Epic of Caterpillar

Nannet received the news with great surprise, it has been years since a new Monster Wave had appeared around her Nation, this being most likely because she and her mother and sisters had done a 'mass cleansing' into the dungeon, fighting and killing most of the strongest monsters around while destroying their hives or hideouts, so it would become hard for them to reproduce quickly or reappear with more frequency in the floors 80 to 89…

Although she knew that from that down below, monsters still kept spawning and appearing one after another. However, due to the differences in the size of the floors, some of the enormous monsters would often not go up willingly, staying around the floors where they were born, and preying in the vast amount of monsters down there instead of going upwards looking for small prey that could not satisfy them.

"This is…"

Nannet was a bit shocked about this and even worried, seemingly trying to contact her mother and sisters through the System Direct Message Function that would often appear in groups of people bonded through strong loyalty or family blood, however, the three of them wouldn't respond to her.

"They're not responding either. Are they busy?" she thought, as Nannet then glanced back at the System window when it flashed, with a 'ding!' sound, a message finally appeared from her mother Goghesdum.

"Ah, mother!" she said, glancing at the text.

["Nannet, come outside, hurry"]

"Huh? Hurry? What is…" Nannet felt alarmed, flying out of the palace as she told her priest to maintain the Nation secure and to activate the defense mechanisms.

"Torgel, I will go investigate, activate the nation's defense mechanism and tell the people to remain in calm!" said Nannet, flying away from the palace through the flapping of her large and scaled wings, which had purple membranes in a similar color to her scales.

She used her Aura to cover her boy and fly outside of the bubble-like substance that surrounded the Gillmen Nation, diving through the deep lake and then jumping outside of the lake towards the surface.

Finally, Nannet was able to glance at the situation with more detail…

"What?!"

I front of her, just two to three kilometers away there was a giant band of enormous dragon-like monsters that released a deadly and oppressive Aura that made even her, an Elder Dragon, tremble.

Through their enormous steps, the creatures expanded their Auras across the landscape, infecting it and changing it, as if their whole presence contaminated their surroundings.

"What is this… grotesque presence? These creatures… such overwhelming power…!"

Nannet even thought for a moment that such creatures should not even belong into this world, their power vastly surpassed what she had ever felt before from her mother, who she thought was the strongest being in the dungeon aside from the last Boss at Floor 100.

Not only these creatures were simply 'strong', but they were coated in a power that made them something else, a power that made mortals chill in fear and instinctively try to either escape or kneel pathetically, forcing them to await punishment from higher creatures than themselves.

Nannet noticed as their bodies were decaying and rotten, and their eyes were lifeless yet eerie and filled with bloodlust, the bloodlust, and thirst to devour the fresh blood and flesh of the living.

"U-Undead… Dragons? Zombie Dragons? I've never seen such things in here… only Goghesdum- mother, had told me about them before…" thought Nannet as she glanced at her surroundings, finding a large spark of light appear in the sky, surrounded by dark lightning and an enormous shadow that covered the landscape from the light of the artificial sun.

Nannet was already surprised by the Zombie Dragons, which were in fact the Divine Beasts released by Zudig, the Dragon Zombie Demigod. But when she glanced at the enormous, dark-colored metallic snake atop the sky, which glanced at her with a dozen of crimson-colored eyes across its entire and elongated body, she felt, even more, overwhelmed… she has not even changed into her Elder Dragon form, but due to the paralysis that these impactful events caused to her, she was moving even less and could not even be capable of defending if these creatures were to ever move towards her and tried to kill her or even worst, devour her…

"What do I do?! W-Where is my mother?! W-Why did she told me to get out quickly!?" thought Nannet in concern and fear, she was still fairly too young. Although Yvnei was known as clumsy, she was at least twice the age of Nannet, and could handle and adapt to things a bit better than herself… but Nannet, although she was serious and more mature, was still young and inexperienced, making her paralyzed while trembling in fear.

Then, she slowly directed her gaze to the enormous Zombie Dragons moving towards her with great haste, as one in the middle of them, which had a long body with only two legs opened its rotten maw, unleashing a sickly, green-colored breath of corrosive and decaying poison.

Nannet was too paralyzed, and was about to take the hit head-on!

"Noo!"

However, the enormous metallic snake atop the sky opened its crimson eyes wide, channeling a strange and overwhelming dark energy from them, which was fired as a dozen of dark and red-colored eye laser beams towards the breath released by the Zombie Dragon.

Flash!

Boom!

The beams made the breath explode before hitting Nannet, as the beams then directed their attack towards the enormous Zombie Dragon leading the group, blasting it into pieces in an instant!

"GROWL!"

The Zombie Dragon groaned in pain as Nannet heard the sound of glass cracking into pieces, the soul of the beast was broken into glass-like pieces which then instantly dissipated as if they were evaporated by the dark and red beams.

The rotten and decaying flesh was grilled and torn apart, enormous limbs falling all across the landscape, destroying small forests, or seeping deep within uninhabited lakes or swamps.

"Gah…"

Nannet could not even muster a word. She had been just saved by the enormous monster atop the sky, which she feared even more than the Zombies… but could that monster even meant good intentions, or was it here just to have a bite on the Zombie Dragons just by passing by?

But then, before Nannet considered some way of trying to communicate with it, three familiar voices resonated from within the area near the enormous metallic snake dragon in the sky.

"Nannet!"

"Little sister, we are back!"

"What are you doing there all frozen, Nannet?"

The enormous metallic snake dragon then opened a strange portal in space, where three rather familiar humanoid forms of three Elder Dragons appeared from within, flying with their wings towards the paralyzed Nannet.

"Huh? Mother? Big sisters Yvnei and Odanth!"

Nannet was even more confused now… but at least her mind seemed to have settled down for a bit after seeing three familiar faces and voices… although she only saw her mother's humanoid form very rarely…

Then, she noticed their dresses…

"Eh? Are those Maid Dresses?" she asked.

Goghesdum and Yvnei flushed in embarrassment while Odanth only posed and showcased her curses.

"Please, we'll talk about this later…" muttered Goghesdum in great embarrassment.

"I honestly just want to end this… b-but Kireina-sama was so happy when we wore them… Sigh… And we own her so much…" muttered Yvnei.

"Unlike these two, I love it! Don't you think it looks nice in me?" said Odanth with a smile.

"E-Eh?! Who's Kireina-sama? And it does look pretty in you, Odanth nee-sama" said Nannet.

Goghesdum, Odanth, and Yvnei then pointed to the skies… to the enormous metallic snake dragon.

"That's Kireina-sama," said Goghesdum.

"She likes to show off, she can transform a lot… She's a goddess by the way" said Yvnei.

"She's the prettiest woman I've ever seen before! Well, when she is on her fairy form… She also has an enormous amount of wives and children, I don't know how she can ever have children with other women, but I would like to find out someday fufu" said Odanth quite mischievously.

"A Goddess?! Fairy form? Transform? Enormous harem?! Children?! Wait, you want to have… s-sex with that thing, nee-sama?!" asked Nannet to Odanth.

"I think we should leave that conversation for another day, my ancestors!" said another maid girl, Yerze Hazass who flew towards the four from within the portal.

"Ah, isn't she your apostle, Goghesdum-sama?" asked Odanth.

"Ah, Yerze-chan~!" said Yvnei.

"Yerze, it is too dangerous in here!" said Goghesdum.

"But I want to fight! And Kireina-sama permitted me! She even granted me these strange Magic Rings that can transform into magic armors" said Yerze, showing her left hand which had three rings, one was dark, the other purple, and the other red.

"Oh, it's Yerze… Wait, fight?! We are fighting those things!?" asked Nannet in disbelief, glancing at Kireina who was using her eyes laser beams to maintain the charge of Zombie Dragons in check.

"Yes! She also told me to say 'transformation!' when I was to use them! They're a new prototype version of a type of transformation armor!" said Yerze, yelling 'transformation!' just afterward.

Right in front of Goghesdum, Odanth, Yvnei, and Nannet, Yerze's three rings shined in their respective colors light, from dark, purple, and red!

The three rings light covered Yerze's body, as the light began to shape and enlarge around her body into a superpowered armor suit of magical properties, which then solidified and became 'real'. It was as if the magic carefully designed the armor and then another spell was triggered, solidifying the entire construct.

Yerze's body was covered in a beautiful set of alluring and slightly revealing armor which resembled more like a full-body suit, the areas that seemed to 'show' skin, where in fact just transparent, and were there only for the aesthetic purposes of Kireina's desires.

The Elder Dragon Apostle felt that her entire body was protected by thin yet incredibly strong coverture of power, that could even be said to have some Divine Properties.

The full armor bodysuit had spiky and demonic features, but also had the helmet in the shape of the upper jaw of a furious dragon, alongside having its own metallic wings, a long armor for Yerze's tail, and a new pair of arms for her… the armor even came with an artificial weapon included. The whole armor bodysuit was covered in magic jewels and orbs as well, releasing a strong magical aura, which converged perfectly with Yerze's.

Although Yerze's strength was not comparable at all with an Elder Dragon, the pinnacle of Mortals within Dragons, it could be said that by just wearing this transformation equipment, her Rank had gone all the way up from Rank 8 of the Mortal Realm to Rank 12 or even 13 if she were to use the full power!

"W-What with that armor?! Is that really just a magic item?! That feels like… Is that you, Yerze?" asked Nannet to Yerze.

"Of course I am! With the enlightenment of Kireina-sama and her super armor, I can do everything now! Let us destroy these monsters and protect the innocent Gillmen!" said Yerze, as if her personality had gone through a large shift since she began to 'follow' Kireina.

"Alright, let's go!" said Goghesdum.

"We'll surely kill more now!" said Yvnei.

"I wonder if I could get the Maid outfit upgraded to transform like that?" wondered Odanth.

Then, Goghesdum, Odanth, and Yvnei transformed into their dragon forms and flew alongside Yerze towards the Zombie Dragons, while Nannet was left behind.

"Just what is happening?! And the Maid outfits even remain when they transform into Elder Dragons…?"

Then, from within Kireina's large body, a large, red-colored slime jumped towards Nannet, covering her entirely for a few seconds before sitting at her shoulder.

"Eh?! What is this? Buaggh… I think I drank a bit of it…" muttered Nannet, trying to get rid of Kireina's Slime Clone.

"I am one of Kireina's bodies! Your entire city is at risk of being destroyed! Think about the people! Stop being so stubborn, now fight! Explanations later!" said the Slime.

"W-What?! I-I… Very well…! I cannot simply falter at such a situation!" said Nannet, transforming into her Elder Dragon form, in similar form to Goghesdum's form, but shaped more smoothly and with a longer tail, resembling that of a snake.

Flying towards her family alongside one of Kireina's Slime Clones at her shoulders to guide her through the battle, Kireina glanced from the skies.

"Good job, Charlotte, it seems that the prototype isn't having any issues… It has increased Yerze's potential to an even greater height than I expected!" said Kireina.

"It's all thanks to you, Kireina. Your enlightenment had made me realize the final touches before creating this new prototype alongside Kusuri and Kajiya! By using your split souls as the 'demon' and the rings carefully crafted with the help of your clones and even a bit of the gods, we have finally managed to perfect the prototype of this new generation of Transformation Equipment! Even Redgaria was left in surprise in how much we have improved since the original design of his Demon Rings!" said Charlotte with inspiration.

"Well done, and we have enough for everyone, especially those that don't prefer to wield my flesh to fight…" said Kireina.

Suddenly, her enormous and metallic snake-like body divided a small piece of itself, while the bigger one flew towards another direction, chasing the gods that she had detected in the deepest floors of the dungeon.

The smaller body clone that remained in the sky over the High Thunder Gillmen Nation began to divide itself into many dark-colored egg-like spheres, which descended from the sky and transformed into enormous giants of all shapes, forms, and colors.

"Ah, the reinforcements are here!" said Yerze, as the giants made out of Kireina's flesh appeared, each one containing part of her family, mostly her children, which she preferred to leave in here to fight against the familiar enemies instead of confronting Gods.

A large massacre and slaughter then unfolded, as each giant began to rip apart and destroy into pieces the enormous Zombie Dragons, Divine Beasts that should be feared by every mortal with all types of flashy and colorful attacks.

"We better hurry to get some Experience Points before Kireina-sama's children take it all, Nannet!" said Goghesdum.

"E-Eh? O-Okay!" said Nannet, flying alongside her mother and fighting against the Zombie Dragons with Kireina's Slime Clone help.