Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-106

On the Grand Forest, the first, second and third layers have been completely explored by me so we traveled towards the fourth layer, pass the Slime Forest and the Water Shrine.

Talking about the Water Shrine, I've been keeping some contact with the Water Spirits. It seems that the dungeon did get purified and no monsters are appearing once again, except for some monsters from the outside that try to find refuge inside.

The Water Spirits are strong enough to at least scare these weaker monsters away without much effort.

After purifying the shrine, they began to purify the nearby forest. Increasing its flow of magic, increasing the vegetation growth, the clarity and quality of water and even the life of the monsters and animals.

I also made them do some work for me. Any type of spirit can make Spirit Stones if they work hard enough, transforming the ground into precious mines of these gemstones. And because there is quite a lot of them, I made them work on the fabrication of such things.

Even though I can obtain them on the dungeon expeditions and drops, it still too low compared to normal Magic Cores. So, I decided to make a trade with them, giving them several Magic Cores in exchange for Water Spirit Stones and Ice Spirit Stones. Water Spirits can make Ice Spirit Stones with a little bit more of effort.

They can eat the Magic Cores and regain their power while fabricating Spirit Stones that they can't eat. It seems that as long as I keep giving them Magic Cores, they will produce more Spirit Stones… I think its because the Spirit Stones themselves are the "waste" that they leave after consuming Magic Cores, which combines with the natural stones and gemstones on the ground and slowly form Spirit Stones.

I've been trying to contact the other living spirits on the remaining shrines but there has been little communication, they're too few compared to the Water Spirits and are currently sleeping to regain power. I've been leaving them with small "offerings" of Magic Cores so they will grow attached to me.

There are also the Wendigos and Yukionnas on the Ice Shine Dungeon, which are something similar to Spirits, however, they are classified as [Ghosts], [Undead] and [Fiend]. But they are peaceful folk that mean no harm, so I've been contacting them. They are also making more Ice Spirit Stones for me alongside Phantasmal Spirit Stones, which are rarer.

Anyways, we had a small lunch over our flying caravan, which resembled an Earth's zeppelin with a big slime below it. The space is vast and Nesiphae can easily move around. There are the basic things inside like tables and chairs, and if possible, I can even take an entire house inside.

Because we were going at a slow pace, we reached the fourth layer at around 7 PM. We reached past the Water Shrine, on a small biome named "Rocky Forest". A place where the trees are made of rocks, which is close to the Earth Shrine.

There were several new monsters for me to devour, so I used all my abilities and went without mercy to catch some dinner for my family.

After two hours, I ended up catching 20 Rocky Salamanders, which are giant salamanders of around nine meters long with a rocky skin and powerful earth magic.

Ten Quaking Toads, which are giant toads with three faces on their bodies, each one having a corrosive poisonous tongue alongside a very tough rocky skin.

Seven Rock Wolves and an Emperor, which are giant five meters tall wolves with powerful muscles and rock shells on their backs.

And lastly, a small family of five Earth Shattering Three-Armed Bears, a strong variant of bears that possesses an extra arm on their back, this arm is four times as strong as the other two, being their main source of power.

[You gained 860430 EXP]

[LEVEL 001/250 EXP 0860430/3000000]

[You obtained a new Title]

[Rock Wolf Emperor]

While killing my prey, I noticed something strange. As if I could see small dark auras inside their hearts. However, I ended up killing them too fast so I couldn't experiment with that strange aura, as it quickly dissipated when the monsters died.

Their souls were quite bland and didn't give me any extra stats, so I decided to give them to my wives and children. My children already came with the Soul System already unlocked from the get-go.

Amiphossia, Gaby and Brontes helped me butcher the monsters, while I ate their eyes, brains, hearts and rocky skin.

[You learned the following Skills]

[Rocky Salamander Petrifying Eyes]

[Sturdy Rock Scales Generation]

[Heart of the Furious Rock Tyrant]

The three of them looked at me with impressed faces as I was able to munch on the rocky scales as if they were some kind of cookies. In truth, they taste just like rocks and are a little bit muddy. I could have dissolved them with my [Dissolve Juices Secretion] and instantly eat them, but I like to munch on things from time to time while awaiting the dinner to be ready.

Rimuru, Mady, and Adelle worked together to cook a nice meal using these new monsters' meat, and after half an hour, a delicious banquet was ready.

There was meatloaf, grilled steaks, hamburgers, etc. Everything accompanied with several vegetables and delicious beer. It was a nice meal and the overall atmosphere was of calmness and harmony.

[You learned the following Skills]

[Earth Shattering Third Arm]

[Triple Venomous Rock Tongue Attack]

Ryo has stopped drinking Zehe's milk, so I need to feed him a daily cup of my nutritious blood just like Amiphossia. Ami still believes that the blood comes from a special monster I have saved somewhere, while Ryo immediately figured out that it was mine, but remained silent to not break Ami's expectations to one day eat that monster.

Because [Levitate] is a passive skill on the giant slime carrying us, we slept on the skies. It certainly felt way different. It was as if we were sleeping on the clouds, without a worry on the world below.

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[Day 95]

Today I woke up earlier in the morning to hunt for some breakfast alone. I quickly descended from the skies and massacred the nearby monsters. I used my new orbs to infuse new power on my body and armor.

It seems that my forehead orb possesses the traits of Illusion, Hypnosis, Dark, Shadow, Wind, Thunder, Water, and Ice. While the one on my chest possesses the traits of Light, Holy, Earth, Nature and Fire.

I can select any of my previous armors that I obtained before evolving and they will instantly appear. I can choose to combine traits of each armor and enhance them even further using my two orbs. My forehead orb grants a purple and pink coloration alongside an incredibly boost on my magical capabilities, while my chest orb grants a dark and red coloration alongside an outstanding boost on my physical capabilities.

I can use both at the same time without a problem, receiving a full boost on every stat. I also believe that I can fuse every armor with these new orbs alongside my [Demon Transformation].

However, I left this for another occasion, as the monsters here are too weak to try out my power… Most of the time, a small touch will instantly crush them into minced meat.

Anyways, I caught the same monsters than yesterday, but this time, being 20 of each. With a new monster on a type of bird named Shining Crystalline Crow, which are giant crows made of shining white crystals, they were of a massive size of around 13 meters tall.

Their powers were mostly based on blinding light and crystal storms. I swiftly disposed of a big nest, killing more than 30. Inside of their crystalline appearance, they have crimson red meat which is full of delicious juices and blood. However, due to my evolution, the blood is not enough to gain any power from it.

[You gained 895300 EXP]

[LEVEL 001/250 EXP 1755730/3000000]

When I went back to the flying carriage, I found most of my wives had already woken up alongside Amiphossia and Ryo, so I quickly began cooking alongside Rimuru, Mady, and Adelle.

Surprisingly, Mady was a very talented cooker while Adelle really wanted to learn and that's why she always tried to help.

Aside from the meat, there was bread, milk, cheese, and fruits, making it a balanced meal.

[You learned the following Skills]

[Shining Crystal Storm]

After having a delicious breakfast, we quickly descended to the forest as we explored around. This small biome was mostly made of what seemed like fossilized trees. The road was quite clean and there weren't many disturbances around. It was a nice trip with my family and children as we hunted monsters around.

Because every monster would run from my presence, I concealed my entire aura and the ones of my wives. It was quite easy to come across several different monsters.

This place surprised me with the sheer amount of different species living in harmony. I let my children go wild on this as they rushed and slashed several monsters.

Ryo seemed to had a hard fight with a group of four Earth Shattering Three-Armed Bears Kings. Which were thrice as big as the normal ones and possessed and even bigger third arm. However, with the support of Ami's healing and her powerful long-distance magic, they managed to pull through without us having to interfere.

I didn't want to take their prey so I let the two eat their catch, they seemed to have gained some skills from the meat.

Afterward, Brontes and Gaby found a big underground cave which seemed to be infested by a type of giant crabs named Gemstone Crab Emperor, it had four pincers instead of two and an incredibly sturdy shell made of various gemstones of all types of colors. Its eyes resembled small rubies and its jaws were as hard as adamantine.

They were quite the hard foes for my children, so I gave some of my assistance. The battle extended more than I thought as we kept going deeper. The caves extended several meters deep and the crabs never stopped coming, it was a nice grindfest for food and nice EXP.

[You gained 1353900 EXP] [The rest of your family gained tons of EXP]

[You gained one level!] [LEVEL 002/250 EXP 0109630/3500000]

[The rest of your family gained tons of levels!]

While killing the swarm of crabs, I began to find these small black auras inside of their bodies once again. They seemed to be inside of their hearts.

As my family massacred the waves of monsters, I captured a few and inspected them.

While one of the crabs was alive, I quickly opened its head and began to look inside. Aside from its internal organs, there was the black aura once again.

Curious about it, I tried to grab it with my hand.

Suddenly, a system message popped out of thin air.

[Successfully absorbed [Fragmented Unknown Sin]

"Fragmented…?"

When I began to absorb more [Fragmented Unknown Sin]'s, I felt as my body began to grow stronger alongside my soul.

"Is this the true nature of the "Sin System"?

When I absorbed around 20 more fragments, I stopped having the feeling of gaining power and I checked my Sin System Window.

[Sin System]

[Current Sin: [Lust (Awakened)]

[Captured Sins: [Fragmented Unknown Sin (Crustacean) (Max)]

[Sin Bonus Stats]

[HP: +100 > 101]

[MP: +100]

[Strength: +20 > 21]

[Defense: +20 > +22]

[Magic: +50]

[Resistance: +50]

[Speed: +40]

[Luck: +20]

[Charisma: +200]

It seems that I can gain extra stats by just absorbing different [Fragmented Sins], according to the system, they are classified by species.

Because I stopped gaining extra stats, I dedicated myself to slaying the hordes of crabs as we advanced further down the cave.

[You gained 947000 EXP] [The rest of your family gained tons of EXP]

[LEVEL 002/250 EXP 1056630/3500000]

[The rest of your family gained tons of levels!]

As we reached the fifth save section, we found countless crab eggs that were protected by Crystal Crab Emperor Guards, which were five times as bigger than its normal variant and possessed even sturdier exoskeletons.

Ryo ended up taking one by himself while using his enhanced Energy Coating alongside his four gauntlets, he crushed the diamond-like shell of the crab with his strong barrage of attacks, which exploded with different elements.

He already had the powerful aura and energy of an Annihilation King, just like his title said…

Aah, my son is so talented!

While he was smashing on the Crabs, I cheered for him on his back. He stopped for a moment in embarrassment while looking at me.

"S-Stop doing that!"

"Hehehe! Go Ryo! You can do it! You are so talented!"

"J-Just shut up already!"

As if letting his frustrations, Ryo jumped over a giant crab and smashed its head into pieces, making it explode like a giant watermelon.

BOOOOOM!

"Oooh! So cool! I am your number one fan, Ryo!"

"Gaah! Stop saying embarrassing things!"

Wagyu and Kekensha were working together as they rushed around the cave, destroying several crabs with their combined attacks. Kekensha has learned ways to attack using his shells, crushing giant crabs with the immense pressure while Wagyu enhances his body with Shadow Winds and rushed at an incredible speed while shooting Shadow Flames and munching the crabs into pieces with his adamantine-like fangs.

Evan used several combo attacks to move through the cave, using several techniques learned from various fighters. He used his golden sword alongside a long golden colored axe, which I gifted to him some days ago. Both of his weapons possess several Light Spirit Stones which enhances his capabilities through the roof.

He resembled a flash of light as he made countless crabs die in an instant. Evan has certainly grown incredibly fast. Even his pain tolerance and his entire body have grown sturdy like a rock, completely different from his past self when he was a delicate young boy.

His entire body was filled with scars due to his harsh training, giving him a mature and tough look, which contrasted with his pale and cute face, golden hair and green eyes.

I could see Ami cheering for him on the distance while she defeated the thousands of giant crabs coming for us. She had developed her Phantasmal Magic to a new extent, creating a poisonous phantom hand that grabbed the crabs like mere toys as she crushed them into nothing. She was able to support us with her incredible Healing Magic from the distance too. However, Ami wasn't afraid to fight at close combat, as she knew several magic sword techniques to defend herself.

Charlotte used her new Enhanced Sword Magic Gun which shoots powerful blasts of elements towards her enemies. She was also skilled in sword techniques, which she used in conjunction with the sword to throw powerful elemental slashes. From time to time, she would switch out to her new bow, which was named [Verdant Gift of Nature], a beautiful green colored bow made with Dryad Wood and enhanced with several Nature Spirit Stones and Wind Spirit Stones.

Lilith has been grown accustomed to her new [Enhanced Long-Distance Magic Gun], as she used her new and stronger body to rush through the battlefield while shooting down countless giant crabs. As she became surrounded, she would quickly replace her rifle with an axe named [Barraging Berserk Axe] and a mace named [Demolishing Mace of Malice], which she used alongside her several techniques to make quick work out of her foes.

As two hours passed, the cave was filled with crab corpses. Thankfully, with my new Item Box, it was possible to save hundreds of these items and stack them 999 times, with this, we had crab for an entire year.

I ate around 20 raw crabs myself but only gained one skill.

[You learned the following Skills]

[Ferocious Gemstone Claws Attack]

Just as I expected, in the last section of the cave, something similar to the Walking Mushroom cave awaited us. A giant Crystal Crab Empress was resting. It seems that it already noticed our presence as it stood up and rushed to us.

The Crystal Crab Empress was more than 30 meters tall, with eight limbs, each one with a deadly gemstone claw alongside a giant crown made of gemstones on its head. Alongside all of this, its jaws excreted a deadly poison.

Because of the massive size of the monster, we all worked together on defeating it. It actually took some time as it possessed several special skills and magic. It was able to summon strong Gemstone Lances from the cave walls while summoning more crystal crabs. It could also summon earthquakes and its massive claws could instantly turn anyone into minced meat.

Gaby, Brontes, and Adelle worked together to destroy the giant monster legs. Gaby raised her sword while throwing devastating Blade Energy and Water Magic Slashes while summoning Sharks that distracted the beast.

Brontes used her thundering speed alongside her massive strength to quickly shatter the beast limb's exoskeleton, showing the pale white and fatty meat inside.

Lastly, Adelle used her shining and penetrating Sacred Sword techniques to quickly diminish the meat inside the Empress legs, making it lose its balance.

BOOM!

As the Crab Empress lost its balance, everyone quickly ganged on her without mercy. Nesiphae used her flaming axe to create several holes over the struggling crustacean while Zehe and Rimuru conjured powerful magic to destroy its tough exoskeleton. I used several [Arms of Demise] to destroy the crab head until it exploded into a messy pulp all over the cave.

Ding!

[You gained 904700 EXP]

[The rest of your family gained tons of EXP]

[LEVEL 002/250

EXP 1961330/3500000]

[The rest of your family gained tons of levels!]

[You obtained a new Title]

[Crystal Crab Empress]

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