Epic of Caterpillar

141 Forsaken Labyrinth 4/6

The scenery was still quite the same compared to the first floors, the dungeon still had a tower-like structure and an endless spiraling staircase.

However, the stairs began to converge into different routes, making exploration more complex and confusing. Thankfully, I possessed the [Mental Mapping] which let me map every route and make sure which one was the safest.

Some routes would lead to a hidden room that would instantly close themselves, ambushing anyone unwary enough to enter with hundreds of critters and monsters, being devoured alive in that very instant.

With my auto mapping and the ability to assimilate a small piece of the dungeon, I was able to easily lead my group through the safest routes. However, on some occasions, we would decide to go on the most dangerous ones, because sometimes, a giant golden chest would spawn there. These chests have a guaranteed chance to drop an [Unique] or higher quality item, so they were quite valuable.

Because of the countless different routes on the stairs, the number of rooms on each floor increased absurdly, from five to seven there were now twenty to fifty… Even with all my abilities, it would inevitably take a lot of time.

We got into a point were the staircases would change their routes automatically, messing my mental mapping, so I began to assimilate the walls of each room and we proceeded quickly like this. On one occasion, I just assimilated a staircase and moved it to another route, giving us easy access to the next floor.

Alongside the previous floor\'s monsters, which received a substantial buff on their strength, there was a new series of critters and abominations lurking around the rooms awaiting prey. I\'ve noticed that in this dungeon, most monsters are adapted to camouflage and ambush, instead of overwhelming enemies with numbers like a conventional dungeon.

The monsters of the floors 24th to 34th were as follows:

[Two Headed Giant Desert Mantis] / [Two Headed Giant Desert Mantis Empress], a species of mantises, these monsters have a sturdy and tall body of over ten meters. Their exoskeleton is as hard as steel and their jaws are tremendous and devastating. Their exoskeleton is of a clay-like color and possesses four sharp blades as arms and two heads, one in the front and one in the back, increasing their range of vision. These monsters work together as if they were a pack of wolves, with a leader that is usually a female named Empress, who has a stronger body and sturdier exoskeleton alongside powerful magic. They hunt their prey relentlessly and usually predate on Desert Rabbits, separating the colonies and eating the weak and young.

[Walking Sand Cactus Warrior] / [Walkin Sand Cactus Mages] / [Walking Sand Cactus King], a species of walking cactuses, belonging to the [Walking Plants] category of monsters. These beings live in massive groups of over one hundred. They have quite developed intelligence, living inside hidden rooms or beneath the dungeon walls, hiding from most monsters. We discovered a colony on a hidden room which led to a gigantic tunnel were more than fifty Walking Cactuses were living, they even developed their own cavern systems and were mining the mountain surrounding the dungeon, showing their developed intelligence. Their ranks were separated into three, Warriors, Mages, and King.

There is only one King per colony, which can give birth to new Walking Cactuses by releasing seeds and planting them on the dungeon, in three days, they would grow into a young Walking Cactus and develop strength or magic. Although they were hostile at first, after seeing my strength, the King quickly submitted to me and begged for mercy on their strange dialect. Because we have already taken some colonies beforehand, I decided to enslave this colony of fifty and send them towards the Kingdom on a flying slime. I think they could have some uses, as they barely need any water and not food at all to survive. They used to hunt sometimes to drink on the blood of monsters, as it\'s a fine replacement for the water that is nonexistent on the dungeon.

[Illusion Desert Sirens], a species of [Half-Spirits] type of monsters, that inhabit this dungeon. These monsters have the appearance of beautiful maidens made of dirt or sand and can conjure strong sand storms that can fill the entire dungeon floor. Their population is very little and usually hunt on their own, creating sand storms and using Illusion magic to lure unsuspected prey into them. In reality, these monster\'s real appearance is that of a horrible mummy. And eat their prey slowly while drinking their blood. I actually thought about recruiting one but after seeing their real forms, I was highly disheartened to proceed with my plan…

[Ambushing Rock Snake Turtles], a species of turtles that have the head and the tail of a snake, are clay-colored and possess a shell that has a perfect cube shape, which is made of naturally grown bricks that resemble the dungeon walls. These turtles await their prey inside the dungeon walls, perfectly camouflaging themselves. They live indecently large colonies of over thirty. These colonies usually settle themselves in a random room, replacing almost all the entire walls. Whenever another monster or adventurer enter, they would jump instantly on them and bite them several times with their paralyzing and deadly toxin that is secreted by their snake fangs. The way I dealt with them is by setting the entire room on fire until they were all completely burned and ready to be eaten.

After going through all of the ten floors, we had a giant stockpile of monsters to devour, although most of them were Walking Cactus and Roc Snake Turtles colonies.

[Calculating gained EXP]

[You gained 28773900 EXP]

[LEVEL 029/250 EXP 39.347.755/65.000.000]

[Your family gained some levels!]

The most delicious of the bunch were the Rock Snake Turtles, after roasting them for enough time, their shell would become dark-colored resembling charcoal, while their meat would absorb the flavors from the smoked shell, creating a unique flavor. Their meat was tender and juicy and became they were rather small; I was able to eat several ones continuously.

The Walking Cactus was also delicious, although not made of flesh or blood, their insides were tasty, sweet and very juicy, like the most delicious and refreshing of fruits. After eating a lot of them, I discovered that the older Walking Cactus juices are almost fermented, tasting like a delicious fruit wine. Lastly, the two-headed mantises were delicious when boiled, tasting like a very salty shrimp. Their legs were crunchy and came well with spicy sauce and the Walking Cactus Wine.

Now that there are Amiphossia and Valentia, and counting Nesiphae, there are three giants on our group that needs absurd amounts of food to keep on having energy. Thankfully, this dungeon offers a variety of monsters to eat and in big quantities. Their meat is also delicious, most of the time way more delicious than normal cattle animals or outside monsters.

[You learned the following Skills]

[Walking Cactus Water Storage]

[Organic Clay Brick Shell Generation]

Due to the intense fights and the constant ambushes of monsters, everyone was rather tired, no matter how strong they were, so we decided to take a break before fighting the boss.

Altani has been growing stronger with each level. As she practiced her offensive magic and techniques with the lances, her weapon of preference, she has gained several classes that have given her extra stats, new [Techniques], and [Arts]. Some of these classes were [Starlight Void Oracle], [Lance Knight], [Lance Soldier], [Dragoon], and so on.

Due to her newfound strength, her personality seems to have turned more open, and she has slowly been building confidence. Perhaps this is how she behaved in the past when according to her, she was younger. Although she still does look young…

I decided to spar with her after her request, which took me by surprise. Altani looked at me with a decisive glare, full of confidence, combined with her beauty, it was very charming.

She raised her lance, that had a beautiful pure black luster and a sharp end, in the form of a half-moon. This lance is the drop of the 12th floor, named [Scorching Dark Sands Lance], and was of [Unique+] quality. Altani obtained it after defeating the boss and since then, she has been very attached to it.

Flash!

In mere seconds, Altani used several [Techniques] at the same time alongside [Arts], creating a beautiful spectacle of slashes, stabs, and smashes with her lance, creating after-images.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Using my Armor Glove, I received her attacks, which packed a lot of strength hidden in that beautiful and slim figure.

Suddenly, while she was still bombarding me with her techniques, Altani twisted her body while jumping, creating the illusion that she was some kind of drill while attacking me with a very strong and highly concentrated stab from the tip of her lance. I quickly noticed that she was able to enhance her body capabilities using her own magic.

BAAM!

Receiving the attack with my glove armor, the impact of her [Technique] was so strong that it resembled an [Ultimate Technique] in power and quality and ended up knocking me back three meters.

CRACK!

The powerful impact ended up shattering my armor glove in an instant. In that mere second, she mixed in with the environment using her magic and appeared behind me.

"Haaa! Ultimate Technique; Starlight Lance Fall!"

Suddenly, she chanted the name of a powerful technique I was completely unaware of, and in a split second, an amazing amount of magic was concentrated below her feet, which quickly flowed through her body until her arms, increasing its speed beyond human capabilities.

Using those amazing reflexes and overwhelming strength gained, she created a mirage of illusions, resembling thousands of lances coming over me, like starlight, infinitely showering me with multiple and potent magical and physical attacks.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Due to the potency of the attack, the dungeon trembled for a moment, releasing dust from the sides of the walls.

She was strong, stronger than I thought. It really made me want to spar with her some more.

Letting loose of my strength, I jumped from the crater created on the dungeon floor and surprised Altani, who thought that I have at least taken some damage from such a powerful barrage.

"Huh?!"

Raising my leg, and using a small amount of my strength, I threw several kicks over her, creating an imitation of her [Ultimate Technique].

Seeing the threat of such attacks, Altani raised her lance and began to take on my potent blows with it, using her enhanced psyche, she barely managed to keep on standing.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

"Tsk! S-Such power! However, I haven\'t given my all yet!"

While receiving my flashing kicks, Altani suddenly stopped breathing and concentrated all her strength, magic, and even spirit into her body. She began to breathe differently and as if time itself stopped; her beautiful emerald eyes flashed on a bright green light.

"This is the result of my training and the venting of my frustrations! I never knew that I had such latent power! Please, my wife, take everything!"

After hearing such important and meaningful words, I smiled and nodded.

"Throw it all! Don\'t even dare to hold yourself back!"

Then, Altani also smiled a beautiful smile that I have never seen before, full of radiance and honesty.

"I will!"

Flash!

The power that Altani accumulated suddenly moved on its own will, flowing through her entire body, her beings, and organs, and even though her soul. Such a technique, I have never seen before.

Suddenly, all the flowing strength enhanced Altani\'s power beyond anything that I have expected from her. As her aura raised to an almost unimaginable level! Her lance was imbued with this energy, which had a shiny golden color.

As she raised her lance, a shining illusion appeared, depicting a sea of stars over my head. The illusion was so real that I even thought that I was on space itself. And then, just as suddenly, the stars began to fall endlessly. They were of the size of a meteor, yet they cut like the sharpest of lances.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Even though I was using [Pain Nullification] and some of my defense boosting skills and passives, I still felt immense pain, it seems that her attack was not only physical but it also targeted the soul itself, is extremely lethal for those with weak souls that have not been cultivated.

I just felt as an endless rain of attacks fell over me for an eternity.

When I felt that everything finished, I opened my eyes and found myself completely naked on a crater, Altani attack was really incredibly potent… It shattered all my equipment. Thankfully, I had already eaten it all so I was able to easily summon it back with [Equipment Materialization], something that I was not able to do before getting this skill.

My whole family quickly went down to check on me, which also included Altani, who had teary eyes full of tears.

"K-Kireina, are you okay? I\'m sorry! I-I didn\'t know that it would be so potent… I-I was too harsh…"

"Hm? Don\'t worry, it felt rather good. You are very strong, Altani. From where did you obtain such a surge of power? Is that the real strength of your blessing?"

"Even I don\'t know since I was born, I never developed my power to such an extent… It feels rather scary…"

"Scary? Strength is not scary, it\'s the thing that will keep you safe, embrace your strength, and don\'t be scared of it. As long as you can control it, you will even be able to protect what\'s important for you"

"K-Kireina…"

Even knowing about my strength and durability, my wives were actually quite worried about me and jumped over me, the most sensible ones like Rimuru, Lilith and Gaby were crying while the others were scolding Altani over the lack of control that she has over her strength.

"Guuu! Mastaaa! Are you okay? Really?"

"Kireina, I thought you were going to die! Altani really did go pretty far!"

"Master! Are you okay? W-What about your body? And your equipment is all ruined!"

"You girls shouldn\'t worry about me by now… And here, look"

I quickly activated [Equipment Materialization] and recovered all my clothes and equipment lost as if nothing happened.

Poof!

Rimuru was surprised by the instantaneous appearance of my clothes and equipment as her rainbow eyes shined brightly on various colors.

"Guuu! Masta that was an awesome trick!"

I patted Rimuru\'s head and kissed her forehead.

"Don\'t worry, I\'m fine. Let\'s keep going"

At this, Rimuru blushed a little bit as she nodded.

"Guu! Alright!"

On the cute moment that I was having with Rimuru, my wives were looking at us with some jealously.

They quickly rushed towards me with "sad" expressions, although it was all made up, as they only wanted some attention too.

"I-I was also very worried, you know? Compensate me for the trouble that you have put me on!" Said Adelle.

"E-Eh? I-I was also very worried, I came here first! Master, I want some pats too!" Said Gaby.

"A-Ah! W-Wait! I also deserve some… Right, Kireina?" Said, Lilith.

"H-Honey you can\'t just give a head pat to Rimuru and leave all of us without some, right? How about you start patting me?" Said Zehe.

"I think that there should be some consideration for me too, Kireina. I have been working diligently…" Said Charlotte.

"Fufufu… How about sharing some of that love here too? I\'ve been wanting to squeeze you with my tail for some time, Master…" Said Nesiphae.

"Big sis… Been some time since I\'ve received some hugs now that I think about it…" Said Brontes.

"Haha… Such a lively atmosphere you have in here, don\'t you, Kireina? I may as well join the party" Said Mady.

Since when did all became like this?! Have I been pampering my wives too much? No way…

As my wives swarmed me with their hugs and kisses, my four children looked at the scene with scared and fearful expressions.

"Mommy really have it rough…" Said Amiphossia.

"I-Indeed… I have never seen mother Zehe act like that before… It changes my perspective" Said Ryo.

"Geeh! So many mothers! Scary…" Said Valentia.

"Hmm… As mother Gaby always been like this, I think I understand how you feel, big brother Ryo" Said Aarae.

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