Epic of Caterpillar

“Yeah, when I first created you guys, you said you felt like you were someone else but don’t remember now… What’s with that? Do you remember any more or not?” I wondered. “I know that Aquamarine is different as he seems to have been generated from the memories and emotions within the pendant and other accessories merged together that made him, but what about you guys? You’ve grown stronger and even repaired yourselves a bit…”

Black and White looked at one another, their handles had shiny jewels that looked like eyes, so through that, they were able to communicate their emotions and state of mind sometimes. I looked at their jewels while trying to discern what they might be thinking about, but they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about…

“No, I can’t remember a thing, but I do remember I used to be the King of someplace… somewhere.” Said Black. “I got that knowledge after I got repaired and regained the power to grow stronger… Maybe if I grow stronger, I can remember more.”

“I… I think I was somewhere, I don’t remember much.” Said White.

“Thank you White, very helpful!” I sighed.

“W-Well, there was a lot of light there!” Said White. “And… holiness?”

“Were you an angel or something?” I asked.

“Hahaha, no way!” Laughed White.

“Yeah, seems way too ridiculous, right?” I laughed back.

Wait… seeing how ridiculous things such as me reviving through summoning, somehow resisting something as powerful as the Root from being completely assimilated into it, and all… It wouldn’t be crazy if the Egos I summon through my Dao of Egos back in Genesis had some sort of previous life where they were legendary figures. But what’s an Ego anyways? They seem to be closely related with Origin Cores within Souls, but are at the same time something completely different.

They’re also soulless yet have consciousness and faint memories of the past which they can regain through growing stronger… So there’s no way they came out of nowhere, but at the same time, they did? It’s weird, right? The only idea I can get in my mind is that they’re Consciousness stored somewhere else. Just like with Aldrich from my Necromancer Path Jewel came from somewhere else as well, could he be a different form of Ego too? Could all the Summons I’ve directly created whose souls are not from somewhere else also the concept of Egos? Interesting…

Maybe… if we apply the logic that the Root stores the primary consciousness into its endless library of knowledge just as it was trying to do with me, could that mean that I, myself, am an Ego too? After all, I had my soul destroyed and I granted everything in it to Rimuru. So… therefore, my own consciousness was the only thing remaining! It probably means something, perhaps Egos are this? So when I created the Dao of Egos, I was able to actually defy logic even ore by being able to bring back consciousness stored in the Root, most likely.

That’s quite insane the more I think about it. Perhaps it is one of the reasons on why the Root was so angered at me and Cursed me… Oh well, also the other reason might be that I simply didn’t rested for eternity and continued retaining a self-consciousness that annoyed it, and then I escaped eternal storage in the Root by reviving through the Summon of Elfina.

Damn, I guess I’ve got everything figured out by now, aren’t I amazing at discerning? Well, not like any of that will help at all in anything for the moment but figuring out this important stuff is always helpful. I tried to explain what I came out with to Black and White, but both seemed to not understand a single thing of what I said, so everything ended without results… Talking this with the rest of my group is impossible, they wont understand a thing. Only talking with the Supreme Gods at Genesis was nice, they knew a lot of stuff.

Anyways, after we finished eating, we finally embarked across the Dungeon once more. Elfina seemed filled with food and she was now completely satisfied, too much, actually, so we had to take a twenty minute break where she sat down to rest and let her belly go down a bit. After that, it was finally time to move! We walked downstairs at a rapid speed as we felt the enormous presence of whatever was lying within the depths of this Labyrinth. It was a strangely intoxicating presence that emanated like an aura of black and purple color.

“This Aura… Is this some toxic smog? Light Barrier!” Luminous said, quickly conjuring personal barriers over Elfina and Fiere. The both of us weren’t affected by fog, but the elves might as they were weaker and held lesser resistances to everything pretty much.

“This strange fog, it grows thicker as we move down…” Said Elfina.

“I have a bad feeling…” Said Fiere.

When we reached Floor 9, there was nothing, it was empty. Or was it? When I looked into the distance, looking at the corners, suddenly, enormous transparent eggs were decorating the ceilings, walls, and floor. Just meters away from us, spreading out everywhere. They had strange fleshy veins and growths coating the floor of the Dark Labyrinth…

“What is this? Eggs?!” Asked Luminous.

“Let’s see…” I said with a cheky smile, shaping my Phantom Aura and Divine Aura together into a blade-like shape, and slicing through a 3 meter big egg.

SLAAASH!

SPLASH!

Something quickly poured out of it, splashing over the floor. The disgusting thing was… several tiny squids wiggling around. The moment they were freed, they looked at Elfina and Fiere and attempted to latch on them, easily being stopped by the Light Barrier protecting them.

“The same parasites as before!” Said Luminous.

“Could this be the breeding grounds of these creatures?” I wondered.

“Well, we might as well burn them all to death! These eggs… they’re enough to easily take over the entire city in the surface…!” Luminous said, as light flashed from his draconic eyes.