Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-208

[Day 162]

Today we will be going towards the Forsaken Labyrinth with the intent of conquering the dungeon, and all my wives and children were packing things on their Item Boxes. Mostly food, especially the big eaters like Nesiphae, Amiphossia, Valentia, and Brontes, who were filling their Item Box almost exclusively of meat.

I also packed a good amount but I wasn't as worried, mostly because I can generate an endless amount of food with my Summoning Magic, summoning Familiars for meat, using [Water Manipulation and Generation] for water and [Phylokinesis] for herbs that I've eaten before, although the quality is lower, it suffices.

I guess they don't like the food I produce over the one that the Royal Cooking Team can make, they have been especially busy since yesterday and Chokumotsu hasn't had any time to rest, I feel sorry for her.

Because some of my servants wanted to have their own adventurers, I decided to leave them to go on their own around the Athetosea territory for now. There are plenty of dungeons for everyone to have their own fun and grow stronger, and if they manage to conquer the dungeon, it would be a nice surprise.

I let Wagyu, Kekensha and all of the named wolves alongside the Blood Team and the Demon Trio will go towards the Evergreen Town Dungeon, the one that was built by the Thunder Dragonoids from the past, and explore its secrets, as I won't have time to explore everything on my own with the Azuma Empire and the Thanatos Kingdom on my way.

Truhan and Celica and all of the evolved Goblins, Trolls, and Ogres alongside the Slime Team will go towards the Ollathir territory, where according to Redgaria, there are three different dungeons made by ancient Gods in the past. Even though he had explored them, the later floors were never conquered by him and there are plenty of secrets waiting for my servants to discover.

The Slave Team and all of the evolved species of their group alongside the Undead Team will go towards the coastal zone of the continent, which is a little bit farther than Athetosea. I've explored the place enough with my Flesh and Slime Minions and there are small tribes of demi-humans, mostly Crab Merfolk and Scylla, who live near a Water Dungeon that my servants can explore. If possible, I told them to not kill the demi-humans living there and to at least try to convince them to join my Kingdom or just forcibly enslaving them.

The rest of the strong servants will remain in the Kingdom protecting it, there is mostly the Spirits Team, most of the Monkeys and the Wyvern Family. Although these teams would appreciate extra EXP, especially the spirits that need to catch up with Brontes's evolution, I prefer to be safe and let them within the Grand Forest. However, they are free to explore it, especially the Dungeon was the Wyvern Overlord was once sealed. Although I don't think that they can conquer it due to its massive size, they can at most complete the first floors and bosses for loot and experience.

After taking a bath, and eating breakfast with my excited family, we quickly moved towards the Forsaken Labyrinth, which was conveniently close to the Kingdom, inside a large mountain in the middle of the East Rocky Mountains Zone.

Ismena and Acelina were sporting a new set of equipment that Kajiya crafted for them. She had a hard time making the designs as the royal girls only wanted the most refined and majestic ones. Ismena got herself light equipment that was covered in Vudia's gold, giving it a beautiful shining luster.

She wore a small blue skirt that went along very well with her chest plate, shoulder pads, boots, and gloves, which were all golden color. Ismena eyes are golden while her long and silky hair is deep blue, so it combines well with her appearance. She doesn't wear any type of weapon and only carries her Relic [Grimoire of Wisdom and Judgement].

Acelina on the other side liked to sport a more "paladin-like" heavy armor. With golden and white colors, it had a majestic design that protected her body very well. the shoulders and helmet were decorated with seraphim wing-like ornaments made of Vudia's gold as well. Acelina doesn't have a Relic of her own and usually uses her Heavenly Gold magic, but I decided to give her a Magic Sword to have something at hand.

Comparing Vudia and Acelina gold is useless by the way, as both magics only share the "Gold" on it and are virtually different. Vudia can produce a unique solid gold that its indeed made of minerals that only she can make due to her blessings combining. While Acelina's gold is small magic particles that can take on forms and spells but dissipate after using them. An easy way to differentiate them would be that Vudia's gold is physical while Acelina's is ethereal.

Oh, and talking about Vudia, she had a very cute dress that I made for her, which she wore happily. I designed the dress with my Golden Threads and it went beautifully with her golden skin and eye, she also wore a small chest plate and cute brown boots. Ailine didn't need any equipment because she has her Organic Equipment that she can conjure using her Slime Core, it is a beautiful Mage set that even comes with an adorable magus hat and her staff.

My other children had already their equipment which they were very attached to, although most of them don't like to wear heavy armor to protect themselves much as their bodies are incredible sturdy by themselves due to inheriting my Elixir Flesh to some extent, not even adamantine can pierce through their skin easily.

Amiphossia always wears cute dresses that cover most of her upper body, she protects her chest with a white chest plate and shoulder pads, and her tail is very thick and filled with strong and sturdy scales, so there isn't any need for protection there. My daughter also wears a tiny white diadem over her white hair and on her left arm she wields a Shortsword which is the combination of a Basilisk Tongue Shortsword and an Ice Fairy Rapier.

Ryo always sports loose clothes, he likes to have his chest nude for the most part, as he shows his brilliant muscles filled with tattoos. Arabian-like pants that go very well with his appearance, he also goes barefoot but each of his legs wears an ankle that boosts his strength, his four arms wear several bracelets as well. He resembles a young Earth's Indian God with so many arms and golden accessories.

Valentia never wears any type of armor and barely any clothes, with Gaby we have only managed to make her wear some clothes over her breasts and another piece covering her hips and genitals. Her skin is incredibly sturdy and dense like a mountain, so there will be never any problem with her taking much damage as long as she fights things on her level… But I still want to forge something for her…

On the other side, Aarae is wearing a new set of mage equipment, with an adorable and long magus hat and an overly long tunic, all of it being of pale blue colors like the sea, and decorated with golden decorations and water gemstones. He's also happily wielding the Merfolk Old Ancestor Staff, which also gives him Poseidon Blessing by default.

My wives in the other case were wearing their own special equipment, some of them have upgraded it over the months like Nesiphae's Dark Knight armor or Zehe's Witch set. Rimuru is always wearing her blue dress with her rainbow armor while wielding her two [Legendary] Swords, the Rainbow Sword, and the Nature Sword. Brontes's body is her own armor, similar to Valentia, she likes to feel the wind over all of her body and only wears something to cover her intimate parts, to some extent only.

Since Gaby evolved, she has taken in a more "loosen" and sexy style of clothes and left most of her light armor aside, I can't deny that she looks incredibly dazzling most of the time, especially when she rushes with her dual Water Swords. Mady has always been a backside type of mage and she wears sexy and thin clothes as well; her body however is filled with golden accessories to boost her magic powers which only makes her look more appealing to the eye. Adelle has begun to wear armor similar to Acelina, resembling a Paladin, but hers is thinner and more refined with more golden decorations and a crown-like helmet, she needs protection but not too much to slow her down as she is a flashy type of sword fighter.

Lilith is wearing a mixed set of armor; her small body doesn't let her wear heavy armor and she only wears it in certain parts of her body. She is wearing an already crafted set of armor that she mixed in with the newest one, which I've named only two pieces for now. She wields both her Mace and Axe as if they were weightless thanks to her glove's effect. Charlotte in the other side wears very loosen equipment, very similar to her Alchemist one, only with a chest plate, shoulder pads and some gloves, she is proudly wielding her massive Magic Cannon, as her hand's quiver in expectation of using them in whatever unfortunate monster we come across by.

Altani still wears her classic Tribe dresses while being barefoot, she is not too fond of armor and heavy equipment and prefers to be in the backside if possible, however, she has an amazing talent in physical combat and with her lance, she has an incredible might, she has been recently developing her Wind Magic which has increased her repertoire of spells and skills.

Alice on the other side was wearing a beautiful Noble-like black dress with scarlet decorations and ribbons, her bewitching appearance was beautiful enough as it is, and anything she wore would just be a decoration.

Last but not least, Kaguya and Nanako were both wearing their Japanese-like dresses in the form of Kimonos. Kaguya wore a red one this time, with different decorations depicting the sun while Nanako was wearing a black Kimono with Sakura and eye decorations.

When I finished inspecting each one of my family members, we were already inside of the first floor of the Forsaken Labyrinth, the usual scenario was once again given to us as a long staircase descended almost endlessly while several floors separated it into sections. The whole dungeon was made of clay-like bricks of golden and light brown colors, there was a lot of dirt everywhere and the ambient smelt like very dry earth.

However, the moment I set foot inside I instantly detected several fluctuations around the Dungeon, way more than before, as if constant energies were moving everywhere, reinforcing the dungeon. I remember experiencing something similar when I explored the Evergreen Dungeon, whenever the floor changed automatically, these strange energies would fluctuate around, giving off that strong aura.

It seems that the death of the Ancient Sand Wyvern brought more benefits to the Dungeon than I imagined. Due to this Boss Monster absorbing the dungeon energy constantly, the dungeon was most likely decaying because of him. Now that all of that energy wasn't being absorbed by a single being, it could finally move around everywhere, increasing the dungeon's overall strength and power.

I was able to quickly experiment with the new changes as a group of twenty humanoid beings with the upper half of a brown-skinned human and the lower half of a grotesque scorpion rushed towards us while raising their golden weapons. These monsters were a classic inhabitant of the dungeon, named [Savage Earth Girtablilu]. I remember them as being sneaky and quite strong if fighting together, but after entering the dungeon for the third time, they have changed quite a lot.

Their upper bodies have become incredibly muscular and beautiful, alongside gaining a new pair of human arms, four golden weapons and countless of golden accessories, while their lower scorpion half became bigger and covered in an adamantine-like exoskeleton, their stinger was also long and sharp and very thick, I could already imagine the delicious and tender meat inside of such massive claws and tail.

However, before I could even do anything, Charlotte jumped to the frontlines and shoot her Magic Cannon without any hesitation, the moment she did, a powerful blast of multiple elements converged in a concentrated laser vaporized the entire group of Half-Scorpion Demi-Humans, leaving nothing behind.

After everyone spectated such a strong and destructive attack, Charlotte nodded in an "understanding" manner and began to inspect the Magic Cannon while loading more bullets to it.

"Hmm, although it has a nice and powerful attack, it still needs some corrections here and there… Nonetheless, a fine weapon"

"Sigh…"

After reprimanding Charlotte for stealing all the EXP, we descended quite smoothly through the first ten floors as my children and wives fought the new and enhanced monsters on the way. Vudia and Ailine got the most action as everyone prioritized my daughter's EXP gain.

Vudia commanded a series of floating Gold Golems around as she sat on her Golem Throne. Most of her creations were in the form of giant arms or claws, however some times there would be floating swords, lances, and even shields. Shew as able to enhance them with her Electric Conductivity, giving them, even more, speed and strength. She also trained her own Thunder Element Spells and was able to cast [Thunder Shock], [Lighting Strike] and [Thunderbolt Rain] over any monster that came too close to her.

Ailine on the other side used her varied Color Magic to cast different types of elements and combine them to create explosive and chaotic results. She liked to imitate her mother Rimuru a lot and most of the time she would shoot rainbow-colored beams of magic, quickly taking care of any monster.

Although the two were very strong, if anything happened to them, like a sneaky type of monster ambushing them from behind, the Tattoos made from my Skill [Heavenly Spiritual Guardian Tattoos] would activate and form several barriers protecting them from most harm, while summoning Azure-colored Gemstone Beast that would defend them and fight back. However, the Tattoos activated in the most unnecessary times and ended up spoiling the fun for my daughters.

A curious thing to note is that Vudia's Azure Gemstone Beast had the form of a humanoid titan guardian, with bulging muscles and powerful arms, while Ailine had the form of a delicate and beautiful lady. They resembled their mothers in some ways, which made sense as they would see them as the strongest and most reliable figures in their lives.

[Kireina] gained 5.701.300 EXP from its Party Members (Family)!]

[LEVEL 033/250 EXP 114.965.472/210.000.0000 EXP]

Deciding to take a break, my wives began to cook the different monsters we killed through the ten floors as my children awaited with expectations for lunch.

I decided to take a peek in the 11th floor Boss Room and suddenly felt a powerful presence exuding from this place, something akin to Overlord class…

I don't remember the [Savage Earth Girtablilu Empress] having such an aura…

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