Chapter 10429. The City in the Mountain Hollow
Chupakoko knew a little bit about this Lens City. He had seen relevant records on the surviving stone tablets in Hesiota.
Before the Great Invasion, Spicazuma was one of the most "wonderful" of all the temple-cities of Lustria. It was home to the finest astrological observatory in Lustria, and the observatory atop the Pyramid of Typok housed a massive stargazing instrument, said to be capable of observing the surfaces of other planets in remarkable detail.
It has one of the most productive hatching pools in the temple city. It is said that when skin lizards hatch, they are often accompanied by some giant lizards blessed by the warlike ancient saint Quetli. These giant lizards are slightly smarter and at least know how to use weapons when they are born.
According to legend, there is a huge ruby mine deep underground around it, which is accompanied by a large amount of precious metals and rare minerals, and the least valuable is gold.
But the most impressive feature of this city is the diamond-shaped reflective lens mounted on the mountain. Among the city's Skinks, there's a special class called the "Sun Officer." They aim the diamond-shaped reflector at the moment of sunrise, and throughout the day, they rotate the lens to follow the sun. The captured sunlight converges into a thick beam, a portion of which is transmitted through magical pipes and stored deep beneath the city, used for nighttime illumination or during cloudy, rainy days.
The remaining beams were directed into a perfectly carved and intricate system of moving diamond lenses, which split the beams into multiple, meter-wide beams. Some of the beams were used in the forges, where the concentrated heat was used to melt gold and other rare metals more quickly. Some of the beams were transmitted to the defense towers, where they powered and energized the war equipment, much like the solar engines mounted on the backs of ankylosaurs.
You can imagine how spectacular and gorgeous it is when the weather is clear and the beams of sunlight are constantly refracting in the sky above Spica Zuma. Some of the beams will penetrate the waterfalls flowing down from the mountain stream, and the rainbow and the beams will merge together.
However, all this changed when the great invasion came. Spicazuma was one of the first temple cities to be attacked, as the huge energy reserves in the city attracted Chaos Daemons like a brilliant torch.
During the initial stages of the Great Invasion, the Slann of Spicazuma were still able to maintain the defense towers and wards surrounding the city, powered by the energy in the lens system and storage devices, while the Sun Engine and the God Engine burned the Chaos Daemon army to ashes.
Soon the Chaos Daemons realized they could never conquer the city in broad daylight. Thus, Chaos Spellcasters united to unleash a detestable spell, shrouding the Temple-City in the darkness of night.
Without the sun, these war machines, which revolved around the Solar Principle, quickly became powerless, and the Shilan were forced to maintain the defense towers and barriers without the help of storage devices.
According to records, the city held out until the barrier was broken. There's no further record of the city after this. It's possible that the Slann of Spicazuma led the Lizardmen in a fighting retreat, retreating to the energy storage chambers deep beneath the city. It's likely that Darkus's exploration and discovery will reveal more about this.
To Dacus, this temple-city was atypical. He had the impression that other temple-cities stood on cleared land in the jungle or nestled in the mountains. Only this Lens City was built in a mountain hollow, protected by the natural defenses of the mountains to the north, east, and west. A wall surrounded the south, and before it lay a man-eating swamp. Only the central section was accessible. However, the high walls and defense towers to the south and on the mountain had collapsed.
Arkadan reappeared at the city gate riding a cave dragon. He waved to the team, indicating that it was safe.
"Go into the city!"
The ruins of the city lay scattered throughout, and Dakwus could see hundreds of collapsed and damaged statues on each step of the pyramid. Green-skinned orcs had recently settled here, and the atmosphere within the ruins was pungent and nauseating. Cold Lizards could easily step in the dung, and graffiti was everywhere on the pyramid.
The group passed through the shadows of huge, collapsed stone buildings, under the dazzling light of huge, uniquely shaped carved heads. Finally, they crossed a deserted asphalt manure road, passed rows of crouching and collapsed Lizardman statues, and entered an open square.
"Fuck!"
The open square was filled with a terrible stench, and a mountain of shit stood in the center of the square.
The Skinks in the group began to jump up and down and curse, using every possible venomous curse word they could think of.
It took a long time to find a place to stay. Daxus could always smell a strange smell from time to time during dinner. He couldn't stand it halfway through the meal, so he put down his tableware and went to find Chupa Coco.
"Can you cast a spell like Wind Blast to clear it out? The smell is too strong."
After a while, the situation eased slightly.
"Sir, there may be undead in this ruined city." Genevieve whispered to Daquus while clearing the dishes.
"Can you sense where it is?" Daquus put down the after-dinner fruit and looked at Genevieve seriously.
Genevieve hesitated for a long time and finally shook her head.
"Then don't run around tonight. I'll strengthen the sentry posts, and we'll look for him tomorrow."
Genevieve, the Midnight Lady, has the best energy and condition at night. She had been running around a lot during the previous nights when camping. Duruchi and the lizards knew about it, but no one took it seriously.
After an uneventful night, the expedition set out early the next morning. Led by Dacus, they climbed the mountain to the lens system. Unfortunately, the frame of the lens system was still intact, but the lenses above had long since broken. From there, they could only observe the city nestled in the mountain. The city's layout was well-organized, with six large pyramids scattered in a regular diamond pattern, and smaller pyramids nestled around it.
"Have you been here?" Ryan began to ask Akadan.
Arkadan shook his head.
"Dear great adventurers, what are your opinions?" Daxus asked a nonsensical question while leaning his chin on a small folding stool.
"Sir, could it be there?" Walter pointed to a dead end road leading to the mountain.
Daxus raised his monocular to observe. The road was already half-buried by the collapsed mountain and rocks. He muttered as he observed.
"If only the lens system could work, everyone except those on patrol would move and clear a path."
A moment later, the lizardmen, giant lizards, triceratops and ankylosaurs began to move under the command of the skinks.
This city was added in the 8th edition of the military book. There is no relevant content in Wiki. It is all made up.