Epic Of Caterpillar

-----

The figure of a young man, seemingly in his early twenties stood in a completely dry and eerie landscape.

The landscape was covered in black and gray stones, cracked surfaces, and terrifying peaks covered in sickly green, purple or red clouds.

Amongst the darkness of such world, terrifying beings roamed freely, with rotten bodies and decaying appearances, but enormous and eerie crimson eyes, sharp claws, sturdy and dry scales, and razor-sharp fangs. Some of them were flying atop the clouds, predating each other, while others had their wings too rotten and roamed in the land, hunting each other, or slumbering in the depths of this dark world.

The young man had pale-white skin and dark eyes with crimson irises, his hair was black with various red strands, and various areas of his body, from his neck, shoulders, arms, and legs, were covered in gray and dark blue scales. On his back, there were large, almost four meters long draconic wings of the same colors as his scales.

The young man was currently completely naked, showcasing his muscular body to the dark world while smiling eerily.

"Now come! I am right here, don't you find my body appetizing?" he said with a cynical tone on his voice, calling over the various creatures around this dark world, which rushed towards him with voracious appetites, opening their jaws wide open as their crimson eyes flashed in bloodlust.

The young man waited for the gigantic beasts to approach him, all of such beasts being Divine Beasts with strength at least comparable to a Rank 7 Living Deity.

"GROWL!"

"GYAAOO!"

"GYGYAGYAGYA!"

Slashing claws, talons, razor-sharp fangs, tongues, tentacles, green-colored flames, foul-smelling breaths, and blue and phantasmagoric flames rained upon the young man, who released a small shockwave of dark energy to get rid of the long-ranged attacks, while still standing in the middle of the landscape, the monster rushed towards him and opened their jaws, the first that was to get him would get a tasty meal.

However, when all of the Divine Beasts were all tightly packed and about to eat him alive, the young man extended his arms, which grew at a monstrous size, then his legs, torso, head, and wings. His entire body grew in size as he transformed into a powerful Zombie Dragon, receiving the other monsters with his jaws wide and open and beginning to feast in them.

"Hmmm! This… I can't enough of this!" he laughed.

Before Zudig had taken over David's Legendary Hero body, he had always eaten Divine Beasts for food, but never felt that they brought as much strength as now…

"With Divinity Devouring Skill… I can assimilate the complete power of what I devour! I have eaten dozens of such Divine Beasts before… but never they had felt so delicious as of now! Every day I devour, my power surges to greater heights! I might still be a Demigod, but my power had already surpassed a Rank 1 God, even if my cultivation hasn't increased!" said Zudig, the giant Zombie Dragon.

His soul was being nourished by devouring the souls of Divine Beasts, and although his cultivation itself did not increase that much, he felt that his own powers in the means of stats and skills kept increasing, almost to the point of being comparable to a Rank 1 God… and thanks to Divinity Devouring, any of his skills would always be able to deal damage to any Divine Being, he even had the potential of damaging Great or even… Supreme Gods.

When Zudig finally had his feast, eating even the bones of the Divine Beasts without leaving anything at all, he felt that he had gained even more Skills and stats, which he began to fuse to create even more powerful abilities.

"My soul has mutated three times since it hit Rank 8! It slowly becoming… a being of its own! So, this is what Kireina can do, huh? But not yet… I am not on her level yet… If I manage to devour Begudhur… I might," said Zudig with a smile, as he slowly shapeshifted back to his humanoid form.

Then, he created a portal to leave his Divine Realm, where he landed in a pitch-black space, this was the pocket space created by Kheseerad, the Demon God of Foreign Trespassing.

"You're finally back from your dinner. You are a god and an Undead at that. Why must you eat to sustain yourself?" asked Kheseerad in an annoyed expression. Although they had stomachs and could absorb nutrients from what they ate, Gods were immortal beings, and they did not even need to eat food to sustain themselves, nor even go to the bathroom.

However, Zudig had been having three meals a day almost religiously, this was because he was capable of acquiring power from eating the thousands of Divine Beasts inhabiting his Divine Realm, which naturally spawned there through the many years that he lived as a Demigod.

"Since I acquired this new body and powers… I have been developing a great hunger, that cannot be easily satiated" said Zudig with a smile.

Aside from him wanting to grow stronger through these religious three meals a day, Zudig slowly began to become voracious and his appetite grew almost endlessly after acquiring Divinity Devouring and eating his first meal, which was his divine physical body itself.

A hunger rather similar to Kireina, but because Zudig didn't have the ability to eat himself to sustain his appetite through Uroboros like Kireina, he wasn't capable of helping himself an eat voraciously… but as he advanced in power, he slowly began to desire greater prey, while the weaker Divine Beasts slowly made his appetite not calm itself as much.

At first, he only ate once a week, but this quickly became three a week, then once per day, two per day, until three meals a day, which included a dozen of Divine Beasts. Zudig had also begun to purchase Divine Beasts in the Interdimensional Merchant Shop, but because alive Divine Beasts were rather expensive, even those with strength comparable to Rank 1 Living Deities, he was having a hard time finding something appetizing that he could afford… and selling his own Divine Beasts wasn't working well, because not many could benefit from Zombie-type Divine Beasts, which was a rather rare Divinity, perhaps a few Demon Gods purchased his goods, but they were not enough to sustain Zudig's income as much.

Due to his ever-growing desire to grow strong and devour, raising to the pinnacle and conquering Genesis, he ended up creating a temporary alliance with Kheseerad, in exchange for promising to reveal the God his secrets whenever he was satisfied with the services he was offered with.

And by using Kheseerad's powers, he infiltrated Nyzzet's Dungeon after learning that Kireina had entered to conquer it and that somehow, the presence of Begudhur had awakened from its slumber deep within the Labyrinth.

Begudhur was ideal for Zudig's growth, and it even fitted his Divinity quite well, he desired to devour him before Kireina would steal it from his grasp… But he also did not know that Begudhur had acquired the same powers as him, and was currently undergoing a metamorphosis that would transcend him into a being similar to him… or perhaps even stronger, more comparable to Kireina than Zudig.

"Hm, we have reached another of these pathetic Elder Dragons Nations? It is very ridiculous how they think that raising monsters into semi-intelligent beings would give them a head start whenever they are raised to godhood… The weakling always thinks like weaklings after all," said Kheseerad, his entire body was made out of a white, almost transparent jewel-like material in the shape of a large, almost thirty meters tall arachnid, and his face couldn't really create facial expressions, but if he could, there would only be scorn and disgust on it. 

"Although eating these Elder Dragons might be interesting, Begudhur is more important… His presence is quickly becoming stronger for some reason, so we better reach him before Kireina… And for her and this Nation, let us leave her another few gifts… It seems that she ate all of the other ones I left to her, fufu" laughed Zudig, opening his Divine Realm and releasing dozens of Divine Beasts into the Dungeon.

"And you're fine with her eating these Divine Beasts? Aren't you strengthening at the end, Zudig?" asked Kheseerad.

"I am. But it is a cheap price to pay for maintaining her distracted, I do not desire to fight her… for now. I must avoid her at all cost and grow separately… and whenever there is a chance, I will steal her growth opportunities! And we shall start with Begudhur, my dear friend" said Zudig.

"I am not your friend, Zudig. But I understand your point. I hope that Begudhur isn't too hard for you though," said Kheseerad, as he closed the pocket space, he and Zudig were in, moving through a different layer of space towards their destination.

And where they were, a group of giant beasts began to rampage the wildlife, to eat any monster around and to slowly make their ways towards the High Gillman Nation…

Meanwhile, as Zudig and Kheseerad moved towards their prey, Begudhur, Demigod of Parasitism slowly felt as if his soul began to evolve and mutate…

His soul had already experienced what was eating itself, and was now continuing to do so as it mutated and evolved through his metamorphosis… alongside a newly forged Divine Body, made by merging hundreds of strong monsters in the depths of the Labyrinth.

The flesh entwined together inside the cocoon, mutating, dividing, and merging alongside the soul… both aspects of Begudhur began to converge, releasing a strange and similar presence to what Kireina produced… Soon, Begudhur would be reborn.

Unlike any other god, Begudhur's unique Divinity granted him the ability to make any mortal host he took over into his 'perfect mortal vessel', the desired vessel that many gods looked for to finally acquire the unique powers that Kireina and Zudig possessed.

Such a powerful vessel, strong enough to take on the Gods' entire Divine Soul and power and even adapt to it were incredibly rare, and only those born and trained as Legendary Heroes, children of the World's Epic would be capable of such feats… aside from certain individuals that had different powers that could make anything they were or became into the 'ideal vessel', such as Begudhur.

Instead, Kireina went backward compared to any gods… as she did it when she was still a mortal, acquiring a divine soul by herself without even raising to godhood yet. She was the one that discovered the Divinity Devouring Skill after forcing herself over and over to consume and digest Divine Energy when she explored the Forsaken Labyrinth.

The unique powers of the Divinity Devouring Skill, a power capable of ignoring the laws of the world, a power that only two… no, three beings known by all had acquired, albeit, inside of Kireina's family, all of her children without exception possessed it alongside Rimuru and her adopted daughter Nirah, the reincarnation of Megusan.

Although her wives were not capable of grasping the power yet… Kireina knew that sooner or later they would be able to thanks to her Enlightenment and Blessing.

It could be said that with so many with the possession of the Divinity Devouring Skill, it would not become something as unique… but Begudhur, due to his unique Divinity, had begun to awaken a power latent within himself, which was also rather similar to the one that Kireina already had.

"The power to consume my own self… to satiate my undying hunger! My metamorphosis… is slowly reaching its climax!"

Begudhur's flesh began to pulsate inside of the cocoon, and his metamorphosis suddenly hastened… he had reached a breakthrough point on his transformation. His entire being began to transform for its last time! He was being reborn, he felt revitalized, anew, and relaxed. He felt as if he was no longer that weak and pathetic critter, but he had become something greater and higher.

"I will be reborn… anew! Begudhur shall remain in the past… the World has given me a new name… Uroboros!"

Inside of Begudhur's consciousness, a mechanical message resonated.

[Begudhur]'s Divine Epic has awakened!]

[Begudhur] has awakened into the [Chaotic Insatiable Worm of Self-Gluttony: Ouroboros]!]

[Begudhur] has gained the status of [World's Enemy: Primordial Beast]!]

"The Primordial Beasts… Yes…! I've felt as if this was always… my destiny!"

By having acquired the forbidden powers that Kireina had through his own means, Begudhur awakened as a creature that was destined to make the entire world tremble.

Destiny reveals itself, as the Supreme Goddess of Fate and Destiny laughs eerily, towards the future that awaits Genesis… and Kireina.

"Did you like this, little pawn? Fufufu… Now I wonder what you will do now! Don't disappoint me, Kireina!"

Even the Supreme Gods were not glancing at such an interesting being as Kireina, and at the environment that she constantly changed.

Due to her own powers, the creation of a Primordial Beast was hastened.

Creatures that should not be appearing in Genesis for the next thousands of years…

-----