Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-526

The 'Undead, Squirrels, Alligator and Spider' Team, made up of the combination of the former slaves of the Dark Moon Empire who became strong warriors and servants of the Empress, and the group made up of undead-type demi-human that became undead after evolving from alive species, reached the last level of their dungeon exploration in the coastal regions of the border continent near the vassal nation of Athetosea.

In such coastal region, small tribes of Cancer, Crab-type Arachne that lived near the coast and beaches and worshiped a Demon God that created the dungeon for them to acquire resources inhabited.

These tribes also included, though in smaller quantities, other species of aquatic-adapted demi-human, such as Scylla, Mermaid, Mermen, and so on.

Through their adventures, the party, led by the strong and charismatic Arachne, who used to be a Hairy Spider Queen, Jorogumo, and her partner, the former Athetosean slave, and Hellhound, Erathe the large party explored the confines of the undersea labyrinth, fighting their way through many trials and abyssal monsters.

Due to chance or destiny, the party met with a young Crab Arachne with the name of Rajaba, who was, in fact, the princess of the Red Carapace Tribe of Crab Arachne, the biggest and strongest of the three tribes that inhabited the coastal regions.

After retrieving her back to her tribe, the party was welcomed by the king of the tribe and gained a lot of merit for their good work.

Rajaba revealed that she had gone to the dungeon because her little brother had disappeared one day when he went to explore it alone, and since then he has not come back.

The king of the Red Carapace Tribe, Rajacrack gave them the party the task of retrieving their son from the dungeon… or to at least find evidence of his death.

The kind had long given up on his son being alive and comprehended that the dungeon was too dangerous for a young boy.

The party received direct orders from Kireina, as they were accompanied by some of her Slime Clones, and decided to accept the request. Kireina desired to make good bonds with these tribes so she could make them her citizens in her Empire, they could live happily inside the Great Lake, which was a saltwater lake where the Aquaria Kingdom was.

The party and Kireina's Slime Clones also investigated the culture of the tribes and the god they worshiped, which was a strange god with the appearance of a giant crab that created the dungeon to help the tribes thrive by hunting the monsters and gathering the resources and treasures inside.

The Cancer or Crab Arachne was their direct children, so he seemed like a responsible father for the most part, but he couldn't control the dungeon completely, so the disappearance of the young prince was believed to be a punishment of him because of the Cancer Tribes becoming too laid back and relaxed, forgetting various tradition and growing weaker.

Without much going around, the party quickly entered the dungeon with the company of Rajaba, who had insisted to come with her father so much that he gave in after he was reassured of his daughter's security by the large party and Kireina's Slime Clones.

Rajaba was then equipped with some new experimental Transformation Rings that generated armor over her body and weapons when equipped and being given Mana, and with the party's help, she leveled many times, changed Classes, and Evolved two times before reaching the last floor… although she had become perhaps the strongest Cancer as of now, she still retained her shy, innocent and cute personality.

"So we are finally here!" said a beautiful Crab Arachne woman, with an appearance of no more than her early twenties, her upper body was slim and whites-skinned, with a delicate appearance, while her lower half was that of a powerful red-colored armored crab with giant pincers that could crush trees with ease. Her hair reached her shoulders and was bright azure, while her eyes were aquamarine-colored, she was Rajaba, who had become a Gian Cancer Great Warrior Princess, in measures of strength, she had reached as high as Rank 8 in the Mortal Realm and had become a respectable force within the team.

"It took us a lot of time, but we did it! We all kind of got so strong that we cannot even recognize ourselves…" said a giant Arachne with the lower half of an armored spider covered in red, orange, and yellow fur, her upper body was muscular and had six large arms wielding different weapons, her skin was fire red alongside her eyes, she held demonic charcoal red horns at her head and a long and wild brown mane, she was Jorogumo, who after evolving became a Great Fiery Demonic Arachne Berserk Tyrant Empress, with a power comparable to the Rank 12 of the Mortal Realm.

"We did it, we did it! Now time to break that boss apart and ask the god where the kid is!" said a beautiful wolf beast-woman, with fiery crimson eyes releasing flames, charcoal black skin, and fur covering some areas of her body while leaving others to the gaze of anyone. She had three tails atop her round butt and her body was packed with tightened muscles, she was Erathe, who after going through many challenges, evolved into an Abyssal Hellhound Tartarus Berserk Queen, with a power comparable to the Rank 11 of the Mortal Realm.

"Gaining the ability to change my size was very useful, especially when I didn't have to crawl through these thin corridors anymore," said a large lizardman with the head of an alligator, brown-colored metallic-like scales covered his entire body which made it shine. He had a giant pair of arms that could punch mountains apart, bugling muscles that could help him take almost any damage, and a long and toothed jaw, he wielded a large hammer, Ganjo, who after evolving became a Giant Mountain Armored Alligator Lizardman Great Tyrant Emperor, with a power comparable to the Rank 12 of the Mortal Realm.

"It really took us so long, hopefully, master is not angry… but now, let's go beat this boss and be done with it~! I can't wait to meet master again after so long! Her Slime Clones are cute, not nothing compared to the real deal!" said a beautiful woman, who seemed to be half slime and half ghost, she was no one other than Yurei, the Phantasmal Slime Girl that was born from one of Kireina's experiments while creating new monsters. Born by having been merged with a few slimes and ghosts that Kireina captured in the Water Shrine Dungeons many months ago and having acquired her personality and ego after developing and evolving.

After becoming a member of the Undead Team, she unknowingly became their leader due to her developing charisma, which most Undead lacked. She used her powers to inflict a variety of curses, heal wounds in the undead, and many other things, being a powerful all-rounder mage.

After the many challenges in the dungeon, she evolved various times until her latest form, becoming a High Phantasmal Slime Witch Abyssal Empress, with a power comparable to the Rank 12 of the Mortal Realm.

She, alongside Jorogumo and Erathe led the large party to the last floor, where the final boss awaited them.

Ganjo opened the door with his large arms revealing the darkness of the inside, which was covered in the light of the corridors. Inside the room, there was a giant pool of saltwater, where a massive being rested inside. It was the combination between a giant squid, with the claws of crabs and the heads of sharks, a Chimeric Kraken.

The party jumped towards it with bravery, unleashing their attacks and powers while resisting and evading the attacks of the voracious abyssal monster of the depths.

The fight went on for many hours until the party combined their attacks into a powerful spell, destroying the Chimeric Kraken's last bits of Health Points.

Everyone felt a rush of Experience Points, the corpse of the giant monster began to float in the saltwater pool, as the water slowly drained and disappeared. Glowing light appeared from within the surrounding of the corpse as many items, riches, and treasure chest were automatically generated.

"We… did it?" asked Rajaba, falling to the ground as she resisted the intense pain in her entire body, her lower body was deeply wounded, with several of her legs missing and her claws were crushed, but her upper body seemed to have become intact by the price of having her transformation rings equipment being destroyed. It was a truly hard battle for her, who tried to go to the frontlines many times and took on the hits of those that were weaker physically.

"Rajaba-chan!"

Yurei was the first one to fly towards the young Crab princess as she used her magic to cure her wounds and to close them at the very least. Meanwhile, Gufumin, a young ghoul boy rushed towards her while carrying her claws and legs scattered around, helping Yurei attach them back.

"Ah… Yurei-sama… Gofumin-sama…"

"You've worked very hard, Rajaba, take a break for now," said Gufumin.

"Let me help you out," said Jorogumo, generating many spider threads that wrapped around Rajaba's reattached limbs to stuck them tightly together while Yurei closed the wounds with her Phantasmal Healing magic, which wasn't as strong as other attributes, but still worked on the living.

Rajaba saw the carefulness and benevolence of her companions as she smiled.

"Thank you, everyone… for letting me accompany you through this long journey… haah… it feels so long since I saw my father, I want to meet him… but first, we must speak with Kaggoth-sama…" said Rajaba.

"You're right…" said one of Kireina's Slime Clones, who appeared behind Rajaba's back and released a strong glow of yellow light that healed her limbs and pain faster than anyone else in the party.

Most probably, if it were not because of Kireina's Slime Clones, the party would have needed to go back and forth from the dungeon because Yurei was simply not enough as the only healer in the group.

Ganjo began to munch on the corpse of the giant Kraken while Erathe grilled large chunks of it alongside its crab-like claws.

"So where is the god? Is he sleeping?" wondered Ganjo.

"I am here…" said a calm yet loud voice that resonated through the entire floor, everyone became stiff as they glanced at the ceiling, where the voice came from.

"Kaggoth, right?" asked one of Kireina's Slime Clones.

Kaggoth's presence expanded through the entire floor like a domain, as his ethereal manifestation finally showed itself to the mortals present at this moment in his dungeon.

"Indeed. I am Kaggoth, the Demon Demigoddess of Exoskeletons and Aquatic Invertebrates…" said Kaggoth, showing her true appearance. She was incredibly similar to the statues they had in the tribe of Red Carapace, she was a giant red-colored crab with two pairs of long claws, small and spiny legs, many spikes atop its back and claws, and two large and beady black eyes, her mouth was filled with tiny jaws that released bubbles.

"Ah… Kaggoth-sama! Wait… goddess?" asked Rajaba.

"Y-Yes… I am indeed a Demigoddess, not a Demigod… but it seems that no matter how much I tried to tell you, my children, you never understood and worshiped me as a male deity…" said Kaggoth with a bit of embarrassment that she felt in front of Kireina, someone she wanted to meet.

"I am deeply sorry, our matriarch!" said Rajaba, trying to kneel to apologize, but Kaggoth stopped her.

"Don't worry, it is in the past, please don't feel ashamed, my daughter…" said Kaggoth with a gentle voice.

"Ah… T-Then… goddess-sama, do you know anything about my brother?" asked Rajaba.

Kaggoth sighed.

"Your brother… I was currently sleeping when he entered the dungeon, and when I began to check on him after hearing the discussions of his disappearance, he was already dead… But I still have his soul in here, so I can revive him for you… but it will be sadly a newborn child from one of my eggs" said Kaggoth.

"My brother… oh… b-but he can be saved?" asked Rajaba in the middle of tears.

"He has been secured… his memories are still intact, and I've fed him with magic to stay healthy as a soul… but I cannot bring him as a Cancer because you were only conceived with another god I met and… hm?" Kaggoth suddenly stopped in place as she inspected Rajaba's belly.

"Oh? You have sharp eyes" said one of Kireina's Slime Clones.

"It seems that Kireina was already aware, but you're pregnant my child… would you mind for your little brother to reincarnate as your child?" asked Kaggoth.

"Y-You're pregnant?!"

Gufumin, who was currently in a relationship with Rajaba and only spent a single night with her, almost fainted out…

Rajaba was not anything less than baffled as well.

"Eeeeeeeeeh…?!"