Chapter 805 Chapter 804: Preparing to Set Off (2)
"So what should we know about the Terracotta Grottos, Kat? I can't entirely remember, so... Remind me."
I gave Jahi a dry glare as she just smirked at me, the Demoness uncaring of the slight twinge of irritation that permeated my very being as I heard those words come out of her mouth; I had made them all study that damn notebook so that we could avoid this very thing, and yet..!
Taking in a deep, soothing breath, I continued to glare at Jahi as I said "The Terracotta Grottos are a collection of various caverns inside the southern mountains of the Tragon Kingdom connected by long, winding passageways that are meant to be rich not only in ores, but also in monsters. Said monsters are borne of the rock and pull themselves out of the rock, meaning that every inch of the Dungeon is a dangerous location no matter how clear it looks.
Thanks to its mana affinity being Nature - relatively rare amongst the various Dungeons inside the Empire, Sultanate, and Three Kingdoms - all of the monsters are either of the Earth element or Water element, meaning this is a tricky, dangerous place to be, but that also means the rewards are that much better.
Tougher, resilient, and regenerative, the monsters are quite strong and hard to kill. Of course, with how utterly common they are, there are Goblins and their evolutions running amok inside the pathways; Goblins, Hobgoblins, and primarily Ogres, though there are a few Trolls as well as Crones lurking around as well. Then there are the Duergar; short, dark skinned monsters that resemble Dwarfs down to a tee. Barrel chested, muscular, and fascinated with anything related to minerals and metals. Classified as a far more dangerous monster than normal, they have a higher intelligence and craft their own weapons, have their own fortifications...
Besides the Goblins and the Duergar, there are various animalistic monsters that roam around, only now with Earth or Water attuned Cores; Raindrop Wolves, Stone Crag Bears, Muddy Felines... Apparently the monster population is incredibly diverse, and now that they've been left to be amongst themselves for a rather long time, well... I imagine those monsters will have further evolved into stronger variations. Perhaps some unique appearances as well? Finally, I would also imagine that the Nature Mana in the area will be imbued into the monsters as well, meaning that those that reached the pinnacle of this Dungeon in terms of strength, they're going to be really, really strong. Like... unbelievably strong.
Monsters aside, the resources should be far more abundant now too. Abundant and of a better variant; normal metal ores like iron, copper, tin and the like should have been upgraded and infused with enough mana to go up a few 'tiers' in strength. Then the herbs should be less abundant, but still equally as desirable. Monsters'll have likely feasted upon the strongest of those to power up, whereas the metals are relatively safer.
As for the structure, again, its a myriad of Grottos connected by pathways; large, lush caverns filled with vegetation and beautiful scenery only marred by the monsters that live inside. We're talking miles of paths twisting around the inside of that mountain range, connecting dozens, perhaps even somewhere in the lower hundreds of Grottos that are just waiting to be plundered. It has a lot of entrances, so the city built near the Dungeon has dozens of paths leading up into the mountains. I... think that's the gist of it."
Jahi just nodded her head, before looking over towards Leone as she asked "You got that, right?", continuing to ignore my irritation as I blinked a few times, holding back the urge to shout at her; an urge that was taken away when she asked me "So the Duergar will be the primary challenge inside the Grottos? Should be fine. But... why are they called Terracotta Grottos?"
I felt that irritation leave me as I realized she was just messing with me, though I still let out a low huff as I looked away from her, refusing to answer her new question despite full well knowing the answer to it.
Sadly, Leone also knew that answer, saying "Because back in the day, the Three Kingdoms used to harvest the rich mana clay from the Grottos and use them to create golems - magical constructs to do their bidding and their fighting? The terracotta appearance was misleading, making many think these golems were fragile, but Earth Mana is the strongest physical enhancer amongst the four primary elements, so they tended to be just as hard as metal. So they were called the Terracotta Grottos because of that."
Jahi nodded once more, this time grinning as she took a swig from the waterskin in her hands and turning her amethyst gaze back towards me, asking "Does the mountains being close to the Labyrinthian cause anything special inside the Terracotta Grottos?"
"They shouldn't... There is a rather large distance between the mountains and Labyrinthian, surprisingly enough. Probably like a mile of solid rock acting as a barrier? These mountains are rather giant and the mountain range is quite big, so... There should be no interesting interaction between the two at all."
"That's a relief to hear... I wouldn't want to be dealing with the shenanigans of the Labyrinthian that Mom told me about; switching biomes and all powerful monsters that have long since been extinct around the world... How far is it away from here? And that city... how big is it?"
"I think... wasn't it called Custodia? Aptly named since its the guardian of the Kingdoms from one of the larger, more dangerous Dungeon's within their borders. Ruled by a Justiciar and home to a large gathering of Praetors, but now... Well, I think Custodia is going to be rather empty~!"
Satanya grinned as she slid into our conversation, the red skinned Demoness taking a seat beside Jahi and hugging the muscular blue arm of our lover to her chest, giving Leone and I a rather smug grin before slipping right off of Jahi when the blue skinned Demoness took notice of her.
"Please keep your hands to yourself, Satanya... lest you lose one of them."
She just chuckled as she stood nearby, the Demoness wearing a smug grin as she replied "My, you surround yourself with some incredibly feisty women, Jahi~! They all have some bite to 'em, hmm~? Is that what you find attractive? A woman with a bit of a bite to her? Cause I can show you how I 'bite'~?"
Leaning down, Satanya tried to grab Jahi's attention by flashing the Demoness with a bit of her cleavage, though all she got in return was two death stares and a futanari who refused to look back at her, instead focusing on finishing up the last bit of her oatmeal instead.
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