Epic of Caterpillar

.

.

.

"This desert is a treasure trove of EXP! I am not even into the place and we are already getting tons of monsters! Are they attracted to my beauty or something? look, there are dozens coming! Now it makes sense they built a wall here!" I laughed, as Aquamarine, White, and Black began attacking the monsters coming.

Dozens of Sand Wolves began to be impaled and torn apart by their magic attacks, some ended turning into blocks of ice while others were sliced into thin pieces. A few others were being devoured by Black through Predation, but he was not getting anything other than "Ego Fragments" of small size. If I gather several of them, it might be possible to create some sort of Ego, or even be able to combine them together.

CRUNCH!

Ding!

[Sand Wolf Emperor] has been devoured, a [Small Ego Fragment] has been created]

"Huh, this is the best way to grind for new Egos I guess, though we'll need a shit ton of Fragments if the souls are not strong enough…" I said, as I manipulated my own Aura and shaped it as countless sharp tentacles, piercing through the souls of five Sand Wolves and extracting their souls, Black quickly went to eat them.

CRUNCH!

Ding!

[Sand Wolf Emperor] has been devoured, a [Small Ego Fragment] has been created]

CRUNCH!

Ding!

[Sand Wolf Emperor] has been devoured, a [Small Ego Fragment] has been created]

CRUNCH!

Ding!

[Sand Wolf Emperor] has been devoured, a [Small Ego Fragment] has been created]

…

"Why are they all Emperors?" I sighed, as I had began to absorb the blood of many Monster bodies, gathering it in front of me as an enormous sphere of tasty-looking blood and slurping it.

SLUUURP.

"Hmm, sweet. Been a while since I activated my vampiric powers. It is nice to go back to square one for once." I sighed as I felt like my eyes glowed bright red.

"KSHAAAA!"

Suddenly, the nearby ground began to tremble, as something emerged.

TRUUUM!

An enormous bug, it looked like a gigantic antlion, of at least ten meters of height. Wow, this thing was BIG.

"An Antlion?" I wondered while raising an eyebrow. "Well, whatever… More of the same. [Blazing Meteor]!"

FLASH!

Suddenly, an enormous magic circle emerged atop in the sky, generating a gigantic, thirty meter big meteor encompassed completely with flames, which began falling at a fast speed, reaching the Antlion in a second and crushing it.

BOOOOMMM!!!

The enormous explosion left a giant crater behind, as the Antlion was completely roasted alive. Wow, this Skill is really powerful, I got it by eating the Ego I named Arcane, which belonged to a magician prince whose name I don't remember anymore.

Ding!

[You earned 15000 EXP]

"Oh, this one gives more EXP than the wolf! Alright, let's go a bit deeper into the desert for a change!" I said, quickly being brought deeper into the faraway lands by Aquamarine to grind more EXP.

FFFFSSSHH…!

The dunes nearby began to tremble constantly, as three enormous Antlions emerged, one of them was bigger than the other two, with black and purple exoskeleton and deadly red eyes.

"Oh, that's a… Black Antlion Warrior?" I wondered, its enormous jaws quickly attempted to devour me alive. Aquamarine evaded the gigantic jaws of over ten meters.

BOOOM!

Sand exploded from the floor as the jaws hit the ground, in an instant, I gathered my Mana into my Hands and unleashed Holy Flame Arrows to attack it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"GRUUOH!"

The Holy Flames Arrows were able to deal some damage, but its exoskeleton was extremely resilient.

"Oh, so this beast might be a B Rank monster then! It is quite resilient; I'll have to add more spice to my attacks then… Claws of Demise!"

FLASH!

Suddenly, an enormous claw made of purple and black metal emerged, punching the giant black and purple Antlion, and throwing it a few meters away.

BAAAM!

"GRUOOH!"

CLANK! CLANK!

The enormous jaws it possessed quickly attempted to devour my claws, but the claws were powerful enough to easily tank the pressure of those jaws and slash through its body, grasping its exoskeleton and slowly tearing it apart from the rest of the body.

CRAAASH!

"GRYYYAAAHH!"

"Let's see if I can fight properly!"

I quickly jumped out of Aquamarine as I used the power of my own Fragment of Demon which was the Exoskeleton. My small humanoid body quickly covered itself into spikes and metallic armor, the same color as my previous evolution.

"Hehe, this will do!"

I combined the Claws of Demise into my own hands, forming two gigantic fists and punching the Antlion with all my might.

CLAAAASH!

"GRUUOOH…!"

BAAM!

The beast fell down into the sand, groaning as its exoskeleton cracked. I guess the way to fight these high defensive monsters was by punching them with enough force!

"Now let's finish this!"

I put my two enormous fists together and then fell down from high into the sky, clashing against the Antlion with all my might.

BOOOMMM!!!

The enormous beast was shattered into pieces, quickly dying on the spot. It lacked delicious red blood, having its blood being green and unsavory to me, so I quickly stored the corpse in my Item Box instead.

Ding!

[You earned 25000 EXP]

"Ooho! This is more like it! Black, eat the soul I got here."

I gave Black the Soul, as he ate it on the spot through [Predation]

CRUNCH!

Ding!

[The [Giant Black Antlion Warrior] has been devoured, a [Big Ego Fragment] has been created]

"Huh, this is a big one, eh?"

When I checked it, it had around five times the size of the smaller fragments. Perhaps they're worth more when combined. But for now, I'll keep storing them inside my Item Box.

Like that, while Silva summoned Skeleton Knights for Floresse and the Elves economy, I continued hunting wild monsters in the outskirts of the city, which led to the dangerous Rotten Lands farther away, where the Ankh Desert was located.

.

.

.