Epic of Caterpillar

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"Well that's that…"

When I was done checking absolutely everything, I felt it was finally time to move out of here and continue our journey. It has only been about two hours since the Wyverns were destroyed and the Evil Dragon defeated by Luminous, which also brought him a super evolution and new Daos to play around with.

In fact, everyone got Daos and amazing buffs to their power through these last fights. I suppose fighting hordes after hordes of monsters really has increased everyone's level a lot. And honestly, I want to keep leveling up, I am quite close to evolving again.

"Now that you're done I guess we should get going." Frank said.

"UWAH! When did you get here?" I asked.

"Eh?! I was always here!" Frank complained. He crossed his arms while raising an eyebrow. "Were you so immersed fanatically looking at your summons skills and stuff? I can tell you're an avid gamer by how obsessed you were about every tiny detail."

"It could be said that's the case…" I said while puffing my chest. "However, you were a bit too silent there…"

"I've always been silent myself." Frank sighed. "I usually just like to mix with the background than bring attention to myself."

Frank looked into the ground.

"I guess that didn't worked at the end. Even less when I suddenly awakened a System… and everything else." He sighed. "My life gave the worst turn possible. At first I thought it was nice, that it was pretty amazing even, but then… My life continued going downhill and downhill… My family…"

"What… happened to your family?" I asked curiously.

"Ah… Nothing." He sighed.

Frank seemed to recall an ugly memory, as he quickly decided to dismiss the whole conversation.

"Well, that's all on the past anyways. There's no point in worrying about these things, right?" Frank sighed. "Everything's alright with them now. I am the only one stranded and kind of weakened over here. Though I am fairly sure there are more of my Soul Fragments nearby. This path that leads from the mountain to the faraway city over there, there's a ton of them."

Collecting his Soul Fragments is a necessity at this point. If I can get him stronger I'll have all his powers to help me beat the Demon King and also use the Cosmic Staircase. Now that the outer space is swarmed by Overseers, we can only use that to go back home.

"My Soul Fragments are dangerous…" Frank said. "You already saw what they did with that Bug Queen, it completely transformed her. We don't know what might happen afterwards. We should hurry."

"Yeah, you're right… The possibilities of what your Soul Fragments can do is quite dangerous." I sighed. "Let's get going then."

The more these Soul Cosmic Fragments are left behind, the more danger they bring to the world in here. It seems that something has made them become more active though. Perhaps Frank's own intervention in here? Or something else entirely…

Nonetheless, I would really like to eat one myself anyways! When I ate one I felt such enormous power! And having that Cosmic Energy flow across my body almost made me think I was cheating the game and acquiring something that I wasn't supposed to attain yet!

…But I must calm down for now. I cannot go betraying his trust by eating his Soul Fragment or something! Right?

"You miss someone, Kireina?"

Frank asked that to me as his eyes flashed with bright cosmic light.

"How could you tell?"

"Well, you're always looking at the sky… I understand that feeling."

"Hm… I guess I do, I miss so many people. I miss my damn family so much… Ugh, I've been stranded in here for only over a month but it has felt like an eternity! And I so dead worried about what everyone is undergoing back in Genesis…" I sighed, feeling like sobbing every time I remember my Rimuru's adorable smile, and everyone else.

"Well yeah I miss my family too. I wasn't really stranded here because of you though. I was looking for my Cosmic Stone Soul Fragments boldly. I knew that without them I would never truly regain my Overseer powers completely. I prepared everything well back home and went into a journey alone. I didn't wanted to bring any of my family or friends with me, the journey was too dangerous for me to risk their lives." Frank said.

"I guess it must be really important that you get them all." I sighed.

"It is the only Path I have to overcome my past and… these bastards that have been pestering my life and my family all this time…" Sighed Frank. "I ended getting attacked more times that I can count. If it wasn't for the aid of Chaos and Abyss, and Veronica and Ervas, I would be probably worse than now."

"Yeah, those guys seem pretty amazing, I bet they helped quite a lot." I said with a nod. "So how did you get here to begin with?"

"Seeking my fragments as I told you…" Said Frank. "I had already recovered ten of them from different worlds. Every time I had to fight a powerful entity that took them and used them to boost their power and become Living Calamities. They were arduous fights, although I grew stronger with each one, but I still need more, more strength…"

"Is there no other ways for you to grow stronger?" I asked.

"Well…" Frank looked into the distance. "Leveling Up with my System is the only way I truly know. And devouring powerful beings. I've devoured every single strong entity I've fought and also got EXP from them to keep leveling. You saw how I ate the souls of the monsters we defeated, right?"

"Yeah I saw, you were stealing them from me though! I wanted to eat those monster souls too!" I complained. "Don't reserve all the damn souls for yourself you damn brat!"

"Ahahaha, okay, okay, I'll leave some for you." He laughed.

"This is no laughing matter!" I complained. "Also you guys wake up already!"

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