Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-1519

.

.

.

The Human Army was getting closer, perhaps tomorrow was going to be the day of war. Elfina finally got to summon a new EX Summon, but the traumatized Sol is unwilling to fight in the war due to his past. Whew, things aren't looking good for him. But in the other case, the soldiers are preparing, and new units from the surrounding fiefdoms within the Forest of Elves are already here. I've seen the army; it is about a thousand strong soldiers. Quite enough to fight against the army of the Human Empire? I don't know. The Elven population is definitely not as much as the human population, so the most people they could muster was a thousand.

However, elves are obviously stronger than the humans in many ways, their magic affinity is amazing, they got great spirit magic and various elemental affinities, and they can channel the power of the spirits of nature into themselves to enhance their power even further. They possess magic weapons and armor for all their soldiers, and each one is at least over a hundred years old, which means they got plenty of life experience. One Elf soldier is probably worth ten human soldiers, so it could be said we have an army of ten thousand competent humans, and things suddenly become way brighter in our minds.

Nonetheless, I still kind of wanted to evolve, and I was only a few Levels from reaching Level 50, the max level I needed to reach to Evolve again. I already wanted to break out of this annoying cocoon and probably become a butterfly. And because I still wanted to make Sol Level Up, I decided to bring him with me.

Knock, knock.

"Hey, Sol! I am Kireina, your fellow Summoned Entity, are you there?" I asked.

"Yes?" He asked rather timidly.

"Come with me, let's go to the Dark Labyrinth, you can slay monsters there to earn EXP and level up. Are you up for it or do you fear monsters as well? Don't tell me you're going to say that they have feelings too or some vegan speech?" I wondered.

"Vegan Speech? What's that?" He wondered. "…And fine, I am not afraid of monsters. I can assist Elfina if it is just slaying beasts." Sol quickly opened the door, his face seemed rather darkened, was he crying just now? What?! Why would an overpowered guy like him CRY?! Gosh… Well, he's still a human, I guess.

"Were you crying bud?" I wondered.

"…No." Sighed Sol, walking outside. I quickly ended guiding him to the Dark Labyrinth.

As we walked downstairs to the first floor, I began to ask him a few questions. I mostly brought him here because I wanted to know about his past and why out of the sudden he wasn't willing to cooperate.

"You may barely know about me, but I know a lot about you. Back in Genesis I was reborn as a Caterpillar in the Grand Forest, in there, there was the Wyvern Overlord. He was the former ruler of a Monster Nation that was formed there, which he said was destroyed by the Sun Hero…"

"Ah…"

Sol suddenly fell into silence as he looked at me in shock.

"S-So you're a monster from there… It makes more sense that you can speak so fluently… One of the things I regretted the most was what I did back there." He sighed. "I never truly intended to slay them like I did. I didn't… do it because it was something I wanted."

"Huh? Then what?" I asked. "You're still guilty even if you didn't wanted to do it."

"…I know. But… I didn't had a choice, I suppose… Back then, I was young and naïve, and easily let others manipulate me. I was born as a small farm boy after all, I was a mere serf. My powers awakened one day and I was regarded as a Hero the next morning. The Nobles of the Athetosea Kingdom were greedy, seeing me as a weapon, they trained me and made me over level, feeding me all sorts of items as well as giving me equipment. They always acted generous, nobody was ever so generous with me before, I felt happy and… I foolishly ended becoming too loyal to them." He said, looking into the stairs.

So he was really a Farmer back then, not born in nobility as I always thought he was? It is quite the cliché story, but I guess it was his life. He awakened the powers of a Hero and then was suddenly dragged into the world of nobles, nurtured and raised into a weapon for them.

"It simply started with few slaying requests… "Kill X Monster", "Defeat this group of Brigands"… However, when I didn't realized it, I was already in the Grand Forest with my allies, we were tasked with eliminating an ever-growing Monster Nation led by a Wyvern Overlord and a Giant Ancient Turtle…"

Ancient Turtle? Wait, I do remember that Guubo, just when I created him, had slain a giant turtle and ate him, gaining the power of a Spirit Guardian of the Forest… Huh, maybe that turtle was quite important. Oh well, he's already pretty dead. Maybe I might find him in Helheim whenever I am back in Genesis. But unlike Sol, I don't really feel guilty about it…

"…When we got there, I thought they were monsters like any others. I tried to convince myself that they were not real people, even when they asked for mercy, even when they fought to protect one another. The Wyvern Overlord was mighty, it took everything we had to seal him into the Spirit Dungeon. When everything ended, I convinced myself I committed a good deed, everyone around me told me I did something good as well. But later, I realized I did something horrendous the more nightmares I had about everything… I am already dead so I cannot really redeem myself back in Genesis, maybe… But I want to tell you that I am sorry."

"Well, your apologies won't get you anywhere, hero." I sighed. "I don't have any grudge against you, don't worry about it. More importantly, let's get going, look, a bunch of club-wielding monkeys." I pointed out at various Barbarian Monkeys rushing towards us, it was time to see what he was made of!

"I see… Thank you for saying that Kireina. I guess I feel slightly more relieved… Now, let's get this done with. Pride Flare!"

FLUOOOSSSH!

An enormous storm of flames suddenly surged from within Sol's hands, engulfing all the monkeys and reducing them to cinders in seconds.

BOOOMMM!!!

He was indeed… an amazing weapon.

.

.

.