The ruins were not far away. Altaïr piloted the Sandship at full speed and reached them in only about half an hour.
The site was a patch of rocky ground, a rare sight in the sand sea, covering only a few thousand square meters.
Deep within the surging sands, rocky ground like this was ideal for building a mausoleum. Excavation made it possible to construct stable chambers, yet the shifting dunes could easily bury them and make the site extremely difficult to find.
In fact, wherever this kind of rocky ground appeared, there was a good chance that some tomb, large or small, lay beneath it.
The tomb before them was exactly such a place.
It was not large, but its craftsmanship was fairly exquisite, suggesting that it belonged to an ancient noble of considerable power. From the designs and inscriptions on the stone blocks at the entrance, Altaïr roughly estimated its age.
It was probably younger than the Wyverian Elder...
Francesca reached the same conclusion and folded her arms. "Not as old as I expected. It looks two or three hundred years old at most, nowhere near ancient enough to qualify as a relic of an Ancient Civilization. The technology of that period still lagged far behind what we have now. Could anyone then really have built a machine that advanced?"
"Probably not," Altaïr agreed. "The pendant also came from this tomb, but Mr. Alva estimated it to be at least five hundred years old. Given what we know, the tomb's owner was probably a noble or wealthy merchant who collected strange curiosities and had some of them buried with them."
"S-So... is that good news or bad news?" Isis's gaze turned vacant as she listened to the two of them speak so knowledgeably.
Wait, why do both of you know so much about ancient and modern history?
She glanced at Morgan and found him equally confused, which brought her some comfort. At least she was not the only one who felt lost.
"Relatively good news," Altaïr explained with a nod. "The only problem with more recent ruins is that their contents tend to have less value... academic value, I mean. With ruins from truly ancient civilizations, however, there is no telling what might be inside. I have no firsthand experience, but I have heard all kinds of stories..."
"Ah, stop. Just stop." Francesca covered her face, as if reliving memories too painful to bear. "During the years I traveled with my master, we stumbled into places like that far too many times. Elder Dragons especially love nesting in enormous Ancient Civilization ruins. Did you know that?"
"And then what happened?" Isis asked excitedly. "Did she kill all those Elder Dragons?"
Francesca shot her a sidelong glance. "You think Elder Dragons are creatures you can kill on a whim? That would affect the entire region's ecosystem, Isis... Of course we ran whenever we crossed paths with one by accident. The trouble was, I couldn't keep up with my master. She always forgot I couldn't zip around on Wirebugs the way she could. More than once, I was nearly dead before she remembered to turn back and pull me out..."
As she spoke, a note of resentment entered Francesca's voice that made everyone shiver.
Altaïr fell silent for a moment.
If Senior Francesca had survived to this day with all four limbs intact, she was probably far more capable than an ordinary 2★ Hunter.
While they chatted, Isis and Altaïr cleared away the stones blocking the tomb entrance, revealing a pitch-black stairway leading underground.
The cramped tomb passage, dim light, and unknown machine waiting ahead made tension coil in the chests of even these battle-hardened High Rank Hunters.
One by one, the Hunters lit portable kerosene lamps, hooked them to their belts, and carefully descended the passage with Isis in the lead, her Gunlance leveled and Large Shield raised.
Before they entered the burial chamber, the Elder, protected at the center of the group beside Francesca, said quietly, "The object is in the chamber's southwest corner. Be careful."
Altaïr added, "If anything seems wrong, don't hesitate. Destroy it immediately."
"Understood." Isis braced her shield and pushed hard against the heavy stone door separating the passage from the burial chamber.
By the light of their oil lamps, the Hunters quickly surveyed the entire room.
It covered only fifty or sixty square meters and contained no obstructions; they could see the whole chamber at a glance.
A stone sarcophagus stood at the center, its lid pried off. The sight was unnerving.
Then they remembered that the previous group of Nomads had removed the lid and looted almost everything inside, and the sense of horror rapidly faded.
"Morgan, wait outside in the passage, just in case. That's the rule," Altaïr said quietly.
Morgan wanted to ask, "Whose rule is that?" In the end, however, he swallowed the question, nodded, and retreated to stand guard in the passage.
After briefly confirming the state of the tomb's interior, the Hunters entered cautiously.
They soon came face-to-face with the "mysterious machine" the Elder had described.
"It looks like a hammer, meow," Sajji murmured.
The Elder furrowed his brow and whispered, "It isn't lit up or moving. It should be inactive."
Staring at the meter-high machine, Francesca felt every hair on her body stand on end. She could not explain why, but her instincts screamed that the thing was trouble.
Very bad news.
"I'll take a picture, then we're leaving." Fighting the overwhelming urge to draw her Great Kelbi Deershot and blast the thing to pieces, Francesca took out her portable camera and aimed it at the machine.
"Click!"
The flash fired as the shutter snapped.
"Hummmm..."
Whether the flash had triggered it or something else had, the strange machine stirred to life with a hum that chilled everyone's blood.
It swiveled from side to side as if looking around, then rasped out a burst of harsh, distorted speech.
"Energy... insufficient... connecting to host... failed... connecting to host... failed... detected... strength... acceptable... biological entity... beginning scan..."
A pale blue sheet of light flashed from the front of the machine and swept over Isis, who stood with her Large Shield raised.
For that instant, Isis understood the "scrutiny" the Elder had described. It felt as though the machine could see through her, inside and out.
What happened next made everyone's hair stand on end.
A translucent image resembling Isis formed around the machine. Like some kind of mimetic camouflage, it enveloped the strange device.
To everyone watching, a second Isis had appeared, staring at them expressionlessly.
"She" opened her mouth. Words in standard Dundorma common speech spilled out amid crackling static.
"Energy... insufficient... uploading..."
"Boom!"
Snapping out of her brief shock, Isis pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The Gunlance roared. The phantom flickered wildly before vanishing, while the point-blank shell blast hurled the strange machine into the burial chamber wall. It struck hard, then crashed to the floor.
Altaïr drew his blade and was about to charge, but someone moved faster.
Francesca suddenly drew her Great Kelbi Deershot. Her arm blurred as she fired more than a dozen pellets in a single volley, raining them down on the mysterious machine in the corner of the burial chamber.
"Defend, meow!" Pawdrick shrieked.
Isis instinctively raised her Large Shield to protect everyone behind her. The next instant, fire and thunder filled the cramped burial chamber as though several Large Barrel Bombs had detonated together.
The force of the explosion was astonishing. If Isis had not raised her shield in time to block the impact and flames, the Elder, who wore no Armor, might have been killed.
By the time the smoke cleared, the strange machine had been reduced to fragments scattered across the floor.
Both the strange voice and the hair-raising phantom had been completely obliterated in the explosion.
That was a goddamn Bow?! Were you firing Large Barrel Bombs from it?! Covered in dust, Altaïr barely kept himself from blurting the curse aloud.
Pawdrick leaped up and kicked Francesca. "Have you lost your mind, meow? How could you fire a whole volley in such a cramped chamber, meow?!"
"Ahem. That thing took Isis's shape. It startled me, all right?" Her hair in disarray and looking no less bedraggled than the others, Francesca laughed awkwardly in her own defense.
Sajji stared at the fragments on the floor, his eyes gleaming alarmingly. He let out an excited meow and tried to rush over, but Altaïr grabbed him by the back of the collar and hauled him away.
"We can't take any of it. Let's go! Senior Francesca, can you collapse the tomb passage?"
Francesca checked the remaining Ammo in her pouch. "Give me a little time to set things up, and I can bring down this entire tomb."
Altaïr bowed toward the sarcophagus at the center of the burial chamber. "Then I'm sorry about this."
P.S. Fighting Omega right now would be a bit too much, so let's treat this as planting a foreshadowing seed in advance. Even though fighting it is really shitty, I really do love this crossover content.
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TL NOTES — LORE GUIDE
Some references in this chapter come from source universes that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The notes below provide the context needed to understand them.
CROSSOVER REFERENCE
Omega — A recurring mechanical superboss from Final Fantasy, first introduced in Final Fantasy V. In Final Fantasy XIV, Omega is an interstellar superweapon created by the world-conquering Omicrons to seek out, analyze, and surpass ever-stronger opponents. It pursued the dragon Midgardsormr across the stars and can scan life-forms, reproduce them, and construct artificial battlefields in which to test their strength. Its ability to evolve through combat makes it a threat to entire civilizations. Omega is also part of an official crossover: the FFXIV-derived Omega Planetes traveled through an interdimensional rift to the Forbidden Lands in Monster Hunter Wilds, where it studies the local life-forms with the ultimate goal of subjugating the planet.
Midgardsormr — A major draconian entity rooted in Norse mythology and featured across several entries in the Final Fantasy series, most notably as a colossal serpent in Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII (as the Midgar Zolom). In Final Fantasy XIV, Midgardsormr is the Father of Dragons, the supreme progenitor of his kind. Hailing from the distant planet Dragonstar, he fled his homeworld after it was devastated by the warmachines of the Omicrons, carrying a clutch of seven sacred eggs( the First Brood) across the stars. Pursued relentlessly through the cosmos by the superweapon Omega, he ultimately found refuge on the planet Hydaelyn after an exhausting interstellar voyage, sealing a pact with the planet's goddess in exchange for sanctuary. As the colossal guardian of Silvertear Lake and a figure of both reverence and dread, Midgardsormr possesses a virtually immortal soul capable of surviving the destruction of his physical shell and bestowing spiritual trials upon mortals to judge their worth.