer alright, lad. It’s not yer fault,” Tullan said.

The Portal Altar of Rene, still intact, lit up with a wide blue doorway. From it funneled Kaef’aktos, Krael, and hundreds of dark elves.

Aegis let out a sigh of relief. “I was worried they didn’t make it.” His group turned to the elves, who looked around with shock at the state of Rene. Aegis spotted [Master of the Tree, Seliolara(Elite) - Level 150] and other White Tree druids, as well as four high-level players. 

He didn’t recognize the players, but when he flagged down Kaef’aktos with waving hands, they came alongside the dark elf leaders, showing no signs of hostility.

Whoever they were, if they’d wanted to mess with us, they would’ve killed the dark elf wizards and stopped this portal from opening, Aegis thought.

“Yo, whaddup Aegis, we’s gotsa message for yas,” one of the players, [Joshaka - Level 167] said with an odd, British accent. “Finley says, he can’t be helpin’ yas, else he’d lose his cred wit da abyss, ya feels it? He’s sayin we oughta tell yas wus comin, tho. Avatar of Affliction’s closest, marchin’ up with some juggies. They be on ya soon,” he said with confidence.

“Bit of a weird accent, eh?” Tullan whispered, and I gave Tullan a look.

“He also says, if ya’s gonna plant that seed, Avatar of Greed’s gonna join in. Either way, he reckons yer effed, mate.”

I nodded, comprehending most of Finley’s message. “Does he know how those two Avatars fight?”

“Gimme sec, I’ll hit ‘em up.” Joshaka turned away and interacted with his interface, the other three from his group joining him. Kaef’aktos stepped forward.

“Where should I send my people?” he asked, eying the battle between the Mosmir and Vindicators raging all around.

Aegis took a deep breath, looking to Kaef’aktos, Krael, and his remaining council members. “We can talk freely now. There isn’t much that VGN can do. The worst part is yet to come, but we have to somehow grow Bihi with a force minuscule compared to the ones VGN used for the quest, or Kalmoore will be destroyed. This is where it gets hard,” Aegis paused, and the others nodded along.

“Chax, lead the dark elve civilians into the Mosmir cavern below Rene, where Savika is. They should be safe there. Ruffily, Tullan, use all of my mithril supplies and all of Renes' construction material to reinforce the walls. Erect towers intermittently higher than the others, and have the Mosmir Hatchers spin silk between them. And guys, don’t hold back. Use all of it, I don’t care how much it costs. This is it, you understand?” Aegis looked them in the eyes, as seriously as he could. “Winning this fight doesn’t mean we beat VGN, but if we lose, it's all over. Don’t live with any regret,” he said.

“I won’t, grrrwoof,” Ruffily growled. Her tail was not wagging.

“Let’s show 'em what we’re made of,” Tullan turned away, while Chax motioned the elves to follow him.

“Krael, please assist the Mosmir and retake the city, and secure the walls. Kaef’aktos, as well, but I need your druids,” he motioned to Seliolara. “Amlie, take Bihi, plant her in your fields. It should be suitable land. You guys are the key to our victory. Use everything you can, druidic and farmer skills, to help Bihi grow as fast as possible. Use all mana potions and growth alchemic mixtures that Rene has,” Aegis said.

He reached into his inventory, pulled out Bihi, and handed the glowing white seed off to Amlie, who rushed to the center of her field with the dark elf druids behind her. As if she’d already been planning for this, Amlie knew the perfect spot in the field to plant Bihi, and the growth started within seconds.

Kaef’aktos and Krael directed the City of the White Tree guards, and their arrows were nocked and loosed at the VGN ships, fighting alongside the Mosmir’s seamlessly.

Joshaka finished talking with Finley and turned back to Aegis. “Aite, he says Afflictions gonna spread a whole buncha debuffs on everythin’. Ya’s gonna wanna cleanse and have some antitodes and dispels ready, the more he’s got spread, the worse the debuffs gonna be.”

Shit. I still hadn’t put much into leveling cleanse. That was a mistake.

“Fer greed, he’s gon get stronger the more wealth in the area. He does the King Midas thing, gonna turn your gear into gold. Finley says he ain't fink it gon work on yer shield, but most stuff, it’ll work on. More gold he makes, more stronger he gets. Feel me?”

Aegis nodded. “I understand, thanks for the information.”

“No probs, cuz. Where ya want us?” He asked, motioning to his companions. 

“You guys want to help? You’re dark network players, aren’t you?” Aegis’ eyebrow furled.

“Ya, tru, we hatin streamers. We reckon you gon let us use this city once that tree’s gon’ n’ grown up tho, right?” He turned his head curiously. 

“Y-yeah. This city will be open to all players across the Shattered World, for anyone who wants to explore the abyss.” Aegis spoke both to Joshaka and his livestream. 

“Thaz why yer the only chill streamer, bruv. Normally, we hates ‘em all. But you? Nah, you cool. Rest of ‘em VGN suckas?” He slid his thumb across his throat while motioning to an airship being torn up by a voidreaver.

Aegis nodded apprehensively at the guy. “Help finish off the VGN ships. A third wave will be showing up soon, with more members, from a different angle. Also, feel free to loot anything they drop,” I grinned, and he grinned back.

“Word,” the four dashed into the battle alongside the dark elves and Mosmir.