Chapter 578 577: Resource Haul

Chapter 578 Chapter 577: Resource Haul

Kat PoV

Twirling a dagger in my hand, I stared out over the black ash plains around us as I listened to the others butchering the poor Firefang behind me, the monster having tried to ambush us as we made our way down towards the Gate of Hades, where we would find ourselves some real resources for Anput to utilize in the forging of some top notch gear.

We had decided to come down here earlier after another debate on the timing of our expedition out towards Ungrida Canyon, with Anput eventually putting her foot down and specifying that she would want to prepare some more things for herself earlier instead of later, and that some of the things she needed would be best done when she has all this time to 'mess around' compared to when we come back from Ungrida.

Specifically, she said that the forging of the chainmail is a simple, yet extremely tedious process, and that her current ideas would be best done with some prep work now instead of later, so we made our way down as a group to gather some materials for her to do whatever it was that she wanted.

On top of Anput's shopping list, we also had Leone's as well since the Vampire asked her Aunt's for some suggestions on ingredients to keep an eye out for, and apparently there were quite a few that we might come across on our delve towards the Gate of Hades, so we had all been briefed on what to look for.

After all, they might not have been the highlight of our experience on Sisyphea Island but we all utilized the potions that our Vampiric lover had brewed, and some of the things that she could make with the ingredients we might find inside the depths of Zhu'Rong Caverns was certainly appealing.

One of the rarest ingredients had a peculiar effect; imbuing your own mana with a large quantity of Fire Mana that didn't mix nor impact your own mana, but instead added onto it, like a secondary effect.

Now, again, it was one of the rarest ingredients EVER inside of Zhu'Rong, so who the hell knows if we'd ever come across it, but that was just the cream of the crop that we might find down here, with a more realistic find being the herbs that temporarily widen your veins to allow more blood and mana to be pumped through your body quicker, which when you have spells healing your body back to where it can perform comfortably, would make you incredibly dangerous to face.

Those were some of the things to keep an eye out for, but otherwise we were just here for some more monster parts and maybe some ores for Anput to use to forge some new weapons and armor.

Which was why I was currently watching over the plains with my dagger in hand, eyeing the various adventurers meandering around the Plains of Yama and keeping guard over the others as they butchered the Firefang; Anput was targeting her materials just like Leone was, while Jahi and I rotated out from butchering to guarding.

When they were done, we packed everything that they harvested away evenly amongst our bags and began to march down towards the Gate of Hades, where we would find the stronger monsters lurking around.

Specifically some Abyssal Hounds for their hide and bones, as well as Infernal Scorpions for their chitin and poisons.

The walk there was quiet as we maintained our guard, keeping ourselves disciplined enough to react to anything should the situation suddenly shift in a direction none of us was prepared for, and something that we had all agreed to try more of in the future after being on the island.

Discipline might just save our lives more than our individual strengths could, depending on the situation, and we agreed to keep the flirting and joking to a minimum no matter where we might be...

Which I could tell was quite hard for the Jackalkin and Demoness, though they showed admirable restraint as we traveled around the magma lake and approached the large crevasse that was aptly named the Gate of Hades.

It really did make me wonder how these locations shared names with beings I was familiar with from my old world... sometimes I wondered if they were inter dimensional beings, or if perhaps the names had been poorly thought out by a la-

Never mind.

The rapier and dagger combination had been doing rather well for me so far, and as we approached a pack of Abyssal Hounds, it showed its worth once more as the midnight black monsters streaked towards us, the flames licking at their paws threatening to burn our flesh while the claws of dark ruby promised to shred us into ribbons.

Their bones were visible from beneath their fur, and their long snouts were covered in sharpened fangs and bony protrusions that made their heads deadly, while their growls were disturbing as they reverberated around inside their barrel like bodies.

We split instantly, freeing up space and watching as the Abyssal Hounds skidded across the black sand before being eviscerated by our weapons as we closed in on them, taking advantage of their incredible speed and slower reaction times as we stabbed and slashed at them, cutting them down and demolishing the pack instantly.

Anput began to look between them before pulling out a small knife and beginning to skin one of the Abyssal Hounds, while the rest of us turned and guarded over her as another pack rushed towards us, this time meeting them head on as we raised our weapons.

Not the most intense delve into the Caverns, but one that was still lucrative to me experience wise as we cut down monster after monster together, slowly harvesting what we needed and completing our first resource haul of the week, filling our bags and pouches to the brim with materials.

The way up had a slight hiccup though, since nothing in life ever goes smoothly.