Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-256

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Reaching floor 83, we started to encounter with small ruins, these ruins seemed to be from small houses made of stone, or temples. But how could there be ruins of houses and temples inside of a Dungeon? Maybe there was a small civilization here that ended up perishing…?

Inside of the ruins, there would be strong humanoid Undead monsters, mostly skeletons, and liches, however, their ranks were higher than the ones before, harboring more strength and ghosts and phantoms inhabiting their bodies.

There were Skeleton Soldiers, Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Knights, Skeleton Commanders, Skeleton Dark Knights, and so on, and in the Lich category, there were Lich Spiritualist, Blue Flames Lich, Geomancy Lich, and Specter Lich alongside their evolutions Phantasmal Wraiths.

The physical oriented Skeletons would wear powerful armor and bone weapons, while the magic oriented would wear magic clothes, the Phantasmal Wraiths seemed to have the power of controlling all of the other skeletons. These monsters were half skeleton and half ghost, being able to float through the air, they had three skulls as heads, filled with blue flames, their skeleton body was only the torso and arms, which were reinforced and sturdy as adamantine, they lacked legs and only had blue flames bellow their ribcages, using it to float around. Most of the Wraiths would wield sharp scythes that could slice most monsters below them into pieces.

However, even such monsters that had an army of Undead had competitors in the form of Phantom Foxes, Six-Tailed Phantom Foxes in specific, they were an evolution of Four-Tailed Phantom Foxes, harboring more phantasmal power alongside a strong and flexible flesh body. Their flesh and bones had very unique qualities, being both spectral and fleshy and their six tails were incredibly fluffy and large, these tails could cast magic on their own, making each Fox a strong threat.

Before we could even attack any of these monsters, we spectated a war between a Phantasmal Wraith that had built an army of over one thousand Skeletons against a family of Six-Tailed Phantom Foxes, the Foxes controlled other ghosts and weaker skeletons, but they also possessed a strong physique and could fight off even Skeleton Dark Knights.

In the end, the Phantom Foxes family won, with only one death, the strongest of the Fox family, seemingly an alpha, ate the Wraith remains and core, strengthening itself. The other family members mourned the death of one of their kind, and then ate it, similar to what the Crimson Wolves did back in the Grand Forest. The youngest Foxes ate the death family member, gaining new strength without wasting a bone of the fallen, the others devoured the skeletons, which were pilled around.

Seeing that they had lowered their guard, I left my children to fight this strong family of Phantom Foxes, surprising them. Ailine went first and killed the youngest one, surprising the alpha and the other adults, which enraged, jumped over my daughter. Suddenly, an Azure Gemstone shield protected her, the Foxes only hit the strong wall and damaged their noses. My other children then jumped over their backs and finished them off without any difficulties, the alpha was the only alive and seemed cornered. However, Amiphossia took a liking on it and charmed him with her Phantasmal Charm, gaining a new pet.

The Alpha was at least thrice as strong as the other adult Six-Tailed Phantom Foxes, so it was a worthy servant for my daughter, after enslaving it Amiphossia wanted me to name it and because of its white fur, and purple and red tattoos, it reminded me of a character on an Earth's anime that I liked to watch a lot, so I named it Sesshomaru. The Fox, after receiving the name, gained a small purple-colored tattoo that resembled a half-moon on its white forehead.

Now Amiphossia had a Phantom Wolf, a Fox, an Ice Ghost, and her two familiars, she already had her own party by now and could easily go explore dungeons with them if she wanted. Even more, because of her abilities, she could even strengthen her party members even more because they were all Ghosts or Phantasmal Beasts.

As we continued through floor 83, we encountered more Wraiths, but these lacked big armies and did not pose much of a threat. If they were killed, their scythes would usually disappear, but in the rare case that they remained, they would be a very rare drop weapon, which was of [Mythical+] rarity named [Phantom Wraith Deadly Scythe], it had a lot of attack power for a [Mythical+] weapon, almost comparing to [Lesser] [Legendary] weapons. Geraldine seemed to be able to wield it, even if the weapon was physical, so she took it for herself, it instantly increased her offensive capabilities, as she could now slice down physical enemies.

Sometimes the Six-Tailed Phantom Foxes would also drop their own sets of equipment, this didn't happen before, but it seems to become common as we descend through the dungeon and the monsters become very strong, sometimes after killing a whole family of Phantom Foxes, we would get its whole set. The whole set were beautiful accessories, a dress, and some small leather armor made with their fur, bones, and fangs. The dress in particular was a beautiful phantasmal kimono, of white color with blue, purple, and red decorations.

After finishing this floor, we had two whole sets, so I gifted one to Kaguya, who seemed to like it a lot, and the other to Nanako. The two girls were lovers of Kimono-like dresses, and these were particularly better than what they were wearing, the whole set would grant them some Phantasmal Magic Skills as well, if they practice with them for enough time, they would learn the skills permanently.

Reaching the stairs, we descended towards floor 84 without many issues outside of the occasional one hundred or so weak ghosts that were nothing but snacks for us, although I kept on storing more on my Item Box by charming them and forcing them into a "coma" state.

[Kireina] gained 412.293.843 EXP]

[LEVEL 046/250 EXP 2.001.986.042/2.100.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Resentful Wraith Phantasmal Scythe Slice]

[Phantasmagoric Ethereal Physique]

At floor 84, the wars between Wraiths and Phantom Foxes became more intense, as the biggest families of stronger Foxes gathered here. Wraiths were now more common and were commanded by their evolved forms, Spectral Hell Wraiths, which had their bodies covered in blue, purple, and black flames. They commanded the other Wraiths and by them, they commanded over three thousand Skeletons. When we arrived, we came across a massive war between thirteen Foxes, which seemed to be a family, against a whole army of over two thousand skeletons, in the army, there was even the very scarce (now) Dinosaur Lich.

Although low in numbers, the Phantom Foxes in here were evolved versions of the previous Foxes, possessing nine tails, and I assumed that this was their last evolution, their bodies were gigantic, over fifteen meters each, their jaws were filled with powerful and sharp fangs, and their red shot eyes were voracious and aggressive. Their nine giant fluffy tails danced around, conjuring countless of Phantasmal Magic spells, devastating the Undead army, taking hundreds of Undead with every attack. They would usually create Phantasmal Flames that could be conjured to create powerful explosions.

However, they didn't shy away from physical combat, ravaging the army of Undead with their powerful bites and slashes. Their giant bodies were strong and sturdy, their footsteps were enough to destroy the Undead into debris. In the end, the Hell Wraiths showed up and confronted the Foxes in a massive magical battle, three Foxes fell dead, but they were victorious at the end, feasting on the piles of bones and cores, they lowered their guards once again. With my family, we found entertaining to spectate the wars, and I just conjured [Shadow Wind Concealment Coating of Presence Nullification] alongside some Illusion magic to make all of us indetectable.

After the Foxes lowered their guards enough, my children sneakily jumped over their backs, killing five Foxes in one attack, the remaining Foxes noticed our overwhelming presence and quickly gathered, trying to confront us with all they had. Their bodies were giant, but a single beam of Holy Flames burned them alive with ease. I took two and the rest were ravaged by my family, the Fire Oni group took one by themselves, Oga feasted on the blood of the Phantom Foxes while grilling the meat.

After the small snack of grilled Phantom Fox, we proceeded through the floor, finding a small hideout were some Hell Wraiths were hiding, we destroyed everything and killed their underlings, and then we ate their cores. If you eat their cores while they're still "alive" their bones would instantly fall to the ground, becoming an inert pile of bones.

The Dungeon suddenly activated several spawn points forcefully, and all out of the sudden more than ten thousand ghosts ambushed us from all directions, however, although they may be thousands, these ghosts were only the weakest ones, like Poison Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Ice Ghosts, Lesser Ghosts with the occasional evolution like Venomous Ghost, Blaze Ghost or Tundra Ghost, but even those didn't pose much a threat, with very weak magic at their disposal. There was also the very rare Sentient Dark Matter from time to time, those were devoured by Valentia to boost her growth.

After devouring many Tundra Ghosts, Geraldine evolved, reaching Rank 3 and becoming a Winter Ghost, her appearance did not change, but the core on her chest became one centimeter bigger. Her sapphire-like eyes shined more brightly now, and her aura released a very cold presence.

[Kireina] gained 484.772.495 EXP]

[Kireina] gained one level!]

[LEVEL 047/250 EXP 0.386.758.537/2.450.000.000 EXP]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Mystical Nine Tails of the Phantasmagoric Moonlight Fox]

Reaching floor 85, the chaotic wars continued, although Foxes couldn't get any stronger, Wraiths could, evolving into Nether Flames Necromancer Wraiths, there were big groups of this highly intelligent Undead, commanding Hell Wraiths and Wraiths, alongside armies of thousands of Skeleton Soldiers, Warriors, Knights, and Dark Knights, with the new addition of the Skeleton Dragoon Knights, Skeleton Snipers, and Skeleton Assassins.

However, to fight off such a menace, the Nine-Tailed Phantom Foxes had a big family, probably making up all of the Foxes on the entire floor, being over eighty of them, once again, we spectated a new war between the two species of monsters. The loser dies and gets eaten and the winner takes it all, that's how it was in here.

Eighty majestic nine-tailed Foxes fought against an army of over twenty thousand Undead, there was a powerful Leader in the Fox side, named Nine-Tailed Phantom Fox Chief, it was an Alpha Fox that evolved into a stronger Nine-Tailed variant, it had a bigger body, of over twenty meters, and it also had three heads, each one could throw powerful blasts of phantasmal energy, their white fur was majestic and they wore beautiful accessories and decorations over their bodies, alongside purple and red tattoos, depicting half-moons and scars.

The Undead seemed to have the upper hand against the Foxes, but when the Chief stepped in, the tables were completely turned over the Foxes favor, the chief used its three heads to conjure a powerful spell, summoning the phantom of the moon itself, the moon's phantom shined brightly as it threw a powerful beam of Moon Energy, vaporizing thousands of Undead in mere seconds. Howling angrily, the Chief boosted the power of its underlings and commanded them to keep on fighting. In the end, the Foxes had heavy losses, but the victory was theirs. The Chief was completely unarmed, shining brightly with a Moonlight that is created by itself. It devoured the Nether Flames Necromancer Wraiths happily.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, my children jumped on the backs of the relaxed Foxes, slaughtering with incredible strength and efficacy. Some noticed in time as they bared their fangs and tried to bite my children, but those were only meet with the incredibly sturdy Azure Gemstone Shields, breaking their noses and loudly crying in pain. My children released powerful spells, blasting the Foxes to pieces, while Valentia and Ryo teamed up and took over the Chief, the Chief was incredibly angered, its three heads overlooked at my children with a scornful look.

Although it tried its best and used every skill it had, the Chief was slowly diminished while barely dealing any damage to my two children, however, at the brink of death, its power suddenly was multiplied while entering in a berserk-like state. Its six eyes were scarlet red in rage as its nine tails danced around the moonlight like ferocious snakes. It seems that it had one last trick behind its sleeve… or tails.

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