Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-336

Jagger, who had the appearance of a misfit already, being three meters tall, having its body covered completely in fur and rocky skin while having two large and muscular arms and goat-like legs, alongside the head of and the horns of a goat, seemingly made out of stone, had changed.

His entire body has turned into that of a giant Goat-like beast, without any hint of humanoid shape. Its adamantine-like skin was covered in crimson fur as if tainted in blood, he grew three large tails and giant goat horns made out of ruby-like jewels, it had a third eye on its forehead that never blinked.

Its change of appearance was even more drastically than the previous Noble Vampires, why was that?

Jagger Divine Beast Flesh was one incredibly compatible with his race, as it belonged to a goat-like beast. Its fur and horns are what he devoured, and afterward, he gained the ability to shapeshift into a giant twenty meters' tall crimson goat.

"GUUUUUOOOHH…!"

However, Jagger didn't seem to come unaffected through this transformation, due to Kireina's previous attack, his mind has been a chaotic mess when he transformed, and this effect carried over after the transformation, converting Jagger in a crazed and berserk creature.

His horns shined with a bright light as it rushed through the air, a massive beam of Blood Attribute Magic flashed through the skies, hitting Kireina directly.

"Aura, devour!" shouted Kireina, as she strengthened her Aura and shapeshifted it into a giant mouth, eating the powerful beam with one gulp… The energy absorbed was being slowly digested, but unlike other attacks that contained Divine Energy, this one was chaotic and destructive, intending to kill her before anything else, making it harder to eat with the Skill [Divinity Devour].

Jagger swiftly moved behind Kireina as it tried to attack her with its horns, who had grown gigantic and sharp like needles, by activating a special Martial Arts Skill, the horns became sharper and sturdier, charging against Kireina like a crimson meteor.

Flash!

"GUOOHH…?!"

But before that could happen Kireina's body moved with incredible speed, evading the hit while retaliating with a powerful attack that contained combined Techniques, including Alluring Martial Arts, Chimera Weaponization and All Weapon and Fists Grand Master, shapeshifting her six arms into giant fleshy claws covered in armor, to top it all she was using Mao and Wall inside of her alongside the other Vampires to enhance her capabilities with [Chimera Merge].

Even a Divine Beast shapeshifting felt some pressure as its flesh began to break apart as it regenerated constantly. Just like the previous Vampires, Jagger now had an amazing vitality and self-regeneration.

Kireina combined her six arms into a giant arm made out of flesh and muscles, covered in armor, claws, fangs, and spikes as she sent it straight towards Jagger, who defended with its massive horns and own body.

Detecting a small blind spot, Jagger rushed towards Kireina's main body as it evaded the massive arm, only to be greeted by a massive purple ax and a golden club, who sent him flying through the sky of the space inside Kireina's Aura Domain.

"GUOOOOOHH…!"

Jagger suddenly vomited blood as it looked over its wound, the attacks weren't simple techniques, but were charged with immense physical prowess and magic, leaving deep bloody holes that slowly regenerated back to their original state…

Nesiphae and Brontes had decided to step in and support Kireina. Although Kireina was able to solo Bosses by herself in a high-level dungeon, she would take plenty of time to fight Jagger, and knowing how she likes to practice her abilities through battles, this fight could overextend too much for their liking.

Kireina did not mind and was rather happy, although she had already prepared a countermeasure in case Jagger tried to abuse her blind spots, she was happy to receive support from her beloved wives, who had grown stronger through hard work.

As Jagger flew through the skies, Rimuru appeared on its back, majestically controlling the Nine Spirits Magic that she had built through her life, she released nine differently-colored beams of several attributes, which converged together into a greater beam of rainbow colors, hitting Jagger's wounds and making it whine in pain.

Jagger twisted its body with the strength of a crazed beast as it cast powerful Poison and Earth Attribute Magic in the form of giant purple-colored venomous crystals, however, these were stopped by Zehe, who had created a barrage of black holes' spheres, quickly making the giant jewels disappear before they could do any damage.

Jagger had quickly realized that he wasn't just fighting against one, but several people and all of them possessed incredible abilities and strength.

He didn't possess an Epic Skill neither a sacred and fated destiny, most of his strength was cultivated through harsh training, assassinations, and slaughters. And after becoming a Vampire, his strength kept increasing, giving him the false feeling of him having limitless potential… Until now, where he had finally experienced who truly an outstanding individual was… multiple times.

Nesiphae and Brontes had transformed into titans, surpassing Jagger's height and beginning to rampage over him with a speed that shouldn't belong in such great bodies, their weapons released powerful shockwaves with each hit, making the insides of Jagger explode and shatter into pieces.

His Skills and Spells were blocked by a combination of defensive spells by Rimuru and Zehe while Kireina waits for him every so often, using her giant fleshy claws to release an onslaught of powerful attacks. Blood constantly filled Jagger's vision.

Suddenly, his third eye opened wide, and a powerful presence was released, a curse, which covered the closest enemy, Kireina.

Kireina felt her body covered in a formless pressure, it was a strange curse that could be cast from Jagger's third eye.

However, she immediately ate it with her Aura… She ate a curse. Jagger's third eye couldn't believe what it saw.

"You little goat, curses don't work me… I am the one who curses others…!"

Suddenly, Kireina's two crimson eyes flashed in bright crimson light, an illusion showing several distinctly shaped and colored eyes appeared in Jagger's vision.

Flash!

Kireina merged her Eyes Skills with her Chaos Attribute Mana, increasing the power of her eyes, the curses were incrusted in Jagger's Divine Beast body as he suffered from all kinds of status ailments.

"To think that I thought that I couldn't really curse Divine Beast Flesh Users, but I just needed to pour a thousand Chaos Attribute Mana while using my Eyes, well, their effects are not as strong…"

"Masta, you're making him go crazy, guu~!"

"This beast is very resilient…"

"I can't believe that it was a Vampire some seconds ago, now it's a giant red goat… Well, it's similar to Honey in that regard"

"GUOOOOOOOOOOHHH…!"

Jaggers's body began to rot away, its internal organs melted and its bones ached, its body was paralyzed and all of its orifices bleed… He lost his vision and even his Soul was beginning to decay. Several curses were placed on his own soul.

"I feel a little bit disappointed on myself for having to go through three of these to realize that I just needed to affect their Souls, they may have Divine Beast flesh, but their souls are still those of a mortal…" Said Kireina, calmly analyzing the situation from in a safe distance, while being surrounded by her wives. She wasn't blinking at any time, constantly using her Eyes to make Jagger stagnate.

"GYOOOOOOOH…! N-NOOO…!"

Flash!

Suddenly, Jagger's own horns changed in appearance, becoming long projectile-like horns, and then, they were launched at an incredible speed while being covered in Poison, Earth, and Blood Attribute Magic, however, not only one was launched, but several ones.

Kireina shapeshifted her arms to block the attacks and the other projectiles that managed to fly elsewhere were blocked by the giant Nesiphae and Brontes as they used their giant weapons with skillful thrusts and slices.

Jagger tried to curse the other members of the group aside from Kireina, but its eyes were heavily bleeding and somehow lost most of their sight, he was in a terrible situation.

"GYOOH… GYOOOOH…!!!"

By using the concentrated Divine Energy inside of its body, the beast released a giant crimson-colored beam that separated itself into hundreds of small arrows.

Kireina blocked them with her giant claws as she approached the struggling Jagger, he had tried several times to escape already, even to the point of using its own Aura and domain, but every time he tried, the space he was trapped inside would consume his own Aura almost automatically…

Just what kind of abilities did this irregular have? Is she even a mortal? These were some of Jagger's thoughts, which were already in a chaotic state where he could barely have made up anything… Unlike Heroes of Epic Users, he lacked any type of mental resistance skill, being fully affected by Kireina's eyes, curses and illusions, his soul was being slowly destroyed from the inside as well due to a Soul-Corroding Curse, which Kireina had obtained after eating countless Ghosts and Spectral creatures.

Suddenly, as Jagger panicked, Kireina disappeared out of his sight… he couldn't sense her as well, although his vision was being constantly blocked and recovered, he was barely able to sense her, but she had now disappeared.

And then, a massive monster, a being with several long snake-like necks and the heads of dragons, wyverns and other creatures appeared, its entire body was covered in scales made out of hard armor, and it also had thousands of tentacles bellow its body, each tentacle had its own jaws and eyes.

The creature, who released a dreadful presence like Jagger had never experienced before on its entire life, spoke with a mature woman voice.

"I usually would never use this Skill because it makes too big and it's hard to move like this, even with my shapeshifting… However, I suppose it's a good way to eat you…" Said the beast, as it opened its long-necked heads, flying towards Jagger who was struggling in the ground…

"GYAAAAAAHHH…!"

Jagger tried to run away, but his path was blocked by countless of magic spells, the giant abomination appeared behind him as the heads grabbed his entire body, with a titanic strength, their jaws pierced through Jagger's flesh and ripped hi apart into two… Still alive, Jagger felt immense fear and pain like he had never felt before, now the powerful vitality and regeneration bestowed upon him seemed like a curse, as it made him survive even after that…

"GYAAAAAAAH! BUGAAAHHH…! GEEEEHH…!"

Crunch!

Crunch!

The giant dragon-like and wyvern-like heads devoured Jagger piece by piece, sharing within each other as if they were feasting on his living body. Ripping him apart into pieces and munching them, even when Jagger's head was ripped and destroyed into mush, he could still feel tremendous pain through his very soul, which was also eaten.

And just as the pain was incommensurable, it disappeared, and Jagger found himself in a strange space… a strange yet calming atmosphere…

"A-Ahh…! Huh?! W-What…"

"Welcome! Hm? Are you Jagger-san? To think that you were eaten… what about Keenan, do you know something about him?" Asked a presence, an ethereal being that resembled a Vampire that Jagger knew very well, Castien, a former rival of him in the Vampire Family.

"W-What? Y-You! Why are you here? Huh? What is this… Why am I… Huh? I don't…"

"Calm down… Going crazy won't do any good to your soul, Jagger-san…"

"Guooon…"

"So even this goat-faced idiot was eaten? Haha, that's funny, even after all of your training the irregular still got you…"

These other two voices belonged to Frank, the former Ogre Chimera Noble Vampire, and Joliette, the former child-like Vampire with long purple hair that controlled threads masterfully.

"Joliette…! Be politer with him, we'll be living for eternity with him, don't you know?" said Castien, reprimanding Joliette.

"No, I don't really care… I don't really care anymore… do whatever you want, I will just stay at the side, watching you clowns do something funny and ridiculous again" Said Joliette.

Jagger glanced at Joliette and Frank, these were the Vampires that lost and were eaten by Kireina, the ones that he had received reports of them dying… He had just died just like them and was in this strange space, which was inside of Kireina's soul.

"I… How do I get out of here…?"

The Vampires glanced at each other with hopeless looks.

"Well, to put it short, you can't" (Castien)

"Guoon… No…" (Frank)

"Unless the Grim Reaper comes for you" (Joliette)

"The Grim… Reaper? What kind of folk tales are you talking about, Joliette?!" shouted Jagger, his soul was clearly stronger and livelier than the others, and his rage intimidated the surrounding and aimless souls.

"It's a strange sphere that comes and takes the souls away!"

"Guoon… sphere…"

"It has a fleshy heart beating inside…"

The words of Jagger's former comrades seemed taken from their own insanity, he didn't believe any of that.

However, just as he wondered if he was in some kind of Realm that administrated Souls, the sphere appeared… The Sin of Lust.

"Ah…!"

"T-There it is! Run!"

The three souls ran… or rather floated away, while Jagger was frozen in time as he looked over the bizarre sphere, which seemed to be some kind of living creature.

The sphere did not take any attention to Jagger as it moved towards a large group of souls. The being absorbed them inside of its spherical body and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"W-What…"