Cavern of Earth

The Cavern of Earth (アースの洞窟), also known as the Earth Cave and Terra Cavern, is a location from the original Final Fantasy. It is located south of Melmond, at the "Devil's Tail", and the Warriors of Light must come here to find the source of the earth's rot.

The first floor of the cave offers many branching paths away from the center starting point. The bend to the west of the entrance ladder is particularly dangerous as it forces repetitive battles at every single step, but the ladder to the next floor is a short walk east. The next three levels take some time to traverse through, as they are comprised of many small rooms and contain more powerful enemies. After defeating the Vampire and returning with the Earth Rod, the player can access the next two floors which hold still harder enemies.

Story
The Warriors of Light make their way to the bottom of the cave and defeat a vampire residing there on the third floor who seems to be the cause of the problem. However, this fails to stop the rotting of the earth. Later, they speak with the wise and ancient sage Sadda who lives in a cave to the west. Sadda gives them a rod with which they can move an obstacle at the back of the Vampire's chamber. They return with the rod and expose a secret passage, revealing two deeper floors into the cave.

Here, they find and defeat the Lich, the Fiend of Earth who is leeching power off from the Earth Crystal, and rid the earth of its rotting, the first purification of the Crystals.

Enemies

 * Anaconda
 * Black Widow
 * Cobra
 * Cockatrice
 * Earth Elemental
 * Gargoyle
 * Ghast
 * Goblin Guard
 * Hill Gigas
 * Hyenadon
 * Lizard
 * Minotaur
 * Mummy
 * Ochre Jelly
 * Ogre
 * Ogre Chief
 * Ogre Mage
 * Piscodemon
 * Sphinx
 * Tarantula
 * Troll
 * Warg Wolf
 * Werewolf
 * Wight
 * Wraith
 * Vampire (Boss)
 * Lich (Boss)

Music
The Background Music that plays inside the Cavern of Earth is "Gurgu Volcano".

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
In the Confessions of the Creator Scenario, a Teleport Stone can be found at the Devil's Tail, and is named after the Cavern of Earth. Instead of the dungeon, the Chasm in the Rotting Land Gateway is located in the middle of the mountains. The player's first objective in the storyline is to head here and rescue the mured moogle.

After rescuing him and eventually being directed to the Lands of Discord, the mured moogle reveals himself as Cid of the Lufaine and reveals the circumstances that lead to him becoming a moogle and being sealed in the gateway. When Chaos became Feral Chaos and killed all the summoned warriors, Cid took on the form of a moogle to enter World B and sealed himself and Cosmos in the depths of the Chasm in the Rotting Land gateway to protect the goddess from Feral Chaos's wrath. The time being sealed caused Cid to lose many of his memories, which he began to recover once the player rescued him.

The Reports reveal that the Chasm in the Rotting Land is where Cid stayed during the cycles of war and conducted his studies and experiments. Here he created the Warrior of Light by infusing a manikin with his own memories, but when it did not show a will of its own, he placed it among the warriors summoned by the gods to observe how it grew.

Trivia

 * If players head immediately left upon entering the area, they will come to a dead end passageway, where every step sends them into a battle with at least one Hill Gigas and up to three Lizards. If the player is sufficiently leveled, they can kill the enemy party in a couple rounds, earning several hundred EXP and approximately a thousand gil every battle. If the player wishes, this is a good place to level-grind early in the game.

Cueva de Tierra Terra-Höhle