Epic of Caterpillar

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As I was about to butcher the two corpses and help my family and servants to cook them, yet another system notification showed up.

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have cleared the Dungeon!]

[The title [Labyrinth Queen] has awakened into [Labyrinth Empress]!]

[Kireina] acquired the Skill [Mystical Thunder Dragonoid Transformation: Level 1]!] (Assimilated by Superior Skill!)

[Kireina] received the commemorative prize [Divine Dungeon Treasure (Lesser Heavenly)] x1!]

"Oh? So, there were a few prizes left for me… And this Divine Dungeon Treasure… it is higher than Phantasmal! Lesser Heavenly?! Isn't this the rank that gods often wield as artifacts?! …What kind of treasure could there be inside?" I wondered, as my family asked me what I was babbling about.

"Mommy, what is it?" asked Amiphossia.

"Don't tell me that you got even more rewards…" muttered Ryo.

"It seems that it is the case…" said Aarae.

"It seems that by conquering the dungeon, I get a few other rewards… I remember that this happened in the Forsaken Labyrinth, but not in Kaggoth's Dungeon… Perhaps I did something wrong there? Ah, right, I skipped all the bosses until the last one… perhaps to properly conquer a dungeon, I need to beat every boss?" I wondered.

"That must be the case, honey… but because you already fought the last boss, I don't think you can go back there and fight the other bosses expecting any more rewards from the system aside from the natural dropped items… Which I doubt are of your interest" said Zehe.

"What a bummer… well, next time I won't try to rush it as much… Well, I can rush it and fight all bosses… So I guess I just have to not skip the bosses" I said.

"Yeah, guuu! Which dungeon are we exploring next? This one was filled with surprises!" said Rimuru.

"Rimuru-chan, I think that we should take a small break first…" said Nesiphae.

"Huh? Is that so? But Nesiphae-san, we have to grow strong and strong!" said Rimuru.

"I can't argue with that… but our pace is already quite fast, so at least a week for free or two should be enough before dungeoning again," I said.

"Okay! What will be the next dungeon though?" asked Rimuru.

"I remember that Maeralya and Marnet own you their dungeons as well, right, my wife?" asked Adelle.

"That's right, we'll try to speed run these two, so it doesn't eat as many days as Nyzzet's dungeon did," I said.

"Yay! Speed run! Let us beat bosses and gather loot!" said Rimuru… she was seemingly getting addicted to the gratification of exploring dungeons, beating strong monsters, eating their delicious meat, and getting showered in rewards… but what can I say against that? I am as well rather addicted to it, after all, a game-like world has always been my fantasy in my previous life.

Although this world is actually real, and if we were to die, I do not think we would respawn like in a game, so such gratification must be taken in slowly before we were to get too much into it to the point of losing a hold on reality.

There is also the Dark Steppes issue, although the sealed god there is still slowly unsealing itself, I remember that the Gods told me that they bought information about Hephaestus showing up around there… I cannot drag this too much, there is some work to do there, and I cannot lose the opportunity to grow stronger by eating these pesky gods…

If the System Gods were trying to tell me to grow as fast as possible, it should mean that something greater than what I can imagine or expect is slowly creeping on my back… I cannot take too big of a break in this world. It's constantly moving at a great pace, everything is changing, and as I keep moving, the world around me changes even more…

There are not any more options than to keep going until I am capable of reaching a strength where there won't be any more problems anymore… and even with my fast growth, that is still extremely far away from my grasp.

I think that even after reaching the strength of a Supreme Goddess, there will be all the other Supremes with an equal strength trying to fuck me over… I would need to be as strong or even stronger than the World's Will… Damn, there is a big road ahead.

Anyways, for now, I will take a small break with my family, I have to be more like Rimuru and take life a bit more carefreely, I suppose. I have to enjoy the present while preparing for the future.

As Kireina accompanied her family and servants to butcher and cook the two final bosses of Nyzzet's Dungeon, the god himself, Nyzzet, the Dragon God of Thunder, was left in awe after having seen Kireina defeat the two bosses with her mere… eyes.

He was not alone this time, as there were the other gods with him. He was still in Agatheina's Divine Realm and had decided to glance at Kireina's feats through a crystal ball that connected to his Dungeon.

Although a few of the gods were a bit surprised, only Nyzzet was terrified… mostly because he was a coward that was always scared of everything.

"This is… Terrifying! Kireina-sama just beat my strongest Boss Monsters with a glance of her eyes?! I remember that she took some time fighting the Thunder Monsters controlled by Begudhur in some cases… But how she didn't take a minute at all with my two strongest warriors?!" asked Nyzzet in disbelief.

"You fool, Kireina-sama can devour Gods' whole, do you think that two strong mortal beings would even stand a chance against her? They did possess your blessing, but it is not like you shared your power with them, right?" asked Merveim with a grumpy expression, he was getting tired of Nyzzet being such an odd god. But he was his brother, so he had to have some patience with Nyzzet's foolishness.

"Ah… That is right…" muttered Nyzzet.

"Nyzzet-san, are you really that clueless about everything? Even after seeing how she almost killed three gods at once…? And it is not like she took that much time with those monsters, they all mostly died with one punch except a single one that gave out a slight inconvenience. And you know why they took a few more seconds? Because they were being possessed by Begudhur's Parasite Soul Clones, so they were all charged with Divine Energy… And even then, they were defeated with almost no effort on her side… Your Hidden Boss might be strong, but it is not near as powerful as one of Begudhur Split Souls, the difference between having and not having Divine Energy is enormous. Only the mortals with the power of Divinity Devouring can stand a chance against Gods… such as Kireina-sama" said Hodhyl, she was something like the elder sister figure of Nyzzet. She and Merveim were the children of the same father and mother, Tiamat, while Nyzzet only shared the mother with them… Despite that, they were still blood-related siblings, of course.

"If mother were to be here, she would reprimand you for your stupidity," said Merveim.

"Okay… You two do not have to be so rude, you know? I have already done more than enough… Although Kireina-sama has not taken the dungeon yet… Hm? What is this…?" said Nyzzet.

"What? What are you looking at?" asked Agatheina, glancing at Nyzzet, who began to browse through several system windows produced by the golden-colored crystal ball.

"I was… looking at the System Rewards History. I would assume that all of you already know that by defeating a dungeon boss, the system itself rewards the adventurer with special items only granted through the system and deposited inside their Item Boxes, right?" asked Nyzzet.

"That's obvious, idiot," said Merveim.

"You don't have to call me an idiot all the time… Anyways, by checking Kireina-sama history… T-This is… It is quite surprising… Have mortals ever been granted such rewards before?" asked Nyzzet.

"What are you talking about?" asked Hodhyl.

Nyzzet sighed as he manipulated the system very slightly, increasing the size of the system windows and moving them towards the gods so they could see them.

There was a long list of items in such a window, they were each item granted to Kireina after defeating a Boss Monster… At first, the rewards seemed rather normal and a bit lackluster, making the gods point out that to Nyzzet, calling him ungenerous.

But then, as they read further down, the items became better and better… until reaching a certain point where the items that were being given were incredibly ridiculous in their effects or quality…

"What is that?! A Skill Points Elixir?! I have never seen such a thing before! Can any God with an Alchemy Divinity create such a wonderful item?!" asked Marnet.

"Those items… they're even good for gods like us? Those ten thousand Skill Points would be enough for us to change a Class once, giving us a large boost in strength…!" said Maeralya.

"We could even sell it for a fortune in Divine Energy Crystals!" said Levana.

"And those other items… the EXP Potions are giving ridiculous amounts of EXP! Is that the amount Kireina-sama needs to level up?! I guess this is why she is still leveling even after defeating several gods…" muttered Agatheina.

"And the treasures… is that… a Lesser Heavenly Treasure?! Not even us have one yet!" said Marnet.

"Impressive… this is incredible! But how? How can Kireina-sama achieve such rewards?" asked Maeralya.

"I think I've got an idea… I remember speaking with Kireina-sama about this before. I do recall that she had told me that she began to think that the rewards being given to her were slowly adjusting to her necessities and also to her current strength… Current strength meaning… like how she is capable of killing gods type of strength…" said Agatheina.

"That's… Is the System somehow biased towards Kireina-sama?" asked Nyzzet.

"We have not gotten any confirmation of such behavior being true… it might all be just coincidence or that the System rewards are being upgraded now… The thing is that this had started happening to her since she ate many Gods… her charm as well had become incredibly powerful, to the point that many Gods are capable of attaining enlightenment by glancing at her, such as me or most of you… This is just a theory, but could she had charmed… the gods of the System themselves?" asked Agatheina.

"That's… That's ridiculous…! Even for someone like Kireina-sama!" said Merveim.

"The System Gods are devoid of any emotions or egos… how could it be that they're being charmed and enlightened?" asked Hodhyl.

"There must another factor then… But I do believe that Kireina-sama is capable of charming them at this point. She had recently begun to change into stronger and stranger Classes, and her charm had gone off the rails at this point! Have you seen how any mortal that glances at her becomes fascinated? Not even we can achieve such power over mortals! …She is truly a being above us!" said Bovdohr.

"Indeed! I believe that Kireina-sama might be capable of doing something like that!" said Nomera.

"Then… Could that mean that the System Gods themselves are our potential allies?! The ones that handle the system… they're perhaps at the same position of the Supreme Gods, even if they lack the strength, they possess the control over one of the powers that support the existence of Genesis!" said Hodhyl.

"The System had been merged into the world since several years ago, but now, it had begun to become stronger and stronger as more mortals were born and used the System, and as more gods raised within these mortals that used the System, the System will keep growing stronger and so will the System Gods… If we were to even get them as allies… Would not we be capable of standing against the Supremes, then…?" asked Morpheus.

"That's… Is too hasty of a conclusion, Morpheus. For now, we must assist Kireina-sama as much as we can, and glance as she unfolds her powers, the more she grows faster, the more the System gods will show their bias with her… I suppose having the Blessing of the System Master himself was not enough… she is now having the attention of all his children…" said Agatheina.

"But isn't that a good thing?" asked Morpheus.

"Yes… But… I cannot help but feel frustrated! How dare they simp so much for her!!! They should wait in line if they wanted her attention, instead of showering her with rewards! I mean, I am glad, incredibly happy by this, but it is also… I wish I could do the same! But I think I've given most of what I own to her…" said Agatheina.

"We have mostly done the same, Agatheina. I suppose we cannot beat the System Gods themselves… They can even produce such strong items out of thin air through their System Divinities…" said Morpheus.

It seems that the Gods were simply frustrated because they couldn't simp for Kireina harder than they were already doing... But wait, from where did Agatheina even learn the word 'Simp'?!

"By the way, what's a 'Simp'?" asked Kaggoth.

"Ah, that's a term that the younglings at Kireina-sama's Empire use! It means someone completely devoted to another person, to the point of giving all of its belongings to it!" said Agatheina.

"…I don't think you should use that word to feel proud, grandmother…" muttered Levana.