Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-140

[Day 130]

Today, early in the morning we proceeded with our exploration through the [Forsaken Labyrinth]. Having crossed the 1st to 11th floors, we entered the 12th down until the 22nd floor.

Although the basic structure of the dungeon was still the same, resembling the inside of a tower with a spiral staircase which connected countless of small rooms, these rooms have become more common and so the monsters and traps.

The traps also became more lethal and complicated. There are now pitfalls that lead to a deep hole filled with poisoned spikes. A trap that triggers a Tarantula thread that traps you in place and instantly paralyzes you, leaving anyone to the mercy of a monster nearby. And many more.

However, thanks to my [Shadow Assassin Arts: Disarm Trap] skill, I was able to easily detect any trap and instantly disarm them with my bare hands, making the trip way more enjoyable and less dangerous than what it was initially made to be.

Each floor had around five to seven rooms, the rooms had also grown in size and so the treasure chests. Alongside this, the rooms became wide and the monster's way more ferocious and sharper, being able to accomplish strategies and tactics that surprised us more than one time.

Although the number of monsters was very low compared to the Evergreen Dungeon, they compensated their low numbers with higher intelligence and higher individual strength.

The dungeon rooms usually had one to two hidden rooms, which were half the size of the main room and were filled with a massive swarm of monsters and lethal traps. If you somehow manage to evade the traps and kill all the monsters, you would be rewarded with a Special Golden Chest that has a higher chance to drop an [Unique] or above equipment or material.

Usually, these rooms were a nice way to farm some extra EXP, and if we left the room for around half an hour, the monsters inside would pop out once again, giving us a very easy way to grind EXP, especially for those who needed it the most like Altani.

Although there were mostly the same monsters as the previous ten floors, there were some new faces around, alongside powered-up versions of the previous floor's monsters.

The monsters of the floors 12th to 22th were as follows:

[Accursed Relic Sandman], a species of highly intelligent golems who use the surrounding dirt and sand to take on humanoid forms with two legs, arms, and a head. These golems usually come in packs of around ten to twenty. They can mold and transform their sand or dirt bodies. Those who are made of sand can even heat their own bodies temperature and transform their hands in sharp glass blades that can cut even the dungeon walls. They possess five different cores, making them hard to kill prey. The strongest Relic Sandmen can fuse themselves with the dungeon walls and ambush those who come closer to them, opening the dungeon walls as if they were giant gaping mouths and instantly eating their prey.

[Giant Rabbit of the Sands], a species of giant rabbits who have very fluffy hair and adorable appearance. Their fur is usually of a clay color with square stripes, which give them the ability to easily camouflage with the endless walls. They live inside the walls on massive tunnels made by them. Their colonies can reach up to thousands. When provoked, these rabbits are ferocious enemies that attack using strategies and earth magic. They usually command those who are bulkier and have higher defenses towards the frontlines, while the weak magic casters hide beneath the dungeon walls while healing the front liners and showering us with sharp rock lances. The best strategy that I came up with was completely flooding their tunnels until they all drowned or came rushing outside, while they met their quick end by the hands of my wives and children.

[Lurking Shadow Crows], these are a species of giant crows that usually attack by themselves. These monsters can hide on others' shadows. They would usually follow their prey through their shadows until their prey is on a vulnerable state like sleep. Then, out of nowhere, they would quickly jump over and attack the unfortunate prey with hundreds of beak attacks and shadow binding magic. I actually know about their existence as one tried to ambush Aarae, just when he was about to massacre my child, I detected it with my increased senses and completely blasted it away into oblivion. Since then, I have been making sure that no lurkers are on my family shadows. And because of my caution, I discovered three more Crows on Altani, Adelle, and Amiphossia's shadows, which I quickly devoured alive shapeshifting my arms into a corrosive slime, they had a slow and painful death.

[Hundredth Mouthed Tentacle Horror of the Sands], a species of mollusks that resemble a type of octopus. These monsters have massive sizes of over twenty meters and settle themselves inside entire rooms, rooting their tentacles around the walls, making the entire room their home. Their bodies have a clay color to better camouflage on the dungeon walls, alongside this, their tentacles are filled with hundreds of tiny mouths, which are also filled with thousands of very tiny fangs. To add all up, their mouths secrete a paralyzing toxin, which facilizes the catching of their prey. These monsters can also produce a rocky texture that resembles the clay walls of the dungeon, which they use to close their rooms when they have finally caught prey. For these kinds of monsters, I only used my [Pirokinesis] and burned them alive into a crisp, which went well with liquor and some sweet sauce.

This sums about all the new monsters we encountered through the 12th to the 22nd floors. They were quite ferocious for the most part, however, the rabbits could be left alone and they wouldn't attack us. But they were too delicious looking, so I hunted several colonies.

The pile of monsters that we had before the boss room accounted was amusing and the EXP was generous.

[You gained 9652200 EXP]

[LEVEL 028/250 EXP 13.360.565/57.000.000]

[Your family gained some levels!]

My wives and children were getting very hungry so we quickly decided to prepare all these monsters and had a big feast right before the boss. However, I didn't gain any ability…

The boss of the floor 23rd was a gigantic Deceiving Clay Sand Worm, a species of giant sandworm that camouflages itself on the dungeon floor with its unique appearance, which resembles the dungeon clay bricks.

Much like the previous monsters, the Deceiving Clay Sand Worm expands its tentacle-like tiny appendages across the dungeon floor, rooting itself to it until it completely fuses with the floor bricks. When this happens, the worm can easily manipulate the dungeon floor to its advantage, molding it to resemble whatever it wants, even replicating its original home, the scorching deserts.

Like the first boss, the Deceiving Clay Sand Worm had a series of specific patterns and moves that made it hard to catch. While it swiftly swam through the dungeon floor, the boss would use its powerful earth manipulation to make dealing with him even harder.

Because I let my children fight it first, I was prepared for the worst, at any given moment, if they failed and were on the brink of death, I would quickly rescue them and get rid of the boss myself.

However, without much surprise, my four children managed to deal with the monster just as easily.

The fight started with the boss manipulating the dungeon floor, generating waves that constantly disrupted my children's moves and make their formation a mess.

The worm would swim across the floor looking for a blind spot and then it would quickly ambush anyone with its giant gaping mouth, which is filled with hundreds of thousands of tiny drooling fangs. The monster saliva also secretes a paralyzing toxin, so even if you are barely scratched, it would quickly paralyze you and eat you whole.

However, my children already could fly thanks to the [Levitate] which I conjured on them beforehand. The worm saw as its usual tactics wouldn't work, as it enraged itself into a furious rampage.

It swam wildly around the dungeon floor and began to summon hundreds of magic circles that conjured powerful Earth Magic, most of them being giant rock boulders or stone spikes, and some times very refined Steel Lances.

Although it couldn't reach my children without compromising itself and showing its entire body, it still was able to attack at a nice pace with his magic, giving very little time for my children to think about strategies.

However, the monster didn't count on Aarae wonderful magic proficiency and usage, as he used his water magic and his Hammerhead Shark Familiar to shield on the countless of Earth projectiles.

Meanwhile, Valentia began to shoot Earth projectiles of her own, which were stronger and sturdier, but few compared to the boss. Of course, the boss had to just shield itself bellow the dungeon floor to be completely fine. So, Valentia's attack didn't really do much. Seeing this, Ryo began to do the same, using the high knowledge of Shadow Magic that he has learned thanks to Zehe, he conjured a showed of countless spheres of Shadow and Dark Magic, that also began to blast the boss, who still managed to dodge the attacks.

However, these attacks were enough for the boss to distract itself and hide bellow the floor, while trying to dodge the incoming barrage, it didn't have much time to take care of another variable of the battlefield, which created a small opening that could be abused by a strong long-ranged magic-user. Because of Amiphossia's amazing control of her magic, she combined several elements with her Phantasmal Magic, creating a multi-colored mist that was able to mold itself to her will.

My daughter commanded the mist which swiftly infiltrated itself inside of the dungeon floor, reaching the boss. As the mist was faster and non-corporeal, the boss had a very hard time evading or dissipating it with his means.

When the mist finally enveloped the boss, Amiphossia gave the order as the mist shined on a rainbow color and exploded, generating a massive earthquake on the dungeon floor.

The explosion left a gigantic hole where the boss was, which now became a puddle of blood, flesh, and bones. Hmm, I think Amiphossia went overboard, this was complete overkill.

Well, according to Amiphossia, she wouldn't have been able to do it without the assistance of Aarae protecting them from the shower of magic projectiles and Valentia and Ryo distracting the boss while throwing their magic projectiles.

I let my four children fight the boss four more times once again, however, they didn't want Amiphossia to steal their spotlight so each one had their kills.

Ryo overwhelmed the boss with his Shadow Magic, forcing to get outside of the dungeon floor and then annihilating it with his absurdly strong barrage of fists attacks.

Aarae did something similar, flooding the entire dungeon floor with water, forcing the worm to get outside once again. As Aarae noticed the struggling boss, he commanded his Hammerhead Shark Familiar alongside one hundred water beasts to completely tear the boss into shreds.

Lastly, Valentia just let loose of her wild and savage strength, using her raw power and her incredibly sturdy [Monster Hand], she completely tore the dungeon floor into debris until the boss had nowhere to run and was devoured alive by my daughter. She is truly a terrifying girl.

Afterward, I killed the monster with my wives for around twenty times, until it suddenly stopped spawning. I wonder why? Can a dungeon feel tired?

[You gained 16773290 EXP]

[LEVEL 028/250 EXP 30.133.855/57.000.000]

[Your family gained some levels!]

Indeed, the EXP was rather nice, I think this EXP is the equivalent of killing one thousand weak humans… Hm, if humans give such low EXP by now, then I may just stop bothering to kill them and only enslave them, well only those who don't directly attack or provoke me.

Well, certainly, Elemental Knights still give a lot of EXP individually…

Because the boss wasn't spawning anymore and it was already late. We had dinner with the boss meat before going to sleep.

Although the Deceiving Clay Sand Worm was a [Insect] type of beast, its meat was red and juicy, full of grease, atypical of any bug I've eaten. It resembled something between snake meat and eel, with a clear hint of sweetness, very unique. Because of its massive body, I only cleaned its innards, which I devoured instantly with a shapeshifted hand into a slime.

Then, I quickly sliced the boss into thick and meaty slices and grilled them with my [Pyrokinesis]. With some hot sauce and sweet sauce and accompanied by the delicious Mint Beer from the Evergreen Town, it was truly a delicacy.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[You learned the following Skills]

[Deceiving Sand Worm]

[Dungeon Area Assimilation]

[Paralysis Saliva]

Hm? I just got an interesting skill…

[Dungeon Area Assimilation] worked just as I thought, it lets me assimilate a fixed area of the dungeon. Although I cannot assimilate it entirely, it's only a small zone of around five meters wide.

By assimilating the area, I can move it to my will, make any wall mold as if it were water, and open themselves. However, it's not a permanent effect and I cannot slowly assimilate the entire dungeon either, it only works in that area and whenever I leave it, the control is instantly deactivated.

Nonetheless, this will make our trip even easier, as I will be able to deactivate any trap and even take them for myself, open walls with easy and even ambush monsters myself.

Because I wasn't really tired, I hunted for most of the night, eating any monster that came my way. When it was morning and everyone was waking up, I had killed over six hundred monsters. However, the boss hasn't spawned yet.

[You gained 37440000 EXP]

[You gained one level!] [LEVEL 029/250 EXP 10.573.855/65.000.000]

[You learned the following Skills]

[Symbiosis]

[Leader of the Colony]

[Shadow Traveling]

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