Epic Of Caterpillar

Chapter 266 - [Forsaken Labyrinth Conquest] 58/69; Rushing Through Floors

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Kasha and Nekomata made up most of the threats on floor 93. Kashas, the small blazing kittens had evolved and their chubby bodies became bigger and more athletic, their black claws turned red-colored, and their whole backs were covered in powerful flames. Although they enjoy being lone hunters, these Kashas as they evolved and became more intelligent would form groups, where the females usually took the lead, and the males were mere pawns.

Evolved Kashas had stronger and bigger jaws, and with their fire attribute magic, they were serious threats for most inexperienced adventurers, and even veterans would have very hard times against a pack of them. Although, much like the Phantom Foxes, they probably havenʼt reached the peak of their evolutions

Nekomatas on the other side grew bigger and had more humanoid figures, with adorable cat faces, they wielded steel weapons and could cast Shadow and Dark magic, and some could travel through shadows. Nekomatas were sneaky bastards and their evolved forms were even more, now becoming more malicious than their pre-evolved selves, they usually coated their weapons in poison to inflict status effects on their victims. Nekomatas will never attack head-on, choosing to ambush theyʼre from the shadows or through different corridors or rooms.

An interesting thing is that both Kashas and Nekomatas developed Light and Holy Resistance while having immunity to Fire on the Kashaʼs side and Dark and Shadow Immunity on the Nekomatas side. They were truly an advanced type of monster, with several resistance sand immunities.

After defeating without any effort small groups of Kasha and Nekomata, which were made up of five to fifteen of them, we came across a small skirmish between the two feline species of Yokai. Over fifty Kasha led by an Imperial Kasha Chief attacked another group of over seventy Nekomata, led by an old Nekomata Wizard.

The Imperial Kasha Chief had three times the size of an evolved Kasha, a massive feline head, giant ruby-colored claws, and a long cat tail, blazing with never-ending flames. It seemed to have a third eye in the middle of its forehead, which had an orange color and released a powerful blaze. This evolution could enslave other Kasha and even had two giant Wa Nyudoʼs as bodyguards, floating in the air while spinning with their fiery wheels. The beast resembled a Fire God.

The Nekomata Wizard was an old Nekomata that obtained the Wizard Class and was versed in magic spell casting. With its powerful magic stat and the skill [Chant Revocation], it was able to repeatedly use spells and conjures without having to chant for them. With the support of its boosting spells, magic shields, and Dark magic, the usually weaker Nekomatas were putting an amazing work in the skirmish, pressuring the Kasha Chief to either retreat or accept its defeat.

However, just at the very moment that it was about to run away, Amiphossia appeared from its back, and by releasing Geraldine, Seishin, and Sesshomaru from her Soul, the ghostly group surprised the Kasha Chief. Geraldine released giant spikes made of ice, while Seishin released a strong ray of phantasmal magic, Sesshomaru on the other hand howled, creating the phantom of the moon and boosting its party abilities.

The Kasha chief was overwhelmed, but it resisted the attacks with the help of its two enslaved Wa Nyudoʼs, that it until Amiphossia entered in the fight. Expanding her domain, she created a phantom world and enclosed the monsters inside, suddenly, thousands of phantom hands appeared and began to attack the Kasha chief and its slaves.

Amiphossia learned that she was able to use Techniques with these Phantom Hands, and quickly overwhelmed the beasts with incredibly might, by releasing Martial and weapon techniques, smashing the monsters into piles minced meat and shattered bones.

Y other children took care of the Nekomata Wizard, who was ambushed by Ryo and smashed to death by his powerful fists. The rest of the monsters were juicy EXP and we shared their kills by all of us.

Now that I can just disarm traps and spawn artifacts beforehand with my Scarlet Phantom Fox Clones, we havenʼt been pressured by such things through the whole journey of this floor. The next floors are already getting disarmed as well, so we can advance through the Dungeon at a greater speed than before, without any worries about ambushes, traps, and other tricks that the Dungeon may have.

Reaching the stairs towards floor 94, we quickly descended in a relaxed manner, while snacking on the Kasha and Nekomataʼs flesh and the vast number of Ghosts everywhere.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 649.730.000 EXP]

[LEVEL 048/250 EXP 2.674.102.221/3.000.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skill]

[Forbidden Summoning Magic; Young Fiery Cat Kasha]

Floor 94 was almost the same as the previous floor except gigantic skeletons wandering around everywhere, these skeletons were an Undead and Yokai type of monster, named Gashadokuro.

Different than the Giant Skeleton Warriors from my Kingdom and the ones I can summon, these beings are considerably stronger, and if one looks carefully through their titanic bodies, they are made of countless of small bones put together, they lack a Core, something rare for Undead monsters, their entire skeletal bodies are maintained solely by the strength and supernatural force of the thousands of evil ghosts inhabiting their bodies.

Although slow, each of these monstersʼ punches was devastating, so I had to take out my armors and fight them off with the support of my family and Oga. After a small fight, I discovered that these monsters have amazing resistance to the Undeadʼs usual weaknesses like Fire, Light, and Holy, and were resistant to most elements as well, like Thunder, Earth, Nature, Dark, and Shadow.

Taking out my Seraph Armor, I selected a different combination using the [Azure Dragon Armor] alongside the [Fallen Winged Demon Armor] and by infusing them with my Aura and the Attributes of Soul and Phantom, something that I havenʼt tried before, but found to be possible.

The armor quickly shaped over my body as it mutated into a new and strange form, resembling a howling skull, my helmet and shoulder decorations held yellowish gemstones in their skull teeth. The armor had six skeletal arms and a powerful phantasmal tail grew on my back, my wings became completely made of phantoms and my whole presence resembled a god of death.

The massive Gashadokuro sensed my overwhelming pressure as they feel the necessity to kill me, as a threat to their existences, the thousands of ghosts maintain these monsters rushed towards me with their gigantic skeleton bodies.

By manipulating my Aura, I generated a phantasmagoric hand that clashed against the first skeleton, blasting its skull off and then smashing its massive ribcage into debris. The next skeleton decided to use magic, conjuring powerful rays of phantoms, unlucky for him, with this armor I could easily devour phantoms, so I was completely unaffected I was strengthened by it.

As I flew with the [Illogical Propulsion Speed] Skill, I reached the second of my victims, manipulating my aura into the voracious gigantic skull that munched over the giant skeleton-like snacks.

Although they were destroyed into pieces, the skeleton arms and legs were still active and needed to be taken care of by my family, but due to my weakening them enough, they were rather easy to smash and then eat. Amiphossia and her party thoroughly devoured every small ghost that came out of the bones.

When the sixth colossal skeleton fell to the ground, a massive pile of bones was visible through the entire floor. It seems that these monsters took too long to generate, so these six ones were the only ones on this floor. I devoured most of the bones and ghosts as a Red Slime and then proceeded through the floor while wearing my eerie and phantasmal armor. By eating ghosts with this armor, it mutated and became even more terrifying looking.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 722.846.000 EXP]

[Kireina] gained one level!]

[LEVEL 049/250 EXP 0.396.948.221/3.650.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skill]

[Phantasmal Symbiosis]

Oh! Iʼm about to get into the 1/5 of my way to my next evolution… Yeah, it will take a long time…

Floor 95 was filled with Gashadokuro and third stage Kasha and Nekomata, the Gashadokuro would usually ignore these two species, as the two feline species fought each other viciously for territory and also food.

The dormant giant skeletons immediately woke up after sensing my menacing presence and came rushing towards our group, without much time to think, I rushed towards the giant skeletons and smashed their skulls and ribcages with immense phantasmagoric blows. While using different techniques with my phantom claws and hands, I managed to smash the eight Gashadokuro to the ground, where my children and wives finished them off by extracting the ghosts from the giant masses of bones.

Afterward, the groups of Kasha and Nekomata noticed our presence and launched themselves against our backs. Whole groups of third stage Nekomata showed up, having advanced classes they possessed powerful weapon techniques and magic while the third stage of Kasha had bigger bodies, flexible limbs, and powerful jaws, the flames on their bodies could even melt the bones of the Gashadakuro like nothing and their Claw and Bite Skills were devastating.

Kasha now enslaved several Wa Nyudos, and by absorbing their blazing strength, they managed to create something similar to a Symbiosis with them, strengthening each other with their flame Auras.

Valentia used her [Monster Arm] to transform parts of her body into the sturdy scales of a Shadow Wyvern, massive wings, and sharp claws and fangs. Her usual red hair had now converted into a dark purple as her ears were partially covered in these deep black scales.

Her scarlet eyes shined brightly as she flew through the air and confronted the Kashas with amazing techniques and magic, a devastating onslaught fell over the ignorant beast as my daughter ripped them into shreds without any effort. Her Dark Flames even burned the Kashaʼs flames and bypassed their [Fire Immunity] as Valentiaʼs flames were of the Shadow and Dark Attribute, and only imitated flames in appearance.

Vudia, Ailine, and Aarae held each other hands as they conjured a devastating storm of Thunder, Wind, and Water Attributes, blasting the Nekomata group mercilessly into pieces. Ryo on the other side rushed through with his strengthened physique and muscles, and by using his transformation skill, he became a furious multi-armed warrior that annihilated anything that came his way.

Against my children, all of these monsters were nothing but easy EXP and a snack, perhaps a Boss could give us some challenges, and even the later floors of such a ”high level” Dungeon werenʼt much of a threat. Perhaps the god never expected fast-growing demi-humans to visit its dungeon, expecting the slow-growing humans to explore and die a lot in the process.

After eating most of the bones, and the Kasha and Nekomataʼs flesh and blood, we proceeded through the next floor. My Scarlet Phantom Fox came rushing at me while bringing us all of the gathered loot from the countless chests around the floors.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 785.990.000 EXP]

[LEVEL 049/250 EXP 1.182.938.221/3.650.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skill]

[Soul Parasite]

At floor 96 things became rather heated, literally. The eerie and cold aura suddenly turned incredibly hot. Thousands of small red-colored will-o-wisp danced and flew around the floor. Small arcs of fire moved around as well, and there were snakes made of fire moving through the Dungeon Walls.

Kashas have taken completely over this floor, killing any Nekomata that tried to come here. The Fire Felines dominated the place entirely and they were the sole rules alongside other Fire-based life forms and Blaze Ghosts.

Floor 97 and 98 werenʼt any different, each floor was filled with gigantic packs of Kasha, who had evolved into their fourth and fifth stages. Led by Kasha Chiefs, the rampaged around with their gigantic evolved bodies, each Kasha being over ten meters tall, their cattails, although fluffy were covered in hellish flames.

However, because I possessed Fire and Lava immunity, their attacks dealt no damage to me, and I absorbed their ghostly souls with my armor, straightening myself, I now resembled a bulky and sturdy skeleton made of shiny and gray steel.

Reaching the stairs to floor 99, where the long-awaited ninth Boss slumbered, we were ambushed by a ”last stand” from the Kashas, a gigantic Grand Kasha Chief overlooked at us as it commanded its massive army of Kasha, Blaze Ghosts, and Wa Nyudos. The blaze monsters launched towards our group with immense voracity, desiring to eat our flesh and drink our blood with all of their might, but they only received our magic and techniques, each Kasha was destroyed into pieces by my children while my wives sliced them in half, froze them alive or grilled them alive with powerful thunder.

I let my eager children fight the Grand Kasha Chief, which had a strength comparable to the Giant Phantom Fox Chief that had three heads. The colossal blazing cat jumped to the air as it rained my children with massive fireballs, only to be surprised from the back by a combined attack from Valentia and Ryo, several of its bones were broken simultaneously while falling to the ground.

Then, Amiphossia and her group attacked the beast face, while Aarae, Vudia, and Ailine concentrated their Magic Energy into a powerful blast of several elements, bypassing the Kashaʼs defenses and leaving a bloody holy on its stomach. Barely hanging on its life, its head was then ruptured with a powerful blow from Valentia, exploding like a watermelon.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 838.239.194 EXP]

[LEVEL 049/250 EXP 2.021.177.415/3.650.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skill]

[Blazing Hell Claws]

Afterward, a small feast was held before the Boss, the blood of the Grand Kasha Chief was good enough to give me some Blood Strength and level up my Skill. I assimilated its tail, a paw, and part of its smashed head, gaining an Assimilation Skill as well.

[Kireina] gained +50 Blood Strength!]

[The Skill [Etheric Blood Vigor; Level 1] reached level 3!]

[Kireina] learned the following [Assimilation Skills]

[Giant Blazing Grand Kasha Chief Shapeshifting]

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