Chapter 212: 9:6 (7)

Isaac had been circling above and giggling like he was watching a fun show, probably hoping for a battle against the bandits.

However, he suddenly started freaking out. "W-What the hell? Why is she here? How did she follow us?!"

Rena galloped straight through the bandits, spinning her curved sword with practiced ease.

Rather than narrowing toward the tip, the back of the odd blade grew thicker the closer it got to the tip. Rena twirled the single-edged weapon like a weight, dancing through the gaps between the bandits.

After a few fast spins, she struck. Not one of them managed to parry the blows. Screams filled the air as they stared, bewildered, at their now-missing wrists. Rena's movements were shockingly efficient.

A human neck was notoriously hard to slice through due to the dense bone, thick muscle, and connective tissue. Wrists, however, came off much easier. The desert bandits had blocked our path with confidence, but now shrieked and flailed like clowns, splashing red across the sand.

Twang!

Arrows veered into the blue sky or slammed harmlessly into the sand because their strings were now attached to severed stumps.

Before I could even ask why Rena had followed us, ten bandits were dead, and the rest were fleeing in panic. Even the merchants spectating in the rear realized something was wrong and fled faster than the bandits.

I spurred my horse forward and caught up beside Rena. "Wait, how did you track us here?"

Rena turned briefly as her horse kicked up a trail of sand.

She wiped blood off her face like dust beneath her turban and answered, "No time to talk. Let's kill them all first."

"Right... I'll stay back, then. I don't want to get in the way!" Rubia exclaimed.

Rubia carefully dismounted, grunting slightly but moving with more confidence than before. At least she'd gotten used to mounting and dismounting.

"Worried about her, are you?

Keh keh.

I'll stay with her," Isaac declared.

"

Hmm

..."

In the spur of the moment, I left Rubia behind and followed Rena after the retreating bandits.

Whoosh! Splat!

Two of the fleeing enemies were cleanly split in half. They were torn sideways, their red entrails splattering across the sand. Rena had only severed wrists earlier, but I didn't see any need to hold back because I had strength to spare. After pumping all my points into raw power, my Strength stat had finally broken past 90.

I swung my greatsword horizontally from atop my horse. The wind pressure alone threw one of the bandits off balance, and the blade tore him apart diagonally. His spine and guts spilled out, and two nearby bandits fell off their camels in terror.

Rena threw a pair of daggers at the downed men. With barely a flick of her wrist, the blades sank halfway into their necks.

One died with eyes wide open, the other's remained tightly shut.

One of the stragglers turned and flailed his mace behind him. "

Uwaaaagh!

"

I hadn't even gotten into a stable stance, but I simply extended my sword and knocked the weapon aside, then rammed my blade into his gut for several seconds before tossing him aside like trash.

"Four left," I said flatly.

"You're more in sync with me than I thought.

Hyah!

"

Rena kicked her horse into a sprint and decapitated a bandit trying to flee alone. Blood from the headless corpse surged into the sky as it still clutched the reins, the camel galloped on beneath it.

We chased the remaining three.

The three bunched up and screamed when they noticed I was behind them. "

Uwaaah!

Uwaaaaagh

!"

"Split up! Scatter!" one of the men yelled.

As they broke in three directions, I swept my sword in a wide arc—almost 270 degrees—and cut all three of them down in one go.

Rena pulled up beside me with a small gasp of admiration. "You... you're an impressive warrior."

I flicked the blood off my blade and looked at her. "How'd you find us? The tracking device should've been removed by now."

"You noticed? Impressive. I actually fell for your bluff. The founder and Sharunian went north."

That makes her presence here even more confusing.

"Then why are you here?"

Her cheeks flushed faintly. "That's..."

I waited quietly.

"The tracker pointed north, but... if by chance you came this way, I figured you'd be in danger. I came to warn you. Just in case."

"Danger?"

I looked around at the corpses littering the sand. If it were just people like these, even two hundred wouldn't be a problem. Fighting while protecting Rubia was a different story, but as a T&T branch leader, Rena had no real reason to be worried about that.

Her face turned serious as she shook her head. "Did... any of the ones you killed blow a whistle? Or try to?"

"None."

Not a single person tried to as they were either running or flailing their weapons.

Rena grew tense. "They called themselves desert bandits, but..."

"Neigh!"

Her horse neighed sharply as she spurred it forward again. I didn't know what she was after, but I followed her over the next dune. Ahead, I saw the fleeing merchants.

One of the merchants in the rear screamed, "Why?! Why are you chasing us, too?! Just go kill the bandits!"

They were riding hard, but their camels, slowed by the weight of their cargo, couldn't outpace us.

Rena didn't respond. Instead, she pulled out a sleek throwing spear. I couldn't help but notice how strange it was that these merchants seemed to be better at riding camels than the actual bandits. If the two groups had fought, I had a feeling the merchants would've won.

Whoop!

The spear flew and blasted through a merchant's shoulder.

"

Gyaaaagh!

" the merchant shrieked and thrashed in the saddle.

Rena frowned slightly. "Missed..."

The injured man screamed, clutching his wound. "Captain! The god—! The god is—!"

God? What the hell is he saying?

Suddenly, a strange, eerie horn echoed among the fleeing merchants.

Bwooooo... Bwooooo!

I had never heard that sound before. The curly-bearded merchant leader who'd handed us water was now riding his camel backward, glaring at us as he blew into a twisted, otherworldly horn.

I had no idea what it was made of, but I noticed Rena's expression darken.

"Watch your footing. That's why I came to warn you."

"Our... footing?"

[Skill: Detection Lv. 7 activated.]

I focused my Detection beneath the sand, but there was nothing. I did not sense a presence or any trace of movement from below.

Boom!

Unexpectedly, one of the fleeing merchants exploded like a flower in bloom. Bright red blood sprayed out like petals. A massive torso surged from beneath the sand, soaked in gore, and trembled.

"C-Captain! What the hell is—!"

Squelch!

Another merchant and his camel were also pulled under. The sand heaved for a moment, then turned crimson with blood.

Thwack!

Something spat the corpse back out like chewed-up gristle—bones exposed, body torn to ribbons.

Crunch! Crackle!

Another merchant was swallowed whole, dragged down, and devoured where he stood. Yeoman, the caravan leader with thick brows and intense eyes, froze mid-blow of his horn. His handsome face twisted in horror as he screamed into the air.

"L-Lord! What are you doing?! Our... our contract—

GAAACK

!"

Yeoman must've sensed something. He tried to dodge, but only succeeded in saving half of himself. His left side was torn clean off, while his right stood upright for a heartbeat before collapsing onto the sand.

Only then could I begin to comprehend what we were up against. Even just the part exposed above ground stretched over ten meters. It was twice as thick as any noble's castle pillar. Its mouth—ringed with five long blades—held a dangling tongue shaped like a human hand.

To put it as mildly as possible: it looked like a worm crossed with a scythe. When it closed its jaws, it shredded its prey into flower petals with its five blades. When it opened wide, it would lash out with its tongue, snatch its victim, and the densely packed teeth would grind them to mush.

Still, I didn't panic. The status window that floated in midair explained everything.

[You have encountered the Desert God!]

[Special Field Boss identified.]

[Assimilation Rate: 70.5% or lower.]

[True Name: Ash Worm]

[Rank: B++]

[A creature born from the ashes of humans burned alive by Yemera's divine fire.]

[Susceptibility to ice-based attacks is high.]

The worm burrowed faster and faster beneath the sand, closing in on us.

"You! What are you doing?!" I shouted.

Rena was fitting some kind of device onto her arms.

A launcher? A bomb?

She jumped off her horse. I didn't need her getting dragged into this.

"Just stand back and watch."

It didn't feel like when I'd fought the thing inside Leraie's ruins—there was no strange trance or otherworldly pull. Yet, I still had the sense that I could handle this.

[Skill: Focus Lv. 2 activated.]

[Detection Lv. 7 locked onto single target.]

[Skill: Tracking Lv. 15 activated.]

[Target: Ash Worm]

[Target's Stealth Level is lower than your Tracking Skill.]

[Terrain-based concealment will be pierced in real time.]

[Heart's Eye (C+) applied.]

The moment I concentrated, the sand turned transparent, as if I were peering through shallow water.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[You have achieved the special state: Clear Mirror, Still Water.]

[Experience for all related skills has greatly increased.]

[Sword Energy: Maximum Output.]

Frost.

[Double Casting...]

Frost.

The status window wasn't telling me what to do. It simply reflected what I already knew.

[Skill: Sprint Lv. 7 activated.]

[Speed increased by 500%.]

[Remaining time: 24:59.]

Crack!

With an overwhelming surge of mana, I flash-froze the sand in a slanted path ahead of me. Then, I launched forward. I accelerated so fast and hard that the ice shattered underfoot with every step.