Giant's Legacy

"There seems to be a light up ahead, should we go check it out?"

Karl tried to communicate his thoughts to Hopp through the bubble and the pond water.

However, the two different mediums caused Karl's voice to be slightly distorted, and it took Hopp a while to figure out what Karl had said.

"Okay!"

Nodding, the two headed towards an opening at the bottom of the pond.

The opening resembled the spring of the pond, roughly circular in shape, and its diameter was slightly shorter than Karl's Power Armor.

A faint orange-yellow fluorescence emanated from within the opening, as if luminous moss and mushrooms had somehow grown there.

Against the current, Karl and Hopp moved forward with difficulty within the opening.

At first, the cave was quite narrow, but after Karl and Hopp had advanced a certain distance, the space gradually began to expand.

Continuing forward, after passing a corner, Karl and Hopp arrived in a new world.

The interior of the opening was actually a rather vast cave, with countless luminous mosses growing on the walls, illuminating the underwater area like "bright lights."

If I could build a place to live here, I wouldn't have to worry about Mind Flayers and Goblins.

Looking at the peculiar underwater scenery before him, Karl thought regretfully in his heart.

The entire cave was about the size of a football field, and if he could effectively utilize this space, Karl felt he could lie low here for a very long time.

However, the underwater environment limited the value of this place, so Karl could only sigh in longing at this treasure trove.

"Alright, let's get ready to head back. Those Brain Eaters should be leaving by now."

Turning his head, Karl was about to lead Hopp away from here and back to the surface when he discovered that Hopp had been swept far away by an undercurrent.

Poor Hopp was a terrible swimmer, and no matter how she paddled her limbs, she couldn't swim over.

Seeing Hopp's comical struggle, Karl chuckled a couple of times, not very kindly.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Grab my arm."

Seeing Hopp staring at him indignantly, Karl stopped watching the show and drove his Power Armor towards Hopp.

"You could have warned me! If I hadn't noticed, you might have been swept away by the current by now."

Arriving beside Hopp, Karl, while teasing, dragged the other person along, intending to head back to the opening they came from.

Just then, a strong undercurrent struck.

Even Karl, wearing his Power Armor, was pushed back several meters by this undercurrent.

The entire Power Armor spun wildly in the water, while Hopp floated upside down, flailing her limbs.

"Ah! Damn it! Where is such a strong undercurrent coming from? Is this a convergence point for underground rivers in the dungeon city?"

Waving his arms, Karl finally managed to regain his balance in the water, but his brow felt a throbbing pain, as if he were getting seasick.

As a student of Arcanix, seasickness was impossible.

After all, Arcanix was located in the largest freshwater lake on the Continent of Khorvaire, and travel required taking a boat.

Karl had long been accustomed to being on a boat, and had even developed decent swimming skills.

"Ugh~"

Although he didn't believe he was seasick in his heart, Karl's body honestly started to gag.

To avoid vomiting inside the Power Armor, Karl immediately took a deep breath and then took off the Power Armor.

"Glug glug~"

The rush of warm water made Karl feel much better, and the dizziness seemed to have subsided.

Placing his hand on the Power Armor again, Karl was about to put it back on when the Dragon Mark on his shoulder blade suddenly stung.

At the same time, an inexplicable sensation caused Karl to look towards the center of the cave.

The Scouting Dragon Mark had sensed something in that direction.

Engage!

With a thought, the Power Armor was back on Karl. The Magic Rune inside the helmet activated again, and the liquid inside the Power Armor was expelled.

"Hopp! There's something over there! Come with me!"

Swimming over to Hopp, Karl grabbed her and headed towards the center of the cave.

The center of the cave didn't seem to have anything special about it. Thick silt had accumulated at the bottom, and even the surging undercurrents struggled to dislodge it.

However, the Scouting Dragon Mark was sensing precisely this area. Furthermore, the sensation this time was far stronger than before, as if a huge Dragonshard were hidden beneath this silt.

Such a strong sensation made Karl unwilling to give up.

There was no other way, so he bent down and began to dig.

The viscous silt was dug away, and the water current stirred the silt, clouding the surrounding water.

Hopp, standing beside him, even took out her beloved Hand Axe to help dig. But after working enthusiastically for a long time, the two found nothing of value.

Just as Karl was contemplating whether to give up digging.

A "screech" of metal grinding against metal sounded.

As the water gradually washed away the surrounding mud and water, a metal plate hidden beneath the silt was exposed.

Exchanging a look, Karl and Hopp seemed to be injected with renewed vigor, and began clearing away the mud with even greater effort.

Hopp was fine, only increasing the range of movement.

But Karl even activated the Thunder Fist of his Guardian-type Power Armor, attempting to use sonic vibrations to shake off the mud.

"Clang!"

Without controlling his strength properly, Karl directly struck the massive metal object beneath.

An interference pulse formed by magic was released, and the metal object hidden under the silt suddenly began to vibrate on its own.

The mud and sand covering it were shaken loose, and the surrounding water became exceptionally murky for a time.

Karl only had time to grab onto Hopp before he could only watch as the metal object operated on its own.

Time ticked by, and the muddy water was carried away by the undertow.

As the nearby waters gradually became clearer, Karl and Hopp saw the approximate appearance of the metal object at their feet.

It was a massive machine with a huge drill at the front, its length almost as large as the entire cave.

Looking at this strange machine, Karl suddenly remembered an episode he had watched in his past life, from "Tiga Ultraman."

It was during Tiga's second battle with the monster Golza, which tore through the earth, that the Victory Team used a special vehicle that could drill deep underground to find the monster.

That vehicle had a similar principle to the machine before them.

"It looks like a machine for mining underground minerals, but who would use this model of machine? Giants? But the giants have lost their civilization now and exist only in tribal forms."

In terms of size, this thing certainly resembled something from the giants, but Karl found it very difficult to believe that the thing beneath his feet might have been lying here for tens of thousands of years.

Through the Power Armor, Karl touched the material of the drill at his feet.

The hardness of this thing was visibly greater than Karl's Power Armor, and based on Karl's understanding of metal materials, it contained at least several types of magic metal.

It was hard to imagine what kind of person would spend so much precious metal just to create something like this.

While contemplating, Karl looked up and saw pictographic runes gradually lighting up on the metal plate in the distance.

"Wait! These are indeed giant runes. Could this thing really be an ancient giant's [ore cart] for mining Khyber Dragonshards underground?"