Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-248

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When we reached floor 76, Amiphossia had eaten a lot of Ghosts, as well as Geraldine, both boosting their strength.

The previous floor monsters were rather weak compared to floor 74, it seems that Geraldine's presence had made the move to other places. Although she isn't as strong, she was strong enough to take a floor for herself, partially. The Dungeon didn't try to kill her thought and most likely cataloged her as a Ghost Monsters, similar to all of the other monsters surrounding her. It could be said that she fooled the dungeon for all of these years without many hardships.

On Geraldine's tales, she had been slowly devouring Ghosts, for the most part, however, she had gone through some hardships when she fought strong Undead or Ghosts, but with effort and her intelligence, she managed to beat and eat them instead. Through these years, she managed to form her Ghost Core, that small Aquamarine colored spherical gemstone on her chest, which acts as a heart to accumulate magic.

Most monsters and Ghost possess one or more, the stronger they are, the stronger their Core is. Even beings like me or my wives developed one after evolving, I possess two, the "Orbs" on my forehead and chest are pretty much Monster Cores but refined and evolved into a very high tier. Demi-Humans are different, they may or not develop a Magic Core, and Humans lack one, their entire bodies are said to be their Cores.

However, if a Human becomes a Undead, it can develop a Core. Redgaria is an exception to this as he lacked one, and just recently developed one using Magic Gun Technology and Magic Circuits that he implanted on its entire body. Although he could have developed a Core before, he never felt the need to, until now that he has been allowed to increase his strength greatly through it using advanced Magic Technology, and he grabbed that opportunity. It seems that the possibility of traveling to Helheim and rescuing his little sister seems more realistic now that he is allied with me, now he's actively using every resource available on my Kingdom to boost his power.

Hm, I think I went too off-topic, but nothing really interesting has happened while we went through the stairs towards floor 76.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 342.090.446 EXP]

[LEVEL 045/250 EXP 646.517.796/1.800.000.000 EXP]

Hm, that's a nice amount of EXP, I just recently ate around three hundred small Ghosts that followed us around, easy meals. Amiphossia is steadily increasing her strength by leveling and eating Ghosts, the same is for Geraldine, both of the girls are chatting a lot while showcasing their powers.

Geraldine can use some of her previous life magic, but not entirely, the moment she died her Status was reset and changed into that of a [Humanoid Ghost] of level 1. She did not inherit anything from her previous life, but still had her natural affinity with Ice, and slowly developed it. After evolving once, her power increased exponentially as she developed her Aquamarine Core, alongside stronger Ice Magic, she can create a small Ice Domain, Ice Shields, Icicles and a pale Icy Mist that can heal, but she never uses it as it doesn't work on her Ghostly body. Her current species is [Ethereal Ice Ghost].

Floor 76 came with new Undead to fight and eat. The floor had also taken into a strange very eerie atmosphere, perhaps because this white mist is never dissipating and it's just becoming thicker. I analyzed the Mist for a moment and discovered that it was named [Phantasmal Nest Mist] and it could increase the growth of Ghostly and Undead beings, very interesting.

I decided to absorb some using [Wind Manipulation] and gathered it inside of my Item Box, it only used one slot, I don't know how much I saved, but I absorbed it for around ten minutes straight. Even after that, its density never faltered. I also tried to eat it but nothing happened, even after being constantly absorbing it with my mouth.

I was thinking of creating my own small Undead Dungeon with this Mist I accumulated, I could just select an abandoned Shrine, put the mist and some Undead species, and the Dungeon Core. Seeing that I have [Dungeon Snatch], I don't need my current Dungeon Core to steal this Dungeon, so I can just use it to create a new Dungeon instead.

The Undead on this floor were rather interesting, more species of Dinosaur Skeletons appeared, there was now giant Dinosaurs of over twenty meters tall, having long necks and small heads, they were able to slap you with their long tails or just kill their prey by stomping on them with their colossal foot.

There were evolved Undead Girtablilu, having a stronger and evolved scorpion half, it held immense sturdiness and had a gray luster, inside of this exoskeleton there were thousands of small Ghosts residing, while the upper skeleton half was enhanced with Black Miasma, becoming dark-colored, they also grew more arms and held powerful bone weapons. The Empress was gigantic as well, resembling Nixephine in size.

Nixephine fought most of the Empresses by herself, increasing her levels steadily, even with her massive stats, she can still level up, I wonder in what will she even evolve to. Her golden weapons were repaired by Brontes and were in perfect condition. Her beautiful and gigantic body moved with energy as she slashed the Girtablilu Undead Empress in half, then, she crushed its skull and skeletal arms, that still tried to move and attack her. The scorpion half was still trying to kill her with its poisonless sting, but she just crushed it into debris with her powerful blows.

In our way, we also encountered small white Foxes named [Phantasmal Two-Tailed Fox], they were between Undead and Living, strange creatures that could transform into phantoms whenever they desired. They were weak but intelligent, and instead of trying to attack us, they would usually try to steal things from us, or leave traps on our way, which were instantly destroyed by my Aura's Holy Flame Rays. They thought that they could get away with it because they could transform into phantoms and be immune to physical damage, but I just grabbed them with my Ethereal Aura and devoured them. Amiphossia and her charm made a big group follow her around, they were rather cute when you don't mind the annoyance of their stupid fox grins.

Still, Amiphossia and Geraldine just ate them, Amiphossia may have found them cute, but she still ate without much thought put into it. They were just valuable resources for her nourishment. No Phantasmal Fox was left, they had very concentrated Phantasmal Magic compared to other Undead and Ghosts.

Phantasmal Foxes had small beads that worked as their Cores, they wore them as pendants and looked rather nice. I saved some so I could use them for accessories and devoured the rest.

[Calculating EXP gained…]

[Kireina] gained 375.894.000 EXP]

[LEVEL 045/250 EXP 1.022.411.796/1.800.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Phantasmagoric Tails Creation; 2]

[Obsidian Ethereal Scorpion Exoskeleton Creation]

By the logic of every Boss appearing on the 11th floor, the next boss is exactly on the next floor, floor 77. A powerful presence showed itself as we descended through the stairs, the monster inhabiting that place seemed to be a very strong Undead Class being. Geraldine gave us a brief explanation of this Boss.

"What lies beyond the gate of Floor 77 is the Giant Undead Abyss Turtle… A powerful being qualified as Ancient Turtle, turtles that possess ancient Blood from their true ancestors, the Wisdom Turtles… However, this Turtle it's an Undead type of monster… Its shell resembles a castle made out of bones, and its entire body it's rotting, nonetheless, its flesh is weak but its bones are sturdy and enhanced with Dark Miasma… It has a giant head that can throw Blue Flames, capable of dissolving Souls, another head can spit Purple Flames, capable of dissolving flesh and the third head can spit Dark Flames, capable of dissolving strong metals and minerals… It was a hard fight, but Sir Sol found its weaknesses and defeated it… The weaknesses are Fire, Light, and Holy… With Lady's Amiphossia's and her family strength, it shouldn't be much of a challenge…"

Geraldine was quite useful with her new info about the Boss, and I was already looking forward to it… But did she say floor 77? Wouldn't the boss be on later floors because of them existing every 10 floors? This is strange… Could it be that Nefertiti leaving her Boss position affected the Dungeon somehow?

Now that I think about it, the Dungeon seems to be getting smaller for some reason. This may be only an assumption, but perhaps the Dungeon becomes smaller because of its overuse of Divine Energy… Although I can't prove this entirely, there are various signs of this happening, the shortening of floors before a Boss and the weakening of monsters in the latest floor, especially this area called the Desert Graveyard.

I suspect that God in control of this place has been punished somehow and has lost a great deal of Divine Energy.

When we reached the Boss's floor, I decided to fight it by myself at first, as it was already decided before. My family wasn't opposed to it, but Geraldine protested, saying that the Boss should be feed to Amiphossia to increase her growth. I had already planned to feed a big part of it to her, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

Even with Geraldine's information, I was overly cautious, so I ended up inspecting the Boss by using my Slime Clones and making them use [Appraisal] on it, sending me the information.

The Turtle seemed to be resting inside of its shell, as there was just a thirty meters tall castle made of bones resting on the floor. Nonetheless, it has a powerful Phantom Aura.

[NAME: ---

[CLASS: ---

[RACE: Giant Undead Abyss Turtle

[LEVEL: ---/--- EXP: ---/---

[STATUS: Excellent.

[HP: 21000/21000

[MP: 2000/2000

[STAMINA: 3600/3600

[STRENGTH: 1800

[DEFENCE: 4800

[MAGIC: 2530

[RESISTANCE: 2740

[SPEED: 220

[CHARISMA: 0

[LUCK: 0

Huh?! Such high stats… I had seen ridiculous stats through this entire Dungeon, but I still couldn't help but feel surprised or overwhelmed each time I saw them… This Boss seems to be a more min-maxed Whale Centipede, with higher HP, MP, Defense, and Magic, however, it has a lower resistance compared to it.

I also browsed through its massive Skill Window and found various regeneration Skills, which I will have to keep an eye on. It also had various barriers and buffs to boost his Resistance a lot too, so I have to debuff it whenever it buffs itself, using the [Forbidden Arts Magic; Debuff Curse].

It has Phantasmal Magic as well that will let it float in the air and Healing Spells that only work on Undead too. I can take care of it with my Anti-Magic Seals, and if it tries to Unseal them with its [Unseal Phantom] Skill, I can unseal the unseal with my own [Forbidden Arts Magic; Unseal].

Its Breath Skills are not related to its magic, and I cannot Seal them, so I can only avoid, based on its Magic Stat, it will be able to most likely bypass my defenses and could even melt my Armor, however, I know that I am immune to [Fire] and [Poison] as well, but these Flames are different than the original Fire Attribute and are related with other elements too. Due to this, I will enhance my body with my Magic Shield and generate at least ten coats of it. I will also release Heavenly Azure Sand to support me from time to time, Azure Gemstone Tattoos to generate Gemstone Shields whenever I don't pay attention and I will enhance my domain with the Fire, Light, and Holy Attributes.

For armors, I will use the [Tyrannical Wyvern of Fire and Lava Armor], [Azure Dragon Armor], and the [Ancient Sand Wyvern Armor], this last one may make my movements slow, but it will grant a lot of protection instead… I could also add the Thunder and Wind Attribute for increased Speed, but with my skill [Illogical Propulsion Speed], it should be enough to outspeed the beast, as it has a measly 200 Speed stat.

For weapons, I decided to use the six that I always use, enhanced with my Fire, Light, and Holy Armors, they should take these Attributes and deal such damage, although their main attributes will remain. I may be being too cautious? Perhaps, but I've been growing cautious due to my Family, I don't want to suddenly die because I wanted an "exciting" battle and leave them alone, at the very least, I want to see the odds on my favor and do the best things if possible.

Things seem quite favorable to me if the Boss cannot increase its speed that's is. However, I can easily change my Armor and enhance it with Wind and Thunder Attribute if things go that way. I also have my [Arms of Demise], [Lava Hammer], and [Venomous Gemstone Hammer] for distractions. I could even summon countless weak Familiars as meat shields and more.

And if things go to the worst-case possible, I still have my other transformations, like the 16th Winged Demon, the Behemoth Chimera, and Fire Demon Ifrit. I could use all of them combined and just crush the boss, but I doubt it would be necessary to go that far.

Enhancing my body with the three armors I selected and adding the Fire, Light, and Holy Attribute through my Orbs to my Aura and Armor, the Armor shined brightly in a blinding light as yellow holy flames covered my body. My armor now changed into a Golden armor with several Red and White decorations.

The Armor Tail grew large like a serpent, coiling in the air, my two wings turned into massive draconic wings that shined brightly, my shoulders were protected with two calm looking Holy Dragons, that exuded wisdom, and my helmet transformed into that dragon head as well. The Armor had a natural halo of light floating over me, and the metallic wings grew angelic white feathers.

So this is what happens when I infuse Light and Holy Attribute…

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