Epic of Caterpillar

318 A Task From a Demi-God and Conflicting Interests

Dreams are different in Genesis than on Earth.

Due to the Dream-Attribute, a special type of element that inhabits every living being capable of having dreams, dreams can manifest in different and varied ways, to the point of a user even finding itself in a strange space, which is often called the "dreamscape".

There is a special Realm that controls the Dreams of every living being, led by the Goddess of Dreams and Nightmares Freyja. Thanks to Freyja\'s intervention, Gods can communicate with mortals through dreams, these dreams are often called "prophetic dreams" or "divine dreams", where a God communicates directly with a mortal, entrusting it with a task.

Heroes are usually given a special task or things to do in their lives, and if the Gods are too interested in that mortal or deeply care about it, they may receive help, being alerted of future enemies and events that could befall on the heroes.

Freyja, the Goddess of Dreams and Nightmares offered these services in exchange for Divine Crystals and other divine materials, and she ordered her Pantheon of Dream-Attribute Gods and Demi-Gods to do most of the work.

A Demi-God bought this service in exchange for almost half of its savings. Its target was a special mortal that inhabited the Realm of Vida, named Kireina, the one given the Title of the Realm Menace of the Sin of Lust, a unique mortal existence that would bring destruction to the Realm, and would make countless Heroes gather to defeat her.

And as Kireina slept peacefully while being embraced by her loving family, she sensed the messages of God…

"Ahem… Ah… H-Hello…?"

Kireina, who possesses multiple minds inside of her head, quickly intercepted the incoming voice. Her split minds alerted the main mind about it as she quickly left her current dreams, where she was having a loving picnic with her children in the Vast Plains.

"Hmm…? Who dares interrupt me when I was having the loveliest of Dreams…?!"

"Ahem, sorry to interrupt…"

"W-Who are you? Did you enter my dreams? The only one capable of that was Jormungandr…"

The voice speaking to Kireina was suddenly taken aback by her words, who lightly said the name of one of the Goddess of Death Hel brothers.

"Y-You know Jormungandr-sama?!"

"Hm? You know him?"

"N-No… It\'s just… Jormungandr-sama is a very high ranked god… To think that you\'ve already had experiences with a god before, indeed, it was to be expected of existence as unusual as you…"

"Unusual…? Well, who are you? Can you even tell me to start this conversation?"

"A-A Demi-God…?! And what do you want with me?! Did you come to attack me?!"

As Kireina panicked, she tried to leave her dreams and wake up, but Morpheus desperately apologized.

"P-Please Kireina, wait a little bit! I do not intend to harm you in any way! W-What misconception do you have about gods? Please, wait, I have an important request for you… It cost me a fortune to contact you through dreams as we don\'t have any bloodline connection, it would have been impossible otherwise…"

"…A request?"

"Y-Yes, I\'m glad you had calmed down… Perhaps your previous experiences with Gods have been unpleasant, but please, feel assured that I am not an aggressive person, neither I like to toy with mortals… Those are mostly Lone Gods or Gods that belong to Evil Pantheons…"

"Lone Gods? Evil Pantheons?"

"W-Well, that\'s not what it matters now, I have a small amount of time to talk to you, so let\'s leave the details for another occasion, shall we? I assure you, you will be greatly compensated for your efforts"

"Sigh… Very well…??

Morpheus voice relaxed a little bit, as he had finally managed to catch Kireina\'s attention, it seems that the words "compensation" and "rewards" always works on mortals…

"Due to fate, or perhaps, just a series of events and circumstances that we call fate, you have managed to meet Sofelaia and Sofarpia, my beloved descendants…"

"I think I remember you now… The Twins spoke about their founder, and he was named Morpheus, but weren\'t you a mortal?"

"Well, long story short, I became a demi-god and ascended to higher Realms… But that\'s aside from what\'s important now… The Thanatos Kingdom, the Kingdom led by demons and the descendants of demon gods are lurking in my Kingdom, where all of my beloved descendants live… I\'ve seen how oblivious mother is about the other small Beastmen Kingdoms that were being constantly conquered and taken as livestock for Thanatos… And I can\'t comprehend her mindset… It pains me to see my descendants suffer so much, and seeing how powerless I am to help them out, even as a god, frustrates me…"

Morpheus remembered how his mother, Ova, saw the mortals she gives birth to as "ants" or "meaningless things". She was ordered by the World\'s Will to create new races to inhabit the Realms, but she never deeply cared for them, that\'s why she made some of the representatives of those races into demi-gods, so they could take care of them in her place.

Her words were painful to hear; whenever the other Demi-Gods who represented the beastmen spoke to her, asking for her assistance, she would say; "if they are being used as cattle, that\'s fine, as long as they are useful for other mortals, I\'ve accomplished my mission". She was a cold woman, even though she represented an essential Attribute as Life, she didn\'t feel any attachment to the small lives she created and scattered through the world.

"That\'s why… I would like to request your assistance in liberating my people… Please, those Vampires, Descendants of the Goddess of Blood who are used by the demons as spies are slowly diminishing my beloved descendants… I feel so powerless… That\'s why, Kireina, you are an incredible individual… And you\'ve already made bonds with my descendants as well… Those two girls deeply love you, so I wanted to ask you for you to help them out…"

"I was already going to help the twins, but if you ask me for it, I will have to hear what rewards are waiting for me… I was planning on eating a lot of the citizens to gain more strength, but if you love them so much, I should receive a reward fitting for me to restraint myself" Said Kireina, with a cold tone.

"Y-Yes… That\'s why… I could offer you my Blessings… And… My Dungeon…" Said Morpheus, with a trembling voice.

"Your Dungeon?"

Well, I was already going to steal it, thought Kireina.

"Yes, my Dungeon… I\'ve seen how you possess the special skill [Dungeon Snatch], and how you stole that Lone God\'s dungeon… That\'s why I offer you my dungeon as a compensation…"

"Well, that\'s quite fitting of a God compensation… But how big is it?"

"Well, I am a Demi-God so it\'s not as big as the previous dungeon that you stole… It\'s around fifty floors… But the resources that grow inside are unique by themselves, and various monsters of the Life Attribute inhabit there as well!" Said Morpheus, trying to convince Kireina.

"Life-Attribute… Interesting… Well, alright… but"

"B-But?"

"I would like to also take over the Cilane Kingdom and convert it into my vassal nation, don\'t worry, your citizens will be well-paid and well-fed… As long as they are alive and well, you don\'t care, right?"

"I… W-Well, my Kingdom… The one I founded… I-I… B-but if it\'s for the greater good of my descendants… Very well, please, take care of them… And don\'t let them die…" Said Morpheus, quickly taking an important decision, giving up his Kingdom, the one he founded when he was a mortal to a stranger. One could say that he was a very na?ve Demi-God.

"Another thing"

"Y-Yes…?"

"I would like you to bless the twins instead of me, I think they would use the power of your blessing way better than me…"

"Ah! Okay, I see that you care about them… It seems that I choose a good person at the end"

"And another thing…!"

"Uh?"

"I would also want you to be my ally in the future… Whenever I go to the Realm of Hel to do some things, I would expect your support and aid"

"W-What…?! B-But… Such a dangerous thing… Are you out of your mind…?"

"I see that you won\'t comply… I guess our negotiations are over"

"N-No, wait! I will…! I will assist you…"

"Good~ That\'s what I like to hear, fufufu??? So, negotiations are done… Too bad we can\'t make any papers, but the word of a God himself should be trusted, right?"

"Y-Yes… I swear to my mother that I will do as I promised… So please, do as you promise as well, Kireina"

"Rest assured"

"I shall take my leave… Using the Dream Realm to contact mortals is very tiring, even for a God…"

That night, Morpheus blessed Sofelaia and Sofarpia, while Kireina obtained an amazing deal, a Dungeon of a rare Attribute, a whole Kingdom, and two beautiful centaur concubines.

Meanwhile, Agatheina, the Goddess of Blood was alerted of the movements of Morpheus by one of its Demi-God confidants from the Beast Pantheon.

In a world filled with crimson red vegetation, trees that generated fruits filled with sweet blood and rivers made out of a thick red liquid, a beautiful pale-white woman rested over her throne, inside a beautiful dark and red palace in the middle of this sanctuary of blood.

Her eyes were crimson red and contained several pupils inside, her ears were long and sharp, her forehead held two small white-colored horns and a long, silky, and beautiful silver hair. Her entire presence was majestic and terrifying, a pressure that no mortal could withstand was emanated from this entity, the one worshiped as the Goddess of Blood and the ancestor of all Vampires and their subspecies, Agatheina.

Unlike Ova, Ogatheina was always involved with mortals, she enjoyed their little struggles and always accepted the offerings that their believers and descendants offered, very few people would even become a Vampire through these rituals, and they only ended up being fresh mortal blood for her to feast on every so often.

Knowing the movements of Morpheus, and how he tried to contact a very dangerous mortal to assist him and defeat the Vampires and other demons that lurked behind the Cilane Kingdom, she made her move as well.

The mother of all Vampires contacted the current head of the Cythiliana Vampire Family in the Thanatos Kingdom, Lady Aleksandra Cythiliana, who held her Blessing and also shared her bloodline.

Spending a little bit of the vast Divine Energy that she possessed, the Goddess of Blood spoke to Aleksandra and alerted her of the dangers to come, and about a "strange" Vampire, a mixed-race Vampire that didn\'t share the Goddess bloodline and that was abnormally strong for its Title.

An "irregular", where those Vampires that never received the blessing of the goddess, neither are her descendants nor were converted by her or her subordinates. Vampires born by the system itself after it was created through Existence Evolution, which after the creation of the System, was diversified so mortals could grow stronger faster and thrive better.

This new Evolution System made mortals evolve and become races and species that weren\'t even remotely connected to their origins, just like Kireina, the "irregular", who was born as a measly Caterpillar and raised into a Butterfly with Vampire abilities, ultimately evolving into three different Fairies which had Vampire powers as well.

Another example could be Celica, who was born a Troll but evolved into a Dark Elf, and afterward a Giant. Or Zehe, who was once a Troll and evolved into an Ashura, a demon race without any connection to the lower heritage of Trolls, who were descendants of Giants.

Aleksandra heard her goddess words attentively, it wasn\'t the first time that she received her words of wisdom, as it was thanks to the goddess that the family was able to slowly raise in Thanatos, and it was within her plans that her descendants reigned supreme in the Kingdom and afterward, the whole Realm. The more people worshiped her, the stronger she would rise, ranking up and becoming a Great God and then a Supreme God…

Indeed, Agatheina was a greedy goddess and she had great hopes and dreams, she didn\'t lower herself to enjoy a slow and relaxing life, but strived for more, for higher rankings, to govern the world and hold it in the palms of her hands.

However, for that to happen, this "irregular", Kireina, needed to be disposed of, as she was already asked to help the ones her family was targeting, alerting them of her was the minimum she could do.

Alongside her message, certain items were delivered to Aleksandra… A specially crafted artifact that could detect "irregulars", a long crimson rapier and pieces of living divine beasts, often called living deity species. If a mortal were to consume them, their power would rise exponentially, and because Aleksandra was a direct descendant of a goddess, her entire body was strangely compatible with these materials…

"Agatheina-sama! I swear that I will comply with my mission! That irregular will be taken care of! With this power, you\'ve given to me… I will make sure that no trails of her will remain…"

As Aleksandra said these words, she called on several of her children and trusted subordinates, feeding them these materials.

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