After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 2139

Chapter 2139: Going Back Inside!

"I have encountered a monster root before," an old elephant orc said. "I was fighting a high-level avian beast with some allies, was taken away, and I was dropped deeper in the Hollow Forest after some struggle."

Damba was an elephant orc, but her size was just a bit bigger than the other orcs. Further, female orcs were just smaller than male ones in general, but she was still bigger than most orcs. She was also quite a bit stronger than most, so she was one of the tribe’s most revered female warriors at the time.

"At the time, my team and I wanted to go to the place that increases strength, but we got caught up with beasts early on."

"A place that increases strength?" Althea asked. This place sounded a bit mystical. Could it have something to do with the target place?

Damba nodded. "It’s an old legend among us. Inside the Hollow Forest, there is a place that can help physique grow much stronger. We were a group of twenty, thinking it should be enough to handle a few wild roots.

The existence of monster roots wasn’t well-known at the time. Not only were they so rare, but communication between tribes was also far and few between.

"But that experience was a wake-up call for everyone, and since then very few orcs venture into the Hollow Forest—regardless of strength. We couldn’t even get past the forest itself, we dare not dream of that legendary place anymore."

"Even a few kilometers into the forest, we already encountered many troublesome Wild Roots. Before we even passed a few miles, we had already lost a partner, and everyone was seriously injured."

She lifted her trunk, which had deformed and had an extra gaping hole in the middle.

"When a monster mob with avian monsters entered the forest, we had a hard time going against them, even those weaker than us."

Monsters would still enter the Hollow Forest in droves, especially if there were targets there. Blood from orcs was certainly attractive to the beasts, and this was also a way for the wild roots to get more meat for themselves.

"My enemy was an avian. I was one of the orcs who does well against them since I can pull them down with my trunk."

Damba’s trunk was expandable, like one of those expandable hoses. Her trunk could go longer than her height, which indeed lowered the advantages of flying orcs. Not to mention, the Hollow Forest was a dense area with thick canopies. In such a setup, avians’ advantage was not as pronounced.

It was why they preferred to pull their prey up and then fight them elsewhere, where the sky was clearer. Stronger avians would even use height to injure their enemies—that is to say, take them up in the air and then drop them down, over and over.

This was what happened to Damba, though because she struggled and held on well with her trunk, the battle got extremely far away from the rest of the team.

"We fought hard, and I managed to pull a lot of its feathers, partially breaking its wing. When I was dropped, it wasn’t that high, and I watched as it flew without balance. When it landed, several vines grabbed it.

"The wild roots were normal, and the avian was strong, so most wild roots wouldn’t be able to handle it. In most cases, they can just fly up and pull the plant out of the ground."

"However, its enemy this time was a Monster Root. It was the first time I saw one! It was at least twice as large as the biggest wildroot I have seen.

"It is very strong, and the monster couldn’t do anything at all. The vines—twice or thrice as thick as most wild root vines—easily grabbed its body and SNAP bent it into two."

At the time, Damba did not know it was a Monster Root. After all, Wild Roots and Monster Roots looked similar. What if it were just a bigger wild root?

It was only until much later, in retrospect and when communicating with others, that she found out it was a different tier of plant altogether.

"It went near me, and I thought I was going to die. But instead of attacking me...it ignored me, as if uninterested," the elephant said, tone sounding as if she were still confused.

"Later, I found out that unless we attacked, these things wouldn’t attack either."

This made Althea’s eyebrows rise up.

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