Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-488

Amidst the chaos of countless grotesque monstrosities rampaging around, a small village of dog beastmen that had not been affected by Geggoron's Nightmare Barrier effect were escaping to survive.

Gigantic beings in all shapes and sizes, which were formerly their neighbors, parents, or even their children followed them while opening their gaping mouths, drooling poisonous saliva while releasing disturbing shrieks and strange sounds, some even were able to speak despite having transformed completely.

A little girl was left behind by the group of beastmen running away and was lured by the voice of her father, which she had lost track of him amidst the chaos.

"Daddy? Where are you?" said the little, girl, she was barely five years old, with a small and petite body. She had short brown hair and two small dog ears atop her head. A little tail waved nervously below her simple dress.

"My little girl… here, come closer…" muttered the voice of her father.

After crossing through some trees, she found a small clearing in the middle of the forest, where she saw the figure of her father, his back.

"Daddy!" she said, running towards her father.

"My daughter… you're such a nice and stupid little girl," said her father.

"Stupid…?"

The girl raised her head to see her father's face, as he twisted his body to greet her, the front of his body was a giant gaping mouth that extended across his torso, limbs, and head, filled with sharp fangs and tentacle-like tongues. Saliva drooled across his entire body.

"Ah, my daughter! You look so… appetizing!" said her father.

"A-Ah… D-Daddy…? N-No! G-Get away from me!" cried the little girl, trying to run away from where she came from, only for her former father to twist its body and capture her with its tentacle-like tongue, wrapping her entirely with it as she struggled.

"Gyaaa! Noo! Daddy! I want my daddy!" she cried.

"I am your father! Please, since I awakened to Geggoron-sama truth, I have become quite hungry, you know? How about you pay all those years I wasted raising you, and become my meal! Gyagyagyagya!" laughed the monstrosity, slowly moving the little girl towards it's gaping and sharp jaws.

"Nooo! W-Wait…!"

Flash!

Suddenly, a ray of pure darkness was fired from the sky, falling over the monstrosity trapping the little girl and vaporizing his small body!

Only his tongue was left, which remained motionless.

The little girl glanced at what happened with eyes wide open, freeing herself from the sticky tongue and gasping for air.

"Haah… Haahhh… Daddy… Daddy…"

"Your father is dead," said the voice of a mature man, a giant shadow appeared in front of the little girl.

An even more overwhelming being had crossed with the little girl, a monster from the abyss itself, a wolf shrouded in darkness and crimson light, with three heads and sharp dark fur, covered in spikes all around.

"A-Ah! Another monster!" cried the girl, trying to run away but falling on her knees due to her fatigue.

"Well, I am a monster, but I didn't come to eat you, you're too small, too little meat. Master has given me the task of rescuing any citizen that hasn't transformed into a monster… come with me, little girl," said the three-headed wolf shrouded in shadows, Wagyu.

"Y-You're a good monster?" asked the girl.

"…Yes," said Wagyu.

"You're scary! I do not believe you! I want my daddy! Buaaaaa!"

"Scary…?"

Wagyu shaped his shadows in an arm and grabbed her by force, throwing her inside his shadows, a special space was inside them which he was capable of creating, where he stored many things that the Item Box couldn't, mostly because his Item Box was already filled as well.

"Ahh…!"

The young dog beast-girl was transported to a different space. It seemed almost endless, the floor was made out of black dirt, and the sky resembled the night, filled with small stars and a small moon.

"The night…? Where am I?" asked the girl.

From within the shadows, more figures appeared, lurking towards the girl while raising their claws!

"Ah! No! Get away from meeee!!!"

However, as she glanced at them with detail, she discovered that they were other beastmen people, just like her.

"…Eh? You're not monsters?"

"It seems that that monster has captured another person…"

"Well, it is not as bad…"

"At least we weren't just eaten…"

"But what fate awaits us?! Maybe he'll eat us after he gathers enough for a dinner!"

"Poor girl, you're so young…"

A voluptuous woman appeared, carrying the surprised girl, she seemed quite motherly.

"Calm down little girl, everything will be fine… for now," she said.

"Everything…? Where are we?" asked the girl.

"We are… inside the wolf monster body… I think," said the woman.

"We were eaten?!" shouted the girl, her dog ears raising in the alert.

"No… I think we were rescued, but everyone else thinks that we will be eaten… That wolf, although it was intimidating, did not seem to have any maliciousness in his presence neither voraciousness like the monstrosities… he probably is rescuing us. It may be further proven by how he was killing other monstrosities indiscriminately…" said the woman.

"We were saved by that scary wolf?" wondered the girl, glancing at the night sky and the moon.

Outside of this space, Wagyu kept slaughtering monstrosities while looking for survivors.

"Hey, they think that we are going to eat them…" said his first head.

"We won't eat them of course; they will be future citizens! They're allies, friends, and family!" said the second head, the head in the middle.

"Well, I don't really care what they think…" said the third head.

Wagyu was the second companion on Kireina's adventures and was the strongest wolf in the entire Empire until Kekensha began to catch up with him.

After many adventures and fights, he grew exponentially stronger. Deciding to explore a dungeon entirely with his party, which counted Kekensha in, he became stronger through the dozens of trials that the Dungeon offered, and fought against the last boss, the Thunder Dragon Overlord, defeating it quite easily.

Although he and Kekensha did not evolve yet like the rest of the party, he was still happy that everyone became stronger.

But due to fate, or perhaps the will of the God of the Dungeon, they were teleported to a different room, where he and Kekensha had to fight against the 'Secret Boss' by themselves without the rest of the party to assist them.

The two wolves happily embraced the challenge and came victorious after a long and bloody fight, both of them meeting the God of the Dungeon himself, Nyzzet, the Dragon God of Thunder who rewarded them with riches and blessings, in exchange for a meeting with their Master in the future.

Due to the Experience Points gained after defeating the Secret Boss, both Wolves evolved into greater and stronger forms.

Wagyu acquired a greater height, his fur became long and phantasmagoric, resembling pure shadows and crimson colors converging together. He did not gain a new head, but his three heads became more independent and were capable of thinking better on their own.

Wagyu evolved from a Shadow Abyss Cerberus Wolf to a Shadow Satan Abyssal Cerberus Skoll, gaining the names of two legendary dogs from Earth, Cerberus, the watchdog of hell, and Skoll, the shadow wolf that chases the sun.

His powers developed the most, as his shadows evolved, he was capable of generating a space inside of it, which he used to move or save things inside.

This ability was something similar to Kireina's 'Inner Realm', and it had its own scenery inside, with the ground, a sky, and even stars and the moon, which were just mere illusions to make the place comfier.

Inside of it, Wagyu saved countless treasures, monster corpses, and many other things that he could not save on his Item Box or in one of the others because, through their exploration, they were all filled with things already.

Wagyu also discovered that he was able to store conscious living beings inside which did not need to be in an induced coma, unlike the requirements of the Item box, and he could even build houses inside and a small little world.

Using this advantage, he rescued the people he found across the battlefield, storing them inside.

As he wandered around slaughtering monstrosities and rescuing future citizens, he felt the sudden presence of a being a bit stronger than the one she had been slaughtering.

A large wolf beastmen that towered over two meters fell to the ground from within a rift in the domain's space. His hair and fur were gray, his body was packed with bulging muscles and his hands had large and furred claws, while his feet also had the feet of wolves. He had two-pointed wolf ears atop his head and a long gray tail.

He was bare-chested, showcasing his impressive physique… but he seemed rather troubled.

This was Barion Gray Sunclaw, the King of the Sunclaw Kingdom, a firm and heroic man beloved by his people... who had succumbed to Geggoron. His former self was no more but an alter ego of the wicked Demon Demigod of Hateful Distrust and Nightmares.

"T-This… everyone else is gone? And the main body! Kireina has suddenly come and done it… Is this our end? At last… I was the only one that predicted that everything would be useless… The main body is too driven by his divinity, after all, it cannot understand when to give up and escape! Damn it all!" roared Barion, as Wagyu rushed towards him while shrouded in darkness.

Flash!

"Hm?!"

Barion could not detect Wagyu's presence at all and was surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Could you be the one I was told to get rid of?"

"Yes, it should be him"

"Alright, let us not disappoint Master, and let's get rid of him quickly"

His three heads spoke as if they were different people, even Barion, Geggoron's alter ego was intimidated.

"Wait for a second, I surrender!" shouted Barion.

Wagyu was frozen in time, his claws about to crush Barion to death.

"…you surrender?"

"Weren't they possessed by a wicked god?"

"It does not make sense… Well, I can't trust you,"

Wagyu's head spoke with each other and concluded killing Barion even if he decided to surrender, as it was most likely a façade to backstab their Master whenever he gained her trust.

"Wait a moment!" shouted Barion, as Wagyu's claws were enhanced with shadows and his Aura, releasing hundreds of slicing slashes against him.

Barion enhanced his entire body with his Nightmarish Aura in a split second and jumped, evading Wagyu's onslaught with the price of one of his arms being chopped off by the wolf's blade-like claws.

"Ungh! Wait for a second! I am not Geggoron himself, but one of his alter egos… the connection with him, I have lost it! I am an independent being, I swear!"

��So what?"

"Even if you were to be independent of your former 'main body', you're still my master's enemy,"

"No matter what you apologize for, you must die,"

Wagyu was already decided. His loyalty to Kireina was immense, and he never went against his master's orders, no matter what they were.

Even the Slime Clones with him told him not to trust Barion.

"The main body says that every vessel must be eradicated, no mercy, Wagyu-kun," said a small, red-colored Slime Clone resting below Wagyu's dark fur.

"No mercy then!" roared Wagyu's three heads, opening their jaws and releasing blasts of dark and crimson light.

"Ngh!"

Wagyu's speed was incredible, Barion could not even react in time as he saw three beams of darkness and crimson light-converging into one and blasting his entire physical body into pieces of flesh.

The flesh began to converge together, struggling to survive as Geggoron's split soul divinity emerged and mutated the flesh into a grotesque monstrosity. However, even after becoming like this, Barion was decided to ask for mercy.

"Wait, please! I surrender! I will become your master's servant, anything! I am not just Geggoron's alter ego, but myself!" he shouted.

"An alter ego that had gained its own consciousness and beliefs separated from Geggoron?" wondered one of Kireina's Slime Clones atop Wagyu.

Due to the Slime Clone words, Wagyu decided to stay still for the moment.

"The original Barion had died long ago, but his consciousness and memories have merged with me, and a new mind, me, was born. Kireina, I know you are listening to me right now… this is why I am pleading for my life! I've become independent from the main body from long ago… but I always faked it!"

"Interesting…" muttered another Slime Clone.

"Master, is he lying?" asked Wagyu's middle head.

"It doesn't seem so. But you know how strong can gods be, right? They can fake many things; it is dangerous to just trust him and bring it with us. Let us seal him for now," said several Slime Clones at the same time.

"If you're true to your words, let yourself be sealed, and let Master decide your fate whenever she is done with your main body, Barion," said Wagyu.

Barion, who had become a struggling mass of flesh and tentacles, nodded in agreement.

"Very well, please…" he said, storing all of his energy inside of his soul and sitting silently.

Wagyu extended his shadows as he merged them with all the Slime Clones sitting over his body, Kireina's consciousness appeared from within as she released several seals over Barion…

However.

Barion moved its grotesque body and raised its tentacles, infusing all of his Divine Energy into them!

He quickly grabbed several Slimes and tightly covered them in a Nightmare Barrier!

"Hah! So these are the things you were hiding! These small Slimes is what is giving your servants the ability to kill my vessels?!" roared Barion, extending his powerful tentacles while grabbing on Kireina's slime clones from the concentrated Wagyu.

Wagyu roared in anger as he opened his mouths.

"You!"

"No problem, Wagyu. I expected this to happen… it would have been interesting if he really intended to surrender… but oh well," said all the Slime Clones trapped on Barion's small Nightmare Barrier 'seal'.

Crack, crack!

"…Eh?!"

Like germs, the Slime Clones divided themselves endlessly into smaller ones, devouring the seal in seconds through 'God Devour'.

Crack!

"W-What?! How?! They're mere slimes!" roared Barion, trying to destroy the slimes or devour them with his plentiful jaws.

However, the germ-like slimes used several skills and merged themselves with him! Then, they began to devour themselves and Barion, which was part of them. Barion tried to use all of his powers, but they seemed to not work at all, he could only struggle.

Nom, nom, nom.

"Agh! Uuggyaaa!"

Wagyu sat down glancing at the spectacle, as the flesh monster that was Barion began to be devoured alive by… himself.

His soul could not handle such damage anymore and cracked into pieces.

"I-Impossible… what kind of… ridiculous being are… you…?"

"Nothing much," said the unified wills of Kireina's slime clones, as they devoured themselves until they completely took over Geggoron's alter ego, his consciousness and memories being absorbed as well.

Then, Barion's fleshy slime body was taken over by the unified Slime Clones.

"I did the same thing against Megusan, you know? You should have been there Wagyu, it was an interesting fight," said the unified will of all of Kireina's Slime Clones through Barion's corpse.

"I-I see… Master is amazing and outstanding as always. I am glad to be back in the party," said Wagyu with a humble nod.

"I'm glad as well, you're such a good boy, Wagyu," said Kireina's slime clones, extending their fleshy tentacles and patting Wagyu's heads.

Then Wagyu sat down on the floor and let Kireina pet his fluffy belly.

"What a good boy! Such a good boy!" she said.

"Woof, woof!"

Grand Gray Wolf King, Barion Sunclaw and his large Geggoron's split soul: deceased.

Cause of death: Was consumed by Kireina's slime clones and then assimilated into them, creating a new Slime Clone with the appearance of a slime made out of grotesque flesh, dark tentacles, and crimson eyes.