Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-372

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When my Slime Clones alerted me of the nearby village getting attacked by Giant Snakes, I quickly transformed into a giant metallic dragon and flew through the skies of the dungeon with my family at my back. In a few minutes, we reached our destination, luckily, the Giant Snakes were yet to even put a dent on the village as my Slime Clones were doing their best to hold them back, casting powerful magic spells such as blazing towers, tornadoes, beams of light and other attacks.

Several Snakes had died already, but their numbers were more than three times compared to the ones that invaded the Dry-Stone Village, so they were slowly diminishing my Slime Clones.

The Sphinxes of Iron Stone Villages were not good combatants, and most were Small Build Sphinxes, with the strongest members being mages that only watched from behind.

Flash!

With incredible speed, I reached the outskirts of the Village as my wives quickly began to cast magic and other Skills from within my back.

Nixephine and Lilith worked together to manipulate the Sand, making it seem as if it has become alive, while Lilith converted it into giant boulders to crush the annoying beasts.

"Wake up, sand! Your Supreme Sovereign orders you, Dune Graveyard!" shouted Nixephine as she raised her arms, closing her fist as if crushing something, the sand bellow us began to shapeshift and take the form of giant tentacles, entangling the Snakes and crushing them with strong pressure.

"Earth Manipulation, Boulder Rain!" shouted Lilith, as she used her advanced Earth Magic to transmute the sand she took hold with Earth Manipulation, converting them into truck-sized boulders that rained over the despairing Snakes, crushing their bones and heads.

The rest of my wives did similar things, while my children except Ryo went down below the Village to check if everything was fine. Ryo didn't come with them because he decided to just jump into action alongside Brontes, Oga, Acelina, and Nesiphae, crushing the Snakes with their physical Techniques and Arts.

Ryo transformed into a three-meter tall red-skinned demon, gaining eight arms be began to pulverize the Snakes with the several weapons he took from his Item Box, resembling a raging god, his Aura expanded wildly, asphyxiating the weakest Snakes out of pure fear.

"Catastrophic Onslaught!" he shouted, releasing powerful slices, strokes, and smashes from the different weapons he took a hold of, the Snakes didn't stand a chance as their flesh became minced meat and their bones shattered into dust.

A large Giant Snake tried to use a powerful Poison Attribute Spell behind him only to have its head sliced off by a massive purple-colored Battle-Axe, his neck flew through the sky as its main body released a large crimson river towards the sky.

Nesiphae skillfully moved around the sand, as if her lower body was swimming in the water, she quickly reached her targets, slicing them into pieces or smashing them with the large shield that she held in her second pair of arms.

"Fufufu~! Who wants to join the slaughter?! Consecutive Venomous Slices!" she shouted, with a sexy and wicked smile as she bathed her dark armor in the blood of her enemies.

Oga engulfed her large body in blazing flames and steam, she resembled a small as she punched the Snakes with the propulsion of the fire, making her fist incredibly quick and destructive, the Snakes that thought that she wasn't much tried to bury her with Earth Attribute Magic, only for their boulders to melted into lava and then thrown back to them.

"It's been some time since we had such nice training dummies to smash to death! I still need to catch up with Brontes and the others, though! Blazing Inferno Quick!" she roared, as she jumped over the sky and flew at max speed towards a group of Giant Snakes, with a massive and burning quick, she grilled them alive in an instant.

And as this catastrophic event unfolded, I had my mind split into several pieces, as I saw with the eyes of my Slime Clones the Shadow Sphinx city and its nearby villages, they seemed fine. But I quickly detected an ominous presence in the Shadow Sphinx City, and as my flock of Phantom Bat-shaped Slime Clones reached the castle, I found a group of Shadow Sphinxes worshiping a very dangerous and mysterious-looking purple-colored crystal ball.

From inside of it I could sense the faint presence of a powerful being that transcended mortals. It was a piece of Megusan soul, the God of Venomous and Long Critters.

The 'pharaoh' of the Shadow Sphinx city seemed to have been brainwashed long ago by his wife, a Witch that had gained powers from Megusan's soul and worshiped him, offering sacrifices while awaiting for its main soul to one day come retrieve the remaining pieces.

And just as I was wondering what to do as my next course of action, I felt a powerful presence from bellow the underground of the outskirts of the Shadow Sphinx City. Although there was a formless barrier protecting its presence, the idiot that settled it up didn't figure out that the presence of the barrier itself could still be detected…

It's probably Megusan, he had figured out that it was useless to take over the Villages if I was going to stop him every time, so he's now desperately charging towards the Soul Pieces to obtain the rest of his power and confront me.

Of course, I wasn't going to let him have his way. Although it would have been surprisingly easy for him to get this Soul piece due to Vajrara already being brainwashed by him, he seems to be unaware of this, as he's charging with his entire army of over three thousand Giant Snakes towards the City, probably planning on attacking from the underground and make the entire place sink into the sand.

I manipulated the dozens of Phantasmal Bat-type Slime Clones and attacked Vajrara and her cult with [Parasite], [Symbiosis], and [Soul Parasite].

The Sphinxes were bewildered and tried to defend themselves.

"GYAAAH!"

"W-What is going on?! GUEEH!"

"There are invisible monsters!"

"G-GHOSTS!"

"Vajrara-sama, please do something…! AAGH!"

As the Sphinxes wearing dark robes covering their faces and most of their bodies fell unconscious, they quickly stood up again, being possessed by my Slime Clones.

Vajrara seemed to be resistant to my possession, as several of my Slime Clones were already trying to take over her body, but the powerful presence of Megusan protected her body.

"It must be one of Megusan-sama enemies! Sacrifice yourselves for me, pawns! I have already received Megusan-sama call, I will go receive him with this piece of his soul before its too late!" she said, running with amazing speed from the palace while holding the purple crystal ball, her former followers persecuted her as they were now my loyal parasite slaves, using their magic to attack her from behind, however, Megusan's soul piece used its power to create a barrier to protect her, making my attempts useless.

The barrier also began to reject my Slime Clones, and every time they entered, their bodies would instantly dissolve into soup… just what kind of power is this? I tried the magic of my Slime Clones, but it was useless as well.

Vajrara flew through the sky of the Shadow Sphinx city as she went to meet with Megusan on the outskirts.

I decided to leave my children protecting the Iron Stone Village as I flew at max speed with my wives on my back, using the [Impossible Flashing Propulsion Speed] Skill, my giant Dragon Body was enveloped in a flashing light that broke wind itself.

Megusan, the Demon Demi-God of Venomous and Long Critters, led his massive army of Giant Snakes while using the power of the Giant Snake Empress to command them a carry his body, sealed inside a crystal ball.

When he found the other pieces of his soul, which were also sealed inside Crystal Balls, the seals would weaken and break, and the pieces of souls would be automatically sucked by the main artifact were he was sealed and then mildly sealed again.

Even the Demon Demi-God didn't understand how this artifact functioned, but it was probably due to his presence that made the seals unstable, freeing his soul pieces only to be absorbed by his main artifact where the soul with his conscience was sealed, sealing it again.

He had tried to gather the pieces of his soul outside of his conscience, but it was impossible, as each time he meets them and touched them with his Aura, the soul pieces would instantly reach the artifact and be sealed alongside him.

He was able to merge once again with them, but not free himself yet.

However, the artifacts weren't made to hold an entire Soul inside, so each time he gained a new piece and his soul grew stronger, the seal weakened, he was now confident that if he wanted to, he would be able to break the seal and possess the Giant Snake Empress as his vessel.

But although Megusan was aggressive on his approach, he wasn't impatient. He wanted to gather all of his pieces and free himself on his complete form, and then possess his new vessel.

If he were to possess a vessel right now, the other pieces of his soul wouldn't be able to merge again with him, as his soul would be assimilated by this new physical body. If he were to possess a new vessel without his complete soul, he would be missing a great amount of power.

Megusan was completely unaware that the piece of his soul in the Shadow Sphinx City had gained conscience of its own and brainwashed the people there to grow stronger through prayers and sacrifices. And he was intending to destroy the entire City to obtain back his Soul Piece.

However, things changed as he felt the faint presence of… himself.

A beautiful Shadow Sphinx floated in the air with a strange, purple-colored Aura, glancing over the sand with a fanatical look, in her hands, she had the crystal ball where a piece of his soul was.

"It's there?! My servant, move to the surface! My Soul Piece is near!"

The Giant Snake Empress heard her Master words and immediately obeyed them, commanding her Giant Snake children to swim through the sand towards the surface, there, he finally encountered yet another of his Soul Pieces.

Vajrara, who had also felt the powerful presence of her master in the large crystal sphere being held by the Giant Venomous Lamia, laughed in happiness as a fanatical and wicked smile adorned her face.

"Megusan-sama, it's really another you! I've been wanting to meet you for so long! Please, take this!"

Megusan laughed out of joy. He didn't expect that a piece of his soul would develop consciousness and brainwash the Shadow Sphinxes into a fanatical cult.

"Well done, my pawn! Now give it to me! My Soul Piece… with this, only a single piece rema-"

FLASH!

However, before Megusan could even finish his words, a flash of lightning fiercer than the light of the sun appeared out of thin air, powerful shockwaves were released as it broke the air itself when it moved towards this position, it was a giant Metallic Dragon… Kireina.

"Huh?! W-What?! A dragon?! Wait… this presence!"

Megusan then heard the laughter of Kireina, her voice resonated through the entire Dungeon as it made even the vibrations of the wind tremble, the sunny day was then enveloped in darkness as her Domain expanded.

"A-Ah domain?! Y-You are no mere mortal…! Could it be, are you a Champion or Hero sent by that bastard Morpheus?! So he figured out my awakening!" shouted Megusan, in anger.

"Oh? I am not any of that, Megusan, Demon Demi-God of Venomous Critters…! I am Kireina, the Realm Menace of Lust! I was given gifted this Dungeon by Morpheus himself, and I am just taking what's mine, but you dared to interfere in my plans!" said Kireina, as each of her words altered the weather and created dark clouds all around, that released powerful slicing winds and black-colored thunder. Kireina put in use her Weather Manipulation skill combined with her Aura to intimidate the Demon Demi-God.

However, breaking Kireina's expectations, Megusan laughed, unfazed by her intimidation attempt.

"Gahaha! Good! You will be a nice meal for the awakening of my new physical vessel! Now, pawn, give me my piece, quickly!" he roared, as he manipulated his Aura outside of the crystal ball, rushing towards the piece of his soul.

"Y-Yes, Megusan-sama!"

FLASH!

But things wouldn't go as easy, Kireina wouldn't just sit and watch her enemy get stronger in front of her very nose. She manipulated her powerful Aura and created giant arms that clashed over Megusan's army, rushing towards him while countless spheres of Chaos Attribute Magic were already a few centimeters away from him.

A powerful dark explosion torn apart space itself, Vajrara was engulfed in a chaotic spiral as her entire body was crushed alive, the crystal ball was with her and was also engulfed on this powerful force.

"Gyaaaaaahh...!!!"

Then, a giant tentacle covered in dark armor rushed towards Vajrara and devoured her alongside the artifact.

Crunch!

Megusan saw a piece of his Soul being eaten as he felt a sharp pain rushing all over its existence, accompanied by a strange feeling of despair and fear! However, due to Megusan's nature, this despair and fear were converted in boiling anger!

"UGH! You are a mortal…! And you just ate a Demon God's soul?! And you seem unfazed…! What in the world are you?!"

"I already told you what I am, Megusan! Now, be crushed and eaten!"

"H-How dare you treat me like that?! Crushed and Eaten?! Me?! A Demon God! GYAAAARRR!!!"

Megusan's presence suddenly enveloped the Giant Venomous Lamia Empress, the mother of all the Giant Snakes alongside the Giant Snakes surrounding her, who were all completely terrified, and most had fallen unconscious.

Megusan's soul began to spark wildly and created a strange barrier, which Kireina tried to break with a powerful barrage of armored tentacles and Chaos Attribute Magic coupled with Weapon Techniques.

Clash! Clash!

"Bwahaha! It's useless! I will have to reincarnate right now but prepare yourself, you will be the one crushed and eaten, you insolent ant!"

Flash!

The thousands of Giant Snakes and the Venomous Snake Empress dissolved with Megusan's purple Aura forming a mass of purple slime that quickly took the shape of an intimidating giantess.