Chapter 837 Chapter 836: Terracotta Grottos (4)
Power surged around Ammit as the Demoness prepared her spell, the azure Ritual Circle growing larger and beginning to rotate as she slowly reached the end of her preparations.
Inside the lake, that horn remained still, making it even harder to determine whether or not it was actually a horn or just a piece of rock that was tricking us so much... but, since we were here, and we had potions to spare just in case, we decided that we could check before beginning to harvest this entire cavern for any and all natural resources it had...
"Think it's actually a monster, or are we tricking ourselves into thinking it has to be one?"
I shrugged as I kept my gaze focused on that 'horn', replying to the muscular Demoness beside me even as she got back at me for earlier, her hand roughly ruffling my ears as she looked down at me.
"Could be either, honestly. It seems... too perfect, and too weird to be a rock formation? Curved and honed like a horn, and yet... I mean, nature does weirder things on a regular basis, so who knows. I'd rather get it out of the way before we start mining and all that; just in case it is, you know?"
Jahi nodded, watching as the Ritual Circle was completed, where it subsequently flared a brighter azure as Ammit guided the spell to float over the water, before a cascade of thick, brilliant bolts of lightning slammed into the lake's surface, which would normally diffuse instantly on the top layer only, but...
Each bolt streaked through the water and slammed into the rocks below, far too powerful to be held to natural standards as the mana lingering within each blue streak of light pierced the water and ensured the entire lake felt the impact.
The water was illuminated by Ammit's lightning storm, but our focus remained on that horn, which... much to my relief, began to lift out of the lake bed as a large stony head emerged from the sediment, followed quickly by four stumpy, taloned feet, all of which poked out from a rounded stone covered shell.
"Some kind of tortoise or turtle monster? What was the difference again?"
"Looks... like a tortoise, though it's weird that its in a lake? Either way, we were right~!"
I smiled as it began to push off of the lake bed and float up towards the surface, pillars of stone emerging beneath where it once lay to expedite the process and take it out of the now electrocuted waters, which were dealing steady damage to it.
Despite Earth Mana being resistant to Lightning Mana, being trapped in a cage of lightning would still hurt immensely, especially if you were unprepared for it, which this monster was.
Sadly for it, even as it cast more defensive Earth spells on itself and tried to emerge from the waters, it succumbed to the thunderous barrage of lightning bolts that were now focused on it's shell, each bolt slamming into it and dealing a mixture of direct damage and damage from the nearby area thanks to the lingering electricity.
So... we watched as what breached the water's surface was not an angry monster, but instead a corpse that had been bullied by a Mage who wanted to prove something to her companion.
Ammit stood up and let out a huff as she tilted her nose up at Satanya, daring the red skinned Demoness to say something about her performance or abilities before walking away when she had nothing, making the rest of us chuckle.
"Reel it in! We'll need the shell and meat of this thing for a base down here! Quickly now!"
Satanya barked out her orders quickly, watching as the Wind Mages and Water Mages worked together to retrieve the corpse of the tortoise monster, which was butchered as soon as it found itself on the shoreline, hammers, pickaxes, and cleavers hacking into its corpse as we tore it apart quickly for its materials, all while some of the Demons remained on defense just in case more monsters came by.
"Not bad for a first grotto, is it? Lots of ore in the walls, multiple paths, a fresh source of water, herbs, and a lot of monsters... This would do well for a base of operations inside the grottos, should we desire one."
Jahi nodded as she yanked some of the meat from the ribs, tossing it into the giant ice chest I provided as storage, before she looked towards Satanya and asked "We could strip this grotto of everything and work from here if you want. Send parties to scout the nearby tunnels and pick which ones we want to pursue? Only problem is how stifling the atmosphere is, but..."
"It's manageable, so long as we regularly output some mana to keep our Cores from being strained... The only other problem is the monsters, but like I said..."
Grinning, the woman turned to watch as two Demons skewered a leaping feline monster with their spears, gesturing at the monsters that occasionally popped up as she finished saying "We need to keep our Cores from being strained, and this is the easiest way. Besides, after a few 'waves' of monsters, this area will be 'marked' as our own, so fewer will come here thanks to the sheer amount of blood spilt. They're not the brightest things, monsters, but they rely on their instincts to survive, and walking into a butchery isn't something they would do willingly."
We all nodded, before glancing at Anput as she added "And as long as we plug up the tunnels that lead nowhere or seem the most dangerous, we can relegate where they come from. Especially if we make use of monster parts to do so; like this shell? If we make the walls of our base from this shell, we could make monsters wary of approaching this part of the grotto specifically, though they will need access to the water, so..."
"Build on one of the sides, leave the other side for them, and we should have a slight harmony with the Dungeon? Sounds good! Alright, let's get everything moved and prepare to strip this place of all its valuables~!"
Satanya's orders made us all cheer as we began to drag the giant shell over towards the side of the lake that didn't lead deeper into the grottos, instead positioning ourselves beneath an outcropping... which we instantly had some Earth Mages go clear out and guard as we got to work quickly, creating a new base camp and then grabbing the pickaxes and hammers that Anput provided for us as we made our way around the grotto, harvesting what we could.
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