Epic of Caterpillar

19 The Lonely Lamia

After finishing checking on the Slimes stats, I wanted to start the intensive training earlier this morning, so we did the same routine as always and used | MP SHARE | to summon 647 Lower Demonic Beings, thanks to this, I also got the skill level to max, which I immediately proceeded to evolve.

| SUMMON LOWER DEMONIC BEINGS LEVEL 10 |>| SUMMON HIGH DEMONIC BEINGS LEVEL 1 |

From this massive summoning, a little white colored variant came out.

"H-Hello Master! I hope to serve you well!"

This little Slime was far tinier than its normal Lower Demonic Beings, named "Lower Sacred Light Being", a very rare variant focused on Light and Holy Elemental Magic. I proceeded to name her Luminous.

I quickly added her to the Slime family party and left them to take care of her.

I noticed that the group working the hardest in the intensive training were the monkeys, who probably were told by Kizuato that they have the highest casualty rates. Incentivizing them to work very hard to increase their base power as quickly as possible.

"Casualties are impossible to avoid in big wars like the ones before, but if this intensive training can at least lower it by a little bit, it's worth it then…"

Afterwards, I called my two spirits summons, the battle slaves and the undead trolls; obviously, Nereid did not want to train again.

"Master! You are so mean! Uuughhh…! I really don't want to train! Leave me alone!"

"Nereid, the only thing that I don't tolerate in my community is the laziness, activate skill: | PUPPET MASTER |"

Fluosh!

Suddenly, a strange force took Nereid's entire body control!

"Gueeehhh…! W-What is this?! Master! You meanie! Leave me alone!"

"If you don't want to train, don't worry, I'll let you in "auto training" mode, see ya"

"Master…! Wait! Noooo!"

Against her own will, Nereid started to slay Lower Demonic Beings.

After finally leaving Nereid training, I went inside the cave to check on the other activities teams and found the three Trolls getting ready to go to the training grounds. Truhan and Celica greeted me politely but Zehe give me a sharp stare.

"Ugh… Can't you greet me like your brothers, Zehe?"

"…"

"Haahh… Don't bother then…"

Inside my head, my three minds expressed their discomfort.

"Main Mind, I don't understand why you want so much the attention of that Witch"

"That Witch… Is beautiful… Main Mind is interested on her…"

"It's normal for a man to like beautiful women! However, it is useless, she really hate you! Hahahaha!"

"S-Shut up!"

"Perhaps if you make a new arm substitute for her, your two support ranks might go up some levels…"

"That's a pretty gamer way to say relationship"

Just as my minds said, I already had planned making some kind of substitute for Zehe missing arm, so I immediately flew were Kusuri and Kajiya.

"Ah, Master, it is nice to meet you"

"Ah! M-Master is here…! Fueehh… I hope I don't look so bad in front of her"

"Calm down, Kajiya, you look fine; I came for a little request for you two…"

"What is it, Master?"

I explained what I needed in specific, being a prosthetic arm for Zehe, it could be better if it could conduct magic easily too.

"Hmm, I don't have anything like this on my Book Skill, you got something, Kajiya?"

"UUhh… Y-Yes, its here"

Kajiya quickly moved her Skill Window and showed me the special equipment.

| ANCIENT RUNIC PROSTHETIC ARM: A special prosthetic arm crafter with strong magical ores of different elements, it has a high magical affinity with its user. |

| Effect: Grants +15 Defense, +10 Resistance, +20 Magic and +10% affinity to every Element |

| Special Effect: Equip on Gloves equipment slot to replace a missing arm |

"I see! It's perfect for Zehe! Well done, Kajiya, you are very useful!"

"Fueeehhh… M-M-Master…!"

Kajiya could not handle her embarrassment and fell down unconscious.

"Ka-Kajiya…! Sigh… Sorry, Master… At the very least I still remember the materials needed…"

Kusuri explained to me that they have almost every material except three different magic stones that can't be found while mining on this mountain.

The first Magic Stone is "Poisonous Miasma Emerald": located on the Dark Miasma section of this Grand Forest, close to the former Swamp Alligator's home, which I destroyed beforehand.

"Come to think about it, this forest still has a lot of places I haven't explored yet because I have been so busy managing my servants, I should go explore these places…"

The second Magic Stone is "Verdant Rose Sapphire": located on the northeast section of this forest, in a place named "Dryad Sanctuary", which, according to Kusuri, is close to the Ancient Dragon Spikes.

"Would there be… real dryads?"

Just by the name Dryad, my imagination went wild thinking on beautiful and voluptuous tree spirits, caving for any type of sexual interactions.

"Ugh… I wish I wasn't a butterfly"

"Ahem… Master?"

"Ah! Yes yes, what's the last one?"

The third and last Magic Stone was the "Thunderous Ice Storm Ruby": located on the middle of the Great Snowy Mountain Wall, were the Icy Storm Birds make their nest.

"This will be a pretty long trip, it will probably take me more than one day at max speed, and I should call the main team for this and prepare sufficient food and supplies"

"Here, Master. I have made a simple map referring to each place, from where you should start to were you should move for the next Stone, with your strength, it should be fairly easy"

"Thanks Kusuri, and Kajiya…"

"I bid you good travels, Master"

Afterwards, I went to look up for Wagyu and Rimuru, and prepared the needed supplies and food on our Item Box, after evolving, Wagyu and Rimuru got their own.

"Hmmm, I am really tempted to add a fourth member to the main team, all of the Leaders are so strong now…"

"I agree, Master. But all of them are busy training or taking care of essential things"

"Perhaps I could come with Nereid and Kjata when they get strong enough… (And Zehe…)"

"Master, do not worry, guu! My Slime team is getting stronger and stronger! They will soon catch up to me, guu! Then, everyone will join the main team!"

"Ahhh, that's good… (I don't really want 6 Slimes stick to me through the entire adventure)"

"Sigh, Kekensha was my next fourth member for sure, but now that he's so busy taking care of the Crimson Wolves and the Slaves, he has no time"

When we finally left, all my servants waved they hands and bid us good travels… Except Zehe.

"(Where is she even going, when the next Wave is so close, such irresponsibility…)"

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I decided to cast | LEVITATE | on Wagyu and Rimuru to make the travel easier while we flew over the Grand Forest, until we found the Foggy Swamp section, and close by, big and terrific Purple and Dark colored trees could be seen erected.

"Such a drastic change in the coloring of the forest, from verdant green to purple and dark, I am glad I never visited this place until now… I can sense a strong and evil aura from the deeps of this forest… Should I go take a look?"

"Master, do you feel it too?"

"Guuuu… Strong aura…"

"Yeah, this aura rivals the Emperor's strength, let's go take a look"

Flash! Flash! Flash!

We quickly landed on the middle of the Dark Forest. A thick mist filled the entire forest, making navigation very hard.

I could feel several strange and dark beings wondering around, but none came close to us, probably acknowledging our strength. However, that really did not stop me. I quickly used Magic Threads to expand through the thick mist and in mere seconds, I was able to drag countless little monsters to me.

"Oh? Master, aren't those Dark Squirrels? Ah! And some variants of Hairy Spiders…"

"Guuu, there are also weird looking foxes…"

The monster inhabiting this part of the forest were mostly "Dark" variants of the normal monsters on the main forest, from Dark Squirrels to Hairy Spiders. However, there were some new specimens, like these dark and cute looking Foxes, they were "Shadow Tailed Foxes" and had high affinity towards Dark and Shadow Element. It seems that most of these variants possess a lower intelligence compared to their normal forms, but I think that further evolution could grant them with higher intelligence and common sense.

With just my threads, I captured around 32 monsters, I decided to keep two of each variant as slaves and eat the rest.

"This slave thing really make me think that I am in some kind of monster catching game…"

| A BLOOD PACT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY CREATED WITH: 2 Shadow Horned Squirrels, 2 Shadow Eyes Spiders and 2 Shadow Tailed Foxes |

| AMOUNT OF SLAVES 49/50(+10) |

| CERTAIN CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED |

，

| YOU OBTAINED A NEW TITLE: "GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!" |

| THE TITLE EFFECT OF: "GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!" HAS BEEN ACTIVATED, +10 MORE SLAVE SLOTS |

"…Are you serious right now? Was this a joke from Mysterious Voice… He really doesn't want me to forget his existence, huh? Sigh…"

Before completely killing my prey, I made sure to drink all their blood first, increasing my | BLOOD VITALITY | level from 3 > 4.

I made the quivering Enslaved Monster enter into an induced coma using | PUPPET MASTER | and wrapped them around a magic thread, saving them inside my Item Box until I get back home.

The time inside Item Box is frozen, this is why food does not get rotten and even living beings can be stored inside if induced on a coma. Like I did before when I had to store three Lower Dark Beings to successfully use | BRAIN SHARE |.

| YOU GAINED 4672 EXP | | THE REST OF YOUR PARTY GAINED 2336 EXP |

| YOU GAINED ONE LEVEL! | | LEVEL 8/40 EXP 4163/5200 |

| WAGYU LEVEL 4/35 EXP 2736/4800 |

| RIMURU LEVEL 6/30 EXP 02941/3900 |

Due to draining all their blood beforehand, the monster's meat became dry and easy to store. After eating one of each monster, we continued our journey.

| YOU OBTAINED A NEW TITLE: MERCILESS FOX KILLER |

| YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR PARTY LEARNED THE FOLLOWING SKILLS |

| SHADOW HORN CREATION |

| MYSTIC SHADOW EYES |

| SHADOW TAILED FOX FLEXIBLE BODY |

| HIGH SHADOW ELEMENT AFFINITY |

| YOU LEARNED A NEW SKILL: ADAMANTINE BELLY |

According to Kusuri, the Poisonous Miasma Emerald form down below the only swamp on this Dark Forest, located on its center, the exact place where we are sensing the strong aura.

As we came closer to the Swamp, the mist became thicker and our vision become blurry, but thanks to the Party System, we can easily locate were each party member is, so it was impossible for us to get lost.

"Master, this aura, its different, it has changed its evil nature…"

"What? How can an aura even change its nature?"

"Guuu, it's true! I feel like its happily inviting us to whenever it is"

"That's…"

The road suddenly became clear and the mist slowly dissipated, creating a straight road to the Swamp.

"Hmm? The Mist is dissipating. How? Is that monster controlling the mist here?"

"Master, the aura is calling for us"

"Guuuuu…"

When we finally came close to the Swamp, under the shadow and foggy water, a big figure slowly came from underwater.

Blub Blub

"Ah! It's here! Get ready!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Splash!

From underwater, came a big and menacing figure, being covered in mist, it was hard to tell what it really was, until the mist around its body quickly dissipated.

"Eh?"

"Is that…"

"Guuu…?"

I never thought that what was calling for us was going to be such a beautiful babe!

With half her upper body being of a woman and the lower one being of a snake, it was no more than a Lamia!

Her upper woman body was completely naked; it had a smooth pale white skin with countless purple and dark markings around her chest, a very long purple hair that came from down below the Swamp, and three dark horns on her forehead, accompanied with beautiful and sharp red eyes. Beautiful dark colored scales covered her lower snake body, making a magnificent contrast between a beautiful woman and a fierce monster!

"I-It's… No way… Lamias really exist here!"

"M-Master… Do you know about the existence of Lamias?"

"Guuu…?"

Suddenly, the massive Lamia laughed.

"Fufufu… I can't believe that the famous Kireina herself would come to my lair… You are such an adorable little butterfly… I can't resist the urge to hug you… and perhaps, eat you… fufufu…"

Such a beautiful and charming voice made me go into a dumb state!

"Ahhhh… Lamia… Lamia…"

"M-Master…! Please come back!"

"Guuuuu!"

SLAP!

Rimuru quickly expanded its body into a big hand and slapped me out of my infatuation!

"Ah…! W-What? Eh? A Lamia! Her charming power almost got me!"

The Lamia noticed that I was able to snap out of her charming powers.

"Oh? You are indeed very strong… Kireina… So, why did you come to my lair? Do you want to kill me?"

"I… Why would I want to kill such a beautiful woman like you, I just merely came here looking for a special kind of… magic stone… Anyways… What's your name? You are quite strong…"

"Oh? My my… Being praised by my beauty by such a strong being like you, it is indeed an honor… And yes, most of my strength comes because I was given a name by my mother, I am Nesiphae… Nice to meet you…"

"Ne… Nesiphae… (I will remember this name forever!)"

Seeing how I stared at her body without even blinking my eyes, Nesiphae mover her massive body closer to me.

"Hmm? Do you see something you like…?"

"Ah…! Eeeh… Ugh… Perhaps… N-no! I came for the magic stone… that's it"

Nesiphae sank her massive hand underwater dragging a big piece of purple colored stones shining brightly.

"Is this what you are looking for? "Poisonous Miasma Emerald", right?"

"Gaah! Yes that's it! Can you give it to me?"

"Oh? Everything has a price, my dear Kireina…"

Wagyu noticed such insolence and yelled, protecting my pride.

"Lamia! Don't dare to insult my Master anymore! We can easily finish you in any instant, don't play with fire! Grrr"

"Guuu! That's it, you tell him Wagyu, guuuu!"

"My my… such energetic little puppy, relax… I am pretty sure that your Master does not mind my teasing… Fufufu…"

"Ah! I don't! I don't! W-What do you want in exchange?"

Wagyu and Rimuru couldn't believe seeing me acting like this!

"Ma-Master…"

"Geehh…"

Nesiphae laughed happily and smiled at me with her beautiful purple colored lips.

"Hmmm, it is something very simple… Please, if you don't mind, can I become your servant?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

Such an amazing proposal coming from such a beautiful woman! I couldn't believe what was going on in front of me!

"You see… Since my mother died long ago, I have stayed in this Swamp for so long… In addition, the power of a Lamia grows so slow… I have heard from the spirits… That you have the power to make your servants grow incredibly fast… And also the power to obtain Skills from the beings they hunt and eat…"

"Gaah! It's true! Really! You really want to become my servant? This is…"

Nesiphae smiled beautifully and opened her Stat Window.

Ding!

| HIGH SHADOW MIST LAMIA: NESIPHAE HAVE OFFERED TO BECOME YOUR MINION |

| DO YOU ACCEPT? |

| >YES NO |

"Ah! Y-YES! OFCOURSE!"

| YOU HAVE WON A NEW MINION! 17/40 |

"Aaaahhh~! I can't believe that I have become your servant, Master Kireina!"

"Hahaha! You are welcome to the family, right, Wagyu, Rimuru?"

Wagyu and Rimuru couldn't believe what just happened in front of them.

"…Ye…Yes…!"

"Geeehhhh…"

Afterwards, we had a big conversation for a while with Nesiphae; it seems that she had been living on this Swamp for hundreds of years, eating whatever little being came closer to drink some water. Due to her structure and big size, it's hard for her to move around the forest and her skin quickly dry outs if she's outside her Swamp for too long.

She has a special skill named | SPIRIT LANGUAGE | which let her talk with wandering spirits, and they told her about my feats and the powers I hold. She had been dreaming since then for me to come here and make her my servant, so she could learn some skill that cancels her | DRY SKIN | skill, and finally be able to travel around the world.

"I see… So you have been locked in here for so long, you must have felt very lonely…"

"Yes, Master… I am always so lonely… Do you know of any skill that can help me cancel out my Dry Skin?"

"Nothing really comes to my mind… but you told me that your mother could freely travel around, right?"

"Yes… My mother was an evolved form, so she finally obtained a special skill that made her cancel out | DRY SKIN |, but I am only at 13/60 in my levels, there's still a long road for me until I evolve…"

"Hmm, I see. I have an idea, stay right in place!"

"Uuh? S-Sure…"

"Activate Skill: | DARK MOON ELEMENTAL ILLUSION SHIELD | on servant: Nesiphae!"

Fluosh!

Suddenly, a massive magic concentration came out of my body, resembling a river and slowly covered every inch of Nesiphae beautiful body, from her chest to her hips and her lower snake tail.

| YOU HAVE SUCCESFULLY CASTED A STRONG MAGIC SHIELD OVER SERVANT: NESIPHAE |

"Oh?"

Over Nesiphae side, a Sytem Window popped out of thin air.

Ding!

| DUE TO THE MAGIC SHIELD PROTECTING YOUR BODY, THE SKILL | DRY SKIN | HAS BEEN NEGATED UNTIL THE SHIELD IS DISPELLED |

"Master…! Incredible! You were able to completely cancel out | DRY SKIN | with this magic shield! You are such an amazing Master! The Spirits were right about your feats!"

Splash!

Nesiphae quickly jumped off the Swamp and landed on the ground, creating a big earthquake!

BOOOM!

"Guuuahh…! She really is big! If we really compare sizes, she's three times the size of Titus, the biggest Wyvern!"

"Such… A gigantic being… Master, are you sure that you can handle it?"

"Guuu… terrifying woman…"

Noticing that her skin would never dry out outside her Swamp, Nesiphae was so happy that she wrapped us all in her thick snake tail, using her big arms and chest, she give us an incredibly strong hug!

SQUISH!

"Guaaaaaahhhh! This hug is too much!"

"M-Master…! Help!"

"Geeeehhhh…!"

Noticing our suffocated faces, Nesiphae blushed and stopped hugging us.

"Fufufu… I think I went too overboard on Master… I am just very big and sometimes I don't realize my strength…"

After taking some air, I looked at Nesiphae beautiful body and wondered how high her strength stat is.

"Come to think about it, what are your stats?"

"Oh? Master wants to know my strength… Go ahead, fufu…"

| NAME: NESIPHAE CLASS: NONE RACE: HIGH SHADOW MIST LAMIA

| LEVEL 13/60 EXP 1892/4300 STATUS: FINE Item Box: 4/20

| HP: 254/254 MP: 78/78 STAMINA: 171/220

| STRENGTH: 184

| DEFENCE: 93

| MAGIC: 82

| RESISTANCE: 78

| SPEED: 56

| CHARISMA: 63

| LUCK: 0

| SKILLS |

| DRY SKIN | | SHADOW MIST LAMIA BEAUTIFUL CHARMING EYES |

| SHADOW MIST LAMIA HARD SCALES | | HIGH LAMIA MASSIVE STRENGTH |

| HIGH LAMIA CHARMING BEAUTY | | MIST CREATION AND MANIPULATION |

| HIGH MIST AFFINITY | | POISONOUS MIST CLAWS | | POISONOUS MIST BITE |

| TITLES |

| DARK FOREST QUEEN | | DARK SWAMP QUEEN | | NAMED SERVANT |

"Gaah! 184 STRENGTH?! This girl is really a monster! Is it because of her big body?"

"Hehehe… Yes, Master, I'm blessed with an amazing strength! Oh, right… How could I forget our deal? Huumpp! Here!"

Nesiphae took the big chunk of Poisonous Miasma Emerald and handled it to me.

"Such strength… But thanks…"

When I stored the Emeralds inside my Item Box, we talked with Nesiphae about what we were doing and she agreed on accompanying us in this little journey. Though I would had preferred her to go back to our home, she really wanted to explore the outside of the Dark Forest, especially because she was confined to such a little space since she was a child.

"Sigh, If you really want to come with us, It cannot be helped…"

"Really, Master? I am so happy! I can finally go outside! I wonder what dangers and treasures are ahead of us! I can't wait!"

Nesiphae was so excited about finally exploring the outside world that she started to act like a little child, showing her innocent and cute side. Even Wagyu and Rimuru couldn't resist her cuteness!

"A-Ah…! Very well, Nesiphae, we will be comrades from now on"

"Guuu… Nesiphae… Cute…"

"Oh? Yeah! Nice to meet you two, adorable little brothers!"

Nesiphae smile was like her biggest weapon! One single smile and she had all my servants at her disposal!

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We added Nesiphae to our main party for now and we headed to the north, were the Dryad Sanctuary is. I used | LEVITATE | on her for easy traveling, though she freaked out a little about flying but I used my threads to guide her with us.

"Aaahhh~! Such scenery! I have never seen such beauty! Is this the Grand Forest? Its goes so far! I can't even see where it ends! Master! Master, look! Is that the legendary Great Snowy Mountain Wall?"

"(Such a drastic change in attitude…) Y-Yes Nesi! Those are the Great Snowy Mountains, we are going there afterwards!"

"Ooh? Really? Really? I am so excited! I can't wait!"

"Hahaha, Master, Miss Nesiphae has such a childish behavior when it comes to exploring!"

"Guuuu!"

"Hahaha! I guess…"

As we traveled farther from the Dark Forest, the usual greenery scenery of the classic Grand Forest made Nesiphae eyes shine in amusement.

"Ahhh! So this is how the Grand Forest really looks!"

Over us, a big flock of gigantic white birds flew in the distance; they had two pairs of wings instead and had an imposing and majestic look.

"I have never seen these birds, from where did these came from? Anyways, let's catch some"

"Activate skill: | GATE OF BJARMIA: PANDORA'S BOX |!"

FLUOSH!

Suddenly, countless weapon shaped shadow projectiles started to rain over the big flock of massive birds, dropping many corpses on the forest, the other half of the flock managed to run away in fear. My amazing magic performance amazed Nesiphae, who cheered from the distance.

| YOU GAINED 14050 EXP | | THE REST OF YOUR PARTY GAINED 7025 EXP |

| YOU GAINED THREE LEVELS! | | LEVEL 11/40 EXP 2313/5500 |

|PARTY MEMBER: SERVANT WAGYU GAINED TWO LEVELS! | | LEVEL 6/35 EXP 0061/5000 |

| PARTY MEMBER: SERVANT RIMURU GAINED TWO LEVELS! | |LEVEL 8/30 EXP 2066/4100 |

| PARTY MEMBER: SERVANT NESIPHAE GAINED TWO LEVELS! | | LEVEL 15/60 EXP 0217/4500 |

"Ooh Master…! I leveled! Not once, but twice… This is such a fantastic system! Next time, I want to fight too~!"

"A-Ah… Sure Nesi! Let's go down take a break, and we can also eat some of this new bird"

We slowly flew to the ground and picked the bird corpses, these new birds were "Mountain's Holy Swan", and their bodies were around the size of an Elephant from Earth. Having two pairs of massive wings that extended for around 10 meters each, a beautiful golden beak and red eyes, with pale white feathers, if you saw them from below, you would think they were majestic angels traveling through the skies.

Monch Monch

Nesiphae opened her big mouth and gulped ate two birds in just one bite!

"Hmmm, this bird… is very sweet! Munch munch… And juicy!"

We ate around 21 birds out of the 28 we killed, saving the rest for later. As Nesiphae said, these birds were indeed very sweet and their blood was delightful.

| YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR PARTY LEARNED THE FOLLOWING NEW SKILLS |

| MOUNTAIN'S HOLY SWAN FOUR WINGS CREATIONG |

| MOUNTAIN'S HOLY SWAN STRONG GOLDEN BEAK |

| MOUNTAIN'S HOLY SWAN SWIFT BODY |

| HOLY AND LIGHT AFFINITY |

| NOVICE HOLY MAGIC: HOLY ARROWS |

"Aah! So this is what this power really is! The power to obtain the strength of your prey! To have such power… Master, thank you very much…"

Nesiphae hugged my tiny butterfly body on her massive snake tail!

Squish!

"Geeehhh! B-but is fine… Nesiphae is such a beautiful woman… I can die happily squeeze by her…"

"Master…? A-Are you okay?"

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After regaining consciousness, we resumed our journey to the north.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

After some hours of traveling, we came closer and closer to the Ancient Dragon Spikes. Down below I was able to distinguish how the forest slowly became much more verdant, and a new type of trees started to pop up, these were the tallest trees I have ever seen in this world, going for around 30 meters each, the wood, unlike the usual dark wood, was pale white, creating a holy atmosphere. As we approached further below, ruins of an ancient temple started to show up.

"Ruins? Could this be the Dryad Sanctuary? Let's go take a look"

"Hmm!"

"Yes, Master"

"Guuuu!"

Flash! Flash! Flash!

As we landed on the ground, I could give these majestic trees a closer look. Their wood shined with a pale light, and little lumps of light floated around.

"Are these spirits? Or perhaps, Dryads?"

Noticing my interest on these trees, Nesiphae slowly came closer to me.

"Hmm, these aren't normal spirits, Master… These are young Dryads, probably just recently born…"

"Young Dryads? There are so many…"

"Indeed, Dryads are spirits that inhabit on this world taking the form of trees; all these trees are Dryads… The biggest Trees are adult Dryads, while the little lumps of light are the youngest ones, recently born, they lack a tree to live on, and so they live inside their mother's tree until little saplings grow around her"

"I see… Did they have a mating season recently or something?"

"Hmmm… I can't really tell, the Dryads refuse to talk to me anymore, they don't seem to trust us"

"Sigh… Well, no point dragging around, let's go were those Verdant Rose Sapphires are, they usually generate on the middle of this forest, on the largest tree…"

As we traveled ahead, the pale light around the trees became brighter, to the point of making it hard to see where we were going.

Flaash

"Ugh, such bright light…!"

"There must be big concentration of magic and newborn Dryads around…"

"Master, we are getting closer to the center"

"Guuu"

When we finally reached the center of the Dryad Sanctuary, a big and tall tree erected on its center, it was around 50 or more meters tall, surrounded by countless ruins and little lumps of light; it had a mystic feeling on it.

"This must be it… Lets go take a closer look"

"Yes, Master"

"I'll go ahead, Master"

"Guuuuu, me too!"

Wagyu and Rimuru offered themselves to go ahead of us and started sniffing and touching the massive tree, but suddenly, a strong force pushed them aside!

FLUOSH!

"Guuahh!"

"Guuu!"

"Eh? What's going on?!"

"That's… The Dryad Queen!"

The Tree suddenly started to shine as bright as 10 suns!

From this light, a humanoid figure slowly appeared out of thin air.

It had long and green hair, smooth and pale white skin; her body resembled a beautiful woman around her twenties, countless flora and tree roots covered her naked chest and hips.

A beautiful red flower, with countless petals, crowned her head.

Suddenly, she opened her green eyes and stared at us fiercely, and talked on a dominant tone.

"The one who has devoured the 8 Emperors, what business do you have in my forest?"

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