Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-368

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As we reached our first Sphinx Village, we were greeted with an unsettling scene, Giant Snakes were destroying everything while eating the villagers alive.

I was finally able to see this particular race of Centaurs and there was someone else ruining everything already.

It really made me angry about how these monsters dared to touch my future citizens. I deployed my family towards the Village and ordered them to mercilessly kill these damned scaled worms.

Nefertiti and Nixephine began to manipulate the sand and powerful light, setting several traps surrounding the village for the snakes, which I predicted would escape whenever they see what I was about to do.

I flew towards the middle of the Village was the largest Giant Snake stood, seeing its prey finally die due to its poison, it opened its jaws wide, about to gulp it down with a disgusting laugh.

I was in the mood of trying out Skill combinations that would exert the most painful of deaths.

So, I used the Blood Attribute Spell [Blood Manipulation] and manipulated the blood inside the corpse, and then used the Poison Attribute Spell [Corrosion] to contaminate the blood I manipulated. Lastly, I used [Bacterial Nest] to generate flesh-eating bacteria out of thin air, which infested the entirety of the blood. These bacteria were enhanced with my magic, so it was not affected by the [Corrosion] spell.

I watched as the Giant Snake gulped down its corpse, and just as the lifeless body slide through its throat, I activated the Blood Attribute Spell, Blood Corpse Explosion, which I could cast in any blood I was able to manipulate with Blood Manipulation.

Sharp spikes made out of blood pierced the snake throat, as the corrosive poison already began to take effect and the flesh-eating bacteria quickly spread around its innards.

The Giant Snake shrieked in agony, as I greeted him from behind.

"So, you can survive my Blood Attribute Magic Spell, Blood Corpse Explosion? Well, how about I cast it again…?" I said, as I once again manipulated the pieces of flesh that fell on its stomach, activating Blood Corpse Explosion a second time.

"Huh?! A-And just who are you!? BUGEEEH…!"

I could see with my Mystic Eyes as his innards were impaled with hundreds of blood needles and then dissolved into a soup, while its flesh was eaten by the flesh-eating bacteria.

"GYAAAAAH! IT HURTS! W-What is thisssss?!"

Seeing it cry in agony while still being alive brought to me the greatest of satisfaction at this very moment. It could be said that I was a little bit sadistic at times. It's probably the effects of being an insane person.

I think it's more surprising to know that I am self-aware of my own insanity. Sometimes you have to just embrace it.

"It is really troublesome if you lowly snakes begin to kill my future citizens, you really made me angry, you know. This pain is the least that I could inflict upon you, but prepare yourself, there is more co-"

"Huh?! A-Angry?! AND WHO THE FUCK CARES?! DIIEEEEE…!"

Without letting me finish my words, the Giant Snake's magic covered its entire body as it conjured two purple-colored magic circles from each of his sides, the magic circles opened, revealing beams of corrosive poison that fired towards me.

Of course, for someone with Poison Immunity and Corrosion Immunity, this only felt like a very cold slimy bath, my body automatically absorbed the poison, however, the Snake began to laugh in victory, unaware of my real capabilities.

"Gehehe…! UGH!"

But before it could continue, I infused more MP into the Spells working inside of its body, increasing the speed of the Corrosion dissolving everything, his stomach and intestines quickly became soup, as he felt the agonizing pain as if burning lava poured over his organs.

"Hmm… Blood Magic and Poison Magic, coupled with Bacterial Nest is very useful. I can control faraway blood, add poison to it, and then add deadly flesh-eating bacteria as well��� Ah, you're still alive? That��s surprising…"

I was really surprised, this guy was still standing somehow, although he was constantly vomiting the juices of his internal organs and boiling blood.

"YOU WRENCH! HISSSSS!" it said, as it pounced towards me while enhancing its body with powerful Buffing Skills, its muscles tightened as it thought that it could perhaps kill me with this 'surprise' attack.

But more importantly. How did this inferior thing call me?

I enhanced my left hand with several boosting skills, and also used [Alluring Martial Arts], releasing the Arts [Furious Slap of the Demoness] twenty times in one single slap over this insolent Snake.

"What an insolent snake you are… Learn manners, would you?"

SLAP!

The force of my slap was enough to tear apart its neck.

"GIIIIIHH… GYAAH-"

It couldn't even finish its cry as its head went flying through the skies like a meteor.

As this scene unfolded, the Snakes surrounding us stopped what they were doing, dumbfounded.

It seems that this big Snake was their leader or General or something. So, they were terrified after seeing their strongest warrior died so pathetically.

"D-Did she just…?"

"W-Who… is she…?!"

"H-Hiisss!"

However, the show didn't stop there, as even after death, there is the afterlife for most beings, so I grabbed upon the shrieking Soul of this Snake with my Aura, which I molded into a giant claw and made it visible for everyone to see.

"A-AH?! I-I died…! B-But why?! Huh?! L-LET ME GO!"

"There won't even be an afterlife for those who dare be insolent to me…" I said, demonstrating this to every Snake glancing the scene.

I opened my mouth and began to devour the long soul of the Giant Snake Leader, soul pain is hundreds of times more agonizing than physical pain, so having your souls slowly eaten was destroying the Snake's mentality, crying like a baby.

"IT HURTS! GYAAAAH! STOP! MAKE IT STOP! STOOOP! MOTHER! HEEELP! SOMEONE… My existence… I'm disappearing… Please, help me…"

His Soul was rather tasteless, and it didn't give me anything aside from a little bit of Soul Energy, but it was a nice example to show to everyone else spectating the scene unfold.

"General's soul…"

"He was eaten…!"

"S-She can eat souls?!"

"It's like the Empress!"

"R-Run!"

"Run for your livessss!"

"R-Retreat!"

"Slide as you've never done beforeee!"

The Giant Snakes hurriedly began to ran… slide away with their giant bodies, swimming in the sand while reaching the Village outskirts… but just at this very moment, the Traps settled by Nefertiti and Nixephine activated, the sand shapeshifted itself into tentacles and crushed the snakes, while the unfortunate ones were grilled alive by the burning light or impaled to death by the light spears.

"GIISHAAAAA…!"

"GIIIIHHH��!"

"H-HELP!"

"Fufufu, just look at the go…" said Nefertiti, glancing at the scene with a devilish smile.

"Our beloved wife plan was just in point, it was obvious that they would run away after seeing her do all of that, fufufu~ I think I've fallen in love again… her sadistic smile is very alluring…" said Nixephine, praising my… smile?

Meanwhile, a young Sphinx girl was rescued from a crazed Snake that tried to take with him as many citizens as he could by Ailine, who fired a powerful beam of Color Magic enhanced with several different elements, while Ryo rushed to the scene and grabbed on the falling corpse before it could crush the little kitten.

He was such a Hero, my beloved son!

I decided to help Amiphossia as we quickly ran around the Village healing the near-death citizens while reviving the rest. Amiphossia recovered most of the fatal wounds inflicted in the corpses and I absorbed the venom from the Giant Snakes fangs, then, grabbed on their souls which were flying around, still resentful of their deaths as I implanted them into their original bodies and used my Slime shapeshifting to enter their bodies and make their hearts beat and their lungs breath once more.

This way, we were able to 'revive' most of the people, although some lost their memories in the process, it was mostly alright.

The little girl named Acathea saw her parents be revived, although they forgave the moment they died, they still remembered vaguely when I grabbed on their souls and inserted them back into their bodies.

Some said that it was a crazy experience in of itself, but surely, everyone praised me as a Goddess capable of reviving the death… although I can only use this method in recently dead people, people that had died for more than a few hours, days, weeks, months or years will have to resign themselves on reviving as Undead or be reincarnated.

"Mommy… daddy…!"

"Acathea, my daughter…"

"Oh, my precious little girl…"

The Sphinx was all crying over being saved from such a catastrophic scene. Well, it was understandable from the perspective of normal citizens not fitted for fighting, but it should be the minimum for every citizen to learn how to fight… they were living quite the leisure lives, when they move to my Empire, I'll make all of them train, even the younglings, it is necessary so I don't have to worry about the safety of everyone all the time.

Sofelaia and Sofarpia greeted the people and began to distribute fresh fruit juice, and other cold foods for everyone, Rimuru created Ice Cream with her own body by using Ice Attribute Magic and adding cream and mashed fruit pulp inside of her body. It was a new food for most of the Sphinx and quickly uplifted them.

"Ah, such deliciously sweet and cold food!"

"It must be an Elixir of the gods"

Well, it could be said to have healing properties, as it contains parts of Rimuru's slime who had consumed several Potions that changed the properties of her body.

"I feel like my body is already gaining strength and energy…"

"Thank you, thank you very much, Gods…" said Acathea father, who resulted to be the Chief of this village, he was named Tyrodes.

He was a small-type Sphinx, with a smaller body compared to the rest, his upper body wasn't muscular but thin and refined, and he was certainly very handsome. Every Sphinx was beautiful. His upper body was tanned brown, while his eyes were emerald, he had long black hair, reaching his shoulders, and several tattoos on his human arms.

Sphinxes had long cat-like claws and cat-like ears at the top of their heads. They also possessed human ears, which were usually covered in hair, so they had four ears in total, having amazing auditive abilities. Geraldine, who was something like a Cat-type Beastmen was being currently inspected by the Sphinx.

"Ah" Just like the Centaur Ladies, are you one of our lost siblings, Sphinxes without the lower body of a cat?"

"Nya?! I'm not a Sphinx…! Neither a Cat beastmen, I'm an Undead!"

"What? So we have Undead siblings?"

"So what is the name of your race, Geraldine-chan?"

"H-Hey I used to be a human, you know? And then a Ghost… until master's mother revived me into an Undead! She created me! I am a new race!"

"A new race!"

"Incredible!"

"To be expected from the Goddess that saved us from inevitable death!"

Mao was also being inspected, as she had Lion-like features.

"Ah, such beautiful dark skin!"

"She resembles a lot the Shadow Sphinx!"

"What is your name, young lady?"

"You are so lovely!"

"And she even has wings! Is she also a new race?!"

"Hehehe, I'm glad you understand the greatness of the Master! Indeed, I used to be a Lion not so long ago, you know? Until Master converted them into a Manticore!"

"A Manticore!"

"Another wonderful new race created by the Goddess!"

"May her children thrive the world for years to come!"

Much like the Dragon Centaur and the Kelpies, the Sphinxes were very religious people.

Keenan, the Wolf Demon Vampire, who accompanied us through being equipped inside of my body was also being interrogated by the people.

"Could you be a Canine?!"

"Incredible!"

"We can finally see a Canine; they were the siblings of our holy mother!"

"H-Huh? What are you guys talking about…? Aah… P-Please don't touch my tail!"

"But it's so fluffy Keenan-sama, let us brush it!"

Jerold, who was a true Cat-type beastmen also greeted the Sphinx and saw the amazing lower bodies they had.

"It's incredible how you guys have that lower half, if I had it, I would have a lot more strength, I'm rather envious," he said.

"Not at all Jerold-kun, your legs are amazing and slim! We would never be detected with such speed that you have!"

"Jerold-kun, are you interested in marrying my daughter?"

"Ah, me too, please, marry my daughter as well!"

"W-Wait a second…! My heart is only on Aegina-sama…!"

Catterpillar and the rest of the Chimera were also being attacked, especially the ones with fluffy hair that were currently being brushed and held against their will.

"NYAAARRR! A-AGAIN?! L-Let me go!"

"Let us brush you, oh Cat Butterfly Goddess!"

"She's so cute…"

"Is she a new race as well? Just how many new races as the Goddess created in her benevolence? She is amazing!"

After the villagers recovered, I used my Slime Clones to help with cleaning the poison in the corps and rebuilding the houses with my Golem Creation Skill, molding the scattered houses, and getting them back together quickly.

They saw such feats as something that only Goddess could do… just like the other Centaurs, this is getting very repetitive, but I suppose its to be expected. It makes conversations and relationships flow better as well.

Ailine and Vudia were playing around with Acathea, their new Sphinx friend, while I and my wives began to gather the Snakes, cleaning them with my Water Manipulation and Amiphossia's [Disinfect] Spell and then butchered them into large pieces of meat.

"G-Goddess, you will eat the Snakes?" the chief asked.

"Indeed! We can't waste away this delicious treat, don't worry, we took all the poison away, let's have a feast"

"Ah! Very well then! Everyone, please, let's prepare the tables!"

And we had a nice feast until the night fell, I used this opportunity to talk a lot with the chief and obtain information about the Sphinxes.

It seems that they are a Race born from Morpheus and one of his concubines, a Cat-type Beastwoman, who was one of the Cat Beastmen Demi-Goddess daughters, Maeralya. Her name was Nehimi.

"Wait, but isn't Morpheus and Maeralya siblings…? One of Morpheus concubines was the daughter of his sister?"

The Sphinx Chief of the Dry-Stone Village, Tyrodes, laughed.

"Haha! Indeed, Kireina-sama. It could be said that it was incest within gods! But it seems that the Goddess of Cat Beastmen was the one who offered her own daughter to her brother, and Nehimi, our Holy Mother, was deeply in love with Morpheus as well. Morpheus-sama, on his great heart, accepted her feelings and took her as one of his concubines"

"I see… so incest is permitted in here?"

"Hm? Isn't it everywhere?"

"Yeah, in my Empire is also fine, I don't really care about what my citizens do in their sexual lives"

… but I don't think my children would ever want to marry the daughter or sons of their siblings anyways.

Well, I've read a lot of tales about the Zeus from Earth, that guy mated with everything that moved, even his sisters and mother. So, I guess it's a thing of Gods to mate even with their families?

Anyways, I won't ask questions regarding this to Morpheus, I don't want to make him feel awkward.

Talking about other things, the meat of the Giant Snakes was delicious, it had a nice spicy hint and also some tasted like seafood, something similar to dry fish, or eel. So soy sauce-like sauce went excellent with it alongside some rice, although giant skewers were popular with the Sphinxes, they loved the sauces I brought, they had very simple lifestyles so they never tasted so many flavors before, they were going in a flavor trip right now.

While feasting, I decided to drink the EXP Potion I obtained, it had a delicious Lemon soda flavor, it went amazing with the Snake meat skewers.

[Calculating gained EXP…]

[Kireina] gained 7.240.742.900 EXP!] (From previously slain Monsters, the Snakes, and the EXP Potion)

[LEVEL 066/250 EXP 16.486.431.152/61.000.000.000]

[Kireina] learned the following Skills]

[Lesser Lineage of Giant Snakes; Desert Empress's Children Bloodline] (Assimilated by Superior Bloodline!)

[Venomous Life Poison]

[The Levels of the [Abyss Chimeric Lineage; Divine Bloodline of Calamity Bringers; Level 7], [Protector of the Dungeon; Level 3], [Dungeon Energy Absorption; Level 4], [Automatic Dungeon Mapping; Level 6], [Transcendental Element Creation and Manipulation; Golem Materialization; Level 2], [Love Connection; Level 6], [Lustful Ecstasy Nectar; Level 6], [Pleasure Mind Attack; Level 7], [Greater Sexual Resiliency; Level 6], [Endless Sexual Lust, Tireless Libido and Adaptability; Level 6], [Alluring Martial Arts; Level 6], [Crimson Blood Attribute Magic; Level 3], [Poisonous Jewel Demon Magic; Level 2] Skills have increased!]