In ancient times, the world was filled with giants, and the shadow of their empires stretched far and wide.

These towering figures were extremely active in those bygone days. They were dragon slayers, dreamers, craftsmen, and even kings of a country.

Nowadays, the prosperity of this race has faded away, and until now, there are only some secret giant clans scattered around the world.

They live a quiet life and maintain ancient traditional customs.

Among the giants, stone giants are the most isolated giants compared to storm giants, fire giants, frost giants, and cloud giants.

They value privacy and like to live a peaceful and quiet life.

The hidden caves are the stone giants' homes, the connected cave network is their town, the rocky tunnels are their roads, and the flowing underground rivers are their water sources.

The isolated mountains are regarded as oases by the stone giants, and they can hardly cross the two continents separated by the sea.

The stone giants live in the deepest chambers, far away from the chirping bats and heavy footsteps of their patrolling cave bear neighbors.

In the quiet and dark cave, they carved the rocks in silence, listening to the echo of water droplets falling into the pool, to record the passage of time.

While following the steps of the stone giant, Brian recalled the information about the stone giant family.

Soon, they arrived near the stone giant's settlement.

The entrance to the Smoky Quartz Cave is a long open tunnel in Gounan District. The tunnel extends for several hundred feet before entering the homes of the stone giants of the Smoky Quartz clan.

The name of the stone giant tribe in Aldus King City comes from the ‘Smoke Quartz Crown’.

Their ancestors swore an ancient oath to the Crown's owner, and it remains a traditional symbol of the kings of the Deep Kingdom.

"Sir Brian, please come." The stone giant Lockhan, who was carrying his companion, stretched out his hand to invite.

Brian nodded slightly and entered the Smoky Quartz Cave together with the sword mage.

He knew that stone giants valued privacy, so gray dwarves were never allowed to enter the Smoky Quartz Cave.

The only exception is the Deep King. When necessary, he will come here to talk to the leader of the stone giant.

Stonespeaker Hegram holds talks.

But on the way to the Smoky Quartz Cave, Brian had already elicited a piece of news from the upright stone giant Lorkhan.

Let him know that King Hogar of the Deep has not had any talks with their leader for more than two months, and even the necessities promised in the covenant have been cut off.

This made him realize that the King of the Deep was really, as his son Erdi said, completely controlled by the Succubus of the Abyss.

The moment he entered the cave, Brian felt a sudden sense of enlightenment.

He also found that the noise of steel outside the cave suddenly disappeared and became extremely quiet and peaceful.

The faint sound of running water coming from deep in the hall made them accustomed to the noise made by the gray dwarves, and it seemed particularly soothing.

Sisiah on the side could not help but close her beautiful eyes, relax wholeheartedly, and quietly enjoy this atmosphere.

Brian looked up at the high ceiling, which was engraved with quite regular runes. These magical runes shone with a light blue luster, like a bright starry sky.

In addition to the runes, there are also beautiful stone walls and ingenious carvings on the surrounding walls.

The carefully carved stone walls and sculptures are so lifelike and seemingly made from nature that even the legendary dwarf stonemason's craftsmanship would be ashamed.

It's not surprising that stone giants are natural sculptors and seers.

In their eyes, artistic attainment is the greatest virtue. They create exquisite and magnificent murals on the stone walls of caves and indulge in various artistic fields.

Among them, stone carving art is most favored by stone giants.

Because when creating stone sculptures, they will try their best to bring out the original shape characteristics of the stone, and regard this persistence as revealing the creative meaning of their god Scoreus.

Because of this, the stone giants usually designate the best sculptor in the clan as their own sculptor.

leaders, shamans and prophets.

These outstanding giants use their sacred hands to perform the work of the gods.

Brian also took a fancy to the stone giant's talent and planned to poach the gray dwarves.

Following Lockhane's footsteps, they walked towards the depths of the hall with light and silent steps.

Although the stone giant with a skinny face and sunken eyes looks extremely tall and carries a companion on his shoulders, his huge body and strong muscle structure can still maintain an elegant and graceful posture and movement. When walking, he almost feels awkward.

No sound is made.

The entire hall looked empty, except for the three of them, there was no stone giant coming and going.

This is not surprising, because the total number of stone giants in Aldus King City is only about a hundred.

They seem to have a small population, but their outstanding racial talents allow them to reach at least level 7 even without any training as long as they reach adulthood.

As for the stone giant Leawood who was knocked unconscious by Brian, he was not only a third-level warrior, but also had a warlock talent of about level 10.

As they left the hall and headed toward a deep corridor, Brian noticed a huge stone giant carved from granite.

The god of stone giants, Scoreus Stonebone.

The stone giants fear the 'King of Rocks', the god of buried objects, whose priests are close to the realms of knowledge and life.

The deity's values ​​and creed state: Beauty is truth, knowledge is power, outside influence only distracts the believer's attention from what is truly important, secrets are the ultimate power, and the Underdark is the world's

secret.

The powerful spellcaster Stonespeaker Hegram they were about to meet was the only priest of Scoreus in Aldus King City.

Obviously, this hall is a sacred place of silence and darkness for the stone giant clan. Every sculpture and stone wall in the temple represents the most sacred quality.

When the stone giant Lockhan brought them to the door of Stone Whisperer, he bowed slightly, saluted Brian, then turned and left with his companion on his shoulders.

Brian opened the door and entered the house. Hesiah looked around cautiously and followed closely behind.

According to the size of the stone giant, the stone house deep in the tunnel is not big. A bed and books scattered around occupy almost the entire space.

An old stone giant sat cross-legged on the bed, his white beard trailing across his knees.

What surprised Brian a little was that this old stone giant with broad shoulders also had a pair of silver-rimmed eyes hanging on the bridge of his nose.

This is a gadget made by alchemists. Almost everyone in the surface kingdom has a pair of them, but it is very precious to the stone giant tribe in the dark area.

It can be seen from this that this old stone giant has most likely left the Underdark and traveled in the outside world.

Although the aura of the old stone giant didn't seem to be strong, Brian knew that as the priest of the stone giant god, he led the entire clan, and his strength was at the fourth-order paragon level.

In the game world, although this wise and knowledgeable old man sensed that some powerful force had broken into the Underdark, he did not survive the fight against this dangerous force.

Because he had no idea where the evil force lurking and spreading inside the city was, so by the time the cultists completed the ritual, it was already too late to save it.

"Hello, guests from the surface." Stone Whisperer Hegram put down the book in his hand, slightly squinted his cloudy eyes with astigmatism, and looked at the two of them.

The old giant's voice was soft and soft, sounding like he was on a calm lake. It was completely unimaginable that it was spoken by a giant more than four meters tall.

"Excuse me, Mr. Stone Whisperer." Brian bowed slightly and saluted the old man.

"It's not really an intrusion."

The Stone Whisperer raised his hand and smiled, and said to him with a slightly heavy heart, "I haven't left Aldus King City for a long time, so I can only interpret the changes in the Underdark Region through the whispers from the rocks.

"

"Young adventurer, the stone answered my prayer. It told me that your heart hides many secrets about the anomalies in the city." The stone whisperer looked at the mysterious runes on the wall that even Brian could not understand, and his expression

Whispering solemnly:

"It also said:

An evil being has disrupted the royal city of Aldus.

The rocks cry out in fear, and madness is spreading up from the dark depths.

Pay attention to the signs around you.

A cave has two sides.

The rocks were worn away and the ground was overgrown with weeds.

Pebble only believes in his own flesh and blood.

The earth resists its protection, and the tunnels tremble with fury.

All these signs have revealed to you the face of this evil existence.

This is what the stone told me."

The old man's voice was so soft that one could not tell whether it came from his mouth or not. His words, combined with the shimmering mysterious runes on the stone wall, seemed to be a whisper from the rock.

Brian looked at the old stone giant sitting peacefully on the bed, and then looked at the mysterious runes flickering on the stone wall.

He knew that these mysterious messages mentioned many demon lords and the madness that spread due to their existence, but Stonespeaker Hegram did not decipher the real answer from them at the moment.

"Since you have noticed the danger, you should be aware of the terrifying power of evil." Brian thought for a moment, looked at the old stone giant, and said to him truthfully in a solemn tone:

"Because you will soon realize that the power of the demon lord has threatened this city. Believe me, this is just the prelude to the madness of the bottomless abyss, which continues to spread corruption in the underdark."

"When disaster strikes, no one can stop it!" In order to exaggerate the solemn atmosphere brought about by his words, he deliberately lowered his voice and made the final addition.

Unless someone can kill the spider wizard hiding in the Malicious Cave of Ancient Orens City at this time, he thought to himself.

Obviously, with the current power and personal strength of the Underdark, no one can do it.
To be continued...