Epic of Caterpillar

420 Diving Into Nightmares

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As the conversation with the gods, while we were having breakfast heated up, Brontes decided to speak.

"I will make sure to destroy that fiend that dared to make my daughter afraid. I am going to crush him and give him the worst of pains; he shall suffer in despair as the last moments of his life slowly banish. I don't care if it's a god or not"

Her words were even more fierce and filled with a strong conviction and seriousness, even some gods seemed frightened.

"T-To be expected from one of Kireina-sama concubines. You are a splendid warrior, Brontes-sama" said Agatheina.

"Mother, you're so cool! I want to be like you when I grow up!" said Vudia, hugging Brontes's wide and muscular arms.

"Don't worry Vudia, mama will destroy that fiend. Your dreams will never be interrupted again" said Brontes, caressing Vudia's chestnut-colored hair.

"Indeed, and I will help you destroy that bastard, we'll feast on him afterward," I said.

"I can see that you three have your conviction blazing… I cannot see you all in person, but I am sure that your eyes are burning with killing intent, haha! I wish I could join you. I am a God of Strength! I should be smashing skulls, not resting in here!" laughed Merveim.

"Brother, don't be stupid, if we were to descend to the mortal world, we would have to spend great amounts of Divine Energy to maintain ourselves, it would be better to take on the vessel of our blessed children… Talking about them, has there been any notices of Titus and Eshne?" asked Hodhyl.

"They are with their father and siblings, alongside a large group of elemental spirits exploring the underground dungeon where their father was originally sealed. You two are wyvern gods, so you should know about the Wyvern Overlord of the Grand Forest, right?"

"Indeed, we do." Said Hodhyl.

"It would be dishonorable not to know the father of our blessed children. He was once blessed by one of our siblings as well… though now that he died and was reincarnated as a sword, I doubt that the blessing had stayed with him"

"I usually receive some notices of them every a few days, they are currently exploring the depths of the dungeon, around floor sixty. All of them are decided to complete it and come back even stronger, they do not even want my help because they would feel as their strength is not enough. Sorry, but your meeting with Titus and Eshne will have to be delayed a few more weeks" I said.

"Oh, it is fine. It's reassuring to know that they are constantly improving" said Hodhyl.

"Indeed, I am glad that they are doing their best! I want to see Titus one day and fight him!" said Merveim.

"What? What are you talking about you idiot? Why would you fight him?" asked Hodhyl.

"Sigh… Gods whose divinities are related to fighting or strength are always such blockheads" grimaced Hodhyl.

"Anyways, I am feeling quite fine today, why don't we bless some of Kireina's family?" asked Merveim.

"Indeed… we should. There are several of them who possess our dragon bloodline…" said Hodhyl.

"Dragons? Aren't you wyverns?" asked Zehe.

"Well yes, but Wyverns are just a lower caste of dragons… our siblings are all mostly dragons, we are the only ones alongside one of our fallen sisters that stayed as Wyverns even after becoming a Demigod and a God… But that doesn't mean that we are objectively weaker than our dragon siblings!" said Merveim.

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses. After reaching godhood, the power gap was mostly alleviated by Divine Energy, and we didn't suffer any discrimination by our dragon siblings whatsoever," said Hodhyl.

"I see… well, there are a lot of promising warriors to pick and give blessings to if you want to. Here are my wives who have dragon blood such as Acelina, Lilith, and Altani. There is also my daughter Valentia, Amiphossia's Athos, Shiny, the Golden Wyvern Chimera, that Wind Wyvernoid girl Roneth and a lot of Dragon Centaur and Leviathan Centaur… Of course, there are also the siblings of Titus and Eshne. Just choose the ones that have a better affinity with you"

"Valentia and Lilith are very strong… Here, have my blessings," said Merveim.

"Altani seems to be the only compatible with me… sorry for the rest," said Hodhyl.

"Hm?! I got a blessing! Mommy, who's Merveim?" asked Valentia.

"So you haven't been paying attention to this whole conversation, Valentia?"

"Huh? Wait, you're talking with gods right now?!" shouted Valentia, bewildered. She was currently concentrated on eating.

"Big sister… were you very concentrated in eating?" asked Aarae.

"W-Well, yeah… Having a big body means a big metabolism, you know? I need to eat a lot!" said Valentia, releasing a chuckle.

"Ah! Valentia-chan is very similar to Merveim…" said Hodhyl.

"Indeed, they are," I said.

"Thanks, Merveim-sama for your blessings!" said Lilith, trying to be polite.

"Hahaha! No need to be polite, my child! You are now my family! Just offer some prayers to me while you're wreaking havoc and breaking some skulls and I will be happy!" said Merveim.

"W-What type of prayers?" asked Lilith.

"Hmm… well, there isn't any particular one, just say something like "Merveim, give me strength!", that's enough," said Merveim, nonchalantly.

"That's awfully simple for a god…" muttered Athos.

"Hm? Hey, I think I remember you…" muttered Merveim.

"Bugeh…! N-No! You do not! You don't know me, Merveim!" shouted Athos.

"Ah, I almost didn't even know if you were just named like him… but you're really Athos! That small brat! You were supposed to become a Living Deity and join us back then… What just happened to you? You are now a little girl? And you are cute! Did you take over a vessel?"

"No! Shut up! I am not the Athos that you know… I am a mere Soul Copy made into a sword by the system! T-This body… it's just Kireina-sama's doing, not my fault!" said Athos.

"Soul Copy…? What? So you're like Athos's daughter?" asked Merveim, he didn't even know what a Soul Copy was.

"No! I am not my own daughter! Just shut up, you idiot! You idiot! Stop talking! Uwaaaah!" shouted Athos, with her little girl voice as she ran out of the room.

"Athos-chan?" said Amiphossia, as she followed her behind.

"It seems that she was too affected by meeting someone she knew from before…" said Seishin.

"Merveim, a Soul Copy is a copy of a soul. It can only be done by the system or the Supreme Goddess of Souls and Reincarnation" said Hodhyl.

"Huh?! So it's like… a twin? Athos's little sister!" said Merveim.

"No, well, yes… I suppose" muttered Hodhyl.

"So where's the real Athos then?" asked Merveim.

"He's in the dungeon. He is one of the strongest bosses, and we use his body that spawns each day as Experience Points and as food. His soul is fine" I said.

"Ah! W-Well… g-good for him…" muttered Merveim, as he stopped talking.

"He left?" asked Seishin.

"I think so, he may have known that he made Athos-chan flustered… I can understand her, having these bodies and getting used to them is incredibly awkward" said Sesshomaru.

"Ahem, I also wanted to thank Hodhyl-sama for her blessings… I just recently obtained the Life Attribute affinity which is related to the Nature Attribute… thanks for your consideration, I will make sure to meet your expectations," said Altani.

"Don't worry my daughter, I am not a fool, I know when there is someone with potential and talent. I will be looking forward to your growth, and possibly your ascension to godhood one day" said Hodhyl.

Altani seemed flustered by the words of a goddess, and she blushed her cheeks.

Not long after Amiphossia came carrying Athos with her arms as if she were a baby.

"Athos-chan, you don't need to be flustered, you're a very cute dragoness!" she said.

"N-No… stop telling me that…" muttered Athos.

"I honestly don't know why you feel so flustered, a humanoid body is very convenient," said Yiksukesh, who had stayed silent up until now.

"Shut up, snake! You were born as a woman, I did not! It is different!" roared Athos.

"You're such a bummer," said Yiksukesh.

The two glares clashed against each other, they seemed to be… rivals?

"Is there a hidden rivalry between the descendants of Jormungandr and Dragons?" asked Zehe.

"Yes… Though I do not hold those feelings. Some of my sibling's dislikes snakes, this is even more common for the mortals of our species," said Hodhyl.

"It seems a bit complicated I suppose," I said.

"Well, yes… Anyways, Kireina-sama now that we have been talking for some time, how about you come to my Divine Realm? We may start to make children right away if you so desire. I've prepared a lot of concoctions and lubes and-"

"Shut up, you lizard! K-Kireina-sama, please have a good day!" said Agatheina, as she stopped Hodhyl from saying more embarrassing things, the call with the rest of the gods was suddenly interrupted and forcefully closed.

"Did that goddess just asked Kireina to have children with her? Gods are really lustful beings… even more than mortals," analyzed Zehe.

"Guu… I do not like how she tried to say it so easily! Masta, don't have children with her!" said Rimuru.

"R-Rimuru? You got angry all out of a sudden… Well, do not worry, I was not planning on that for now anyway"

After the god's meeting finished, we had the rest of our breakfast as I decided to try out my new 'Nightmare Magic' with my daughter Vudia.

I once again separated my body into two, and left my second body with Nephiana, Mady, and Adelle, alongside the Rin Sisters and the Spirit Girls. Aside from table games, I began to teach them some skills and spells as well. Nereid seemed completely unaware of the Mana Zone, which ended up being a very useful tool for her.

With my first body, I went towards the magic ritual room, where I had some subjects to try out our magic. Vudia, Brontes, Herbell, and Zehe came with me as well.

Redgaria would have loved to investigate this magic, but he seemed too immersed in his research using Divine Energy samples taken from my children.

"Hoh? So these are the subjects… interesting" said Herbell.

"Humans? Hm? If they are not Chaos Humans… then they are outsiders?" asked Zehe.

"Spies," said Brontes.

"Those are our subjects mommy? Can I start playing?" asked Vudia.

"Not yet, my love. Let us make them sleep first" I said, glancing at our subjects.

The 'Subjects' were Humans sent by the Azuma Empire as spies. They were caught by Wall and the Vampires and sent alive here for experiments and other things. Of course, brainwashing them and making the spill all the beans would also be nice, but I decided to use these as subjects to try out my Nightmare Magic.

They had their mouths covered in my Slime clones, which were extended over their entire bodies, trapping them. They struggled and tried to scream, but it was futile.

"Blame your Kingdom for using you as disposable pawns, now have sweet dreams~," I said.

I used my slime tentacles as needles, using the anesthesia that I created into the three subjects present in the room. It just took a few seconds for all three to fall completely unconscious.

"Are you sure that they would dream if you make them too unconscious though?" asked Zehe.

"Yeah. Now Vudia, use this one" I said, showing Vudia a female spy with short dark hair.

"Alrighty! 'Dark Nightmare'!" she shouted, activating the Nightmare Magic Spell into the subject's dreams…

Suddenly, dark clouds were produced from within her hands, as Vudia changed into her 'vampiric' appearance.

The dark clouds entered the spy's head, as it began to shriek in a pained expression.

"No! Nooo! Agh! Uaaaghh! Gyaaaaah!"

"It seems to work mommy! I wonder what dreams it is having…"

"Let me check," I said, extending one of my slime tentacles into the spy's brain and using my Mirage Magic Spell 'Memory Visualization Screen', which is often used to showcase someone's memories in a magic screen. It is a very high-level Illusion Attribute Spell that I obtained after eating a bunch of Illusion Monsters in the Dungeon a few weeks ago.

The nightmare seemed interesting, the woman seemed to be trapped in a dark forest, as the dark and slender figure of a man wearing a suit with no face followed her around. The atmosphere was eerie and cold, and she seemed to be constantly sweating in despair.

"Oh, this is good… so a 'Dark Nightmare' means something related to horror, and terror!" said Herbell, writing down what he said.

"The way her heart is beating, and her body sweating… it is a very vivid nightmare… her eyes are constantly moving below her eyelids" analyzed Zehe, writing that down as well.

"My daughter really makes me proud," said Brontes, patting Vudia's black-colored hair.

"I also turn into this form when I use Nightmare Magic for some reason," said Vudia, glancing at her appearance.

I used 'Dark Nightmare' in another subject, a bald man with an eyepatch.

Similar things happened to him when I used 'Memory Visualization Screen' on his mind.

Both subjects were completely immersed in their nightmares as if they were completely real.

By waving my hands, the nightmares disappeared and the two went back to sleeping normally.

"Now… 'Uneasy Nightmare'…"

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