Chapter 841 Chapter 840: Terracotta Grottos (8)
When the bud began to bloom, the Nature Mana that had gathered inside the grotto swelled and pulsed as it was funneled into the blossom, pulling the lush green sepals back one by one to reveal the flower within.
A set of rich, vibrant purple petals blossomed when the sepals fell, revealing a globular flower that released a bitter, yet fragrant scent into the air, whilst a secondary, hidden sweet scent wafted off of the center of the curled petals.
Hundreds of these petals formed a gradient from that dark, royal purple into a strong bloody red in the center, where the petals grew smaller and more compact, creating a beautiful, uniquely colored flower.
A nectar was already beginning to form in the center of its petals, the red gold liquid moistening the petals and threatening to drip down onto the ground.
All of the Nature Mana swirled around the flower and seeped into its stem, stimulating its growth and making the flower even more beautiful as the colors deepened and became more saturated, whilst the scent became more abundant as well; specifically the scent of the nectar, which was almost as thick as honey thanks to the Nature Mana swirling around inside it.
Honestly, the nectar almost seemed like Nature Mana taking a liquid form, that was how seeped in mana the red gold liquid was...
Meanwhile, as I was observing this absolute masterpiece of natural beauty, the monsters were going rabid trying to reach it, something that made Jahi grunt as she pushed one of them back, only to ask in a strained voice "A little help here, Kat?! This is the last of 'em, but damn..!"
I nodded, taking my eyes off of the flower and returning to the spell that laid dormant above us, fueling it with more mana and raining icicles down on the grotto, the icy projectiles slicing through fur, scales and flesh all the same, giving the Demons a bit more breathing room as they finished the monsters off with precise stabs and slashes.
The monsters stood no chance against a shield wall and perpetual rain of sharpened ice, getting cut down in swathes as my icicles either killed them or maimed them, which left them susceptible to the spears and swords of the Demons.
I lost count of how many monsters perished beneath the storm of icicles, but what I was sure of was the fact that we had killed far too many monsters already for there to be that many more waiting behind, and lo and behold, the monsters eventually stopped coming... only because the sheer amount of blood in the area and piles of dissolving corpses warded away whatever was still thinking about testing its luck.
Again, not the brightest things, but when weighing pros and cons they were rather efficient and understandable, and currently, the pros were not above the cons...
With the horde now dead at our feet, we all turned back towards the flower and observed it for a moment, before Jahi asked "So... how do we harvest it without ruining it?"
Giving her a dry look, I pulled out a knife and crouched beside the plant, studying its stem and gauging the length before swiftly cutting it down, keeping as much of the stem as I could before creating a vase and filling it with Water Mana, letting the flower remain somewhat nurtured as I said "Let's get back quickly and have Leone take care of it, hm?"
The scent of the sweet nectar was almost dizzying as I held my new vase, and the others all sniffed the air before scrunching up their noses, not the biggest fans of this overpowering, almost sickly sweet scent.
"Hm... Leraie, Lucy, head back with her. Everyone else, start dismantling these monsters! Let's get some meat for tonight!"
The Demons all let out shouts of acknowledgment and happiness as they unsheathed their own knives, getting to work on the various monsters around us and butchering them for their materials - primarily their meat, much to my amusement.
The two red skinned Demoness walked beside me with their weapons and shields raised, protecting me and the flower as we made our way back to the main grotto, the journey taking a good ten minutes as we traversed the long tunnels and large grotto.
We weren't that far away compared to some of the other reported areas, but it was still a slightly tense walk as we returned to the base, wondering if the Dungeon was going to raise monsters nearby to get its flower back, which was still oozing Nature Mana.
Thankfully, we got back to the base without much issue, and we found the others had already returned, with Leone standing over a giant metal cauldron as she stirred around a viscous red liquid, Ammit right beside her and pouring some more liquid into the cauldron.
Seeing us, they both frowned as they looked for the others, though a quick nod and Lucy going to explain to them what happened was enough; meanwhile, I placed the vase on the large table that had been constructed in the middle, waiting for them to come over and join us.
"Jahi remained back to harvest the monsters. We ran into a rather sizable horde... what about you?"
Satanya continued to fiddle with her model, the Demoness having taken a liking to it over these hours, and she answered me without even looking my way.
"Not a large one, but instead we had to fight a tribe of Goblins for the garden of flowers and roots that was growing inside their grotto. Ogres, Trolls, and even a damn Crone, all with a few dozen Goblins shooting arrows at us. Thankfully Ammit and Leone are precise with their spells... they sniped the Crone before blasting down the gate, letting us go inside and massacre the remaining Goblins."
"Well, that's good. And the flowers and roots you got, is that what is in that cauldron already?"
"Yup. Healing ingredients primarily, and the two of them think that they'll also work as buff potions too. Minor boosts to muscle strength and blood flow, as well as a heightened reaction time. I made the executive decision that those herbs should get turned into a potion as quickly as possible so we didn't lose any efficacy, and Leone agreed. That flower is the reward for your labors?"
I chuckled, looking down at the purple and red dahlia for a few moments before I replied "If I had to take a guess, it's more so the nectar that's the reward, instead of the flower itself. But... yes. It would seem so."
As well as the copious amounts of experience I had gathered from this outing as well, of course~!
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