Danmaku, my skills refresh weekly.

This means that if Shire wants to acquire the "nest" characteristic by simply cutting off a piece of green meat, he needs to gamble.

But with Revis's cooperation, as she actively pulled out specific "nest species" limbs, chunks of flesh covered in yellowish-green slime floated to the surface.

Charles didn't answer Revis's question, but simply said, "Keep it quiet."

As he spoke, he brandished his long halberd.

Black tentacles, equally black, seeped from Charles's glove, piercing into the green flesh along the halberd handle.

The moment the black substance came into contact with the green meat, the "devouring" effect activated, and the pitch-black slime suddenly increased and expanded, opening its giant maw and engulfing the huge chunk of meat on the ground.

Rives's eyes widened.

"What's this?"

Charles didn't speak.

Quietly wait for Rimuru to finish devouring.

Rimuru at level 5, by borrowing the power of the Triad Goddess, splits into 5 individuals. In addition to the stomach pouch that stores the power of 3 pillars of the gods, there are two empty stomach pouches.

With prior instructions from Revis and the "Fallen Fairy," the green meat didn't resist much and was quickly submerged by Rimuru and swallowed into his stomach.

Rimuru has also temporarily gained some of the characteristics of the seedbed:

"Split"

• Organisms detached from the body, possessing a brief capacity for independent action.

"nest"

• Parasitic • Attaches itself to dungeons and monsters, altering the hatching location of specific monsters.

"Alien Species"

• It consumes energy to breed other monsters.

……

After fully absorbing the characteristics of the Kraken, Rimuru's body swelled, wriggled, and transformed into a mass of green flesh similar to the previous one, with bulges seeping out from its black interior.

One by one, black "eggs" detached from the body tissues. Then, the eggshells cracked open like bubbles, and several miniature, winged, jet-black serpent dragons flew out.

"What...is this?" Rives exclaimed in shock once again!

“【The tentacles of a divine beast】” Xia Er raised his finger, letting a small dragon rest on his fingertip.

Kraken is a "nest-type" monster.

It's essentially the same as the "Bloody Hive," only larger, and the monsters it hatches are stronger. Its core function is nesting; it's a concentrated spawn point for special monsters, existing as a labyrinthine "trap."

The reason it couldn't be dealt with was simply because it had eaten something unclean (celestial essence), causing it to mutate. Then, it became too fat and developed a will unlike that of normal organisms.

If we compare the dungeon to a mother, Zagnat to white blood cells, and humans to invading pathogens, then this Kraken is the "cancer" of the labyrinth.

From tiny cells, they continuously devour the nutrients of the maze, expand, and occupy space, and then are activated by external factors (Ais) to begin "transferring".

Because they are "monsters" and cannot be detected by the dungeon's self-checking cells "destroyers," they have ended up in this state.

'No wonder the dungeon didn't say a word when Alfia blew up the floor last time... Turns out it was an external virus attacking cancer cells, no need to help. Am I now a labyrinth worker?' Charles thought to himself.

Understanding these...

With Rimuru's own characteristics and the divine power reserves of the three pillar gods, apart from its low level, it is now comparable to a small dungeon.

Any monster it digests can be hatched as Rimuru's subordinate by consuming energy and replicating its characteristics!

Right now, Ciel isn't thinking about Rimuru.

But...

Is this giant octopus, which is considered a source of cancer, safe to eat?

Chapter 383 You weren't exactly loyal to your mother either, were you?

Next time, let Chardo give it a try...

Charles shuddered as he looked at the green flesh that bulged like it was covered in lymph nodes.

Although Ciel often said, "If it's alive, I'll eat it for you to see."

But some things, if eaten, will make you feel nauseous for life, so I thought I'd let my family try them first.

……

Rives seemed to have calmed down, staring at Charles with a complicated expression.

Charles said casually, "Just an 'Assassin of God.' You should know what that means, those black monsters."

"You don't look like a simple 'black monster,' do you?"

Kraken acquired its current form by devouring the avatar of a god—the Great Immortal.

And you...

“Me?” Charles chuckled. “I just swallowed a few pillars of gods. The effect is the same, isn’t it?”

"!!!"

Rives's pupils dilated.

What do you mean by "the same effect"? Can they really be the same?

[God Assassin] + [Omnipotent Divine Power] + [Root Incubation], if the monster's origin wasn't so weak, it might have been able to replicate an entire dungeon!

A complete replacement.

"Godslayer... Ha, more than one god has died by your hand already? Truly worthy of the title 'Absolute Evil'!"

“But… now, you shouldn’t need us at all…” Rives came to an unbelievable conclusion: “Cooperation, to put it bluntly, is about mutual exploitation, and we no longer have any value to you.”

“No, no, no!” Charles pointed his finger: “I’m not arrogant enough to summon the six divine avatars to chant forbidden spells for me. Your… celestial avatars are still very important.”

"I also need some of your technology for creating new types of subordinate monsters."

Ciel put away Rimuru, and a dozen palm-sized "little flying dragons" circled around him like bats.

The purpose of this negotiation has been achieved, and it's time to leave:

"Well then, let's end our initial negotiations here. I'll have someone choose the best cultivation location for you. Next time, remember to bring the 'Gem'."

After saying that, Ciel turned around...

"and many more……"

A whooshing sound came from behind him. Charles turned around and a precious pearl landed in his palm.

"This is……"

"These are the remaining prototypes of 'her' work. You already have a seedbed; you can take them there to try cultivating them."

Looking at the sleeping merman inside the orb in his hand, Charles smiled and said, "So you had some in stock. Why didn't you take them out in the first place?"

Rives curled her lip: "You are already qualified to compete with us. Rather than developing to the point of fighting each other for maze resources, we might as well have you work for us."

and……

At this stage, the "precious fetus" has no resistance, and someone needs to protect her in order to raise her to grow safely.

She also had other things to do, at least to raise her level to a level sufficient to handle most troubles.

As black mud surged in Charles's palm, he covered the pearl with it and rolled it into his robes, chuckling, "Alright, then see you later."

……

A hilltop not far from the meeting place.

Alfia stood with her eyes closed. At one moment, her ears twitched slightly, and she spoke softly, "How is it?"

In the air, Charles's dark figure appeared, and he dismounted: "It's done."

He released a round orb from the black mud and tossed it around, then wrapped it again with Rimuru to block the "fetal orb's" perception.

Charles glanced at Chiron:

"Their goal is indeed to expand their absorption of the labyrinth's energy. The floors near the 59th floor will soon become their breeding ground, and that cannot be changed for the time being."

"And you, what are your plans next?"

Chiron also witnessed Rives effortlessly extracting green flesh from the labyrinthine rock layers, meaning that level 59 had already fallen. The transformation from an ice field to a lake and grassland already proved that the octopus had embedded its tentacles into the rock.

“I… just like you said, I need to gather more compatriots to fight against the invaders.”

“Alright. Let’s go then.” Charles nodded.

"Set off? Are we going to the upper level? That area has been submerged by the melting glacier water, and we can't get there for the time being," Chiron asked, puzzled.

"Submerged...?" Charles paused for two seconds, then put a hand to his forehead. "Hey, you didn't actually think the exit from the maze was down there all along, did you?"

"Hmm... um?" Chiron scratched his head, his long, elven-like ears twitching. "Isn't it?"

"Isn't it common sense that the more powerful our people are, the better the territory they occupy, and the closer they are to the sun?"

“Well…” Charles sighed, “No wonder you’ve been stuck in the dungeon for 80 years and haven’t left.”

Logically speaking, given Chiron's strength, leaving the labyrinth and exploring the outside shouldn't be particularly difficult. At least before the Great Conflict, Orario wouldn't have been able to stop a monster of level 7 or higher.

It turns out this guy just took the wrong road!

"Come with me, I'll take you to meet up with the other people. They should be able to guide you then..."

"As for the 'weirdo'... I'll keep an eye on him for you, and I'll report back to you immediately if there are any developments."

"Thank you, you're a really nice person," Chiron said obsequiously.

……

Chiron returned to the cave where she had lived for decades and packed her belongings.

Aside from her ever-present golden bow and stockpile of arrows, only her "Flame Iron Hammer" was truly valuable. Nevertheless, Chiron still managed to pack a box full of odds and ends, looking rather mysterious. Charles glanced at it; it was all rusty scrap metal, seemingly adventurer equipment lost in the "Nightmare Layer."

Xia Er figured that the relics dropped by these adventurers who could reach the 60th floor and above must be valuable metals, so he didn't bother with them.

The three of them marched at full speed and arrived at the 37th floor a day later. They then quickly returned to the 19th floor via the "shaft".