Chapter 278: Devious Plan
"Yes! That’s the look I wanted to see! That’s how I felt all my life!" she shrieked and spun on one of her centipede legs and bowed with exaggerated theatrical flair, nearly slipping in a pool of congealed blood, only to catch herself with a grotesque flourish.
"Farewell, darlings~" she sang, dragging each syllable with sadistic glee. "I do hope you’ll enjoy getting acquainted... with true hunger."
At her command, a high-pitched whistle echoed through the chamber.
The monstrous spiders froze, stopping their rampage.
Then, with perfect obedience, they turned, skittering back to her as if they were trained hunting hounds. Their bodies began shrinking as they ran, grotesque cracking noises accompanying their regression. Towering war beasts became the size of large dogs, then small hounds.
One by one, they leapt, bounding up her back, climbing into the pulsating sacks hanging from her spine. The sacs quivered and stretched, devouring the creatures whole. In a sense, they were swollen wombs that welcomed their children back home.
Once the last spider-creature vanished within her, the sacs convulsed, sealing shut with a wet, meaty squelch.
Countess Veylin didn’t stay to savor the aftermath.
She reared back, opened her jaw far too wide, and fired a coil of black tendrils from deep within her throat. The cords latched onto one of the gothic columns towering overhead. She then launched herself upward, dragging her body as if it were being reeled in.
Her form disappeared into the gloom above.
Only silence remained after her departure.
A silence that wasn’t peace, but crippling pressure.