Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-480

The Kingdom of Sunclaw was already taken by Geggoron when he had started to seep his influence through Moonfang.

He had decided to work first in Sunclaw because he considered that dogs were easier to trick and lure, and so he made an easy task in taking over the small royal family of Sunclaw, which only consisted of four members, the Gray Wolf King of Sunclaw, Barion Sunclaw, the Phantom Werefox Queen of Sunclaw, Rei Sunclaw, the Eldest Princess of Sunclaw, Miki Sunclaw, and the Youngest Prince of Sunclaw, Noboru Sunclaw.

Compared to Lionel, Barion had fewer children because he did not have concubines other than his only wife, and the couple had only conceived two children since they were married several years ago.

Geggoron first brainwashed the believers of Marnet and his church, alongside the ones in the churches of the Marnet's children, the Living Deity that represented the several subspecies of Canine Beastmen.

This was possible because the faith over Marnet and his children had been on the decline in Sunclaw, due to the order from the Great Goddess of Beasts Ova, Marnet and his siblings had to stop being active on their descendant's Kingdoms, as it costed too much Divine Energy, and Ova didn't saw any value in wasting such precious resource into giving small miracles to pesky mortals.

As the generations went by, the Sunclaw Kingdom slowly abandoned religion as the gods that they prayed upon so much never brought them any miracle or blessings.

Some even suspected that the gods might have been killed by other gods, and due to the lack of faith, Geggoron easily brainwashed several people through his manipulation of Nightmares, seeping his influence and wicked mind into the people's heads.

The royal family quickly succumbed to such horrible nightmares, as Geggoron weakened their mentality every day through them, until one day, the new church worshipping Geggoron began to revolt against the Kingdom.

Led by the two Heroes that Geggoron had already brainwashed, 'Sacred Light White Wolf Swordsman', Melarnus, and the 'Corrosive Poison Sword Hyena Knightess', Anadia, the King fought to defend his children but was overpowered by the two Heroes, who showcased strange powers charged with Divine Energy.

No matter how much the King and the Queen fought, it was useless, as the two Heroes would constantly regenerate through Geggoron's split souls using Divine Energy to heal their wounds.

The King and the Queen were then captured and forcefully brainwashed through two large pieces of Geggoron's split soul, while the princess and the prince tried to escape but were caught as well, and succumbed to a similar fate…

By that time, the two Heroes Haruko and Eifert tried to confront Melarnus and Anadia but were ultimately overpowered by them much like the King, they couldn't fight against the split souls of a demigod, capable of using Divine Energy.

The two were not able to save the royal family and had to escape for their lives, with the mission of asking for help from their neighbor Kingdom (Moonfang).

Then the royal family and the two heroes diligently Geggoron, obeying his orders like good dogs. They let their soldiers be brainwashed by Geggoron's nightmarish powers, and be made into berserk monsters, that attacked Moonfang's villages and provoked the cat Kingdom to retaliate.

As this went on, Haruko and Eifert were being constantly chased by Geggoron's pawns, as he desired the bodies of these two powerful Heroes to make new and strong vessels.

However, when things went down in the Kingdom of Moonfang due to Kireina's appearance, Geggoron became desperate to defeat Kireina at all cost, deciding to sacrifice the Kingdom of Sunclaw for that sole purpose.

He manipulated his divinity and created a Nightmare Barrier covering a large amount of territory, and began to aimlessly convert every civilian into monstrosities while granting artifacts and Divine Beast Flesh Fragments to the vessels harboring his Split Souls.

However, the plans of their beloved master were interrupted by the hasty Kireina, and Geggoron was forced back to his Divine Realm while Kireina flooded the inside of the barrier with her monsters, family, and servants. She then ate the barrier and then converted it into her own domain, becoming her own world.

Naturally, those that served her received a large boost in their strength, while those that were her enemies became frightened and faltered, becoming weaker.

The Royal Family and the two heroes of Sunclaw did not have time to properly assimilate the Divine Beast Flesh Fragments given to them and forcefully consumed them while rushing to defend the dominion of their God. However, several beasts made out of Kireina's flesh, which possessed her will, separated the royal family and the heroes from each other in a similar fashion to Moonfang.

Kireina knew very well that even with all the strength of her servants if she were to leave the enemy do as they please and work together, they would most likely surprise her one way or another, so she decided to use the same tactic as before.

Surprisingly, it worked quite well.

Truhan and Celica separated to finally fight against the contenders that their beloved master had prepared for them to showcase their newly acquired strength after completing a large dungeon maze located in the abandoned Kingdom of Ollathir.

They were an almost inseparable pair, but they also trusted their Master, when she told them that 'everything should go as planned, I've prepared enough, you two have your fun, and don't worry about me'.

She was certainly an immensely strong person, and also an incredibly reliable master.

Truhan waved his gigantic blazing ax as he slashed dozens of giant monstrosities that thought that they were big enough to put a dent in Truhan.

His ax moved at immense speeds as the giant red Oni slain the monstrosities with almost no effort at all.

"Gyaaaaaaa…!"

"It burns, it burns!!!"

"It's impossible! We cannot… beat him…"

Truhan crushed the monstrosities struggling with his feet while burning them to a crisp and then eating a few with his large jaws. After his latest evolution, Truhan surpassed the twenty meters of height, he could be considered a 'True Giant' now, but compared to Kireina, who surpassed one hundred meters when she transformed, he still considered himself a small fry.

"Hm, not bad, though it would be better if Celica-chan cooked them… Oh?"

As Truhan killed countless monstrosities with his arms, ax, and feet, the figure of a small wolf man appeared… well, he was small compared to Truhan, that is.

The man emitted a bright yellow aura, he was the Sacred Light White Wolf Swordsman, Melarnus, considered to be one of the Heroes of Sunclaw. And the first of the four to be brainwashed by Geggoron.

Almost a year has passed since then, and his mind had already completely merged with Geggoron's split soul. He used to be a true hero that always looked for the safety of his people, but became corrupted and enjoyed inflicting pain in name of Geggoron.

However, his trait of being clueless and quite foolish remained even after merging his will with Geggoron's split soul.

"Ngh… Those beasts were not our monstrosities… …eh?" said Melarnus, finally realizing that he was thrown away right before a twenty meters tall red giant.

"You're finally here! Well, blaze domain" said Truhan, nonchalantly. Raising his arms and manipulating his Blazing Hellish Aura, a domain was created, enclosing him and Melarnus.

"A domain…? Wait, how could you?! You are a simple giant! It would be impossible for you to master your Aura to such an extent…! Wasn't Kireina the only one capable of this?!" said Melarnus and Geggoron's split soul at the same time.

"A simple giant? Well, let me show you what a 'simple giant' can do! HAAAH!" roared Truhan, his entire blazing aura converging inside of his muscles. His entire body began to release hellish flames and his muscles became sturdier and stronger.

Melarnus immediately sensed that this life was in danger! Trying to evade Truhan's blow by enhancing his entire body with his Aura and activating a series of buffing skills. He moved through the ground like a flash of light.

Flash!

Truhan, however, already waved his blazing ax, as massive slashes of hellish flames capable of consuming everything flew towards Melarnus.

Clash!

No matter how fast he ran, the slashing blazes followed him and impacted into his body, bypassing his barriers, and burning his flesh to a crisp.

"Gyaaaaaaa!!!" Melarnus fell over the ground, his entire body set ablaze.

"Oh… That was it?" said Truhan.

He only just released a single high-level art from one of his Burning Demon King's Blazing Hellish Axe Arts Skill, which was once the simple 'Axe Technique' Skill he learned back when he was a youngling. Through countless battles and training inside dungeons or wars, he awakened the skill several times, while merging it with other similar skills, to the point that the strength of any Art he released was monstrous.

"Hm… Master Kireina told me that you guys transform though… perhaps when you transform you will give a good fight?" said Truhan, resting his ax on his right shoulder.

"Aaaaghhh…! Gyaaaaahhh!!! It burns! It cannot… dissipate?! What kind of… fire is thisssss?!" shouted Melarnus as his body began to burn to a crisp, completely blackened, his flesh was grilled and Truhan smelt an appetizing scent. However, he calmed himself from eating Melarnus as he was still expecting some kind of transformation.

Melarnus dragged his body through the ground as he conjured Nightmare Magic and Holy Magic, however, the blaze burning his body could not be dissipated.

"Ah, when I evolved, my fire became strange, it cannot be dissipated. It gained the properties of a curse or something. That is what Celica-chan said," said Truhan, glancing at Melarnus being burnt alive.

"W-What?! T-Then… No! I cannot… I cannot just die here! At least, I will take you with meee!!! Divine Beast Flesh Fragment!" roared Melarnus.

Flash!

Geggoron's split soul then released a large amount of Divine Energy from within Melarnus's body as it was absorbed by the Divine Beast Flesh Fragment that he had consumed previously. Melarnus flesh could not stop burning, but he began to mutate, his muscles bulged and began to expand wildly, his legs and arms became covered in dark scales and fur, and his size grew larger, almost reaching Truhan's height.

His body resembled a strange, alien reptile covered in dark scales and dark fur, with barely any traits of his former self. His eyes were crimson red, and around twelve long tentacles were emerging from his torso.

"GRAAAAAAWWWL!"

Truhan's smile widened after seeing final a worthy opponent.

"Good! That is the stuff I was talking about! Gahahaha!" laughed Truhan, as he jumped towards the beast that was once a valiant Hero of Sunclaw, clashing his axe against the dark scale armor and crushing it into pieces, penetrating the axe's blade into the flesh.

Clash!

"GRAAAAAWWL!"

Melarnus roared, opening its wide and reptilian jaws, and biting on Truhan's arm while bearing the pain of having a chunk of its flesh and scales being sliced off and burned immediately after.

Crunch!

"Oh? That hurt a little!" laughed Truhan, the sharp fangs of Melarnus barely seeped through his muscles, not even a droplet of blood was released from the wounds. His muscles were so immensely hard and packed that even the sharp jaws of an almost twenty-meters tall reptilian creature were not able to put much damage on them.

"T-This guy is ridiculous! Since when did Kireina have a servant like this in her group?! His whole muscle mass is like armor made out of Orichalcum!" thought Geggoron's split soul, as Melarnus mind had long gone berserk and become beast-like.

"B-But he's a fool, he actually let me bite him! Nightmare Curse! Painful Nightmare! Lethargic Blazing Nightmare! Specter of Phantom Nightmare Pain!" in a split second, Geggoron's split mind conjured several spells over the small wounds that he caused over Truhan's arms.

However, the giant only felt an itch.

"Hm? What are you up to?" laughed Truhan, as he grabbed on Melarnus as if he were a ragdoll and clashed his entire body against the ground with immense strength.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"GRAAAAHH…!"

Melarnus could not help but stop grabbing on Truhan's arm as he vomited mouthfuls of blood, his muscles and bones were already broken apart, but Geggoron's split soul was constantly healing them back by abusing the strong vitality of the Divine Beast Flesh Fragment.