Epic of Caterpillar Chapter 40: The Treacherous Kraken Witch: Mady

After finishing the trading contract and having a fulfilling breakfast, I told Caspian and Belle that we would go around the city and explore it first before going back to our Kingdom, we can't stay much longer as there is the impending invasion of the last troops of the necromancer coming in a day or two.

Belle and Caspian were kind of let down about this but wished us good luck nonetheless, we would keep contact through the System direct message function.

We won't be able to exchange population for now, so I told Caspian to maintain the city doors closed to anyone and to lay down, so the necromancer does not notice them.

I will also leave tons of traps using my skill | DEADLY TRAP | around the entire lake, which will cast a strong magic shield if anything attacks them.

"Very well, we wish you good travels, Lady Kireina, Lady Zehe, Lady Nesiphae, Lady Rimuru, Sir Wagyu and Sir Kekensha"

"P-Please take care! I'm very worried about this Undead wave… Its infuriating that we can't do anything about it…"

Caspian calmed down her sister.

"I also feel extremely guilty over leaving Lady Kireina and her Kingdom the total protection of the Grand Forest, but there isn't any other way. We mermen have grown too weak, we must start training again! Even my old bones will have to workout now! But for now, we will support you in supplies and food as much as we can, because that's the only thing we have plenty for now"

I nodded.

"Don't worry, Belle, Caspian. With your supplies and food support is more than enough, we have tackled down two big armies already, my people are quite experienced"

Belle and Caspian waved their hands as they said their farewells to us.

When we finally got outside the castle walls, we decided to explore around the city before completely leaving, exploring the countless shops and facilities. There was a lot to do.

The city was large and overflowing with people everywhere, people of every race was enjoying their daily lives, countless families were living in harmony, some little mermen kids were playing around while some families were enjoying some delicious food in a restaurant. What I noticed is that mostly everyone had a couple, merfolk doesn't like to stay alone and quickly find a partner to stay their entire lives with. Be it of their same race or not.

There were more inter species couples than same species ones. And I saw loads of hybrids too, with characteristics of Eelmen and Mershark, creating Long Mersharks, or even Mermaid with Scyllas, creating a race named Kraken, which had both tentacles and a fish tail. Some inter species couples would have a pure race child, so I assumed that the chance of giving birth to an hybrid are low.

There were also couples of two hybrids, creating a child with four race combinations, one would think that they would look like some kind of eldritch abomination, however, these children seemed like a beautiful creation between races, most of them had tentacles as their hair, while having a long and slimy tail, some would have the fins of sharks on their back, or others would have the beautiful gills of a merman. As I appraised these interesting hybrids, I found out that most had unique names as races, some were "High Kraken Shark" others had the lower half of a Tritonia with the tentacle hair and a big conch on their back, these were "Armored Ancient Tritonia", so I assumed they had inherited ancient genes while being an hybrid.

The genetic mutation potential on this city people was outstanding, creating countless new races every year. Most people were living happily with jobs and shops, so mostly no one trained to level up and become stronger, wasting their amazing potential away.

"Just by appraising some people I can already see outstanding talent, some of these people could become incredible warriors, mostly hybrids, who are born with the shared traits of all the races they are made of. Like that little Armored Ancient Tritonia girl, she has both Scyllas Hypnosis and Illusion magic skills, while also having Tritonias Earth magic and an incredible defense stat…"

My wives and servants listened to my observations carefully.

"There is also that Kraken Shark boy over there, he inherited the Eelmaids powerful Thunder magic, while also possessing incredible Strength for its level, all these younglings would become promising rookies… (I wish I could eat some… Hmm… Perhaps?)"

After I finished analyzing this people, I let my servants to go exploring the cities while I explored on my own.

My wives didn't liked this idea so much.

"Eeeh? B-But we were going to eat together…"

"Guuu…"

"Ah! Don't worry, I just have something that I need to do around, I will go right back to you after finishing, I can't wait to eat with all of you"

"Well, if you say so…"

"Guuu… Don't take too long, guuu!"

After leaving my servants, I quickly moved through the city and used my separate split bodies in the form of bats to analyze the streets around me.

"Found them"

What was I looking for? Those are lowlife thugs, bandits, assassins, etc. Those people that no one cares about their dying or not, I will lure some out and eat them, the more hybrids the better.

I was able to quickly lure some thugs out from the streets, a beautiful lady like me walking alone is a pretty nice bait, I also sealed my strong aura to make them think that I'm just a weak fairy tourist.

The thugs that followed me were a group of five, they were sneaking around the streets slowly tracking me, I purposely went to a dead end and waited for them.

One of the thugs, that seemed like the leader came holding a blue colored knife, he was a Kraken Shark, every time he smiled, he showed his sharp shark teeth.

"Gehehehe, what is a beautiful fairy lady like you coming to these parts of the city? Are you lost, sweety? We could help you out! Hehehe"

The other four thugs quickly joined their leader, there was an Eel Shark, an Armored Kraken, a Mermaid woman and a big and muscular Tritonia.

I wanted to play along them a bit longer so they get close enough to me.

"A-Ah… E-Excuse me sir… I got a little lost… Uh, w-why are you holding a knife…?"

"Oh? This? This is just my friend… We can help you out, for a price, how about giving us all your valuable things? Oh, and those clothes you're wearing too…"

"E-Eh? W-Why would I do that?"

The other thug finally came closer, seeing my frailness.

"Just give all your things nicely… And we might let you off…"

"Yeah… Maybe we could touch your adorable body a little bit first…"

"Not a bad idea brother… Hehe- Eh?!"

Fluosh!

I quickly let off of my aura and also casted a small magic zone, trapping the thugs and me inside.

"E-Eh? W-What the heck is this?!"

"It's a magic zone?! How could such weak- Aahh!"

The thugs noticed my strong and intimidating aura, as if a big specter made of countless souls looked over them with a death gaze.

Some of the thugs literally piss themselves in fear.

The Mershark girl fell down to the ground, trembling, fearing for her life.

"Y-You fucking bitch! You tricked us! You are actually a monster!"

"W-We are done for…"

"P-Please spare me!"

The Mershark girl had a desperate expression on her face, with countless scars over her muscular body, her hair was red colored with golden eyes.

"(I didn't come here to kill a cute girl… Sigh… Maybe I could enslave her and then brainwash her? But how will I explain this to my party? Uuh… I'll just say that she wanted to follow me because of my strength… And become stronger… In the path of the Mersharks! Yeah… That would do)"

I quickly got rid of the all thugs in one fell swoop of my hands, slashing all of them in half.

"Gyaaaahhh!"

"Gyyaaakhh!"

The horror that the Mershark girl went through made her faint on the spot.

| YOU GAINED 9560 EXP |

| LEVEL 1/70 EXP 9560/50000 |

"Hmm not bad EXP for four random thugs, maybe I should grind some more…"

I drank their blood and ate their bodies as fast as I could, leaving some meat for my servants, saving it inside my Item Box.

As I presumed the hybrids meat was delicious and had all the flavors of the races that made the hybrid, being a delicacy, even when completely raw and bloody. I also ate the shiny blue knife that the leader was holding and saved all their equipment, it could come in handy for my soldiers.

| YOU OBTAINED A NEW TITLE: MERCILESS MERFOLK KILLER |

| YOU OBTAINED A NEW TITLE: MERCILESS VIGILANT |

"Ugh that's quite the dangerous title, I hope Caspian does not see it…"

| YOU LEARNED THE FOLLOWING SKILLS: |

| MAGICAL AQUAMARINE KNIFE |

| MERFOLK THIEF FAST STABS |

| MERFOLK THIEF INTIMIDATING GRIN |

| MERFOLK THIEF STEAL |

| KRAKEN SHARK ELEMENTAL FANGS |

| KRAKEN SHARK HYPNOSIS GAZE |

| KRAKEN SHARK STURDY TENTACLES |

| EELSHARK POWERFUL THUNDER BITE |

| EELSHARK THUNDER MUSCLES |

| EELSHARK THUNDER REFLEXES |

| ARMORED KRAKEN POWERFUL ORGANIC SHIELD |

| ARMORED KRAKEN STRONG POISONOUS TENTACLES |

| ARMORED KRAKEN STRONG STAMINA |

| TRITONIAN STICKY BODY |

| TRITONIAN NOVICE EARTH MAGIC |

| TRITONIAN FLEXIBLE MUSCLES |

"Just as I suspected, very unique skills! Like this Eelshark Thunder Muscles… I have never seen the power to infuse elements inside of your muscles like this, it could increase my speed and reaction time a lot"

I glanced at the sleeping Mershark girl and used my Illusion and Hypnosis magic to browse through her latest memories, it seems that these thugs are working on a small underworld organization, she is a rookie and has been threated pretty badly. I quickly deleted some memories and made her seem as if I saved her life from these thugs betraying her, and that she decided to follow me to become stronger on the path of the Mershark.

I put her on a coma state and saved her in my Item Box, were time does not flow.

"Cute Mershark waifu obtained! …That sounds kind of fucked up… Anyways, she will surely have a better life than here, that's for sure. Now, lets hunt some more thugs"

I went through the streets luring more and more thugs, slaying and eating them, until my bats told me that there were no more thugs around, and that most ran away to their underground base.

| YOU GAINED 35800 EXP |

| LEVEL 1/70 EXP 45360/50000 |

| YOU LEARNED THE FOLLOWING SKILLS: |

| MERFOLK THIEF POWERFUL WATER STAB |

| HIGH KRAKEN POWERFUL INK ATTACK |

| HIGH KRAKEN INK CONTROL |

| HIGH KRAKEN SHARP BEAK BITE |

| ANCIENT ARMORED TRITONIA STRONG ORGANIC SHIELD |

| ANCIENT ARMORED TRITONIA EARTH AND HYPNOSIS MAGIC |

"I think I have already gotten most skills… Well, time to destroy a whole criminal organization, I don't think Caspian would mind this"

I easily made my bats follow one of the running thugs and detected their base, it was on an underground just below an old and abandoned building.

I used a Cursed Claw to completely destroy the building floor and jumped down.

Booom!

The thugs around trembled in fear.

"S-She's here! Run!"

"F-Fuck! And where would we even run?"

A big and muscular merman with long black hair yelled with all its strength.

"You cowards! We knew that something like this would happen to us! You got into this knowing it from the beginning! Defend our base to the death!"

"Big brother!"

"Fight!"

"She is just a woman with some magic tricks! We still got a chance if we attack at the same time!"

"Let's go!!!"

"Ooooorrrraaaaaahh!"

When the thugs noticed my visit, they immediately charged at me with everything they had!

Some even were able to cast spells, but were easily deflected by my magic shield.

"S-Shit! She got a magic shield?!"

"Attack! Use the magic guns!"

"Yeah! That should do it!"

Some thugs took a strange type of technology, it seemed like a futuristic gun seen in Earth movies. From what I got appraising it, it can work when the user infuses magic into it, each gun is equipped with various elemental bullets to shoot.

"These bullets are something else… I'll take some shots"

Booom!

"Ugh… That hurt?"

A fire magic bullet went through my magic shield without much trouble, getting inside my belly, because it was made of fire, I took some damage from my Vampire Weakness.

"Interesting… Group Heal"

Flash!

A small light covered my belly and completely regenerated the wound.

"E-Eh?! She got healing magic too! Fuck!"

"But that bullet did some damage! We still have hope! Everyone! Let's go!"

The thugs jumped over me trying to slash me with their swords and knifes, but they barely scratched my strong skin and magic shield, some weak swords were completely shattered on the spot.

"This people are indeed very weak, even the thugs that have a harsh life are extremely weak, Caspian was right…"

I quickly slashed all the thugs into pieces in mere seconds with just one Cursed Claw, making blood and meat rain everywhere. Using this opportunity, I quickly absorbed all the nutritious and fresh blood in one big sip.

| YOU GAINED 23600 EXP |

| YOU GAINED ONE LEVEL! | | LEVEL 2/70 EXP 18960/52000 |

| YOU GAINED +10 BLOOD STRENGTH |

| YOUR SUPERNATURAL BLOOD VITALITY SKILL HAVE LEVELED UP TO 1>2 |

Some other thugs kept shooting me with magic bullets but they barely did any damage if they weren't of the Fire element.

I easily got rid of them with my bare hands, crushing their heads and making them explode like a watermelon.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

| YOU GAINED 7830 EXP |

| LEVEL 2/70 EXP 26790/52000 |

I've been also trying to catch their souls when they die, bust most of the time the souls are quite fast and hard to catch, but I've gotten a fair amount now. Because I can't just store them inside my Item Box, I have been consuming them on the go, passively increasing my Soul stats.

| ALL YOUR SOUL STATS HAVE INCREASED BY 20, YOUR SOUL MUTATION RATIO HAVE INCREASED BY 5% |

Quite the weak souls compared to Emperor class monsters, but still fine.

"Phew, that must be it"

I decided to save the corpses for now and explore around the underground base.

On the way, I came across stronger thugs, some even having a different class than just Thief, there was even a Merman Champion. However, this guy was just boasting its class to get in the higher ranks and was even weaker than some previous thugs.

I took care of him with one slash, slicing him in half.

| YOU GAINED 22340 EXP |

| LEVEL 2/70 EXP 49130/52000 |

| YOU OBTAINED A NEW TITLE: MERMAN CHAMPION |

This blood had lost their delicious flavor, it seems that I can't get more Blood Strength from it anymore.

I absorbed their souls but my Soul Stats did not go up. However, my storage of Soul Energy increased, surpassing its max value, just like Stamina does. Which is funny, why even make a limit if you can store over it anyways?

When the thugs stopped coming, I came across a big room where they were storing countless stolen things and money, there was also the last thug waiting for me there, I think it's the boss of the band.

However, this boss was a beautiful Armored Kraken woman, with long and red colored tentacles and a beautiful shell in her back, she also had long purple hair with red eyes. I noticed how she had some make up over her face, with purple colored lips and big eyelashes.

She looked at me with incredible anger and fear, but still maintained a dignified pose.

"You… Why have you done this to us? You aren't even from this city! Did some nasty royal contracted you?! I can give you double his money!"

"Oh? Royals? (Maybe I should pretend I did) Yeah, that's right! He paid me quite a nice sum, lets end this quickly, shall we?"

The Kraken woman became desperate.

"W-Wait! Please! We can come to an understanding! You are a strong and intelligent woman, just like me! We are the same!"

"Hmm? Like what? Can you really pay me the double? Seeing all these riches around here, it's not enough, nope"

"Uggh… I can get you even more money! I-I have my connections in the underground! People know me as the Treacherous Kraken Witch: Mady! You are a strong mercenary, I could also use your services, so, please don't kill me! You are better letting me alive!"

"Hmm… (Connections? This could help me out to get a better understanding on this city, I feel like Caspian barely told me everything, that old man is quite sharp, he must have hided quite a lot of important info, specially these royal families that this woman is talking about…)"

Mady looked at me with a forced smile, sweating with fear.

"Hmm, okay! Just because you are quite beautiful…"

"E-Eh? Beautiful? Are you into girls or something?"

"Something like that… Anyways, I won't just let you go just like this, I will take… Half of the riches here…"

"A-Ah! That's fine! Please take it! T-Thank you…"

Mady tried to sneak out but I stopped her in place.

"One more thing, I can't just trust the boss of a criminal organization that easily, right? Let's set a contract, a pact"

"A… pact?"

I looked at her with a warm and cute smile.

"Hmm! A Blood Pact!"

"E-Eh?!"

"With this! Activate skill: Blood Pact!"

Fluosh!

Suddenly, a strong force made my blood and Mady's fuse together, ending with a shining red light.

Flash!

| A BLOOD PACT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY CREATED WITH: ARMORED KRAKEN MADY COBALT |

| AMOUNT OF SLAVES 52/120(+20) |

When Mady fell down unconscious, I used this opportunity to browse through her latest memories, obtaining some info about what she deals with.

It seems that this small criminal organization produce and sell these powerful magic guns, and have won some recognition from the other groups and even royals.

Lately other groups have gotten on the handle of making magic guns and some have tried to sabotage her business, that's why she suspected that I was some mercenary that came for her head, completely