Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-378

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Gaby, Aarae, and Valentia were surprised after they saw how most of the Shadow Sphinx population woke up today. As the artificial sun raised on the dungeon, it illuminated the entire city, and the Sphinx woke up rather… different.

Similar to how back in my Empire Humans evolved after receiving my blessings and became Chaos Humans, in here, the Shadow Sphinx woke up as Midnight Bastet.

Interestingly enough, most of the Sphinx inhabiting the villages were transported here last night, and they also evolved into Midnight Bastet, even if they weren't Shadow Sphinx originally.

Acathea, Ailine, and Vudia's friend had changed a little bit, her upper body skin which was originally chocolate-colored became darker, the fur of her lower body became dark like the night. Alongside this, she gained golden accessories in her long tail. Her claws grew sharper and dark and were coated in paralysis poison. Her upper body and that of every Midnight Bastet became dark chocolate, covered in golden tattoos. Acathea's father and mother also went through the same changes.

Midnight Bastet had several new Skills and abilities coupled with them, like [Perfect Dark Vision], [Silent Steps], [Beast Transformation], or even [Flight]. Also, every Midnight Bastet was reported to have gained complete immunity to Fire Attribute and strong Self-Regeneration.

"Vudia-chan, Ailine-chan, I evolved! It must be your mother, the Goddess that had granted me this power! I've gained so many skills! Was I always this strong?" said Acathea as she talked with my two daughters, who inspected her body and brushed her tail, Vudia was sitting on her lower body back while admiring her upper body tattoos.

"It must be! Mommy is the best after all!" Vudia said with a proud tone.

"She had recently become able to Bless people, so it may be that… Back in our home, Humans evolved as well into Chaos Humans!" Ailine said.

"Really? That's so cool! Perhaps now all of us can evolve and feel more connected with each other!"

Just like Chaos Human, Midnight Bastet felt a strong sense of familiarity with each other, even if they were strangers or enemies the day before, everyone saw each other as siblings.

"How wonderful, I feel anew!"

"I was so old before… but after evolving, I gained so much youth!"

"It's all thanks to our Savior, Kireina, the Goddess!"

"Our prayers had been heard; she had blessed us with new powers!"

"Brothers, let us celebrate!"

I decided to use this opportunity to increase their faith, even more, giving them a small speech over my benevolence, and that the only thing I wanted as a thanks were a few more prayers and perhaps a church or two.

"Everyone, I have been sent by your funding father, Morpheus for the sole task of rescuing you from this dungeon and let you see the true world of the outside! What you have received is only but my blessing, which has given you powers that you never thought possible for you! But there are more blessings, countless of them in my Empire, become a citizen and find a job, train your body in the different dungeons, or explore the world with the Explorers Teams! There is even more waiting for you! Delicious food, all types of fashion, games, and other types of entertainment such as books!"

"R-Really? Better conditions?"

"So we won't have to live on this scorching hot desert filled with monsters anymore?"

"I want to visit the outside world and see the true sky!"

"We could see all of the other races and our lost brothers!"

"This is indeed a wonderful time to be alive…"

"Even more delicious food?!"

"Books? But they are so expensive! Will I be able to read as many as I want?!"

"Fashion? I wonder what types of dresses the people in the Goddess's Empire wear!"

Caedmon, Cassandra, and Keenan accompanied by other Vampires assisted me in convincing the people, sharing gifts, such as potions, bento boxes filled with delicious food, and papers with words written about the prayers that should be recited to receive my miracles or thank me for what I've given to them. Vajrara was also in here, giving fanatical speeches about me.

At first, I really felt all of this quite awkward, but now that I can gain Exp and Skill Points by being worshipped and offered prayers, I decided to embrace it instead of trying to stop them.

As the day went by, we had a large festival in the middle of the day, the Shadow Sphinx… no, Midnight Bastet are a very festive race.

I used several of my Skills to erect several walls and create a large army to protect them while I am absent.

Now that I had Megusan out of the way, I just needed to reach the Light Sphinx City, while visiting the surrounding villages and then beat the last boss and conquer the dungeon.

We decided to move and end this unexpectedly long journey, my children are about to be hatch from their eggs back in the Empire, where Nephiana and Mady are taking care of them. Adelle may give birth on any day this week.

Taking the form of a Giant Metallic Dragon, I flew at max speed through the sky of the dungeon with my family at my back. We were currently on floor 46, and according to Vajrara, which decided to come with us, the Light Sphinx City is on floor 49, just before the last floor.

In the Life Attribute Dungeon made by Morpheus, the Demi-God of Horses and Centaurs, there were several biomes separated between ten floors each, in the last ten floors, a tribe of Centaurs born from Morpheus and one of Maeralya, the Demi-Goddess of Felines daughter, Mohini, the Living Deity of Desert Cat Beastmen resided.

The Sphinx, unlike the Kelpie or the Dragon Centaur, were able to reproduce faster, creating larger populations of thousands of citizens, naturally, some disputes emerged between such large groups of people, and the two largest gatherings of citizens were created, two Cities, one that represents the Night and the Moon, the Shadow Sphinx City, and one that represents the Day and the Sun, the Light Sphinx City.

Both Cities had disputes for several years and developed similar societies than humans in certain aspects such as discrimination. Because Sphinx came in a wide variety of appearances, shapes, and sizes, the larger groups of Sphinxes discriminated over the rest.

The Shadow Sphinx and the Light Sphinx discriminated against each other and separated themselves after a large war that happened hundreds of years ago, while they were now separated, the society needed to find something on what to discriminate to keep their order. There is where the 'Lesser Sphinxes', those who were born without being Shadow neither Light Sphinxes enter… they were enslaved and discriminated, and the larger groups decided to gather and run away, setting themselves in small villages surrounding drying Oasis.

However, in the Shadow Sphinx City, such beliefs were erased from the minds of the people almost immediately after Kireina appeared and saved everyone from the terrible menace of a Demon Demi-God once sealed in here by their father, Morpheus.

Her Charisma Stat, coupled with her powerful Titles and natural Charm as the Sin of Lust made most people weaker than her instinctively worship her, this worked fast on Demi-Humans in specific.

And after receiving her blessing and forcefully evolving into a 'superior' race of Sphinxes, Midnight Bastet, which also included the once discriminated 'Lesser Sphinx', their faiths and beliefs became almost unbreakable.

Joining hands together, the Sphinxes now looked similar and felt a strange yet comforting feeling of familiarity with each other. Coupled with this their strength increased, they gained new powers and Skills without exception, making everyone capable and leaving no 'untalented' behind.

Kireina wanted to do the same with the Light Sphinx, so she could easily handle them around like the others, but according to Vajrara, Light Sphinx was even harsher than Shadow Sphinx in their faith and beliefs, and believed that Light Sphinxes were the 'true' or 'purest' of Sphinx races. Due to this, they were way worst to deal with…

And just like it happened to the Shadow Sphinx, the Light Sphinx also had an artifact with a piece of Megusan's soul… And just like Vajrara, someone else had been brainwashed by it and created an even harsher cult of people to offer sacrifices to the Soul Piece.

However, at the moment that the Soul piece sensed the rest of its body disappearing from existence, an excruciating pain filled its entire existence, almost falling unconscious. The Apostle of his Cult, the eldest daughter of the Light Sphinx Pharaoh, Ramhet, was calming down her Master.

"Megusan-sama, please, tell us, what pain do you feel? Can we do something to ease such pain?!"

"Uaaagh…! My entire Soul… All of the other pieces…! Completely destroyed!!! Who?! Who did such a thing?!"

The crystal where Megusan's Soul Piece was sealed trembled as his deadly venomous Aura leaked out from it, creating a poisonous mist that was dangerous for most of the Sphinx, especially those without [Poison Resistance] or [Status Effect Resistance].

"Cough… cough…! M-Megusan-sama… please, calm down…"

"M-My body is meltiiinnggg…!"

"Gyaaaaaahh…! Megusan-sama, why?!"

Only his Apostle, Ramhet was capable of withstanding his deadly Aura, she used her Dark Arts Magic to calm him down, casting special spells capable of healing the spirits of dreadful ghosts or demons, but even then, Megusan could barely hold on his pain.

"It can't be… The rest of my existence… eaten?! Ugh! Uaagghh… No! I must persevere, as long as I exist, as long as I remain…! I can grow back, slowly but steadily… But I must escape this place! I must quickly grab on a vessel and escape before whatever ate me comes here!" groaned Megusan as he glared at Ramhet with the look of a voracious beast who had starved for weeks.

"You have served me well, Ramhet! But is it time for you to finally do the ultimate sacrifice!"

"M-Megusan-sama…?!"

Megusan split soul expanded widely as he broke out of his weakened seal, the dreadful presence of existence above mortals infested the beautiful Light Sphinx princess as her soul was eaten whole by the starving Demon God.

"Gyaaaaaaaaahh…! Megusan-sama…! Why?! Whyyy?!"

"Why, you ask?! You are the most talented in this entire City, Ramhet! And one of my most loyal servants, now serve your purpose and be eaten for my sake, my pawn!"

"GYAAAAAH!"

Ramhet existence then disappeared, her soul was completely eaten, Megusan received her memories, who he deemed almost useless, moving them away.

Taking a hold of his new physical vessel, he expanded his Aura and began to eat the souls of the cult members, who were half-dying on the floor.

"Such low-quality souls…! But it shall suffice! I must escape, quickly!" said Megusan with the young and attractive voice of Ramhet, as her golden blond hair moved through the air while he ran with the flexible feet of his lower half.

Ramhet was a Medium-Build Light Sphinx, a strange variant of Sphinx who possesses the qualities of both Small Builds outstanding magic and the Giant Builds physical strength, coupled with her latent talent for Light, Holy, and Poison Magic, she was the perfect vessel for Megusan that the entire Light Sphinx city could offer.

As he ran through the Palace's underground, he used his powerful Aura to easily kill the Sphinxes on his surroundings as if they were mere flies, eating their souls mercilessly.

The Soul of a God would never heal back by eating the measly souls of unevolved demi-humans. However, eating them was still enough to appease Soul pain and hunger.

Though it was as effective as drinking a lot of water when someone was hungry, it would fill the stomach, but the hunger will return after a few minutes.

"Holy and Light Attribute magic… I've never had used such attributes before… this vessel is not as bad, if I can raise to godhood with this new body, I may obtain a stronger divinity…! Well, I can't think of such things for now! Get off my way, kitten! Soul Devour!"

The Light Sphinx were suddenly attacked by their beloved eldest princess, with a roar unbefitting of her, she conjured the Dark Arts Spell Soul Devour, which was an imitation of the Soul Attribute Spell of the same name, it had an almost similar effect, but the digestion of the soul was way rougher. However, Megusan, whose soul was that of a God, had enough power to digest even other God's souls.

Ramhet Megusan devoured the souls of the entire Light Sphinx Royal family and its servants, even the Pharaoh was not spared, their corpses resting with pale fish-like eyes in the ground.

Using the No-Attribute Spell, Levitate, Ramhet Megusan flew through the skies of the Desert, moving towards the next floor, floor 50, where the location of a small hole in the dungeon that leads to the outside was known by the Light Sphinx Royal Family.

The reason behind why the Light Sphinxes never used such area to explore the outside is because it connected to a series of underground cave sections filled with deadly monsters, and it was then classified as a Danger Zone, its existence has been hidden by the Royal Family for countless of generations.

Ramhet Megusan was not sure if it could survive the strong monsters that roamed such a place, but she thought that anything would be virtually better than confronting the thing that killed and ate the rest of his Soul.

As she flew through the skies, monsters roaming around meet their ends as Megusan easily disposed of them and ate their souls, nourishing his pained psyche.

"To think that one day I would be reduced on eating the measly souls of wild beasts…! Hateful! Ugh!"

Suddenly, as Megusan flew, a shock of electricity ran through his entire mind, as a large amount of information rushed through his brain and soul… it was the leftover information of the rest of his souls.

It seems that after Megusan's soul was eaten, he released a power containing the information that he had gathered through its life on the Desert Biome.

Ramhet Megusan seemed to be thankful for this, but she also had to experience the pain of being devoured once again through these memories…

"Ugh… Gueh…! So… that's her?! That's the individual who ate the rest of my soul… Kireina?! T-This is ridiculous! What kind of existence is this?! The amount of abilities and powers that it possesses is baffling! Hateful…! Fighting such a ridiculous creature would have eventually led to my doom!"

Although Ramhet Megusan was completely terrified, it had managed to escape in time, and floor 50 was revealing itself right in front of her eyes…

"There it is…! Now… Huh?!"

Flash!

But just as hope had ignited in the rotten heart of this Demon God, it was completely crushed when a giant metallic dragon appeared in front of him like a spark of dark lightning.

"There you are! I already assumed that you would do such a thing, so I just skipped the Light Sphinx City and came right after you! It is rather convenient that our souls are strangely connected after I ate such a big chunk of your Soul, Megusan"

"UGEH?! K-KIREINA?!"