Archer and Meera rested against Demetra's fin while she swam through the darkness. He could only see the luminous lights emanating from random sea monsters that passed by. Most creatures didn't bother coming close and fled when they realized it was a Kraken and Demon Shark.
This made him laugh when he sensed their fear as the two titans traveled deeper, but as they traveled deeper, Archer saw Kassandra react instantly as she shot forward. Shortly after, a battle occurred, and they could hear it through the water.
Minutes later, Kassandra came swimming back with a large shark-like beast in her grasp. When he saw this, Archer commented, ''How did you know the monster was close?''
''I sensed its movement through the water as it tried to sneak up on Deme,'' Kassandra responded while gliding beside them, ''They are sneaky creatures and love attacking from below.''
Following her explanation, she threw a part of it to Demetra, who caught it in her massive maw and started chewing down before she spoke, ''Trench Sharks are tasty. I haven't eaten one in a while now. I do miss hunting in the sea trenches.''
As Demetra spoke, Kassandra laughed. Archer turned to her and asked, ''How can you see so clearly? Even my dragon sight struggles in this darkness.''
''My love,'' the Kraken Princes spoke. ''We are born in the darkness of the deep sea; this is nothing. For us, seeing underwater is clear as day because of our races.''
Demetra's massive head, the size of a building, nodded comically. After five minutes of travel, Archer finally spotted an opening, a large cave entrance surrounded by complete darkness, and he thought something was inside.
Without waiting, Kassandra and Demetra swam inside and started to ascend. When they breached the surface, a shine blinded them due to the intensity of the brightness. Archer covered his eyes until they got used to the light, and when his sight recovered, he was standing in the middle of a sea of beautiful violet crystals.
He looked around in shock as Meera joined him, ''Bless the mother goddess,'' she said in amazement and shock. ''This could earn the kingdom fortune and fund our programs for years.''
Archer nodded in agreement, ''Yes, we could build a dozen fleets and still have some coin left over.''
''There's an untold amount of these caves all over Thrylos, some bigger but normally guarded by a powerful monster, which is always fun as they are strong fighters,'' Demetra explained as she transformed back into her humanoid form and jumped onto the hard ground.
''We killed the King Eel that made this cave its home a few days ago,'' the Kraken girl revealed. ''It was weaker than us, but it was very slippery and took a long time to take it out.''
Archer noticed her silky black hair was all messy, which made her look adorable. He approached, gently lifted her chin, and kissed her soft, full lips. The sudden gesture shocked the Kraken girl, but she quickly responded by returning the kiss.
Seconds passed before they separated, only to hear a huff behind them. Archer turned around and saw Demetra looking at him with a hurt expression. He sighed and approached the Demon Shark.
As he got closer, she watched him intently. Leaning down, he stole her first kiss, something Demetra had wanted since they met months ago. When their lips connected, both felt a deep connection form between them.
Archer stopped kissing her and stepped back as a smile lit up her face, but they heard a voice that brought them back to reality, ''Can you three stop flirting? We have to collect all this.''
Demetra let out a deep growl when her moment was interrupted, causing the tiger woman to move toward Archer, who was laughing. ''Demetra, she's just excited; there's no need to get angry.''
The Demon Shark nodded before the group turned their attention to the cave. Archer turned his gaze to the biggest Mana Crystal that glowed. He approached it and placed his hand on it, which caused something to flow into his body.
Archer felt a connection with the crystals that caused him to pull his hand back, just as Meera commented, ''All that pure mana is flowing into your body; it makes sense as you're a White Dragon made up of the world's pure mana.
He nodded, then grabbed the crystal again, pulling it from the wall to examine it more closely. While doing that, Meera came up behind him. A large splash was heard behind them, and creepy-looking humanoid fish people appeared while holding tridents and a slew of other strange-looking weapons.
The two titan girls stood firm, but Kassandra explained, ''These creatures are called Hydrathi and are part of menacing humanoid races that plague the sea called the Reef Dwellers.''
'They look like walking fish men, this shit is weird,' he thought to himself.
Archer nodded before stepping forward and speaking, ''Go away, or you all will die. This is your only warning.''
He turned back to the Mana Crystals but heard the Hydrathi move close, causing him to face them quickly. He took a deep breath and spewed a stream of fire that washed over the fish people.
They were burnt to ash and didn't have the chance to scream. The three women with him had wide eyes, causing Archer to chuckle, ''It's easier to deal with them in one swoop instead of one at a time.''
Demetra nodded with a big smile, ''They deserved it. The vile creatures were aiming for Meera.''
When the tiger woman heard this, she yelped and looked around, panic setting in, but Archer approached her and wrapped her in a hug before whispering, ''Nothing will hurt you, my prime minister.''
He separated from her as he concluded, ''Just help me pull these crystals so I can store them in my Item Box.''
Meera nodded before approaching the smaller crystals and plucking them off the wall while Archer spoke to Kassandra, ''Can you keep watch while us three work?''
The Kraken girl nodded with a smile as they got to work. Archer grabbed a massive crystal and ripped it off the wall with a snap before storing it in his Item Box but soon realized that the dragon corpses were taking up too much space.
Archer soon realized he could loot this cave but could no longer because of the Item Box's limited space. That's when he decided to butcher the dragon's corpse for everything valuable when he returned to Draconia.
With that decided, Archer ripped off dozens of Mana Crystals and piled them up as he told the others to do the same. This took them a few hours until they were finished, and he stored them all.
The cave was now dark thanks to the Mana Crystals were taken. This creeped Meera out, but she stayed close to Archer for comfort, which he instantly recognized and wrapped his arm around her waist again to reassure her.
Meera turned to him with a lovely smile that surprised him, but he internally thought, 'So beautiful.'
He turned to the three women and spoke, ''Let's head back to the kingdom.''
They all agreed with a nod as Kassandra and Demetra jumped into the cold water before transforming, allowing Archer and Meera to get on the Deman Shark's head as she cast the protection spell over them.
Soon, they left the cave and swam through the Nightmare Trench, but it wasn't as peaceful as it had been this time, as creatures rushed at them. Demetra and Kassandra had to battle hundreds of sea monsters, but this time, Archer cast Plasma Missiles at the enemies.
When the burning hot projectiles touched the monsters, they exploded into blood mist. This went on for another hour until they reached the Northwest Sea Wall, and Archer used Blink to take him and Meera to the top while the other two jumped up.
'Fresh air! Feels so good,' he mused.
Once they were on top, the Homeguard soldiers started kneeling, but Archer waved them away as he walked down the stairs. When the four reached the bottom, a carriage was already waiting.
''Do they have carriages everywhere? Why do they always appear?'' Archer spoke to no one in particular, but Meera answered.
''Queen Aisha wanted to ensure you and the queens always had a carriage on hand when you visited the wall.''
Archer nodded understanding before opening the doors for the ladies, who entered smilingly. When he sat down, Aisha sent him a message: [An older woman has arrived at Drakonia claiming to be your lover and is watching me like I'm a Horned Rabbit. Hurry husnad]
Seconds passed by until Aisha replied, [Brooke Wyldheart, she's interrogating me about our sex Arch! Help me]
'What's Brooke doing here?' he internally thought but decided to wait until he saw her.
But Aisha's reply made him chuckle, causing Meera to turn her orange gaze on him, ''Why are you laughing?''
''Oh my, Oma is interrogating Aisha about us making love,'' Archer answered with a smile.
His words caused Meera to go red, but she shook her head and said, ''You're a lewd dragon, My Lord.''
Archer fully agreed with her before turning to the window as the three women gossiped about him making his grandmother his lover, causing Meera to ask, ''Do you like women who have children?''
''It doesn't bother me,'' he answered. ''I like all kinds of women, from muscle mommies to mature women.''
''What a muscle, Mommy?'' Meera asked, as her curiosity piqued.
Looking at Kassandra and Demetra, he responded, "I'd describe these two as muscle mommies. They are strong and unwavering love make me feel truly valued."
Meera nodded, but Kassandra said with an honest smile, ''I nickname.''