Epic of Caterpillar

109 Scorching Lava Worm

The fifth layer, the last challenge that this giant forest where I was born offers to us. Although I\'ve been living for only three months, it feels like I had a whole life inside…

Seeing the first layer from the skies, it brings a hint of melancholy on my heart.

As we reached the first biome on my map, which surrounded the Fire Shrine Dungeon. This forest was completely changed as some of the trees adapted themselves and became red-colored while giving fire fruits. The ground was full of ashes and of a black color, covered on several rocks and red plants.

We came across several pools of pure lava, which harbored a species of lizards named Scorching Lizard, a beast reptile that walked on four limbs, had a long and sturdy body covered on powerful scales and was able to spit a flaming poison from its tongue.

Each pool had more than 20 Scorching Lizards, and each beast was of Mid Kaiser level or above, is real trouble for the unexperienced Amiphossia and Ryo. However, with the assistance of their mothers and me, we made quick work of these reptiles. The humans also had some troubles but there was also Wagyu and Kekensha to give them their support.

At the end we spent around four hours killing these beings as we came across the lava pools, gaining plenty of EXP alongside these monster corpses which harbored delicious meat, that interesting enough tasted as if it was already grilled.

[You gained 1380500 EXP] [Your family/servants gained tons of EXP]

[LEVEL 006/250?? EXP 3114026/5500000]

[You learned the following Skills]

[Scorching Venom]

Hm, only one ability… Well, it could have been nothing.

The next prey were giant turtles named Obsidian Rock Shelled Turtles. These beasts usually blocked our way camouflaging as giant black colored rocks. However, as you get near one, it would jump over you, trying to smash you into minced meat, obtaining an easy meal. The beast would never show its limbs and head unless you were completely smashed, spinning crazily around.

However, they were loners and would never gather to kill only one prey, so taking care of each one was an easy task for my children and the humans. I also killed around 20 myself, as I went on a frenzy. These turtles seemed to be extremely old, which made their blood very delicious, just like wine.

[You gained 1148000 EXP] [Your family/servants gained tons of EXP]

[LEVEL 006/250

EXP 4262026/5500000]

[You gained +20 Blood Strength]

The shell was extremely hard and I could only break it with my fangs or a sword, so I used the Ollathir sword alongside my Nether Sword to shop their corpses and obtain the delicious meat inside. I also ate several shells entirely using enhanced dissolving juices.

[You learned the following Skill]

[Obsidian Rock Shell Creation]

[Blazing Spin]

Reaching the Fire Shrine Dungeon, we found ourselves surrounded by another new monster, these were a big group of Lava Slimes, which have been following us around since we defeated those lizards and made a big ruckus.

These slimes were incredibly resilient and had several cores inside of them, so only shattering one wasn\'t enough to kill them. They also worked together while molding their bodies into powerful walls to protect themselves, using a strange skill, they could even cover themselves on a rocky exterior. These Slimes showed very high intelligence for being on a fifth layer, fighting very strategically, forming walls to block our attacks and then using long-range attacks from the back.

In the end, my wives were tired of them as they took out their [Legendary] Class weapons, smashing the strategic Slimes cores into shattered pieces. These monsters still showed their intelligence when they saw their kind easily dying, some began to jump over us creating time for the youngest ones to escape, but I made sure to kill the younglings too.

It was a nice grind because the entire \\"tribe\\" was composed of over one hundred of them, so the EXP was plentiful. I also snacked on more than fifty shattered cores until I finally got a Skill.

[You gained 1570000 EXP] [Your family/servants gained tons of EXP]

[You gained one level!] [LEVEL 007/250?? EXP 0332026/6000000]

[Some of your servants and family gained some levels!]

[You learned the following Skills]

[Lava Slime Blazing Core]

[Lava Body Fluids Secretion and Manipulation]

It seems that I obtained the ability to change my entire body fluids into lava slime. I also tried to assimilate one, however, at the fourth assimilation I gave up as I wasn\'t getting anything. Assimilation has evolved too much and now it needs very strong monsters, hopefully of the boss level to be able to satisfy it.

However, this skill was mostly like an assimilation of this Slime, as it let me change my body parts into lava slime if I used it in conjunction with [All-Purpose Body Fluid Secretion and Manipulation].

Anyways, several hours had passed since we arrived here so it was already getting quite late, we quickly rushed for a \\"last hunt\\" before night.

We spent two hours trying to find anything interesting until we came across what I was looking forward to. A giant Scorching Lava Worm, similar to a Nether Hellish Worm in appearance, it had a long body with multiple mouths across his body that were filled with countless sharp fangs. The beast seemed to be as strong as a High Kaiser, far surpassing anything we\'ve encountered before.

With my wives and the wolves, we quickly joined forces to take care of the beast. The humans and my children had to be mostly supporters as they watched us slay the fiend.

Its long body seemed almost endless as it swam through its lava pool. To get it on place, I used six [Arms of Demise], tightly grabbing him on its place as I threw a barrage of magic spells, including [Rainbow Jewel Storm], [Judgement of the Mighty], [Chaotic Storm of Demise], which I made using my [Metis Grand Library of Magic Knowledge]. This skill lets me easily fuse spells and magic attributes without the need of casting any type of [Mana Zone] like before.

Alongside my barrage of destructive spells, my wives rushed towards the monsters and began to smash it into minced meat. Each one possessed the destructive power of an Overlord with their [Legendary] weapons.

The most effective attacks were Brontes with her [Red Thunder Coating], which gave her weapon a powerful red thunder appearance, increasing its power through the roof, secondly Gaby with her [Water Blade Energy Synergy], that gave her the ability to fuse both water magic alongside blade energy, creating devastating waves of slicing oceans, and thirdly Rimuru, who had the power to fuse several elements like me, creating a [Rainbow Ray] that pierced the beast\'s defenses.

In less than half an hour, the monster was completely destroyed beyond recognition.

[You gained 1073000 EXP] [Your family/servants gained tons of EXP]

[You gained one level!] [LEVEL 007/250?? EXP 1405026/6000000]

This beast had a very tasty [Fragmented Sin] which I made sure to devour before dying. It even gave me a small boost.

[Sin System]

[Current Sin: [Lust (Awakened)]

[Captured Sins]

[Fragmented Unknown Sin (Crustacean) (Max)], [Fragmented Unknown Sin (Insect/Fiend) (Max)]

[Sin Bonus Stats]

[Strength: +21 > +23]

[Speed: +40 > 42]

As the night fell, I butchered the massive beast and ate various parts that no one except me liked to eat, like its multiple eyes, tongues, and fangs alongside several of its hearts. I also tried to assimilate a big chunk of the meat and finally got another Assimilation Skill.

[You learned the following Skills]

[High Magic Damage Reduction]

[Critical Damage Nullification]

[Lava and Fire Absorption]

[You learned the following Assimilation Skill]

[Scorching Lava Worm Metamorphosis]

Similar to [Male Human Psyche], this new Assimilation Skill, let me transform into a giant Scorching Lava Worm, although it was rather uncomfortable to not have limbs… I also could transform a piece of my body into that of the worm, becoming deadly attacks.

It also seems like not only I am immune to fire and lava, but now I can absorb it and regain HP from consuming or receiving a strong attack from those elements.

The meat of this monster was delicious, tasting similar to a grilled fish or eel, with a very spicy hint to it. I just couldn\'t stop eating it. We had a big feast until we devoured the whole body, which lasted several hours. Thankfully I packed plenty of alcohol to accompany such delicacy.

[You learned the following Skill]

[High Blunt Attack Resistance]

[Scorching Attack of Blazing Fangs]

Some of my wives and the humans ended up falling asleep from the big quantities of alcohol so I had to carry them back to the floating carriage. Because they evolved and resembled young adults, I let my kids drink some beer, but they couldn\'t handle it and passed out not so long after drinking only one cup… They\'re fine, they just became so drunk that they passed out… Somehow.

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[Day 98]

Today, Gaby\'s belly has begun to rise, and she had a lot of exhaustion and pain on her back. I decided to attend her for today, giving her my [Rainbow Blood Fruits] alongside nutritious meat for her to stockpile on calories and nutrients.

Her tiredness seems to be related to the twins beginning to absorb her nutrients quite fast, thankfully none of them had tried to eat each other.

My wives trained the humans and my children while I had some time alone with Gaby, I caressed her red hair as I told her different tales from Earth, she is a very interesting girl and there is never anything to talk about with her.

I also settled a [Sacred Verdant Healing Domain] below her bed, so whenever the babies come, she will be constantly recovering her Stamina and Health.

It seems that the babies didn\'t want to show up today so when Gaby finally fell asleep, I put three different flesh and slime minions to take care of her as I descended with my children to hunt some more.

We already approached the end of the Fire Biome as we entered a more normal forest, however it was still filled with fire breathing monsters. This time, we found several [Undead] types of monsters, which also had flame attributes.

The first hunt of the day was a small group of Flaming Floating Skulls, just as the name says, they are giant floating skulls covered on flames, they attack in packs and when surrounded, they can even detonate themselves.

Amiphossia crushed several ones into shattered bones with her power Phantasmal Magic which she combined with Ice and Water magic, creating Phantasmal Arms that resembled crystalline water.

Meanwhile, Ryo just used his brute force to destroy anything that came closer to him without much effort.

[You gained 953800 EXP] [Your family/servants gained tons of EXP]

[LEVEL 007/250?? EXP 2358826/6000000]

I devoured several skulls but no skills were obtained. But instead, their souls were quite tasty and gave me some stats. I also made sure that my two children ate their souls.

[You gained +5 to all Soul Stats]

Amiphossia loves to eat souls while Ryo doesn\'t like it very much, I still forced him to eat them as they would nourish his soul and make him stronger in return.

Afterward, we came across Blazing Undead Horseman, Undead Skeleton Soldiers that had blazing bodies and swords, alongside their own skeleton horse which spit powerful blue flames.

A big group gathered to welcome us as we massacred them as they realized their mistake in approaching us. Although the Fire Bone Weapons put Amiphossia who has low defenses on some problems, I managed to protect her with a powerful Magic Shield Coating. She discovered that her Heavenly Magic was very effective on these types of Undead Monsters, and began to pulverize them into ashes, leaving nothing behind.

[You gained 1247000 EXP] [Your family/servants gained tons of EXP]

[LEVEL 007/250?? EXP 3605826/6000000]

I still managed to save various bodies for myself as I quickly feasted on the crunchy and burn bones. They tasted like very bitter burned bones, nothing special. I ate the rest with Dissolving Juices and saved myself from the bad taste.

[You learned the following Skills]

[Blazing Equipment Materialization]

[High Piercing Resistance]

[Forbidden Summoning Magic: Blazing Undead Horseman]

The last prey before returning was a group of Blue Flame Jack-o-Lantern. Which seemed to be the evolved form of the Blazing Undead Horseman. This time, their bodies were covered on a stronger blazing armor as they carried their heads that resembled terrific pumpkins with their left hands while wielding a giant flaming blade.

Their group tactics were clever and had various strategies to deal with us. Their weapons were very strong, far surpassing [Rare+++] weapon power, so I had to keep an eye on my children protecting them with my Magic Shields while they fought them.

This hunting ended up becoming more like training for my children so they could gain some levels while fighting equally strong enemies, sometimes in big groups. These monsters being intelligent helped even more, as my children had to think about strategies too or even outsmart their foes, predicting their movements.

In the end, a big pile of bones, equipment, and pumpkins were left.

[You gained 1420000 EXP] [Your family/servants gained tons of EXP]

[LEVEL 007/250?? EXP 5025826/6000000]

I happily devoured the big pile while shapeshifting into a giant slime, quickly dissolving everything inside of my watery self.

This was the first time that my children saw me changing into a complete slime so they were quite shocked and surprised, even thinking that this was my \\"real form\\", similar to Rimuru.

[You learned the following Skills]

[High Blue Flames Equipment Materialization]

[Pumpkin Head Bomb]

[Forbidden Summoning Magic: Blue Flame Jack-o-Lantern]

Being done with the improvised hunt and satiating my craving for new skills, we quickly flew towards the floating carriage.

Gaby was still sleeping soundly, her cute sleeping face made me want to kiss her smooth and white cheeks, which I did.

Today dinner was a combination of a lot of the monsters we have killed since we came here, so it was plentiful and fulfilling.

Afterward, I went to sleep with my wives, laying in the middle between Zehe and Gaby.

Ryo wanted to sleep on a separate bed and Amiphossia usually sleeps within her mother\'s embrace.

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