Chapter 561

Chapter 561: Essential Spell

"I still want to know, what exactly is Princess Theradras? Who is her father?"

As everyone followed the underground river downward, Greed asked along the way.

They had been walking for almost half an hour, hearing occasional rumbling sounds, muffled clanking sounds coming from behind thick walls, strange rolling sounds like iron balls, or rough snoring sounds as if a wild beast was sleeping deep in the cave…

When Greed asked this, others looked over as if they were starting to forget what normal sounds were.

"Theradras is not a princess of any country," Jesse said. "She is the daughter of the earth element lord. Have you heard of those ancient elemental lords? Like the Firelord summoned by the Dark Iron Dwarves, do you remember?"

Greed paused and said, "Wait, so you mean that Firelord is a real monster? And it caused the disaster in Blackrock Mountain?"

Jesse asked strangely, "Didn’t you tell me yourself that the Dark Iron Dwarves unearthed the Firelord from Blackrock Mountain?"

"I thought that was just their excuse to cover up their mistakes," Greed said. "They dug up the volcano, caused a terrible disaster, and then blamed it all on a god from legends."

"The Firelord Ragnaros really exists," Vereesa said, "The Magus Group has enough evidence to prove this."

"So, this Princess Theradras," Greed quickened his pace to Jesse’s side and said, "she is the daughter of the Earth King, no, Earthmother…"

"No, it’s Earthmother." Mosa didn’t quite understand what Greed was saying. She muttered in a common language and her face turned visibly pale.

Jesse knew why. Millennia ago, a group of Tauren priests who sought to connect with the Earthmother awakened Theradras underground, triggering a series of tragedies for several centuries for the Tauren population.

"Earthmother is the belief of the Tauren," Jesse corrected, "It has nothing to do with the Theradras we are facing."

However, who knows if there is any connection at all?

After all, Earthmother is a presence in Tauren mythology, not a literal entity in reality.

Some say Earthmother is a member of the Pantheon, others say Earthmother is Azeroth itself, some even believe that Earthmother is the same as the Night Elf deity Elune. Of course, many suspect that Earthmother is actually Theradras’s mother, the Stone Mother, Therazane.

But faced with a true follower who worships Earthmother, Jesse thought it best not to make random guesses.

"Okay." Greed nodded and said, "No matter what, is it possible for us to talk to this princess and show her that we mean no harm, and ask her to let us go?"

"I hope so too," Jesse glanced at him and said, "But we probably don’t have a chance anymore. Look at this cave, look at these monsters and creatures loyal to her. Greed, do you think she will be easy to persuade? We can’t let her catch us, here she is like a true god."

As the underground river flowed downward, there were no side paths along the way.

There were even collapses halfway through, and several times they had to squeeze through narrow cracks.

Until Jesse felt the increasing strange smell around him, the swampy stench gradually spreading, and now a faint light could be seen ahead.

"Is that the exit ahead?" Greed asked.

"Shh!"

Vereesa gestured for everyone to be quiet. She looked at Mosa, took the lead to the light ahead, peeked outside, then retreated.

"It’s a natural cave." She whispered softly, "Or maybe a gorge, these lights… I think they should be sunlight shining through."

After hearing that, Greed became excited and whispered, "Shall we leave this cave then?"

After he finished speaking, his smile froze on his face because Jesse looked very upset.

Vereesa also noticed Jesse’s strange expression. In fact, Jesse was hoping not to see sunlight or the so-called "canyon."

He actually wished to stumble upon a mysterious fork in the road, and then see orange crystals scattered everywhere, strange lizards covered in orange shards, and raging stone elements rolling back and forth, ready to fight to the death.

Because this meant an orange entrance, and seeing these things meant they were not far from returning to the Centaur’s Holy Sepulcher.

But when they saw this dark canyon, it meant that they had actually come to the deepest part of Maraudon.

By now, the entire dungeon had calmed down. Apart from occasional sounds of collapsing mud, compared to the previous chaos, which could be described as earth-shattering, it was eerily quiet now.

Standing at the entrance covered in slippery vines, Jesse could even hear the distant sound of waterfall from the mountains echoing through the valley.

Not far from the entrance was a large shallow pool, surrounded by dense bushes and algae. There were many plants near the cliffs in the distance, enveloping the entire cave in lush greenery.

A blurry streak of light shone through the top, making everything hazy, like a scene from a dream.

Vereesa exchanged a few words with Mosa, her face looking not very pleasant.

"The exit from here may still be far away," Vereesa said. "Mosa can feel that the life elements here are almost impossible to communicate with, the plants show no reaction to her arrival…"

"Not only Mosa, I feel that everything here is becoming more hostile towards us, clearer and more certain than what is outside the cave. It’s definitely not a time to relax."

"This is terrible," Greed said. "Could it be that we are really going to meet the princess of the earth?"

"Let’s rest here for a while," Vereesa looked at Jesse and the others, "have some food here, and then go see what’s in this mountain stream. I feel like there might be a lot of trouble ahead."

Everyone agreed with her, so they each found a rock to sit on.

"Saenor," Jesse said. "Pass me that book from before, the one we brought from Stormwind, the one Sorrel transcribed. I made some notes on it, remember? It contains some spells recorded by Zardeth."

"No problem, master," Saenor lifted his head from the Warlock Pack and handed the book to Jesse.

After traveling for so long in the Maraudon cave, these papers had even gotten a bit damp.

Jesse searched through it until he found the page with the Unending Breath spell.