Epic Of Caterpillar

Chapter 246 - [Forsaken Labyrinth Conquest] 39/69; Desert Graveyard

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The Undead Monsters that we came across were zombie versions of previous floors monsters. Although some seemed to have just died and revived as Undead, others looked to be evolved versions of the Undead forms, becoming their own distinct species. Their groups seemed scattered at first, but they swiftly approached us through this white mist that had appeared suddenly inside of these floors.

However, this mist ended up being completely useless as our increased senses and abilities gave us the advantage of detecting them even in this place. Using my expanded Aura Domain, I manipulated the elements of Fire and Light into them, creating powerful rays of Holy Flames, that vaporized the Undead, leaving only their cores behind. Although some who were too big would still leave a pile of their magic bones, which I happily devoured alongside their Phantasmal Cores.

Ghostly Spirits wandered the place freely, some we even inoffensive until they possessed some corpse or even the Dungeon Walls, creating what was named Undead Golems. They were strong, but not as common, as it took hundreds of small spirits to create a single five meters tall Undead Golem.

I devoured plenty of these Ghostly Spirits, which only had the name of a ”Spirit” but werenʼt the true Spirits of this world like Nefertiti, and were closer to just Ghosts. Ghostʼs origins are still a mystery to me, but they seem to be created when a soul has many resentments and accumulated magic. Sometimes Ghosts can appear even without anyone dying there, just by excess Magic and Negative Energies, or high Phantasmal Attribute scattered in the place.

Amiphossia had an awful affinity with the Undead, and so did I, a big majority of these Undead Monsters would sometimes donʼt even attack us, or even offer rewards to us, bringing loot without hesitation, as if they adored us. Amiphossiaʼs affinity with Phantasmal Magic and her own mutated Soul gave her the Skill [Phantasmal Charm], which made Ghosts and most Undead naturally like her, becoming obedient and submissive to her.

And on my case, it was the Title [Undead Empress] and [Vampire Empress], which made them naturally love me, however, this only applied to Ghosts and Undead bellow Emperor rank, those above would hesitate to obey me and sometimes just ignore me, or attack me. Bosses seemed to be immune to this as I tested this several times in the past, especially in the Water Shrine Dungeon, which had several Undead Bosses.

These effects facilitated the exploration as I used the small Ghost scattered around to bring me the treasures. I still used my Aura to destroy some Traps. When we reached the stairs towards floor 71, there were thousands of small Ghosts and Undead of various types following us around, it as quite peculiar. I decided to eat them all by sucking them with my mouth, like air. They tasted rather bitter and very cold. The moment we entered floor 71, there was already another group of Ghosts following us around like loyal servants.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 237.723.982 EXP]

[LEVEL 044/250 EXP 416.589.822/1.350.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Phantasmal Magic; Phantasmal Hands of Nether]

[Undead Core of Phantasmagoric Blue Flames]

Reaching floor 71, we encountered more Undead, now this time being giant marine beasts. There was also Nether Undead Octopus, and beings named Sentient Dark Matter, which were countless of Ghosts stuck together into a ball of pure darkness. If one detected a prey, a scarlet eye would appear on its spherical body as it would rush at its prey with immense speed and precision. They had amazing manipulation over Magic and could use the magic in the environment and shape it into Dark Magic, forming spears, needles, swords, tentacles, and even Zone Skills to trap their prey.

These beings are always alone, so I just capture them with my Aura and then devour them with my Slime Shapeshifting. They have a bitter flavor, with a disgusting stickiness. These monsters are very weak to Light and Holy Magic and can be even vaporized by it, but I should capture them alive and quickly eat them instead, so I can get a Skill if any.

New evolved versions of Lobster Zombies appeared as well, named Lobster Wraiths, having evolved, their shells became sturdy as adamantine, and the Ghosts filling them from the inside had fused together into a greater Ghost, with their new powers and sturdiness, they rampage anything they see. Their powers were above Emperor, so my charm wasnʼt as effective.

However, Amiphossiaʼs charm didnʼt have these restrictions, and with some of her magic poured into her Aura and Soul, she was able to charm these giant beasts into friends. We of course used this opportunity to kill them without them putting much of a resistance… I even ate their shells, which had a strange metallic flavor. The Sentient Dark Matters were rather rare, but I managed to eat any that I detected with my Aura Domain.

The small Ghosts that followed us around were of great help for us, as they alleviated the work of gathering chests or evading traps/disarming traps. They brought all of the loot inside any chest they knew about, and some of the most intelligent Ghosts could even speak with Amiphossia, telling her interesting information, like the geography of the place, the different monsters that are in the lower floors, their weaknesses, and even drops. Although they did not know about the exterior, only about the Dungeon itself.

Before reaching floor 72, I ate the small Ghosts following us once again. Amiphossia also ate around a hundred herself, which nourished her Soul and Body very easily, she seemed to have a very high affinity with them, and eating them would nourish her entire Physique and Psyche. Her Soul suddenly became Rank 4 all out of a sudden, as she comprehended the amazing possibilities of eating Ghosts, which brought more benefits than simple Souls.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 242.822.336 EXP]

[LEVEL 044/250 EXP 659.412.158/1.350.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Concentrated Phantasmagoric Dark Matter Essence]

On floor 72, things became heated as the Ghosts inside were more aggressive and stronger. There was a sudden burst in species, which were not only exclusive to the previous floor living monsters. There was now Skeleton Goblins, Trolls, Ogres, and such. There was also a group of Lich Goblins that could conjure strange and confusing Dark Magic that made some of the Fire Oni enter in eternal nightmares, if I wasnʼt there to heal them, they would have been trapped inside forever.

The Sentient Dark Matter has evolved and became more dangerous, increasing in size, now over five meters tall and wide, the spherical beings made of concentrated Ghosts and Dark magic silently awaited their prey. The moment I entered in their vicinity, they would fly at me like a dark ray, shapeshifting into a needle and trying to stab my heart or head. However, I just transformed into a Red Slime, receiving them with my expanded slimy body and instantly digesting them the moment they impacted with my body.

There was a big group of Skeletons as well, from the previously mentioned species. Which gathered doing strange rituals and such, and seemed rather intelligent. Along with their groups, they had very strong Warriors that wielded powerful dark armors and strong Lich that could conjure Forbidden Arts Magic, which consisted of rare Dark, Shadow, Soul, Dream, and Illusion Magic. Eating their brilliant spherical cores granted a lot of Magic Essence, that nourished my Aura, Soul, and Body.

Spawn points became more common now and big waves of these Skellies would show up, ambushing us into traps and trying to get rid of us as efficiently as possible. They clearly had leaders commanding them in the back. After a devastating war, where we killed a massive wave of two thousand skeletons, I found a Lich Emperor, who was commanding the Skeletons. I destroyed its skull with a hit from my bare hands, making its body fall into pieces. Then I devoured the bones and the Core, a delicious amount of Magic Essence nourished my physique once again.

My Orbs resonated happily as they accumulated the Magic Essence. Amiphossia also devoured more and more Ghosts, and was still snacking in them like crazy, the amazing affinity that she has to form them made her realize that if she keeps on eating them, her Soul may rank up again. Iʼve also devoured the Ghosts and I noticed that they could also nourish my Soul, but very slowly compared to the cheat ability of my daughter.

After destroying the different Spawn Artifacts and disarming some which I saved on my Item Box, we continued our way towards Floor 73 through the stairs.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 286.116.823 EXP]

[LEVEL 044/250 EXP 945.528.981/1.350.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Undead Enhancement; Defense and Resistance]

[Undead Enhancement; Strength and Magic]

Reaching floor 73, we were ambushed by a big army of Skeletons again, however, these Skeleton Monsters seemed to be straight evolutions from the previous floorʼs ones, having harder bones that were covered in Dark Miasma. They held powerful Black Bone Weapons, armor, and shields, and the Lich had long robes and staffs made of bones that boosted their magic capabilities.

There were now three Great Lich Emperors controlling a room that was filled with Spawn Points, and with their cunningness, they purposely ordered the massive group of Skeletons to wait for us in place, instead of scattering around, these Liches believed in teamwork, it seems.

No matter what, my Children and Wives devastated the frail skeletons, even with their evolved forms, we were used to fighting skeletons back on our Kingdom and these groups were clearly weaker species of them. Nothing more than EXP waiting for us.

I used my Aura, enhanced with Fire and Light to throw powerful Rays of Holy Fire, vaporizing the hundreds of Skeletons that though that they had a chance against us if they worked together. I then swiftly took care of the Liches who were hiding inside a room filled with Spawn Artifacts. The skellies were surprised as I ate them. One tried to blast me away with a spell but I just took almost no damage from it, I then ate his Core while he watched.

After rushing through the floor while our Ghosts Servants brought the treasures, we already found ourselves on floor 74. Six more floors for the seventh Boss.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 312.985.550 EXP]

[LEVEL 044/250 EXP 1.258.514.531/1.350.000.000 EXP]

At floor 74, we found ourselves cornered by a group of massive Undead beasts, these were cataloged as Dinosaur Bone Beasts, and were giant monsters made of pure Bones that resembled Dinosaurs. They held a powerful core inside of their chest, which was were countless Ghost inhabited, giving them the ability to move. We also encountered Bone Golems; Golems made out of countless Bones stick together. They were usually shaped in the form of humanoid giants with several Cores inside of them, these monsters, in particular, were quite rare.

And adding all of them there was Skeleton Girtablilu as well. Their humanoid half was that of their skeletons but enhanced with a Black Miasma, being black colored. Their scorpion half was only the empty shells but reinforced and enhanced. Their bodies had two Cores, one in the Skeleton Half, and the other inside of the Scorpion half. There were Skeleton Girtablilu Warriors and Liches. Liches were usually the Empress and held powerful Bone Staves in each arm to enhance their magic. Their magic was usually Phantasmal Magic or Cold Blue Flames Magic.

Spawn Artifacts were scattered everywhere so it was a chaotic mess filled with these Undead Monsters. Dinosaur Bone Beasts were stronger than the fourth generation of Chimera Beasts from the previous floors, thankfully they were still extremely weak to Light and Holy Magic, using my Aura, I vaporized them with powerful Holy Flame Rays, leaving only their cores behind.

Bone Golems were problematic and hard to kill due to their hundreds of small Cores scattered through their bodies. However, my Giant family members used them as punching bags until they couldnʼt hold themselves anymore and fell to the ground into thousands of bones pieces. Their Cores were plentiful but held low Magic Essence individually.

Amiphossia was still stuffing herself with Ghosts and was beginning to love their bitter and cold flavors. However, she also devoured other Undead Cores, to enhance her growth even further. Just by consuming Ghosts, her flesh was about to evolve once again, which surprised me deeply. Perhaps I should have tried feeding her Ghosts earlier. I wonder if my other children have special affinities with certain elements that they can eat to speed up their growth.

The Undead Girtablilu were tenacious and held amazing techniques and spells. The Empress was an incredible Lich type of monster and could shape the Magic Essence around her, creating Magic Domains to better control and conjure Spells. She also specialized in summoning Phantasmal Beasts, that luckily were a delicious meal to Amiphossia, even her own Phantasmal Summoned Beasts and Phantasmal Wolf joined in.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 395.912.819 EXP]

[Kireina] gained one level!]

[LEVEL 045/250 EXP 304.427.350/1.800.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Phantom Undead Dinosaur Bloody Bite]

[Forbidden Arts Magic; Phantasmagoric Arcane Domain]

Reaching floor 75, there was an eerie yet calm atmosphere… A powerful presence was slowly walking towards us. Bracing ourselves, we thought that it may be some kind of Mini-Boss, but to our surprise, a beautiful lady with fair, almost transparent skin, sapphire eyes, and silver hair, wearing a simple white dress appeared in front of us. Her body seemed ethereal as she floated some centimeters above the floor.

”The living? In the old Desert Graveyard…? How long has it been…?”

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