The Fleshworm of the Sands
To be honest, I had been too casual about it.
Even though it was a large species, how big could it possibly be?
Vesta had Uushun right beside him, and there were elves renowned for their archery skills.
Commander Ahor was there as well, a true leader.
In such a situation, I never imagined a mere bug could pose a real threat.
“…What on earth is that?”
Before Vesta’s eyes, an utterly unbelievable sight unfolded.
A flower rose majestically above the desert—white, and as dry as a corpse.
Its size was far from ordinary.
It wasn’t a flower at all; it was more like a tree.
In the vast desert with no markers, it looked like some mysterious sign from the heavens.
“Could that possibly be the large species?”
“Correct. Doesn’t it look like a white tree?”
Exactly as Uushun had said. The stem twisted like a coiled spiral of wood.
Ahor spoke in her usual unhurried tone.
“It must be more than a hundred and fifty years old.”
A hundred and fifty years old? A bug living longer than a human?
‘Not even an elf.’
“No. Look closer. The head’s been sliced off. It was probably even larger before.”
“True. It’s lived two hundred years, at least.”
“Two hundred years.”
“It must have been tough. Whatever attacked it…”
The words were chilling. They meant someone had hunted a life form so immense it looked like a tree.
At the very least, it wasn’t human.
The cross-section revealed a colossal jaw—clearly that of a bug.
‘Could this be the doing of the large species we’re meant to face?’
I hoped the prediction would prove false. A predator bigger than a tree? No joke could match that.
“Could anyone even catch something like that?”
“Oh? Are you afraid, Baatar-nim?”
Uushun smirked mockingly at Vesta.
“Let’s go catch it quickly.”
Uushun chuckled.
‘A man my age acting so annoyingly cocky.’
Of course I only thought it. Uushun, tongue lolling, looked genuinely scary.
“Don’t worry.”
Ahor shoved Uushun aside and answered. Uushun didn’t budge an inch; she simply hoisted the petite woman in front of her.
Ahor glared at Uushun.
“If it’s not a dragon, it won’t be impossible to kill.”
Uushun cut her off.
“So don’t get scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“I’m here, and there’s a commander, right?”
She flashed a cheeky grin, and Vesta’s mouth went dry.
Exactly as she said.
Vesta had no ability to kill a bug the size of a dinner plate. If it were just him, maybe.
“Even if danger comes, I will save you.”
Casual as it was, Uushun was clearly deadly serious.
“If something happens to me, please save Vesta-nim.”
“Of course. I promise.”
Vesta spoke firmly.
“I’m the same.”
Ahor placed a hand over her chest.
“I will protect you.”
She didn’t say she would protect herself.
“The commander will protect me~”
Uushun lunged at Ahor. The tightly squeezed woman looked as if she might crush.
“…Hard as a rock.”
Yet she didn’t seem displeased.
Ahor pried her off.
“Now let me explain the plan.”
*
The first major obstacle in the operation was luring out the sandworm.
They were the masters of hiding. Finding their tracks was almost impossible.
But in this enormous desert, you couldn’t just stomp around noisily either.
“Watch how I make the sandstorm.”
Ahor chose a frontal assault.
While Vesta and Uushun watched, the camel cavalry led by Ahor crossed the desert.
The ground trembled so violently that even the soft sand shook. Sensitive sandworms would never miss the vibration.
Uushun twirled her baton.
“You’re not coming out? Fine, I’ll wait.”
Unlike before, she was fully armored. She gleamed like heavy steel.
[Thank goodness the sun is already low. If it were midday, I’d have been the one dried out.]
Her massive physique radiated an aura that felt anything but human.
It was like a giant scarab beetle.
“Show me your head…”
Kugugugugu.
“Show me your head, you worm.”
The sand cracked open.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
The sound was like thunder rolling in.
Puff—!
A head shot up.
The torrent of sand made ears ring slightly, and voices rose with it.
“This one crawls sideways too!”
“Yes. With that body, digging through the ground is impossible.”
Uushun presented an unbelievable tale.
“They disturb the underground water and create oases.”
“Then shouldn’t we leave it alone?”
Sand began pouring in like a flood.
“But if we do, the ground will sink. Better to kill it. Hahaha!”
With glee bubbling up, she climbed onto her camel.
Uushun raised her fist.
“Our turn. Let’s go kill it.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Vesta followed Uushun as they rode their camels.
The closer they got, the more real and monstrous the creature loomed—beyond any human scale.
Could they wound it? With a knife no bigger than a fingernail?
The sandworm was too slow to catch the camel cavalry led by Ahor. Its size made it sluggish.
It simply swallowed enormous distances each time it moved.
“Vesta-nim—!”
“Speak!”
“Follow the plan! Are you ready—?!”
Uushun glanced back, and Vesta nodded confidently.
They charged straight at the sandworm’s front.
Its pitch-black head and enormous jaws filled their view.
“Commander!”
“Leave it to me!”
Ahor’s unit swept past them.
“Now—!”
They split apart left and right, sandworm’s head in the center.
There were other targets to aim for.
Its jaw for grabbing food, and the hard head. Far from the soft, wriggling worm larvae.
It was a proper insect.
And insects always had legs.
It moved by contracting its body, but that required pressing against the ground.
Legs were its anchor.
Vesta and Uushun targeted its legs.
Uushun extended her baton long.
Vesta gripped the Khan’s blade.
The blade stayed silent.
‘Even this isn’t working?’
“…That’s one hell of a tough bastard.”
Vesta drew his auxiliary knife.
Shiiiiik—
The tiny appendages on its head made a sound like grinding the world to dust.
It didn’t scare him,
but it felt more like something no human could face.
‘Stay focused. Just avoid that head.’
Suddenly, Ahor’s words from earlier resurfaced.
When they’d faced the lizardman army.
They’d been terrifyingly fast—impossible for even cavalry to catch.
Ahor had accepted the shortfall.
[Their overwhelming speed is their strength. We can’t match it.]
[But.]
[Strength is like a straight line. The only weak point is the entire body except the head.]
“Haha…”
The worm’s jaws and massive body, the overwhelming weight—its strengths, things Vesta couldn’t follow.
“No need to chase. No reason to clash.”
Just hit the body.
In other words, the straight line had weakness everywhere except the head.
The enormous body beside him thrashed, pressing the sand flat.
The dust cloud was thick enough to show the force was real.
If it buried him, death was certain.
Vesta drove his camel close.
Three legs came into view.
They were triangular in shape.
Vesta studied the triangle. Three legs meant three triangles.
It looked like a tunnel drilled straight through.
“Honestly insane.”
Even as he said it, a laugh escaped.
“Let’s go.”
Vesta extended the knife and kicked the camel harder.
Vesta raised the blade high and roared with all his strength.
The sound vanished beneath the sandworm’s colossal roar.
He passed between its constantly moving legs.
Vesta let the tip ride momentum.
Kugugugugu—
Thud.
It connected.
A rebounding force wrapped around his hands.
Legs slid across his back.
Fluid soaked his armor as the appendages were severed by the blade.
‘Success.’
Kugugugugugu—
The sandworm reacted. The moment it twisted, a wall rose before Vesta.
If he hadn’t pulled the reins, it would have impaled him.
Vesta forced the camel back.
He retreated far from the sandworm.
‘Now Ahor’s unit will turn it into a pincushion.’
If it couldn’t burrow underground, this battle was won.
For Vesta. For Ahor too.
—Hahahahaha!
“…Uushun?”
A loud, boisterous laugh. Vesta turned toward it.
A woman flashed in the sunlight like a mirror.
A massive shadow stretched across the area, so she must be standing on something very high.
Yes. Uushun was standing atop the sandworm’s head.
“Uushun!”
No idea how she’d gotten there, but it was a terrible idea.
The creature without legs flailed, trying to rise.
Uushun stood near the top of the sandworm’s head and ran her baton across its gleaming shell.
What was she thinking?
She lifted the baton.
“Oh my…”
The baton swung with fierce power.
A thunderous voice shook the battlefield.
“Strike—!!!!”
Boom—!
The instant Uushun brought the baton down, a lightning bolt struck.
The lightning added power to the falling baton,
and the resulting catastrophic force slammed into the sandworm’s forehead.
—!
A crack raced through the pitch-black head, and fluid exploded out.
“I crushed it.”
Vesta said, stunned.
Uushun’s single blow had left the creature near death.
Kugugugu…
It didn’t die, but its body twitched, kicking up sand.
And then—
Whoosh—
A storm of arrows hammered the sandworm’s body.
*
“My goodness, what on earth were you thinking?”
Uushun laughed heartily as Vesta stared at her.
“Haha, the result was good, wasn’t it?”
She had been wearing armor, after all. Arrows wouldn’t have killed her.
“I could have killed it with arrows too, but it would have taken forever. I had to put some strength into it.”
Ahor leaped up and thumped Uushun’s head when she saw the opening.
Of course she acted casual.
“Well, the result was good… but…”
Vesta looked at the carcass lying in the desert.
Fluid leaked from holes all over its body, turning a small section into an oasis.
The caravan had gathered in awe.
“Since we caught the large species—the adult—does that mean this mission is over?”
“Eh? No.”
“Really?”
“That’s not the adult. Just a very old larva.”
Vesta blinked at Uushun’s words.
“A larva over a hundred years old isn’t adult?”
“They decide when to become adults themselves. In this ridiculous desert, the ones that survive longest become the biggest adults.”
“No, that means…”
“Yes. That’s just an incredibly huge larva.”