Epic of Caterpillar

The moment we reached Floor 9 out of 10 from the Dark Labyrinth, the entire place was filled with a toxic smog and there were horrendously slimy and transparent eggs holding infant squid-shaped parasites inside! It was absolutely horrifying! …Or not? Well, I am pretending to, I am an eldritch horror myself so this doesn’t really make me feel disgusted. But whatever’s the case, it would be better to burn all of these eggs while we can, if we let them go out for free, they’ll easily get to the surface and they’ll surely begin to parasitize innocents, which would only make things worse. I really don’t want another Elf Kingdom Arc again repeating itself. We got a War incoming, so let’s concentrate into that instead of repeating the same from before.

“Yeah, let’s burn it all!” I said rather devilishly. “Fiere, you too, help us!”

“V-Very well!” Said Fiere.

“Should I give you an enhancement, Kireina?” Wondered Elfina.

“Not yet, don’t waste it until we fight the boss most likely in the next floor. Keep your strength until then, Elfina.” I said to Elfina, as she nodded and watched the purge begin.

We all began unleashing flames of all types against the eggs, Luminous unleashed the Holy Flames from his Breath of Light, while Fiere unleashed car-sized fireballs everywhere, exploding into a mess. Meanwhile, I combined my Holy Flames with Fireballs, creating Holy Fireballs which I began to use to burn and purify everything. I was pretty sure I could clearly listen to the screams of the tiny squid parasites being burned alive.

It was both frightening and at the same time, slighting disgusting. Well, not frightening but just surprising and amusing to me. They were going “Weeeeeee!” all the time, I felt like taming them or something, but I prefer to free their souls from their bodies and wish them to have a different reincarnation. The EXP though? It was godly. When everything ended, I gained a ton! Did we killed millions of tiny parasites or something? And even the smallest ones gave a decent chunk of EXP as well, that was insane. Maybe we should ask the one that laid these eggs to do it again to farm more EXP…

Ding!

[Calculating EXP earned…]

[You gained 3200000 EXP]

[Your Level has increased from Level 36 to Level 37!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 37 to Level 38!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 38 to Level 39!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 39 to Level 40!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 40 to Level 41!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 41 to Level 42!]

[All your Stats have increased]

[You gained Stat Points and Skill Points]

[You acquired the [Vermin Slayer: Lv1] Title Skill]

Not only I gained six levels but I even acquired a new Title Skill that deals bonus damage to anything considered “Vermin”. I think it applies to little creepy crawlers, bugs, parasites, and so on. May include aquatic, flying, and so on. I guess it is more purposeful than just “Bug Slayer”, especially because these aren’t bugs, and its better than just “Parasite Slayer” because it would be way too overly specific and won’t be as useful.

But what’s with this leveling?! Six levels?! I killed a bunch of these creatures! There’s no way such insignificant parasites would give so much EXP unless they’re actually the infant of dragons or mythical monsters… Was their mother the boss here some sort of special monster capable of giving even more juicy EXP than I had originally believed? Well, we wont ever learn without trying.

“I-I gained a lot of levels!” Said Fiere with surprise.

“I also leveled…” Said Luminous.

“T-These parasites gave tons of EXP…” Said Elfina. “But how? Aren’t they just tiny squid-like creatures?”

“Yeah, the only way that such young monsters could give so much EXP, even if we killed so many is that these parasites originate from a powerful mythical entity… And they had the potential to become just as frightening as their mother.” Said Luminous.

“So… We should hurry and get down then.” I said, as I began to roll down with everyone behind me. “Let’s find the culprit behind this once and for all!”

I extended my Aura and grabbed them all with them, tightly keeping them with me and then using [Roll] at the fastest speed, rushing downstairs!

FLAAAAAAASH!

“W-Wait! Kireina, you’re going too fast!” Cried Elfina.

“Oi! Did you had to grab me as well?!” Luminous complained.

“Uuugyaaaaah!” And Fiere… she was crying.

“This is the most efficient way! And what’s with these endless stairs?!” I wondered, as I keep running down, I suddenly noticed that my spikes were piercing through fleshy things! I looked down and suddenly found out the stairs were being covered in veins and red flesh, and the tenth floor was also completely covered in flesh! W-What is this?!

TRUUUUMMM…!

Suddenly, I immediately used [Telekinesis] to jump and float in midair, quickly noticing the floor began to tremble, I realized the smog was coming from the depths of this fleshy chamber, and as we were forced to enter, the stairs suddenly moved as if they were part of a body- Wait, is this why the stairs felt so long? Were we… entering inside a giant body?!

BAAAAM!

The stairs acted as some sort of mouth, closing and sealing us inside the fleshy chamber, this was floor 10… But it had completely changed, there were countless eyes sleeping, but when they noticed us, they opened, looking at us. I noticed many fleshy tumors, jaws with sharp teeth, tentacles with slimy saliva, and veins palpitating everywhere. It was a bit like my true interior was in my previous life. Well, a bit, mine was cooler.

“Uwawawawaahh! T-This is disgusting! Did we got eaten by the BOSS?!” Cried Elfina.

“Uuugh… I think I might throw out all I ate…” Muttered Fiere.

“T-This is… Is this a monster?! The Boss monster?!” Asked Luminous, completely left in disbelief.

And then, a terrifying voice spoke, resonating across all of these fleshy chambers.

“Who dares interrupt the slumber of the Sin of Sloth?! I was taking such a good nap!!! …Ah?! Oh! Just what do we have here…?”