Volume 25 - CH 43

「Lily is tired! Don't wanna to take another step! I don't want to walk anymore!」

「Me too~!」

I thought this would happen, but the insufferable members of the group raised their voices.

This is the scariest thing in the desert when you can't see your destination no matter how long you walk.

Temperature and water are important, but it's the spirit that counts.

「I guess I'll just leave you two here. We can't take care of you if you abandon Meena and Kaede.」

Saki, too, did not coddle them, but gave them a stern warning.

「Ugh!」

「No, no, no, I'm not abandoning them! Okay, let's do our best! We're walking, Lily!」

「Ah. Geez, Alec, carry me, carry me please~!」

「Honestly, you're such a spoiled brat, you know that? Well, that's fine」

I carry Lily in my arms and walked down the dune step by step. On the way, my feet sank into the sand like it was muddy, and I couldn't go as I wanted. So I started walking again, sometimes using 【Levitation】.

After a few hours of this, the ground suddenly began to shake.

「What is it? Wh-what?」

Unlike an earthquake, this was a slow movement. But the fact that I don't know the cause makes it even scarier.

「Th-that can't be, this is ......!」

「Do you know about this, Selma?」

「No, it's just that folklore says that when a sand dragon appears, the earth shakes like an ocean.」

「That's it. Everyone, prepare for the Sandworm! It's coming!」

「「「Roger!」」」

At about the same time as everyone replied to my instructions, the sand exploded like an eruption, and the Sandworm appeared from it.

――Tsk, it big ......!

I knew that it would not be a half-hearted enemy, being called the Sand Dragon, but I had no idea that it was this big.

It body is probably at least four meters thick. I have no idea how long it is.

「Khh, big is not always better!」

Jouga runs in first as a cut-throat leader, but he can't reach the enemy right away because his feet are stuck in the sand.

「Don't worry, we can do it!」

After saying that, Luka took off her robe, probably judging it to be in the way of her running, and plunged into the sand.

The vanguard group finally made it to the base of the sandworm, and surrounded it, slashing at it all at once.

「GHOoOOOO――!」

The sandworm roars as it swells, and then plunges headfirst like a dragon flying through the sky.

「Run!」

Deciding that the attack was dangerous, I gave the order.

「A-Aye! Kkhh!」

But there are few who can move freely in the sand. Doon! The sandworm's head landed on the ground with a loud thud, and several people were caught in it.

「Aahhh! Jouga! Luka!」

cried Serina. From where I was standing, the sand was flying around like a smoke screen, so I couldn't see, but from the sound of her voice, it seemed that two people had been hit.

「Fianna! Heal them!」

「O-okay!――Goddess Eir, grant our wish and show us an infinite miracle in this place. Area Heal!」

The area around the sand glowed white, but it looks like she used range magic instead of single target. Good decision.

「ZOoOOOO――――!」

The sandworm leaned its head this way, and now it began to swell rapidly.

What is this thing going to do?

「『I love cleaning~!』」

It seems that Nene used her 【Empathy】 to read the enemy's thoughts, but cleaning?

「Kuhh, this is bad, I'm getting sucked in. Letty, use the gravity magic!」

With the wind whipping around me, I understood what it was trying to do.

「Ehh? I just came up with a great new original magic.」

That's all well and good, but it's got to be something that can take it out in one hit or knock it back, or we'll get sucked in first.

「Quickly!」

「Kay-kay. ――Black Hole another world, Bottomless Stomachs,....? but that's too strong for all of us, let's see, uhh, ......」

「OI, anything is fine. Put on some weight on it. Damn.」

The wind picked up even more, and my body fluttered.

「Haeeeeee――W-wind!」

As she floated up, Nene cast a shortened form of wind magic on herself. But she was only able to slow it down a little and was sucked into the sandworm's mouth.

Tsk, this isn't a vacuum cleaner, you know.

「Aahhhh, Nene-chan! If this happens―― a great tree with roots in the earth, ugh, *choke*!　*cough*!Th-the sand is...」

「Letty, no chanting there. Whoa!」

「Aleec!」

In my haste, I used 【Levitate】, but the wind that the sandworm sucked in was stronger.

I was taken into the darkness with a pop sound.

I fall into the sand. The inside of the sandworm's stomach is also full of sand.

「――Be a piece of the stars and light my way, Light!」

She seemed to be close by, and as soon as Nene cast the light magic, I could see my surroundings.

「Brother!」「Aleeec!」

「Jouga, Luka, it looks like you're both okay.」

「Aye, that's not going to get us killed!」

「Right」

Now, what do we do from here? ...... Well, if we cut a hole in the belly, we can get out quickly.

「Let's get out of here.」

「「「Roger」」」

I slashed at the wall of the sandworm's belly, but perhaps because the body was so big, the cut didn't even reach the outside of the worm. In the meantime, more and more sand was falling from its head, and more than half of my body was already buried. At this rate, I'm going to buried alive.

「Eeii, that's sloppy! 【Dimensional Slash!】」

I use my strongest skill here, grabbing the dimension with my toes and twisting my body to grab it with all my might and super speed. The sight at the end of the sword bends lazily ―― and I see the sky outside.

「All right!」

「Oh, good! Just in time, everyone get out of there! I'll show you Crusher Letty's seriousness here! ――The great looking into the abyss .....」

「【Starlight Attack!】」

Letty started to chant her magic, but before she could, Serina used her usual special move, and the slashed sandworm collapsed like sand. Instantly, it turned into smoke.

「Clear!」

「All right.」

I smiled at her, and she smiled back at me, saying she did done well.

「He ......, heeey! We were just in the middle of a huge pinch of "Black Cat of the Wind", my friends were swallowed up one by one, and it was getting really exciting, so why don't you let me get the last kill! You dumbass~!」

Letty is sulking, but it's better to kill the sandworm quickly. We don't need all that excitement.

「Are you all okay?」

「Yep, I'm fine」「No problem」「I'm fine」「GAU」

After confirming that everyone was okay, I observed something large buried in the desert.

............Is this a dinosaur bone?

In front of me was what appeared to be the spine of an animal, sticking out of the ground in a large, turret-like shape.