Epic of Caterpillar

52 The Death Knight Rises

Zehe decided to pass the festival with her Teacher, although that gave me some jealously, she sees him as her father and it was fair to let them be together after so long.

.

.

.

When the night finally fell, most of the people on town went back to their houses to eat and sleep, while Redgaria ordered his undead to stop the shows and save the souvenirs.

I called him over alongside all his former servants, and we reunited inside the castle throne room.

，

It was the time to apologize to each of his former servants, as he previously agreed.

And so, he did, without any shame, Redgaria kneeled down to every surviving Troll and Goblin, this also included Zehe, Celica, Truhan and Herbell.

The tiniest of Goblins couldn\'t believe their beloved master was kneeling and asking for forgiveness.

Even I could detect some regret on his face, I think he realized that what he has done caused a horrible pain to his servants. However, he told me that he has accounted for each of his servant\'s deaths, and that he carries them on his back, always reminding him of what he has done.

"I certainly regret what I have done to each of you, and your dead brothers and friends"

"Although I give all of you life, I didn\'t have the right to take it from you"

"However, my convictions were stronger, and I was willing to carry the hatred and sacrifices of my servants towards my goal"

"I am sorry, although I regret this, I would probably do the same if I were in the same conditions"

Some of his most loyal servants went towards Redgaria and hugged him on his weak legs, crying.

"Oh Master! You give us life, please stop apologizing!"

"Although what you did was wrong, all of us has taken the lives of others for our own benefits, we aren\'t any different than you!"

Redgaria was surprised by the sudden show of affection, while glancing at him, I could feel his old and tired soul shine for a moment.

When everyone finished crying and hugging the old necromancer, I looked at him with a serious expression.

"Very well, there is still some things that you need to do, but we will let that for tomorrow, go to sleep. There is an empty room in the castle for you, you can also carry some of your undead servants inside, but the rest will stay outside. They will work alongside my undead, constructing houses and streets"

Redgaria nodded.

"Thank you, Kireina"

A little Spider Maid guided Redgaria towards his designed room, while the rest of my servants slowly went back to town.

I also gave a small room on the castle to Herbell. I don\'t think that he needs to sleep, but I would never let him stay in my room.

Because of the big feast we had at the festival, we didn\'t need to have any dinner and we went to bed earlier.

Before entering my room, I opened a window and called over my great sword.

After three minutes, it came rushing like a silver-colored thunder.

Flash!

It stopped right in front of me, creating a big shockwave.

It seems that if I let it outside for too long, it would go on a rampage inside the forest, killing any monster it came across.

I saw that it has leveled up quite a lot.

[NAME: None

[CLASS: Living Weapon (Great sword)

[RACE: Cursed Ocean Demon Bone

[LEVEL 37/50 EXP 13990/37000 STATUS: FINE

[DURABILITY: 472/540 MP: 100/100

[ATTACK: 292

[MAGIC: 160

[SPEED: 156

[ESSENCE: 95

[SKILLS]

[Self-Evolution] [Essence Devourer] [Essence Gathering]

[High Durability Regeneration] [Demon Sword] [Cursed Sword]

[Fast Movements] [Dark and Shadow Magic Creation]

[Bone Weapon Creation] [Demonic Shadow Beam]

[Cursed Bone Weapon Swift Movements]

I noticed that it had some weird skills, it seems that after absorbing the Essence of those Bone Weapons, it obtained some of its skill, similar to my blessing.

"Or perhaps it\'s just my blessing in effect? Well, you are free to go. Go level up some more"

Maybe it will come back with tons of new skills tomorrow.

When I went to my room, I found my wives soundly asleep, unlike other times where they were hungry for night activities.

The sleepy and relaxed faces soothed my heart. It seems that they were still tired from the last fight.

I silently went towards the left side of the bed and rested at Nesiphae side, while I analyzed her body, it was full of multiple scars, and a big chunk of her tail was missing, she must have gone through a lot of pain. Thankfully all the wounds were closed and she seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

I hope she can recover in time. If not, I will have to find a solution.

.

.

.

Skill Fusions of the Day:

[Blood Monster Mimic King Wood Shell Creation] + [Blood Monster Colony King Strong Fire-Resistant Wood Armor] + [Armored Giant Fish Sturdy Armor] = [Bloody Sea Wood Shell Sturdy Armor]

[Heavy Armored Red Crab Strong Shell] + [Armored Kraken Powerful Organic Shield] + [Ancient Armored Tritonia Strong Organic Shield] = [Heavy and Strong Aquamarine Organic Shield]

[Fairy Vampire Empress Three Layered Demon Armor] + [Bloody Sea Wood Shell Sturdy Armor] + [Heavy and Strong Aquamarine Organic Shield] = [Cursed Ocean Empress Unique Skill: Aquatic Demon Chimera Organic Armor]

*A powerful culmination of all these shields and armor skills creates an organic armor for Kireina\'s protection. It also only needs Stamina and it doesn\'t count as Magic. It grants powerful resistance to Fire, Water, and Dark. Cost: 120 Stamina.

[Blood Monster Colony King Muscular Flesh] + [High Mershark Powerful Muscles and Gills] + [Eelshark Thunder Muscles] = [Sturdy Aquamarine Thunder Muscular Flesh]

*Passive skill. Changes Kireina muscles to a blueish color, this grants a powerful water affinity and thunder reflexes on her muscles.

[Tritonia Flexible Muscles] + [Light Armored Green Crab Fast Limb Regeneration] + [Blood Monster Titan King Limb Regeneration] = [Sturdy Aquamarine Flesh Fast Limb Regeneration]

*Passive skill. Grants fast flesh and limb regeneration. This stacks alongside the Undead basic Regeneration and Body Division. Being able to generate flesh and bones at will, quickly recovering lost limbs. Doing this cost Stamina and sometimes MP. This skill does not create mass out of nowhere. A desired amount of meat needs to be assimilated when the user lacks enough mass for the total regeneration of limbs.

[Shadow Vampire Crimson Iron Endurance and Tenacity] + [Sturdy Aquamarine Thunder Muscular Flesh] + [Sturdy Aquamarine Flesh Fast Limb Regeneration] = [Cursed Ocean Empress Unique Body: Aquamarine Flesh Regeneration, Endurance and Tenacity]

*All the effects of the previous skills alongside a notable buff on their power. This also reinforces Kireina entire body, gaining a unique composition. Her muscles are dark blue and are extremely sturdy.

[Fairy Vampire Empress 8 Demonic Wings] + [Wing Creation: Grotesque Demonic Wings] + [Fairy Empress Giant Demonic Mode] = [Cursed Ocean Empress Unique Transformation Skill: 12 Wings Demon Mode]

*Combining all these demon skills, Kireina\'s previous Demonic Mode skill finally evolves into an [Unique Skill], changing her body to of a demon with 12 different wings. Boosting all her stats except Defense and Resistance.

[Blood Monster Colony King Strong Cooperation] + [Blood Monster Titan King Colony Enhancement] + [Strength and Defense Enhancement] = [Cursed Ocean Empress Unique Skill: Overpowering Servant Enhancement]

*Another [Unique Skill] (She is getting them a lot isn\'t she), Grants a strong Strength and Defense enhancement to her servants. This skill has a very long distance of effect. She can still use it on herself, which will cost less Stamina and MP. Cost: 60 MP and 100 Stamina. Cost (for casting it on herself): 30 MP and 50 Stamina.

[Cursed Ocean Empress Unique Skill: Overpowering Servant Enhancement] + [Fairy Vampire Empress Benevolent Reinforcement and Healing] + [Blood Monster Chimera King: Nature Healing] = [Cursed Ocean Empress Unique Skill: Benevolent Healing Enhancement]

*All of the effects from above skills, but boosted even more. This skill can heal any party member or servant HP, MP and Stamina. It can also Boost every stat. Last 30 Minutes. Cost: 80 MP and 180 Stamina. Cost (for casting it on herself): 40 MP and 90 Stamina.

.

.

.

[Day 35]

I woke up early this morning thanks to Wagyu, who greeted me with several licks from his massive tongue all over my face.

"Gaah! Stop already! What do you want, Wagyu?"

I saw him moving his tail happily while having very open eyes, he seemed excited.

"Master! Master! My children are about to be born!"

"W-What?! Weren\'t you in heat next year?"

It seems that on the background of what has been happening recently, the named wolves around town discovered the effects of the skill [Lower Goblin Sexual Thirst] and after activating it, they found out that they could enter on heat again, even if it wasn\'t that time yet.

Even worse, the skill could be used on other wolves, so most of the named wolves used it on their unnamed love partners and even other couples that asked them. And so, every night, all the wolves mated for who knows how many days.

It seems that before our trip to the Forest, Wagyu had already left her partner pregnant, and it was finally the day of her giving birth.

Of course, I didn\'t know at all about this, maybe the Rin sisters didn\'t find it as important to tell me right away as I came back to my Kingdom.

As I walked towards the newly founded Hospital in the center of the town, the news was spread everywhere, as tons of female wolves were giving birth today.

On the way I found Redgaria who decided to accompany me, he couldn\'t walk so fast so a big skeleton soldier was carrying him like a damsel which was rather funny.

"Yo, Kireina! It seems that every wolf is giving birth, I heard… How could it be? Is it another of your blessing effect?"

"W-Well… Maybe… You see… When they ate the Goblins flesh, they obtained a special skill…"

After realizing which skill was, Redgaria exploded in laughter.

"Bwahahaha! Well done! Wolves usually take very long to mate. This is beneficial for your Kingdom"

As I heard Redgaria, we finally got into Wagyu\'s partner room inside the Hospital.

She was a pink colored pure Crimson Wolf; she had a rather petite build and I could notice some purple markings around her eyes. I immediately realized that if she manages to evolve, she will probably become a powerful variant.

She bowed her head after seeing my presences but I told her that it wasn\'t necessary at all, while patting her head.

As she was with her loved Wagyu and her Master, she peacefully gave birth to two very strong puppies.

I remembered that Crimson Wolves usually took a lot of time to give birth and had more puppies too. But it seems that because this mating season was self-induced, it reduced the amount of offspring per mother. This still didn\'t answer why they were born so quickly.

Redgaria told me that when the wolves are born from a super-evolved variant like Wagyu, they would develop extremely quickly inside their mother\'s womb, taking around 3-4 days, unlike the Crimson Wolves that would take around a month.

The two puppies were both born directly into a super-evolved variant, which was the current one of Wagyu, named [Crimson Moon Demon Wolf Emperor]. The two were a boy and a girl and were almost identical if it wasn\'t because the girl had the purple markings on her eyes inherited from her mother, and the boy had a long golden horn on his forehead.

After spending so much time with Wagyu, seeing his puppies being born made me feel as if they were my children, which made me cry for a brief moment. Which Redgaria used to laugh at me.

Wagyu waved his tail as it asked me to name his children.

"Okay, but both you and your partner must choose a name"

Wagyu and her partner looked at each other with confused faces and began to think of a fitting name for the brother and sister.

After some time, Wagyu named the boy Amarok, and her partner named the girl Asena.

As I left Wagyu and his partner with their children, I walked around the Hospital and found Yuki\'s room, her partner was a young Crimson Wolf. It seems that both fell in love with the Troll War.

Yuki told me that she wasn\'t so sure about being on a relationship anymore for being an old mother already, but the young Crimson Wolf was completely in love with her, and she ended up giving up towards the young wolf love. Yuki was already mother of some unnamed Ice Wolves that came with her, some of them already had children too, which would make her a grandmother.

She only gave birth to one male puppy, but I was amazed by the children\'s race, as it was a successful mix of wolf races. It was named [Crimson Ice Wolf (Unique)] and had a rather interesting coloration, as it had the combination of the deep red of the Crimson Wolves and the pale white of the Ice Wolves as if his red fur was like a flame dancing on the icy white color. It also had a multi-colored red and blue crown made of tiny horns. It had one blue eye and a red-eye.

She named it Hati.

Afterward, I looked over until I found Kekensha too. His partner was an unnamed young Ice Wolf. Just like Yuki, Kekensha didn\'t care about having more children because he found himself already quite old, however, this young Ice Wolf rookie was deeply in love with him, calling him her "Golden Wolf Prince" and something like that… Kekensha ended up accepting her feelings and she ultimately got pregnant not too long after.

They also got only one pup, which was born with Kekensha super-evolved variant race named [High Golden Champion Wolf], the boy had a beautiful pair of Ice Horns that differentiated him from Kekensha, probably inherited from her young mother.

Her mother named the pup Geri.

Leaving the couple alone, I went with Redgaria around the entire Hospital, naming countless of pups. I hope that these promising rookies doesn\'t disappoint me, because I used tons of MP for their names and even had to drink around 20 MP Potions to recover it all.

As I was finally freed from this work I slowly walked back to my castle. Redgaria was following me with a happy face.

"Hmm, you are quite the hard worker, aren\'t you?"

"Sigh… Its nothing, for my family, I would do it again"

"Hahaha! You have a strong family sense, Kireina! Don\'t you want to have children too?"

I looked at Redgaria stupid question with a scared look.

"Don\'t talk stupid things! It\'s impossible to have children with my wives"

Redgaria put his thin hand below his chin.

"Hmm. I wonder… I think that there could be some way, you haven\'t found it yet, that\'s all"

Just thinking about the possibility of having my children filled my heart with happiness, however, I really can\'t believe what this guy says.

"D-Do you think so?"

Redgaria gave me a thumbs up.

"Hmm! I do! You have so many skills, and even can change your appearance! I\'m sure that you will be able to find a way to put your seed inside your wives! Work hard!"

After such an embarrassing statement, I felt as my whole face became red like a tomato.

"S-Shut up already… Anyways, I will need you for something today…"

Redgaria began to tremble in fear.

"E-Eh? K-Kireina… I didn\'t mean it that way… My body is only for my sister… I\'m not into Vampire Ghost Fairies"

"W-What?! No! I didn\'t mean it that way either! Sigh… This guy…"

.

.

.

What I needed Redgaria to do was giving a new body to Herbell, who was still a floating sphere.

Redgaria decided that a new Lich body would be fine, as Herbell already had a very good experience with magic. The sad part is that he lost all his previous skills and stats.

Suddenly, the old necromancer had an idea.

"Hmm! How about this?"

Redgaria asked me if I could use any summoning skill. My only one was the Blood Servant skill.

"That\'s good enough! Prepare yourself, Kireina, we will perform a ritual summoning magic!"

"What is that?"

My former enemy told me that this ritual could be performed while connecting our MP and casting a summoning skill on a magic circle previously settled on the ground.

I decided to use my blood to mark the circle, and Redgaria was surprised over the power of my Blood, which contained the essence of countless beasts.

"Kireina, your blood is of very high quality! It will be an excellent summon!"

We both connected MP with [MP Share], and I cast my skill [Advanced Blood Control: Summon Blood Servant: Knight] while Redgaria cast [Advanced Spirit Control: Summon Undead: Lich].

Both skills fused into a big lump of red light and began to summon a new being.

This being looked like a Lich but enhanced by my blood, which gives it powerful red flesh around its body except from its head, which was still a skull, Redgaria told me that it was two times the normal size of a Lich and also came with ? of each of our stats, giving it a very strong base stat total at level 1. The name of this new Undead was [Crimson Blood Lich].

Redgaria replaced the Lich soul core with Herbell one, and sealed it inside, in some minutes, Herbell was able to move on its new body.

"Amazing…! Thanks, Kireina and Master!"

"It\'s nothing, Herbell, now you can interact better with your daughter"

Redgaria laughed.

"Hahaha! No need to call me "Master" again, Herbell"

It seems that Herbell\'s new body came with incredible power and resistance, even he was amazed by his new potential. Thinking about changing his class to a physically oriented one.

Redgaria suggested Herbell to change into some kind of hybrid class, or he would be wasting his potential.

In the end, Herbell ended up choosing the [Death Knight] class, which, despite its name, was a hybrid class that had both proficiency in physical skills and magic, perfect for him.

I asked Kajiya about a new set of armor for our new Death Knight, and she quickly gave us one she had already made long ago for practice.

This new armor was a powerful heavy armor made of [Dark Adamantine] and decorated with countless spikes, which also came with a red cape. Herbell looked like a real Death Knight from the deeps of Hell!

Kajiya also gave him a long sword named [Hades], fitting for the Death Knight.

Due to being my servant, Herbell was able to obtain new skills while eating with his new body. He told us that he would go hunt around the forest for the rest of the day, eating his prey and obtaining new skills.

Thanks to being connected by a [Soul Pact], I was able to tell where Herbell was almost all the time, if something stronger than him shows up I would rush to help him out. Because Zehe would kill me if her Teacher lost his body again due to my irresponsibility.

After having this finally settled, I told Redgaria to meet up at the Royal Dining Rooms, while I went to wake up my wives.

When I entered the room, I found Nesiphae who was still sleeping while my other wives were bathing together. I was worried over Nesiphae state, so I went to inspect her.

My wives told me that she wouldn\'t wake up but that they didn\'t felt any anomaly on her health.

But I could feel it, probably because of my developed [Mystic Eyes] I could feel as something was affecting her body, putting her on what I would call a "Spiritual Fever".

I quickly made around 5 of my Blood Fruits and feed them to her while she was sleeping.

Thankfully, they seemed to work as she slowly woke up. The scars on her body also miraculously healed completely. Even I was surprised over the sudden change in my blood, I didn\'t remember it being so powerful.

"Hmm… Master?"

"Nesiphae! I\'m so glad you\'re fine…"

"W-What happened?"

"It seemed that you were having a fever this whole night, something on your wounds was affecting you"

At the end, I found out that it was the [Cursed Flames] from that bastard Undead Knight from yesterday, after he chopped such a big piece of tail from her, the cursed flames ended up entering her body, which slowed down her regeneration and gave her a "Spiritual Fever" that my normal senses couldn\'t detect.

I realized that my Blood becoming so powerful that it was able to even heal such a curse was thanks to my recent evolutions on my body. Due to my skill fusions, my flesh evolved to [Aquamarine Flesh], which had incredible regenerative powers and was very sturdy, this alongside my [HP and MP Potion Secretion], [Poison Immunity] and Nesiphae own [Antidote Flesh] were able to counter the powerful curse.

Even her tail slowly grew back as if nothing had happened, her scales still needed to grow back, so I could see her white skin below.

Blood Fruits made with my new blood wouldn\'t be so far of an Elixir, however, I still felt that I needed more skills to make it even stronger. To always protect what I love.

Nesiphae felt a new energy all over her body and jumped off the bed with all her strength towards the bathroom, of course, taking me with her.

I was glad that I managed to cure her curse in time, and that it didn\'t develop any longer. For a moment I felt as if all the power that I have accumulated saved me from a terrible event. A terrible loss that I wouldn\'t have been able to endure.

A strong feeling of attachment grew inside my heart, which made me hug my wives for several minutes while in the bathroom, they were confused at first but also embraced me on their arms. Feeling such a relaxing warm, I fell asleep for several minutes until Rimuru woke me up.

.

.

.

When we finally got to the Royal Dining Room, Redgaria was awaiting us while eating some pie with a bored face.

"You took way too long! I\'ve been sitting here for two hours!"

My wives couldn\'t resist but laugh at the ridiculous man for some time.

We had a hearty breakfast full of delicious and classic preparations. I was already used to eating sweets for breakfast, these included Forest Berries Pies, Ice Rabbit Yogurt with fruits, Crepes with cream and more.

Nesiphae always liked to eat tons of meat, even at breakfast, eating a big grilled Giant Ice Rabbit, she seemed rather hungry after the fever.

Rimuru was with me eating sweet things, she also grown attached to these flavors.

Brontes liked a lot of milk on her breakfast, accompanied by cakes and bread of different types, alongside cheese and ham.

Zehe always ate simple preparations, which she grew attached on her years as a Troll, she liked a cup of black tea with some bread and butter, alongside two Apples. However, from time to time she stole some sweets from my side.

.

.

.

In the afternoon, I called Abellona and his brothers for something important.

I told them about the mission their father gave to me, and that after making Redgaria my slave and ally, it was pretty much done.

They happily nodded and accompanied us towards the Lava Hot Springs underground Dungeon were their father was sealed. I also carried Redgaria with me so he could apologize to the Wyvern Overlord.

My wives also wanted to meet with the famous Overlord and decided to come with me, I also took Wagyu with me as he was with us when the Overlord gave us the task.

.

.

.