Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-47

I watched as Brontes ran through the battlefield. She had her entire body sparking with powerful volts, illuminating the whole night. She infused her big club with a strong red-colored thunder and jumped over a big group of undead.

"Red Thunder Blow!"

BOOOM!

The powerful blow shattered the earth itself and created a big crater, every undead that was catch on the attack was turned into dust the moment they were hit.

Brontes stood up and quickly continued devastating the enemy ranks, blowing away countless undead with her blows alone.

It seems that after becoming my wife, Brontes received a substantial power boost, already surpassing her fellow spirits.

As she ran with her thunderous body around the battlefield, she glanced at the first undead giant she encountered, and without a second of doubt, she jumped over it, raising her club.

BAAM!

"Clack?!"

Brontes clashed her red thunder club right into the giant face, instantly shattering the magic shield and blowing it away several meters, as if it were nothing!

The rest of my servants watched over Brontes impressive might with amusement.

Brontes did not wasted a second and quickly casted a powerful storm that covered half of the battlefield.

Boom! Boom!

The dark colored clouds started to convulse and suddenly, countless dragon shaped thunders started to rain over the giant, coiling over its body and exploding, doing massive thunder damage.

The powerful detonation made the giant bones turn into ashes, slowly dying.

On its last moments, the giant tried to blast Brontes away with a powerful red beam.

"Clack!!!"

Brontes decided to take the whole hit, casting a powerful Thunder Barrier around her body.

BOOOM!

While the giant was being slowly destroyed by the coiling thunder dragons, it desperately shot countless beams towards Brontes.

Booom! Booom! Boom!

But Brontes didn't even flinch!

Her powerful Thunder Spirit Protection Shield was in another level completely.

I was impressed over Brontes might, and analyzed her strength.

"This shield, according to Meiji, is a gift that each spirit is born with. It can easily deflect most magic attacks of lower level than the user and it uses natural Magic from the environment to sustain itself"

Spirits seem to have an edge over other living beings as they can draw Magic from their environment, and they also don't possess a Stamina stat, they possess a Spirit stat, this stat fill itself quickly over time, and it also works as HP, MP and Stamina.

This is the "cheat" that most spirits have, and this is why I think they were sealed in the first place, as their potential and power alone could rival Humans.

When the giant stopped throwing beams towards Brontes, its head was already half turned into dust, dying on the spot.

Brontes looked over the giant with a little bit of disappointment.

"Hmph! Weak!"

Flash!

Brontes quickly flew through the battlefield towards the next giant.

Seeing their impending doom, some of the undead mages decided to stick together and summon more giants, using the undead warriors as ingredients.

Fluosh!

Suddenly, more than 5 undead giants showed up, raising their arms and destroying everything.

After seeing this, I noticed that the undead army had already diminished to half its numbers, having around 350 soldiers left, including the giants.

Some of the undead mages started to cast status ailments and anti-magic seals on my servants, slowing down their strength. However, my Blood Fruits were faster, swiftly recovering anyone on a serious state.

I calculated that there were around 100 undead mages left, and after taking care of these, the rest of the undead would be easy pickings.

"Things have suddenly started to look brighter, but the four generals still have not acted yet, I must remain cautious"

While distributing Blood Fruits, I glanced over the battlefield.

I noticed my three Blood Servants, it seems that all of them have been training without any time to rest, because of being made completely out of blood, they are able to train without stopping. And barely needing to eat. The Rin sisters told me about their incredible growth and will power, already having evolved twice since I summoned all of them.

I remember that all three of them had almost the same appearance as me, but after evolving twice, they obtained their own features and even gained more solid bodies, resembling slimes made of blood.

*Quick reminder: Kireina summoned three Blood Clones which she named Clumsy (Archer), Weird (Knight) and Serious (Mage).

Clumsy became a small version of me with short hair and a small chest, having long wings and a cute face. She flew through the battlefield devastating the undead troops with a powerful rain of arrows, attacking multiple undead giants at the same time.

Weird became a taller and more muscular version of me, having a long hair and a big chest. She was wearing an amazing looking armor, probably made by Kajiya, which was able to sustain the undead soldier attack with ease. She raised her sword as she slashed through the enemy ranks on the blink of an eye, abusing her flying capabilities to dodge the giant blows.

Serious was the only one who still looked like me for the most part, but she had bigger breast and hips. Although she was a mage, she didn't join the mage teams as she works better with her sisters. Using tandem attacks and supporting them with her magic.

The three Blood Sisters decided to gang over an undead giant, quickly diminishing its body with powerful blows. When the giant tried to blast them away with its beams, they easily dodged with their flying maneuvers.

They worked very fast, the giant was already falling to the ground, with most of its limbs completely destroyed. Unable to regenerate on time, its back was exposed to countless explosive arrows and magic projectiles, finishing it off.

The sisters swiftly moved towards their next target, without a second to rest.

"Being born with half my base stats, it wouldn't be crazy to assume that they already surpassed me stat wise… Clumsy seems to have become more confident too, I'm glad. Perhaps she is no more a clumsy, I should give them a proper name..."

As the battle continued, more powerful soldiers demonstrated their new strength and growth.

I glanced over Truhan, the love partner of Celica.

Truhan had always been a hard worker, wanting to catch up with Celica incredible growth, he never gave up on training every day, increasing his strength and obtaining new skills while eating powerful monsters that he liked to hunt on night, sharing them with Celica.

Tump tump!

Truhan powerful steps created big sounds on the ground, running at an increasing speed, he raised his two axes and slashed countless undead.

Slash! Slash!

Activating a powerful buff, his entire body became engulfed on bright red flames, which attracted the attention of the undead, who went right for his head.

"I got you were I want you! Hnnnggh!"

CLASH!

Without the need of using any skills, using its pure brute force, Truhan slashed through 10 undead in one go, setting their entire bodies on fire.

This fire was similar to Celica's one, being able to feed on the enemy soul and growing stronger.

Truhan slashed countless undead on his way through the battlefield, using almost no armor, receiving most of their attacks, even when his body was covered in blood, one could barely notice it when his own skin was of a crimson color.

The more hits Truhan took head on, the stronger his speed and power would become, this was thanks to the effects of his new skill [Berserker Blood Sacrifice], which he obtained after evolving and obtaining a new class.

Throwing away his old heavy armor and shield, Truhan had to train himself again, learning how to use dual axes and getting used to the constant pain that his body would suffer. Going through a hellish train, if it wasn't for Celica and his troll brothers help, he would had never been able to go this far.

"This is the strength that my brothers and Celica helped me to cultivate! I will protect my brothers! I will protect my home! Ooorrraaaahhh! Flaming Berserk Counter!"

Intercepting more than five undead soldiers, Truhan used a powerful counter, throwing them all several meters way with an impressive blow.

Clash!

The undead couldn't resist the flames, and without the help of the busy undead mages, they slowly turned into ashes.

After killing enough undead, another of Truhan skills became active, it was named [Unleashed Red Oni Berserker].

Fluosh!

Truhan suddenly increased its size by three times, becoming a mighty titan, with powerful bulging muscles. It raised his two tiny axes and engulfed them in his own blood and fire, increasing their size, adjusting to Truhan new strength.

Flash!

Using a speed that shouldn't belong on such a massive body, Truhan ran through the battlefield like a flaming meteor, clashing over countless undead as if they were nothing, until it ultimately came across an undead giant.

The undead giant noticed Truhan powerful aura and desperately shoot beams after beams.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Truhan received each beam like nothing, they barely scratched his strong and sturdy skin, leaving small wounds that easily healed with his own flames.

This regeneration skill was named [Red Oni Sacred Flames], the more blood the user loss, the more sacred flames will be generated, closing the wounds. It was a weird skill that needed a strange condition, but it worked well on berserkers, which would quickly heal any damage they received, even if it was lethal.

Of course, the blood lost would not come back, and after some time, if the blood lost is too much, they would need to retreat and regenerate blood.

However, Truhan was different to any conventional berserker, as he was able to obtain the skills of the monsters he devoured, easily obtaining a skill that let him recover blood.

This was [Assimilation]!

Truhan easily grabbed some meat from his Item Box, while slashing the undead giant, and in a matter of seconds, he regained new body mass and blood.

"A berserker that does not fear the loss in blood and can regenerate quickly, a perfect warrior"

Truhan ran around the undead giant and jumped over, walking over its body and swinging his axes like a mad demon.

"Oooorrraaah!"

Slash! Slash!

The undead giant magic shields couldn't take the powerful flaming axes and were easily shattered.

CRACK!

Truhan raised his muscular arms and hit the undead giant head with all his might, creating a powerful explosion.

BOOM!

The undead giant head exploded like a watermelon, completely destroying its Soul Core.

The giant massive body slowly fell to the ground, creating a small earthquake.

Baam!

I noticed as Truhan entire body was exuding a dense steam, and his whole body was covered on sweat and blood.

Flash!

Without wasting any time, Truhan quickly rushed towards another big group of undead soldiers.

Due to the new army soldiers being too strong, the undead soldier became desperate, seeing their giant fellows being easily slayed.

Celica dedicated herself on hunting down the undead mage, quickly diminishing their number.

The frail undead mage could only keep using the undead soldier as sacrifice on the ritual, summoning more giants, but even the soldier became very few.

"If this keep going like this, we wont even need the mage teams help at all…"

Baam!

Another giant already fell to the ground, completely shattered in frozen pieces.

Meiji spirits teamed up together and quickly took care of an undead giant without much effort. The strength of these spirits was formidable.

Artio, the Ice Bird, flew across the battlefield, assisting everyone with his [Ice Spear] and [Inspiring Song], which was able to boost the stats of anyone who heard them temporarily, this obviously did not affect the undead as they lacked emotions.

Vulcanus, the Giant Flame Salamander teamed up with Pygmy, the young Earth Dragon, doing powerful tandem skills. Vulcanus was able to create strong flows of fire and lava, which Pygmy made stronger with his masterful control over Earth. Creating strong blasts of Hot Lava, easily penetrating the undead giant magic shields and finishing them off with a rain of sharp rocks.

Aether, the Light Spirit, had fun punishing every undead with his strong [Light Judgement], a powerful area-of-effect Light spell that only affected the undead, without damaging its allies.

On the other side, Hypnos, the mysterious Dark Spirit changed its form completely, absorbing the darkness of the night, its body mass multiplied several times, becoming an eldritch abomination, using its dark tentacles to demolish any undead on its way. And blasting powerful shadow beams from its central eye towards any undead giant.

"Spirits are sure something else, such incredible growth in power…"

However, the Wyvern family didn't slack off, each member having its own distinct fighting style.

Abellona was the strongest, flying across the skies with its powerful wings, spitting a powerful flaming breath and shooting fire projectiles. If it ever got caught in any attack, it would easily protect itself with its [Golden Dragon Armor]. Each time his armor absorbed any hit, it would activate countless markings that resembled coiling dragons, these markings would become alive and would wrap around its enemy, giving various debuffs.

Clash!

With the help of his strong brother Titus herculean strength, Abellona got rid of another undead giant with ease

Being born with a unique blessing, Titus uses his gifted strength with great talent, evolving his own skills towards explosive power. Being able to quickly shatter any undead giant magic shield and shattering their head in mere seconds.

"It was a good call to leave the strongest warriors towards the end, as they would had exhausted themselves at the start having to kill so many weaklings. They can use their full strength now, taking care of the strongest undead giants, quickly ending this fight"

When there were around 200 undead left, and barely any undead mage, the three Mage Teams finally reached the battlefield.

Meiji was the first to join, with his big group of monkey mages, they stabilized the battlefield healing everyone that was wounded and granting powerful buffs. With them here I was finally able to take a breath.

Zehe came afterwards, commanding a big group of Undead Goblin Mages, they used their powerful Shadow Magic to trap the undead on big sink holes. Slowing the whole undead army movements, making the other Physical Teams jobs easier.

Most of the undead giant tried to ger rid of the mages with their powerful beams, but Kekensha protected everyone with his Light Shields. If any undead mage tried to seal his magic. I used a Dispelling Shock on him.

Thanks to everyone support, Kekensha was able to generate two powerful [Golden Sun], a potent Light Magic similar to my [Overpowering Sun], which needed big quantities of MP to fully generate. It took one [Golden Sun] to completely evaporate an undead giant, creating a big crater on the ground. This magic was extremely effective, but very tiring, after the second shot, Kekensha had to rest and concentrate on casting Light Shields.

When Rimuru's team finally reached the battlefield, we pretty much sealed our victory. Rimuru team was made of the most powerful offensive mages on my Kingdom. Using [MP Share], they connected their MP and casted powerful ritual magic. Previously telling all the other groups to retreat, they blasted what remained of the undead giants and mages with thousands of weapon-shaped projectiles.

While glancing at the dying undead, I looked over where the four undead generals were and detected their auras increasing in power.

"They're coming…"

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Battlefield backlines, 30 minutes ago.

The dignified King looked over its troops with indifference.

"An expected outcome, with an unexpected ending"

His loyal knight, ad his right side, analyzed the battlefield.

"My King, we have underestimated the demon troops. They were way stronger than what we have expected"

"Hmm. She has trained her people well"

For a moment, the undead King looked over the dark sky, lost in thoughts.

"My King?"

"More than half of the demon troops are intact. And they will be able to assist her when we strike. This, I did not expect"

The undead archer at the back of the King spoke on a slow voice.

"What are your plans, my King?"

The King looked over the battlefield.

"There is no plan. Our Master only ordered us to kill the demon. We shall use all our strength to strike her down together"

The Loyal Knight and the Archer kneeled down.

"Yes, my King"

"It is done as you wish, my King"

The King noticed that the Lich didn't kneeled down, and was still looking at the battlefield. Although his face was of a skeleton, unable to show emotions. The Lich aura seemed weaker and there were hints of doubt on his soul.

"Lich, what are you thinking?"

As if drowned on his own thoughts, the Lich was surprised by the sudden calling of his King.

"Hng"

"Hmm? Lich, your aura, is being very irregular now"

"Its nothing. I am fine, my King"

The King looked at the Lich with doubt.

"Hmmph. You better be telling the truth, Lich"

"Yes, my King"

"…"

"M-My King?"

The undead King walked around with its horse, immersed on its own thoughts.

"I have designed a plan"

The other undead were surprised. However, the Lich mage heart became filled with uneasiness.

"What is it, my King?"

The undead King looked over the Lich with an indifferent glance.

"Lich, you will sacrifice yourself for us. Do the most damage that you can to the demon and its army, and then detonate your Soul Core, this will seriously damage the demon and his ally's souls. With your sacrifice, we will be able to easily kill her"

The Archer and the Loyal Knight praised their King, and looked over the Lich.

"You must feel honored, Lich"

"Indeed, you will be able to finally met up with that child you loved to teach"

"A pity she is dead, with the rest of the Trolls, right?"

The Lich heart was surrounded by a growing rage and impotence, but it was unable to negate its King commands. Containing its rage, it could only obey.

"Yes, my King. I shall attack and distract the enemy, afterwards, I will detonate my Soul Core, inflicting heavy damage to anyone on the demon side"

The King nodded.

"Hmm. Your Soul Core is powerful and rich. Its detonation will surely kill almost every of the demon underlings, only leaving her half dying body left"

The Lich felt as his heart was filled with despise and hate.

"Hnng"

A memory from the past went through the Lich mind, making him remember other times, times when he was happier.

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A small blue colored girl with long silver hair and golden eyes looked over her teacher, pointing something on her book.

"Teacher… What is a Soul?"

The Lich, who once was the teacher of this girl, glanced at the book.

"Hmm. You're studying something too advanced; you don't need to learn about Soul magic until next year, Zehe"

The small girl looked at the Lich with puppy eyes.

"B-But I want to learn…"

The Lich sighed, using its skeleton hand, it gently patted the girl head.

"Sigh… Very well"

The girl eyes shined on a bright gold.

"R-Really, teacher?"

"Yes, now sit down. Open your book on page 765"

The girl quickly obeyed her teacher command and browsed through the book pages, until reaching the desired page.

"Here…"

"Now, read it for me"

"Y-Yes… Ahem… A soul is the spiritual form of any living being of a Life Rank of 1 or higher… Sometimes referred as the "True Form" of any living being. A soul contains the mind and the deepest memories of any intelligent being… It contains their emotions, their desires and their sins…"

The girl suddenly stopped reading.

The Lich glanced at the girl with confusion.

"Zehe? Keep reading"

"Ah… Its just… I was wondering… Master, do I have a soul?"

The girl gently patted her flat chest, trying to look for her soul, as if it would show up if she tried hard enough.

The Lich looked at the girl with care.

"Of course, you have a soul, Zehe. You were born with one, because your Life Rank is of 1. When a living being is born with a lower Life Rank than 1, they aren't born with a soul, and must develop one by leveling and evolving multiple times"

The little girl seemed to be relieved of her having a soul.

"Phew… And how do those beings make a soul for themselves, Teacher?"

"By leveling. They need to accumulate Experience, a powerful energy force that flows through our Realm. By gaining Experience, one will break across different Life Walls, named Levels"

The girl nodded.

"Crossing through each Life Wall will grant an increase in power and statistics, resumed as Stats. By constantly accumulating Experience and breaking through Life Walls, you will slowly generate your own soul, created by your own Experience"

The girl nodded again.

"After reaching a certain Experience accumulation, evolution is granted and after evolving, you can finally obtain a soul. Sometimes, the accumulation of Experience is enough to evolve but not yet to obtain a soul, so more evolutions are needed"

The little girl was a little bit confused by the overly complicated explanation.

"S-So… Uuhhh… If I resume it, by leveling up and getting stronger?"

The Lich nodded.

"Hmm. You could resume it like that. But its not as clear. My explanation is better"

The girl laughed a bit.

"Hehehe…"

The Lich glanced at the girl warm smile.

"Why are you laughing? I haven't said any joke"

"Hehehe… Its just… Teacher is always so strict… But you really seem like a child trying to prove your intelligence… Hehehe"

The Lich was surprised by the girl rudeness.

"Zehe! Don't be disrespectful with your Teacher!"

"A-Ah! S-Sorry…"

The Lich looked at the girl puppy eyes and was commoved by her, quickly forgiving her disrespectful behavior.

"Sigh… Anyways, continue reading"

The girl looked over the book for a moment but didn't read yet.

"Teacher…?"

"Hmm? What is it now?"

"Do you have a soul?"

For a moment, the Lich stopped moving, and looked over the room windows.

"I do… I still have a soul…"

"Teacher?"

"My soul… According to the books, if I have a soul, it means that I have memories of my past, but why I can't remember anything? I… Sometimes, I think that I don't have one"

"But Teacher, you have memories with me!"

The Lich was surprised by such a dull but at the same time clever response.

"Zehe…"

The little girl gave the Lich a cute smile.

"You are right… I do have memories with you, Zehe"

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Immersed on his memories, the Lich was interrupted by the undead King.

"Hmm? Do you have something to say, Lich?"

Since becoming a Lich, its Soul Core has been enslaved by the superior undead King Soul Core. Doing a powerful Death and Soul pact. The Lich cannot say anything that would deny his King orders.

"N-No, my King. Everything will go according to your expectations"

"Very well, you shall strike the moment our troops are finished"

"I shall do as my King wishes"

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Present.

I glanced over the battlefield as Rimuru finished off the last undead giants, using her powerful multi-elemental spells, resembling my Gate of Bjarmia.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless weapon shaped, solidified magic projectiles rained over the last three undead giants.

The giants resisted with all their might, shooting beams everywhere.

Rimuru was able to quickly dodge most hits, and her powerful [9 Elements Spiritual Rainbow Armor] was able to easily tank the most powerful of beams.

While shooting magic projectiles, Rimuru flew across the undead giants with her beautiful Gale Bird Emperor wings, which made her look like an angel.

Baaam!

"Clack!"

The last undead giant fell down the ground, with its Soul Core completely destroyed by a giant magic axe made of Wind and Rock.

After seeing her last target being shot down, Rimuru came close to me.

"Mastaaa! I did it! Hug!"

I gave Rimuru a warm hug, I could smell the heartwarming flower fragrance of her hair.

"Hehehe… Mastaaa… What do we do now?"

"We wait…"

Zehe, Nesiphae and Brontes were at my side, waiting for the undead generals to show up at any moment.

Brontes was the first to detect the strong magic presence coming our way.

"Big sis!"

FLASH!

Suddenly, a powerful black thunder came rushing towards us, and stopped right ahead of me.

Nesiphae was surprised by this skeleton strong magic aura.

"W-What is this being?"

"A skeleton! Obviously, guuuu!"

"Skeleton or not, if it wants to hurt big sis, I'm going to smash it!"

After looking at this skeleton appearance, Zehe seemed frozen in time.

Without wasting a second, I quickly appraised the powerful Lich.

"Only one? Appraisal!"

[NAME: HERBELL SKARDEC

[CLASS: HIGH SPACE AND SHADOW WIZARD

[RACE: IMPURE LICH (HUMAN)

[LEVEL 113/999 EXP 089402/130000 STATUS: UNDEAD (GOOD)

[ITEM BOX 008/100

[HP: 425/425 MP: 734/734 STAMINA: 160/160

[STRENGTH: 146 (+50)

[DEFENCE: 167 (+40)

[MAGIC: 581 (+200)

[RESISTANCE: 493 (+100)

[SPEED: 182 (+30)

[CHARISMA: 30

[LUCK: -10

[EQUIPMENT]

[Basic Wizard Tattered Robes Set]

[Cursed Lich Staff: Craneo]

[SKILLS]

[Commoner Bloodline] [Gift of Training] [Magic Affinity]

[Basic Null Magic: 5] [Basic Fire Magic: 10] [Basic Thunder Magic: 10]

[Basic Ice Magic: 10] [Magic Resonance] [Undead Curse]

[Soul Curse] [Forbidden Shadow Magic: 10]

[Forbidden Space Magic: 10] [Masterful Shadow and Space Affinity]

"T-Those stats are too much…"

The Lich looked at me with indifference, however, I felt as if something odd was going on inside his aura.

I quickly noticed Zehe face.

"Zehe?"

Zehe looked over the Lich as her eyes cried tears of grievance.

"T-Teacher?"

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