Aiming at the sands that were packed with worms, I shot my wind magic. The worms popped out of the sand and danced in the air.
The worms then fell like a fish washed up on land. Mel-san treats them to a magically mortal wound. Jade-san and the others stab them for the finisher.
We repeated this many times.
[Mel-san, donât fall.] Yuna
Mel-san is carrying out magical bombardment with one hand on my shoulder, while her knees are on the back of Swaying Bear.
Mel-san looks at the direction of my Bear Puppet and fatally injures the worms with precise timing. The rest is a simple collaboration between Jade-san and the others.
Thanks to Mel-sanâs attack, Jade-sanâs burden had been reduced.
[Yuna! Are there still more?] Jade
Out of breath, Jade-san asked me from behind. Even with Mel-sanâs help, the burden that they take is not zero. Their physical strength was gradually decreasing.
Looking at the Bear Detection Magic, itâs about half less than their initial number. We defeated quite a lot, but.
We still have a long way to go.
It looks like there were so many, quite astoundingly large number of worms gathered around the pyramid.
[Thereâs more, weâre not even close to it so thereâs more.] Yuna
If you look at the area where the wormâs corpses are, itâs obvious to see where we didnât pass yet.
Some of which came together and recognize us as bait, but there are still a lot of worms.
[Uragan! Are you still all right?] Jade
[Well, weâre going to be okay! Who do you think youâre talking to?] Uragan
When Jade-san checks on Uragan, he answers with a mean tone. Heâs like a barbarian putting up the bravado air.
But itâs better than making a weak cry.
So then, Iâll go and make you squeal, letâs dig up the rest of the worms.
[Follow me!] Mel
Mel-san, whoâs riding behind me, told everyone.
I dug out the worms one after another. However, this is a trivial work.
Iâd be happy if this was something that could be eaten, like a fish. Worms arenât happy either.
The same work continues.
[Hey, bear!] Uragan
Uragan is shouting in the back, but Iâm not listening.
[Hey, black one!] Uragan
My name is not black.
[Are there still...] Uragan
The voice in the back is getting smaller.
[Yuna-chan, behind...] Mel
[Itâs almost time.] Yuna
[Iâm begging you... Please stop ...] Uragan
[And thatâs it.] Yuna
The final air bullet was driven and the worm around here was the last one.
Looking at behind me, everyone is falling out of breath.
However Uragan, who kept wielding his sword throughout the ordeal, seemed to have a lot of guts.
But in the end, he was complaining in a weak pacified tone.
Uragan aside, his party members have stopped, due to exhaustion.
[Damn, itâs been a long time since Iâve moved like that.] Party Member
[I... I canât move.] Party Member
Uraganâs party were out of breath and were now lying on the back of the Ragaroot. However, they looked terrible and they somehow managed to follow.
But if you really couldnât do it anymore, I would do it by myself.
Unlike Uraganâs party, Jade-san and the others thought theyâd be okay.
[I donât want to do that ever again.] Toya
Toya was complaining while almost fainted on his ride.
[But I never wouldâve thought Iâd really kill such a large amount of worms.] Jade
Jade-san said that while watching the worms lifelessly lying around.
Roughly, about 500 worms had been killed.
It was certainly quite a lot. However, its still few compared from that incident at the Royal Capital.
With this, we were able to subdue almost all of the worms around the pyramid. Even if I confirm it using the Bear Detection Magic, there were hardly any of them left.
I think that its fine to leave them be if its just this much.
In the first place, its troublesome to move around just to defeat a single monster.
[Donât take it in the pyramid. Youâre gonna have to dismantle it here.] Jade
Jade-san mercilessly said to the tired Uragan.
[Do.. Donât be stupid! Youâre gonna let us do this amount alone!?] Uragan
[You made a deal. Iâll give you half of Yunaâs share and half of our share, so youâre going to do the dismantling.] Jade
Jade-san looks at Uragan.
Did you possibly knew the number of worms, Jade-san?
Is that why you made a deal like that?
Jade-san has to go into the pyramid with me and Karina anyway. But the wormâs processing is very essential. Did you think that by giving half of your share, you can get paid without participating in the dismantling work?
[You did said that, but...] Uragan
Uragan saw the countless worms lying on the desert sand.
Will they make it before the end of the day?
Well, unlike the wolves, worms have very little usable material, so if you take out the magic stone, youâll just have to burn it to keep the other monsters from getting close.
So it shouldnât take much time to dismantle a single worm. However, the amount is large. Also weâre in the middle of the desert.
Itâs a place where you donât want to take your sweet time doing dismantling work.
[I think youâll be fine after doing a few minutes of work.] Jade
[Damn, Iâll do it. But weâll get a better share.] Uragan
Certainly, in this subjugation, they seem to have earned more than a few rewards. Uragan, who noticed it, reluctantly accepts Jade-sanâs words.
His party did not complain because their leader Uragan consented.
Well, if you donât do your best at dismantling work, youâll be in trouble if the other monsters came.
For the time being, Iâll go back to where Karina is.
The original purpose is to take Karina into the pyramid. However, the worms were almost exterminated, so we can proceed to the pyramid with a peace of mind.
While weâre moving towards Karina, Swaying Bear turns to the right.
[Whatâs wrong? ] Yuna
The sand moves.
A worm?
Iâm looking at the Bear Detection Magic, there is indeed a worm at a distance.
Swaying Bear cries with caution.
[Swaying Bear, itâs okay.] Yuna
If it comes here, Iâll kill it. You can leave it alone.
Huh? I think, a small sand dune is getting closer and closer. The movement of the sand gradually grows. Everyone noticed that.
[What?] Uragan
The moment I thought that a small wave of sand had occurred, the sand surged and a huge sandworm emerged from the sand.
[What the!] Jade
[Thereâs such a big one?!] Uragan
A sandworm about the size of a worm that I killed before appeared.
So this is what made Swaying Bear wary.
It was a big sandworm that appeared, when I thought it was just a normal sandworm. The Bear Detection Magic also only tags it as sandworm.
As was the case with the bees the other day, I want it to be able to distinguish between ordinary worms and big worms. This is where the Detection Magic is not flexible.
I faced the worm.
Maybe itâs a parent or something? The parent is here, because the normal wormâs corpses are gathered?
Or was it born here?
Even so, the worm gets worse as it gets bigger. That sticky saliva was the most unpleasant.
[Yuna-chan!] Mel
[Shit, letâs get out of here.] Uragan
[Yuna! What are we going do now?] Jade
Mel-san is screaming behind me.
Uraganâs party wants to run away.
Jade-san is looking at me and Uragan alternately.
They seem to be thinking about either fighting or fleeing.
If you think about the future, it is better to just kill it. I will decide immediately.
[Iâm going down, everyone go to Karina.] Yuna
Here it is easier to fight alone than to fight several at once.
I got off Swaying Bear.
Because it is troublesome, I will end it quickly.
I know how to kill large worms.
[Yuna-chan, me too.] Mel
[Mel-san wait there with Swaying Bear till I come back.] Yuna
If Swaying Bear is not nearby when Iâm finished with this, itâll be troublesome to return to Karina.
[Yuna, are you really going to be okay?] Jade
[Iâll be alright.] Yuna
After answering Jade-san, I started running alone towards the worm. The worm perceives me as bait and squeezes through its body, screaming from its large mouth.
Did you mistake me for a bear?
The one-sided battle between the Bear and the Sandworm begins.
I lined up the Flame Bears. Countless Flame Bears appear before me.
[Bears, Go!] Yuna
Secret technique, internal destruction.
As I swing my arms forward, the Flame Bears jumped out and flew towards the mouth of the big sandworm. Then, they rushed into the mouth of the approaching sandworm while shedding it.
I canât see it, but the Flame Bears were moving around inside the worm, burning it. The worm struggles to match it and tossed its body around. It hit its body so many times on the sand.
It is impossible with ordinary magic, but my Flame Bears do not disappear so easily. They will move if I order them, so they will go all the way.
Monsters with large mouths are the fastest to destroy from the inside of the body. If you have other important materials inside your body, then I canât use this secret technique.
But right now, you donât have any other essential materials so there is no problem.
Worms are also stupid. It became like this because you want to eat the bears. If only you slept in the sand obediently, this would have never happened.
The giant sandworm slams its body onto the sandy ground just to suffer even more.
At that moment, when I thought it was over, the back part of the worm bends and suddenly attacks me. I thought it could be defeated with that, thus my reaction was a little delayed.
I tried to defend quickly with my Bear Puppet, but I got blown away from the impact.
I was rolling around in the desert with a sound .
Though it doesnât hurt, itâs a bit eye-catching.
When I got up, I fluctuate a little.
There is no injury to the body. As expected of the Bear Equipment.
But you know as they say, donât let your guard down.
I thought I defeated it, after looking like that, I thought that took care of it.
[Yuna-chan!] Mel
Mel-san, whoâs riding on Swaying Bear is running towards me.
[Yuna-chan, are you okay?] Mel
[Iâm okay, I blocked the attack. I just briefly turn my eyes away when it happened.] Yuna
[Just briefly turn your eyes, you say... I think it blew you off quite a distance.] Mel
Sheâs looking at me astoundingly.
Well, it would have been really dangerous if I didnât have the Bear Equipment.
Looking at the worm, it seems that the last attack was the last drop of its power, then it gradually weakened and slowly falls to the ground.
Finally, it stops moving.
I was careless and got hit once, but I was able to subjugate it safely.
We approach the big sandworm and smacked it with my Bear Puppet to see if it is dead and make sure it doesnât move anymore.
Then we went back to Jade-san and Uragan.
[Did you really defeated it?] Uragan
Uragan looks alternately between me and the big sandworm.
The big worm canât be left to Uragan, so it ended up in the Bear Box.
This time, I may be able to use it when Iâm fishing for another Kraken. But sandworms are different than normal worms, so how does itâs taste then?
Well, Iâll try using it as a bait and if I canât catch it, should I just throw it into the sea?
I canât leave it here, it cannot be processed.
Then the big sandworm disappeared.
Uragan was surprised with his eyes wide open. He tried to ask me something, but he couldnât, so I ignored it.
When Jade-san saw such a scene, he gives an explanation or something to Uragan.
[Suddenly, a worm... in that hand...] Uragan
[...Just give it up.] Jade
I heard you said give up, but what are you giving up?
I want to ask Jade-san a little.
..............
.........
Iâm not convinced, but Iâll head back to Karina at once.
Upon returning, Karina was crying heavily.
[Whatâs wrong? ] Yuna
Why is she cying?
Karina rubs her eyes, jumps off of Hugging Bear and rushes to me.
[Yuna-san!] Karina
I got off of Swaying Bear and hugged Karina.
Karina grabs my Bear Clothes with her little hand.
[Maybe Senia-san did something?] Yuna
I asked her while looking at Senia-san whoâs riding on Hugging Bear, Karina shakes her head.
[I didnât do anything. Itâs Yuna who made her cry.] Senia
Senia-san said something unclear. When did I made Karina cry?
Until recently, I was just killing worms.
I didnât made Karina cry.
If someone made her cry, it would be Senia-san who was on her side.
[Yu- Yuna-san.....] Karina
Karina is crying on my chest.
I asked Senia-san, [Why?]
If I donât know the reason, thereâs no way for me to comfort her.
[Because Yuna went alone to face the big worm. So Karina here, started making noises and flailing around it was so hard to stop her. She kept screaming .] Senia
Oh, that means you were worried for me.
[And when Yuna was blown away by the worm, she cried so hard. Karina kept saying .] Senia
Ah, does it look like that from the outside perspective?
If a big worm appears, everyone should flee, but...
I went and faced a big worm alone.
I went and got blown away by a big worm.
The death flag is rolling up.
I am fighting, but to me itâs nothing.
[Iâm sorry to make you worry. But youâve already heard that Iâm strong. Iâm still okay.] Yuna
Karina knows about the Kraken. She doesnât have to panic just because a big worm came out.
[Itâs different between knowing and seeing. Going alone to face such a big monster...] Karina
She looked up... Sheâs looking at me.
Her eyes are bright red.
[I, I thought Yuna-san would get eaten.] Karina
Sheâs pleading with tears.
[Fu~tsu (sniffle sfx.), when you were blown away I thought you were gone.] Karina
Karinaâs tears werenât stop.
I took out my handkerchief from the Bear Box and wiped her tears.
You really seemed to be worried.
[Thank you for worrying for me.] Yuna
I stroke her head until Karina calmed down.
For some reason, she has a strong sense of responsibility, but we cannot forget that Karina is just a 10-year-old girl.
For Karina, the big worm is a terrifying monster. (TN: With that size, I think generally all people does...)