Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-18

[Day 21]

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was tiny humanoid feet over my face.

"Geehh… What is this…? Ne…Nereid…! Get off me…!"

It was no other than the water spirit that I summoned yesterday, Nereid. She was sleeping over my body, and despite her tiny body, she weighed quite a lot. Perhaps it is because I am tiny too.

"Maaaaa… Maaaaste… ten more minutes… gehehehe…"

"Gaahh! Get off!"

BUMP!

I quickly threw Nereid using a little bit of my Strength stat, but she was blasted over the cave walls several meters away.

BOOM!

"Gyyaaahh!!!"

"Gueeeehhh! Master is so mean…! Why do you bully me, master? Gueeeeehhh!!!"

I quickly noticed that she lost quite a considerable amount of HP just by crashing on the walls.

"Aaah! I-I'm sorry…! Don't cry! I hate crybabies! Here, I'll heal you…!"

I quickly healed Nereid back until the pain was completely gone.

"Snif… Snif… Master is so mean… I just wanted to sleep more… Snif… Snif…"

"Sigh… Stand up, I already said that I was sorry, come, let's go eat some delicious food to get you in a good mood!"

I slowly carried the crying fairy, most of my servants and slaves working around looked me with weird expressions.

"What are you looking at?! I didn't do anything! Go back to your works!"

"Y-Yes, Master!"

After arriving to the kitchen and telling Wagyu and Rimuru what happened, they quickly went to look for some food and beer.

After having a fulfilling meal, I left the drunk Nereid in the kitchen, were she started to babble on how mean of a Master I am.

I had a small meeting with every Squad Leader (Excluding Slave Leaders), and we talked about how many troops we had left and how many we lost.

Total Troops:

43 Slaves (Around 22 are battle capable).

20 Undead Warrior Trolls.

78 Monkeys in the beginning, lost 19 in first war, and 6 in the second war. 53 left.

28 Crimson Wolves, lost 5 in the first war, gained 4 puppies later, lost 4 in the third war. 23 left.

9 Ice Wolves, 2 lost in the second war. 7 left.

5 Slimes.

2 Mythical Elemental Spirits.

5 Wyverns.

After analyzing the total number of troops and causalities, Kizuato sighed.

"Sigh… Indeed the monkeys are still the ones who had the biggest casualties, we must improve their armor and leveling speed, we must use this small window until the next wave to train!"

I wondered about the current monkey fertility rate, and was pleasantly surprised that most female monkeys were already pregnant, including the Cooking Leader Chokumotsu! That one really surprised me; she had her whole face red when she admitted it to me.

"So who's your partner, then?"

"Oh, hahaha, it's a member of my cooking team, he's still a nameless monkey, but he's a lovely man that threats me very well, he also has exceptional cooking talent!"

"Hmm, perhaps I will give him a name in the future"

Around the Monkey Squad Leaders, almost everyone already had a female partner who was already pregnant, except Jinsoku and Meiji, Jinsoku barely talks and has little social interaction, and the same could be said with Meiji, but in the sense on how he's immersed in his magic studies. Kusuri on the other hand has recently confessed to Kajiya, who also corresponded his feelings.

"I expect lots of babies from you, Kajiya!"

"Y-Y-Yes…! M-M-Master…! Fueeehhhhh…"

Kajiya was so embarrassed that almost passed out in front of everyone, but Kusuri thankfully calmed her down.

"Well, tell all your pregnant partners that they can stop working whenever they feel like, if they are too tired"

"That includes you Chokumotsu, your cooking team is already well experienced, so leave them some work too, and rest whenever you feel like"

"Ah, such benevolence, Master, I am so grateful"

I wondered about the fertility part on the Wolves, and it seems that their matting season will come next year, for now I would like both the Crimson and Ice Wolves to know each other better, and increase the chances of mating between the two variants, to increase the odds of stronger Wolves inheriting both variants traits. In addition, Slimes are not able to reproduce by normal means, but according to Rimuru, after evolving enough times, a special skill to duplicate themselves will show up, this is their way to "reproduce".

"I wonder if Wagyu will have his own little pups"

Afterwards, I told the Squad Leaders to assemble their teams and go straight to the Training Grounds. This time I told Kekensha to include the named and battle-capable slaves to the intensive training, and not to go easy on them.

I also summoned my other Spirit, Kjata, who resembled a floating flaming armor holding a big axe.

I dragged Nereid out of the kitchen and healed her until her drunk status was dispelled, then I ordered to train with the rest, or she wasn't getting any more beer.

"Gaaah! I have such a mean Master! I don't want to train! That's so lame!"

Rimuru will instruct his Slime team while making sure that Nereid would train accordingly.

Afterwards, I used [MP Share] with my servants and I went all out this time, summoning more than 400 Lower Demonic Beings! No special variant came from these, however.

"Hmm, is the gacha of summoning spells being cruel to me?"

"Right, I should include the Undead Trolls into the training"

Because of the inclusion of the 20 Undead Trolls, I summoned 200 more Lower Demonic Beings, no special variant this time either.

I ordered them to kill as many of these little beings as they could until hitting max level.

Later on, the Wyverns also joined the training.

"Oh? Not even taking a day off to rest! You are such an efficient Master, fellow Kireina!"

"This could be seen as a flaw but also a talent…"

"I wonder how many time we have until the next wave, according to what our father told you, Goblings and Undead are next, right?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I really hope that they don't come all together… I also wonder, what's next after them?"

"Will the mage himself come to attack us?"

"Not very likely, a mage is a intelligent and scheming person that puts its servant lives over himself, he would never risk his life like this…"

"Anyways, I will get all my answers from the new Troll members we got; they should be waiting for me in their cells…"

"Good luck on the interrogations then, Kireina"

"See ya, train hard!"

I quickly flew into the deep underground cave, in a special space dedicated to mostly store supplies; the monkeys quickly improvised strong and magic reinforced cells to store prisoners.

There I saw three Trolls patiently waiting for me.

On the left side of the room, alone, was the beautiful Troll Witch, with pale blue colored skin, long and messy silver hair, covering her left eye, and a slim body accompanied with a beautiful and voluptuous chest. She had a long black dress and was bare foot; she lacked her left arm because I cut and ate it and did not grow back after intensive healing.

On the right side was the big and muscular Warrior Troll, he barely had a loincloth and some armor around his muscular and sweaty body, and he had long black hair, with two sharp fangs sprouting out of his lower jaw, his menacing look didn't matched his worried expression at this time, making his face look weird. On his left side, was the Troll Girl, she had beautiful and big golden colored eyes, with a smooth gray skin and long black hair, two tiny fangs sprouted out of her lower jaw, giving her cute appearance a wild feeling to it. She was only wearing some basic white clothes made by the Spider Slaves.

The Witch quickly noticed me and changed her depressed expression with one full of anger.

"You! Why have you come here? To devour the rest of my limbs? To laugh at me? To defile me?!"

The Troll Warrior tried to calm her down but she just ignored him.

"Calm down, Zehe. I didn't came here to torture you guys in any way, I just want information from you, after this you will be treated as a normal member of the community"

"Normal… Member? Who are you trying to trick on this, Dem-"

Suddenly, a strong shock filled Zehe's body in an intense pain!

"Gyyyyyyyyyaahhhh!!!"

"Sigh… I told you to calm down, and don't try to insult me because that will happen every time you try"

After passing through that pain, Zehe became silent and looked at the floor.

"Very well… Ahem, I know you were the closest one to the Emperor so here, come with me to a private room…"

I slowly ordered the guarding monkeys to open the cells door.

Zehe slowly stood up and followed me to another room.

When we arrived, I started asking her basic things first.

"Alright, what's the name of your former Master?"

Zehe looked at me while heavily breathing.

"My Master… I… Would never… Te-"

Suddenly, an intense shock of pain filled Zehe's body once again!

"Gyaaaaahhhhhh…! Ghh…"

"You will get this pain every time you refuse to answer…"

"I would better off dead… than reveal anything about my Master to you, De-"

BOOM!

"Gyyaaaaaaaaaahhh! Aaaaaaahhhhhh…!"

"…"

"Sigh… You got quite the will power. (Ugh, it really make me feel weird to see such a cutie suffer this much) Alright, I will just hypnotize you then!"

"Wait! Nooo!"

"Combine spells: Hypnotizing gaze+Illusion magic!"

Flash!

"Ghhh…!"

A purple light penetrated the Witch eyes, she tried to fight the magic back but it was useless, after some struggles she was completely hypnotized and in a trance, her eyes became purple colored and she started to smile like an idiot.

"I think it's done… Let's try it…"

"What's the name of your former Master?"

"Yes, the name of my former Master was Redgaria Frostbite"

"Ah! It worked! Now she is such a docile girl! (Uggh, this reminds me of some weird hypnotizing doujinshis I used to read on Earth… I hope I am not being some kind of creep right now…)"

"Very well… Uhh, listen well."

"Yes, Master"

"How much time is left until the second troops arrive at the Forest?"

"Yes, the Goblin Troops still lacked total preparation, I estimate around 5 to 7 days. The Undead were coming right behind them, so around 7-9 days"

"Geeh! That's barely any time!"

"Indeed, Master. I suggest you to train very hard, fufufu."

"Eh? (Did she just laughed?)"

"Ahem…! D-Do you know the background of your former Master?"

"I barely have any info on my former Master because I only met him once in my life, when I received this name. The only thing I know is that he possess the blessings of multiple demi-gods, and a strong Overclass named "High Necromancer Walock", he also has incredible talent over manipulating troops and summoning monsters, the last thing I heard about him was that he was experimenting on infusing equipment with strong Demons from the Underworld Realm"

"Underground Realm…? Do you know the name?"

"Yes, Underground Realm: Hel"

"Do you know anything more about other Realms?"

"Sadly that's the only Realm I know outside of Vida, the one we inhabit right now"

"Hmmm, I see, so you weren't as close to your Master as I initially thought…"

"Do you… really don't have any more memories about him? How about his stats?"

"I am sorry, Master. But I can only do a rough estimation of his power, it's probably already in Overlord class, or a little bit above…"

"Geeh! That's insane… How will I beat that?"

"Sorry, Master. I don't know"

"Any other thing you haven't told me about him? Even if it's irrelevant"

"Yes, the Emperor once told me that our Master was once betrayed by his own family, they committed horrible acts against her sister, which led to her dead. Afterwards, my former master rightfully killed every single human in that rotten Kingdom, raising an empire that only included his summoned servants"

"H-Hey! That wasn't at all irrelevant! That's some juicy backstory…"

"Forgive me Master. I thought that it was irrelevant in regards to your battle plans"

"Sigh… Anyways, we are done here, if you don't know any more, those two warriors will know even less… Go back to your cell"

"Yes, Master"

"Ah! Wait! Let me take out the hypnotizing magic first…"

"Yes, Master"

Flash!

I dispelled the magic making her docile and the usual rude and angry Zehe came out again.

"Ah! W-What did you do to me? You perverted and ugly butterf-"

Boom!

A strong shock filled Zehe's whole body!

"Gaaaaaaaahhh…! Ahhh… Ugh…"

"Oh? You are getting used to it already. You are strong… Ah! About your arm, I will try to look for a replacement"

"Are you trying to amend for your mistakes or something…?"

"E-Eh? Of course not, I enjoyed every bit of your arm! Now go back to our cell!"

"…"

Zehe slowly went back to the cell.

Afterwards, I had a quick talk with the Troll couple, unlike Zehe, Celica and Truhan were more talkative and obedient, answering everything immediately. I got Celica's point of view on how she was given the Shadow Awakening Ring by the Emperor, and that she didn't knew about any demon residing it. She felt betrayed by her Master and completely ignored the fact that my troops whipped all her brothers. Truhan was kind of a gentle giant and unlike Celica, he did hold his grudges against my troops, but because we were stronger anyways, he accepted that it was obvious for the weak to lose to the strong, and that there was no point in being angry with me because they tried to kill us first.

When the big talk finished, I offered the three Trolls a new beginning in my community, with their own private rooms, food and equipment. Surprisingly, all three accepted without much thinking, even Zehe who I thought was more intelligent.

"I'm surprised that you accepted so willingly, Zehe"

"Are you trying to mock me? Go ahead, there is no point in fighting you, and because you don't want me dead either, I will do as you want, I don't have any other options left…"

"Ugh... (Maybe good food and beer will convince her later)"

Celica was the only one who was more energetic than the three, because of what her Master did to her; she was motivated to have her revenge on him one day.

Before training it seemed that the two girls wanted to take a bath first, so I called some slave assistants (mostly female hairy spiders) to get them to the female baths.

Truhan decided to have a quick meal and train, while being instructed by Kekensha.

Underground Female Baths.

Two beautiful Troll girls washed themselves in a warm underground water.

"Your name is… Celica, right…?"

"Ah… Y-Yes… You are Zehe? You are actually an Empress…"

"Ah, yes, though this title has no power anymore here… I am no more than a servant to Kireina…"

Fluosh

Zehe slowly started to wash her long legs with a sponge made of a dried plant.

"Its impressive how advanced they are in here… from warm baths to even bathing utensils"

"Ah…! Y-Yes… They have so many things I've never seen before, even a cooking room with very delicious food… even private bathrooms and warm beds… It's all so…"

"Strange?"

"No, I was going to say comforting… Don't you think the same?"

"I… I guess you are indeed right, so many different monsters coming together to survive, I have never seen something like this before. Kireina is indeed an interesting being"

"Hmm…"

Celica took a pink colored soap and rubbed it around her belly and chest.

"Ah… This Soap smells so good, I wonder who made it?"

"Such talented crafters…"

"This warm bath is really good… Is this Kireina's way to win us over…?"

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After the two Troll girls finished taking a long bath, two Hairy Spider Maids came with new equipment from them.

"W-Where are my clothes?"

"I am sorry, Senior Zehe, Master Kireina ordered us to get rid of that nasty dress and to use these new clothes"

The new long dress for Zehe didn't looked so different than her previous dress, but the quality of the fabric was very good, and every corner of the dress fit her beautiful body perfectly, as if crafted specially for her. This also included a new black colored Witch Cap.

"I'm impressed that he thought of everything…"

"Yes, although I am not used on using skirts, I always used pants before… and these long socks feel weird, but if Master wants this, it's fine… The chest plate and shoulder pads are very sturdy, and the sword is of a pretty nice quality too"

Afterwards, the two Trolls joined Truhan on his intensive training.

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Anticipating the Trolls coming to the training grounds, I quickly went were the Undead Trolls were and used Illusion Magic to change their appearance to look like skeletons instead, so the Trolls don't freak out after seeing their fellow brothers converted into Undead Soldiers.

When I finished doing so, I went to the Alchemy and Crafting Team sections, were I saw several spiders working using their threads to produce a very high quality fabric.

"I-Its Master Kireina, welcome!"

A little Hairy Spider girl greeted me.

"I came for the new clothes I ordered yesterday"

"Oh, they are ready; please excuse me for a second…"

The little spider quickly went to a separated room where they store fabric and finished clothes. And came back carrying a long black dress, a brown skirt made of bear fur, a sweeter, a pair of black stockings, two shoulder pads and a chest plate.

"Here it is, Master"

"Well done"

I quickly flew were the two Hairy Spider Maids were waiting for me outside the bath and give them these clothes, ordering them to dispose of the girl's older clothes.

"Ugh, alright all of that is done… (I wonder how Celica will look with that new skirt and stockings…)"

"Main mind, what kind of perverted thoughts are you having? Do you know that we all share them?"

"Disgusting…"

"Hahaha! It is normal for a man to like beautiful woman! But it's also useless, as a butterfly, we lack any kind of lust or sex drive"

"I wonder how butterflies reproduce…"

"Ugh, thanks for the mental image…"

I decided to not waste more time and went to join my servants on the training.

[You've gained 14599 EXP]

[You've gained three levels!] [Level 7/40 EXP 4.592/5100]

"I feel like I could keep going the whole night… is it because of my Undead status? Anyways, I am pretty hungry; my Undead status cannot get rid of that…"

Before dinner, I wanted to check on everyone progress.

It seems like the Wyverns are closer to evolution, with only 10 levels left. The monkey Leaders are in the middle of the road, slowly approaching the next evolution or class promotion, while most of the rookies are ready to evolve to King class this night.

Rimuru has taken good care of the Slime family. Milim and Ranga already hit max level, and this night they should be able to evolve successfully.

Most Crimson wolves are also ready to evolve this night, while the Leaders are slowly approaching max level. Yuki from the Ice Wolves will evolve this night.

Meanwhile, the Trolls leveled incredibly fast, thanks to the Blood Pact extra EXP gain; they were surprised on how quick they have gained power.

What surprised me the most were the Undead Trolls, who already hit max level, and evolved right on the spot, becoming "High Troll Wrights", I wonder how fast will they evolve until the next battle.

I invited the Trolls to a big feast (and obviously didn't tell them that they were eating Troll meat), offering them with tons of delicious preparations and Beer, which they all happened to love immensely from the start. Zehe in particular got drunk very fast, which changed her serious demeanor completely, making a big party and even singing Ancient Troll songs. Celica and Truhan were embarrassed over the whole scene their fellow Troll made.

Suddenly, Zehe fell soundly asleep, so Celica and Truhan had to carry her to her room.

This time I didn't pass out so I went to bed by myself, Nereid followed me promptly and rested over my body again, she told me that her whole body hurt like hell because of the intensive training so it was the least I could do to let her sleep over my body.

Skill fusion results of the day:

[Forest Caterpillar Weak Body] + [Caterpillar Basic Regeneration] + [Big Bird Tenacity] = [Forest Caterpillar Tenacity]

[Big Bird Gale Wings] + [Ice Wings Creation] + [Hairy Spider 8 Limbs Creation] = [8 Demonic Vampire Wings Creation]

[High Fire Element Affinity] + [Blessing of the Fire Spirit] + [Fire and Dark Element Affinity] = [Dark Flame Spirit Master]

[Mountain Monkey Rock Throw] + [Gale Bird Emperor Feather Projectiles] + [Strong Shadow Shot] = [Dark Moon Shadow Rain]

[Gate of Bjarmia] + [Dark Moon Shadow Rain] + [Basic Dark Arts Manipulation and Creation] = [Advanced Fusion Spell: Gate of Bjarmia: Pandora's Box]

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[Day 22]

As I woke up, I found Nereid over me as usual; this time I gently used my magic threads to get her off me. Because I didn't disturb her too much, she kept sleeping on a side of my bed.

"What I am going to do with this child… Sigh…"

Lots of news came to me from Wagyu this morning, it seems that almost every rookie monkey got their new class change, all of them were boasting with high morale. On the other side, every Crimson Wolf except the mothers and pups successfully evolved to King Class, some even got different evolution variants, like another Midnight Wolf King, and a very mysterious Flying Wind Wolf, who had the passive skill named [Levitate] by default, letting him freely move in the air.

On the Ice Wolf side, Yuki finally evolved after doing her best in the latest Troll war and excessively training, she became a "High Tundra Wolf Empress" and got a myriad of new ice related moves.

[NAME: Yuki-onna

[CLASS: None

[RACE: High Tundra Wolf Empress

[LEVEL: 1/30 EXP: 0000/2500 STATUS: Fine

[HP: 86/86 MP: 46/46 STAMINA: 141/160

[STRENGTH: 87

[DEFENCE: 67

[MAGIC: 64

[RESISTANCE: 83

[SPEED: 102

[CHARISMA: 13

[LUCK: 0

[NEW SKILLS: [High Tundra Wolf Empress Ice Mirage] [High Tundra Wolf Empress Ice Spear] [Ice Blood] [Sturdy Ice Body] [Advanced Magic: Summon Lower Ice Storm]

[NEW TITLES: [High Tundra Wolf Empress]

After checking on everyone, I went with Rimuru and Wagyu to the dining room, where I found the Trolls having their meals. They seemed way more cheerful then yesterday, especially Celica and Truhan who were making fun of Zehe due to her drunk scene last night.

"Hahaha! I couldn't believe that the reserved and serious Zehe had such a facet when drunk, you really put quite the show yesterday! Buwahaha!"

"Geez, Zehe… I never expected this from you; you really looked like a completely new person…"

"Ghh… S-Shut up! I just have quite the weakness for alcoholic beverages, that's all, it's completely normal…"

"Oh? Are you blushing? Buwahaha!"

"Sigh, Truhan stop laughing at her… ppfff…"

"H-Hey! Stop laughing! Geezz…!"

Just before me was Zehe acting like a child while telling her two friends to stop laughing at her.

"Hahaha! I am glad they are having a good time, even after everything they have been through"

Wagyu nodded.

"Hmm, you are correct, Master Kireina. Even though they were our fatal enemies some days ago, you still forgave their lives and made them your servants, such benevolence!"

"Guuuu…! Masta is the best Masta! Guuuuuuu!"

Rimuru extended its body and wrapped me around in a tight hug like he always do.

"Ugh…! Well it's just Rimuru this time…"

However, suddenly!

"Geeez! Rimuru! Don't take Master all for yourself!"

"Ghh…! I-It can't be…!"

It was Milim and the rest of the slimes, envious of Rimuru having me all for itself; they all attacked with their strongest hugs!

SQUISH!

"Gaaaaaahhhh!!"

SQUISH! SQUISH! SQUISH!

[System Alert: Your current HP is below 10%]!

"T-This is it… Farewell…"

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When the Slimes finally let me out alive, I noticed Milim and Ranga different appearances.

Milim doubled her size and was now able to fly with her little demon wings; I also sensed a very strong magic talent coming from her. Her new race was "High Pink Demonic Illusion Slime".

[NAME: Milim

[CLASS: None

[RACE: High Pink Demonic Illusion Slime

[LEVEL: 1/30 EXP: 0000/2500 STATUS: Fine

[HP: 68/68 MP: 72/72 STAMINA: 127/140

[STRENGTH: 53

[DEFENCE: 61

[MAGIC: 82

[RESISTANCE: 78

[SPEED: 67

[CHARISMA: 21

[LUCK: 0

[NEW SKILLS: [Advanced Illusion Magic] [Demonic Nature] [Novice Dark Arts Manipulation] [Fusion Spell: Illusion Shadow Shot]

[NEW TITLES: [Little Demon] [Illusionist Master]

After evolution, Ranga became the largest Slime in the family, growing its big tail even bigger and growing little horns over its body, it's still retained its blue colored body, its new race was "High Savage Beast Slime" and it was focused more on close combat with high defenses.

[NAME: Ranga

[CLASS: None

[RACE: High Savage Beast Slime

[LEVEL: 1/30 EXP: 0000/2400 STATUS: FINE

[HP: 81/81 MP: 33/33 STAMINA: 154/160

[STRENGTH: 86

[DEFENCE: 75

[MAGIC: 34

[RESISTANCE: 71

[SPEED: 70

[CHARISMA: 6

[LUCK: 0

[NEW SKILLS: [Savage Beast Mode] [Strong Beastly Claws] [Strong Beastly Tackle] [Bloody Defense] [Powerful Riposte]

[New Titles: [Little Beast] [Savage Beast]

"Hmm! You two have become much stronger! However, you still got a big road ahead of you if you really want to catch up with Rimuru! All of you must work very hard!"

After saying this, Benimaru and Shion who felt left out, were once again motivated to keep training as hard as they could.

"M-Master…! I will do my very best!"

"Just you wait Master, I will surpass even Rimuru!"

"Gehehe! Is that so, guu? We will see then, perhaps when you get as strong as me, I will be already even stronger, guuu!"

"Gggrr! I will not lost to you, brother!"

I noticed how a new rivalry formed in the Slime family.

"Hmm, well rivalries are always good, it push both to get even stronger to catch up with the other…"

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