Epic of Caterpillar

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The "Ghost Girl" glanced at us with a surprised yet wary look. Her sapphire eyes shined in dim phantasmagoric light. Her white dress danced through the white mist, as her semi-transparent skin released small amounts of magic through the environment. After further inspection, she did have a small Aquamarine colored spherical core on her chest, although it was very small compared to previous monsters, however, it had high concentrations of magic and what seemed to be Soul Energy.

Seeing the power of such a Phantasmal Being, I thought about feeding it to my daughter Amiphossia so she could reach another breakthrough on her body and soul strengthening. However, the moment I was about to capture her, she released a small and feminine voice, of a young woman.

"The living? In the old Desert Graveyard…? How long has it been…?"

Graveyard Desert? What does she mean? Is this the name of these floors in the Forsaken Labyrinth Dungeon? I decided to straightforwardly ask her this question on my mind.

"What do you mean by Graveyard Desert? This is the Forsaken Labyrinth, made by the God of Sand and Earth. And that's how much I know"

"Forsaken… Labyrinth…? Hmm… This Dungeon we are inhabiting has gone through various names… So, it is named Forsaken Labyrinth now… How fitting… It is indeed a Labyrinth… This place…"

Before I could ask her another question, Zehe and Rimuru approached me and stayed ahead of me, and asked the Phantasmal Girl her identity, while having wary looks on their eyes.

"Who are you, guu?"

"You can't just come and talk to us as if we were friends. Are you a monster of the Dungeon?"

The Ghost Girl opened her Sapphire eyes wide while covering her surprised mouth with her semi-transparent and delicate hand.

"Oh…! I have completely forgotten my manners… I am truly sorry… Welcome to the Graveyard Desert Section of the Grand Labyrinth of Gaia… Or well, Forsaken Labyrinth as you call it now…"

The Ghost Girl's aura seemed to be very passive and amicable, but we didn't lower our guard against her as she packed quite a lot of magic density, meaning that she was strong Ghost.

"Although I am intrigued about your past, we are in a hurry, it would be a pity to just ignore you, so perhaps I could feed you to my daughter Amiphossia so she can grow stronger, so you wouldn't be wasted wandering around"

I was completely direct with the Ghost Girl, her power would greatly benefit my daughter, and I really didn't care about who she was, although she was pretty, I saw more benefits on feeding her to Amiphossia than to take her for my sexual desires.

The Ghost Girl was surprised, but her expression, in reality, did not change much, she had a very "calm" expression, and even something as direct to "I'm going to kill you and feed you to my daughter" didn't greatly surprise her. I wondered what she has gone through.

"Ooh… That's… Quite a pity… All of you are very strong, I don't stand a chance, it is better to give up. Perhaps being devoured will free me from this eternal punishment as a Ghostly being…"

Rimuru and Zehe seemed to be happy about my rash and cruel decision, as they gave slight smiles, they seemed to be wary of her as a new potential wife and immediately acted hostile towards her, it surprised me a bit.

Anyways, the Ghost Girl weird personality was very passive, so she just stood floating, while closing her Sapphire eyes, she seemed to be waiting for her end.

"It seems that you don't enjoy your life as Ghost, very well, I will make this quick… Amiphossia, you should be lucky we found such a good specimen for you to eat…! Eh…? Ami?"

Amiphossia was at my left side while looking at me with an angry pout. What did I do wrong? She should be happy that she is getting a delicious meal…

"Mommy, you dummy! How can you say something so cruel to the lady?! I don't want to eat her!"

"Huh? L-Lady? Amiphossia…?"

Amiphossia seemed angry for my quick thinking that benefitted her. Why was that? Too cruel? This Ghost girl just appeared out of nowhere, why would I have to be considerate of her?

"Amiphossia, don't be insolent to me… Explain yourself at the very least…"

"Mommy, don't you feel it? She is actually very sad… I can feel… Her sadness, all over my heart… Eating her would be way too cruel! Even if we are monsters…"

Ohh, I see what is going on… It must be one of Amiphossia's abilities after mutating her soul, now she feels very closer to Ghosts type of beings, although she mindlessly devoured a ton before, those were just small unintelligent Ghosts. Now that she came across a sentient Ghost with strong emotions, she must have felt them entirely through her Soul… Perhaps her Ghost Charm affects her partially as well. This made her very empathic against Intelligent Ghosts with strong emotions, as she felt them all herself as well.

"Sigh… I think I've figured it out… I'm sorry, Amiphossia, I wasn't wary about your other abilities. It must have been painful to experience this Ghost's emotions. However, this just makes me want to get rid of her faster so you can stop feeling like that"

Amiphossia seemed to be even more angered by what I said, especially that last statement.

"N-No! Don't kill her… Mommy, please?"

Amiphossia seemed angered but at the same time acknowledged my strength, and didn't want to defy me aggressively, opting for a request instead… Of course, she is my adorable daughter which I love very much, so her crying scarlet eyes and her blushed cheeks won me over already, without her knowing at all.

"Sigh… Alright, alright… But first, what are you going to do with her? Will you make her your servant?"

"I want to help her!"

"H-Help her?!"

The Ghost Girl was calmly looking at us chatting, while RImuru and Zehe glanced at us with confused expressions on their faces. The rest of my family was divided between the ones hunting monsters around, completely ignoring what was going on, and others calmly analyzing the situation.

Amiphossia nodded happily, wiping out the small tears that she was releasing from her big scarlet eyes. And then, she explained to me some things. Without even talking with the Ghost Girl, Amiphossia already knew her whole story and name, and I quickly realized that her powers had way more depth to them than I though. Amiphossia could read Phantasmal or Ghost beings' souls completely, just by glancing at them while sensing their auras, it was incredible.

Perhaps we did not discover this before because in our Kingdom there was always summoned Undead, and Redgaria most probably sealed his soul from being seen by others, the same could be said for Herbell, the rest of the new Undead are new, and didn't have long and tragic pasts. Another thing is that she may have just awakened this recently after evolving her Soul and eating a lot of Ghosts.

Nonetheless, I patiently listened to Amiphossia's words, she slowly described the Ghost Girl story. I was quite surprised that the Ghost Girl herself didn't willingly explain at all what was her past, and seemed to be drifting in the air, without any purpose. I even thought that she may have fallen asleep or was meditating without her realizing it.

Anyways, her story is quite long, but I will resume it a bit. This Ghost Girl's true name is Geraldine Fairisles, she was once the daughter of a Noble House in Athetosea, and had her own Epic, being deeply connected with a Hero from the past, to be precise, it was around three hundred years ago that she came here. With the Hero party as well, the Hero on specific was none other than the Sun Hero, Sol.

She held powerful Ice magic, capable of both offense, defense, and healing. In her Epic she was renowned as the [Benevolent Maiden of Tundra]. The Sun Hero, Sol, gathered his party to explore this Dungeon after sealing what she called the big bad Wyvern, which I assumed for it to be the Wyvern Overlord in the past…

Through this Dungeon, they went through hardships and also were rewarded with treasures. However, in a decisive battle against the Ninth Boss of this Dungeon, Geraldine protected the Hero from a fatal hit, taking it on his place, even her healing magic and that of her companions couldn't heal her terrible wounds, which smashed all of her internal organs, she died while Sol cried at her side.

One could say that it was a tragic death, yet it didn't have anything too bad about it, she just died, knowing how dangerous this place was. By simply analyzing the story, there shouldn't be anything that would have made Geraldine reborn as a Ghost, without any negative emotions, right?

Well, that's where the story becomes quite crazy. Geraldine was in actuality betrayed by a fellow companion, who was jealous of her beauty and that Sol was primarily in love with her. This woman was named Annabella Down and was titled as the [Phantom Dark Witch].

By slowly manipulating the battle, she settled just the right course of action for Geraldine to give her life to save Sol, of course, Geraldine wouldn't have known if it wasn't for Annabella, who willingly told her how much she hated her for her "goodie two shoes" personality when Geraldine's soul was drifting away.

Using her Phantasmal and Shadow Magic, Annabella, behind the Hero and the party's back, cursed Geraldine's soul to never rest in peace, and converted her into a Lower Rank Ghost, trapping her inside the Dungeon…

Since then, Geraldine has been slowly building sad emotions and resentment over never confronting the evil Annabella. Through the years, these emotions have been slowly increasing her strength, as, by the rules of this world, a Ghost is stronger the more resentment for the living it has. She had also devoured smaller Ghosts, and evolved once, some years ago, becoming a Rank 2 Ghost. Ghosts have ranks similar to Souls, most probably because they are deeply connected.

Talking about Yurei, she doesn't have Ranks because she is a Chimera, made with two Slimes, and one Wraith from the Water Shrine Dungeon using [Synthesis], after naming her, she transformed into what she is now. The System doesn't see her as a "true ghost".

Anyways, going back to the story, Geraldine wants some kind of revenge, even if her calm and relaxed personality doesn't tell that. However, this revenge is very unrealistic, that Witch must be already dead anyway but telling her that is no going to change anything.

"But Amiphossia, how are you even going to help her then?"

"Maybe... Not today, or tomorrow, but someday, we can find that Witch remains, or her descendants, so Geraldine can curse them or something…!"

"…"

I almost forgot that my daughter is indeed very immature, what she's talking about is very unrealistic. Nonetheless, Geraldine can work as a new servant for her, and perhaps a good friend.

Geraldine had another request too, even if it wasn't going to fulfill her desires, it would greatly make her feel better. She wants the fossilized remains of her body to be disposed of. Burnt, eaten, whatever, she was fine with anything, as long as they were destroyed.

The Curse that maintains her Ghost trapped in the Dungeon uses her fossilized corpse as a catalyst. Her corpse is currently hidden beneath the ninth Boss room floor. Even if they are just bones by now, the Curse is tightly using them as a catalyst.

Amiphossia obviously promised Geraldine that we would do it, with a happy smile.

Now that I remember about it, her willingness to help the Ghost Girl doesn't only come from Amiphossia's Phantasmal abilities, but from her [Compassion], a Skill that she was born with, perhaps due to Heavenly Medicine Magic.

This [Compassion] is what has driven her to want to help so much in the nursery team of my Kingdom as well. She just likes to help the unfortunate and weak, or the ones that suffer. However, this doesn't blind her from enemies, and even if she can understand their suffering, she wouldn't doubt in slaying them if they aren't friends or allies.

The Ghost Girl, Geraldine, deeply thanked Amiphossia for her friendliness and promise, and due to Amiphossia's Charm to Ghosts, Geraldine was already becoming very loyal with my daughter. There wasn't any need for a contract or something, but I still made them do one, using [Soul Connection] and [Soul Contract] in both of their souls. With this, I could finally relax and know that Geraldine wouldn't backstab my daughter.

"Thank you very much, Lady Amiphossia… You are very good with me…"

"It is fine, Geraldine, I promise you that we will find a way for you to accomplish your desires!"

"Haah~! Lady Amiphossia, thank you very much… Its been so long since I've talked with a friend… Hmm… Oh? What were we talking about, Lady Amiphossia?"

It seems that Geraldine's unstable emotions make her forget things sometimes, Amiphossia is very patient about it and treats her very well despite this annoying issue. She said that if Geraldine raises in Ranks and evolves more, she will be able to maintain her mind clearer and not forget as much.

And so, we sweep through this floor, killing Ghosts, Skeletons, and other Undead. My family was very understanding of this, thankfully. And Nesiphae was proud of her daughter's benevolence. Geraldine seems rather shy with others except for Amiphossia, who she is more open with.

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