By Zephyria “What, what is that…?”
As Ero mumbled blankly, the bird beak, who was holding his bowler hat, replied.
“It’s Tur’ark. It’s also called the Dragon of the desert.”
“Dragon of the desert?”
Ero, who barely moved his lips, turned to the side. He was dumbfounded by the fellow passenger who naturally answered his monologue, not to mention the terrifying nickname. But that was only for a moment, as the giant monster that had soared up fell sideways, pushing the sand with its massive body. As a result, the boat they were riding on shook precariously.
Ero called out to Leonardo with all his might in the sandstorm that was slapping his cheeks.
“Brotheeer―!”
However, there was no way that Leonardo, who was controlling the Tur’ark’s head, could hear the voice buried in the roar. Rather, as the creature twisted its limbs to shake off the uninvited guests, he grabbed the antennae with one hand and struck the center of its head with three or four lightning strikes.
The sky flashed as if lightning struck in the unusually bright desert. The creature screamed again and convulsed, probably because the solid outer skin had been hit quite a bit. However, from the perspective of Ero, who was looking up, it looked like a deep-sea monster like an eel was emitting electricity and attacking Leonardo.
There was no time to question the sudden battle with the strange creature. Ero, who had become desperate, stepped on Sabla’s back and stood up precariously. He was driven by the thought that he had to help.
“I don’t think you need to help.”
The bird beak, who had grasped his intentions, added leisurely. He looked like a loafer, resting his palm on the back and raising one knee.
Ero put strength into his trembling legs and fumbled around his waist to barely pull out his pistol.
“What are you talking about, we’re a combo! Brother, I’ll save you, ugh!”
Just in time, the Tur’ark’s fin, which was half buried in the ground, stirred the sand dune, and a vast amount of sand was swept down to the lowlands. The avalanche-like sand pile covered the entire cactus colony and the Sabla that the two were riding on. Soon, Sabla, who had entrusted his body to the flow, lost his balance and was swept away.
“Oh oh!”
Ero, who was on top of it, was no exception.
He staggered greatly and barely held on to the reins. Ero, who had his forearm on Sabla’s back, aimed the trembling muzzle at the Tur’ark’s head.
It’s not easy to keep your eyes open in a storm that’s hitting you head-on. He barely squinted his eyes, which were twitching without being able to aim properly, and pulled the trigger.
Taang―!
A gust of wind and flames erupted from the bullet that had passed through the wind pressure, striking the area around the monster’s eyes. However, it seemed that it was impossible to make a scratch on the Tur’ark’s outer skin with a toy-like bullet. The blue eyes, which were not scratched at all, rolled around and stared at Ero.
Ero, who made a sound of surprise for a moment, instinctively held his breath.
‘I’m screwed.’
However, it wasn’t just the Tur’ark who noticed Ero’s presence, as Leonardo, who was fighting on top of the creature’s head, also turned his head. He stared at the boat that looked like a dot and the human hanging on it.
As the movement of the fluttering cloak became relatively calm, Ero, who intuitively realized that his brother had found him, waved his arms greatly.
“Brother! What happened―!”
The voice shouted at the top of his lungs did not reach and scattered in the air again. However, Leonardo, who understood the desperate look, also raised one arm.
“……!”
It seems like he’s saying something, but I can’t hear it properly. However, only ‘eaten’ was clearly heard after the long sentence.
…Eaten? What’s eaten? Ero, who was tilting his head with a blank expression, soon changed direction as the Tur’ark, who had been resisting Leonardo’s control, twisted its body.
The creature seemed to be annoyed by the increasingly numerous cactus thorns, so it struck down its tail once, completely destroying the remaining vegetation area. Then, it tried to plunge its head into the ground again. It was an incredible speed. The monster, which had clearly come close to him, was quickly moving away to the other side.
Ero, who was worried that he would miss Leonardo, hurriedly reloaded another bullet. He was going to grab the creature’s tail and be dragged along.
“Hey, you know you don’t have an obligation to take me, right? I met my brother, so I’ll be leaving now….”
Ero, who was busily moving his hands and grandly listing the words that he was going to leave, suddenly turned to the side and trailed off.
“…Huh?”
The bird beak mask that had been with him until just now had disappeared without a trace.
Just like when it appeared, there was no sign of it at all.
He turned around for a moment with a dazed face, but it was just a desolate wasteland. Could it be that he fell into the sand and was buried by the recoil just now?
Just as he was dumbfounded by the whereabouts of the man who had come and gone like a ghost, the Vine Bullet that Ero fired tightly wrapped around the Tur’ark’s tail.
Then, as soon as he grabbed the pistol at the sensation transmitted to his fingertips, Ero’s two legs floated up.
“Ugh!”
Before he could even turn around, he was dragged across the sand like a fishing rod that had lost its lead.
By the time he was dizzy from the heated geothermal heat and the sand pouring into his mouth, Ero was barely able to catch his breath thanks to Leonardo, who had pulled him out of the ground.
After that, he grabbed the thorns rising from the Tur’ark’s back and threw up everything he had eaten in the morning. Fortunately, the vomit flowing down the outer skin was quickly washed away by the sand. While he was dazed and sitting quietly like baggage, the Tur’ark crossed the desert to the opposite side, retracing the path the two humans had come.
The place the creature was heading was in the opposite location to the cactus-dense colony, and it was a place where the air was particularly boiling due to the crumbling sand and the vertically pouring light. Now that only withered dwarf grass was sparsely located, Ero, who had barely regained his senses, raised his head and sent a worried look. It was whether this path was correct.
But after about 5 minutes, the surrounding scenery began to change.
Rocks and gravel buried in the fine sand noticeably increased, and occasionally the sound of hawks could be heard in the sky. The plants that were close to tan were now tinged with green freshness. Instead of dry land, the smell of wet grass brushed past his nose.
Around that time, Leonardo’s senses, which had been on edge, were struck by a strong water energy.
It wasn’t far from here. Leonardo immediately grabbed and tore off the Tur’ark’s antennae.
The creature, which had been braked, raised its head upwards and plunged into the ground with a roar.
“Spit it out, spit it out―!”
The Tur’ark’s belly plate, which was lying sprawled, was dented in places each time the words were cut off. Leonardo repeatedly kicked the body of the creature, which had already fainted, with all his might.
Various creatures’ corpses that could be seen in the desert area poured out of the creature’s open mouth. As a result, the number of birds of prey, which had been only one or two in the sky, increased to six or seven.
They were the cleaners who would take charge of the cleanup after the predator left. Ero, who was staring blankly at the sky, which even looked yellow due to motion sickness, frowned at the situation, which was disgusting in many ways. Then, he plopped down on the dry moss that was at least less hot.
He looked at Leonardo, who seemed to be relieving his stress towards the Tur’ark, and then asked with a subdued look.
“How did you know there wasn’t an oasis over there?”
Leonardo secured Ero’s vines tightly around Tur’ark’s teeth, pulling the rotting maw down to force the jaw joint open to its limit. He took a few steps and then launched his entire body, once again impacting the beast’s belly.
If it had been a soft body like a water balloon, the increased abdominal pressure would have caused the contents of its stomach to flow back up, but its shell was as hard as armor, so there was no sign of the Mana Orb coming out. He sighed and opened his mouth.
“Only, lots of, cacti, grow there—. So, there’s a high, possibility, there won’t be, an oasis—.”
His voice was strained in places as he continued to kick. Realizing it wouldn’t work, Leonardo stopped and retreated about 5 meters.
“And I made a mistake early on.”
“…A mistake? What kind of mistake are you talking about?”
“The mistake of thinking that the west we saw in the arena would still be west after crossing the Portal.”
Ero blinked and scratched his chin with his index finger.
“Brother, I… I don’t quite understand?”
“I mean, there’s no guarantee that the space beyond the Portal has the same direction as the space before it. Even if I threw the Mana Orb west, the moment it passed through the Portal, that direction could be east.”
Belatedly understanding, Ero clapped his hands.
“So, you’re saying we were going east? Ah, no wonder I thought it was strange that we couldn’t see even a puddle or a root no matter how far we went. Wow, but isn’t the Council going too far? If we get lost in a place like this, we could die!”
Various complaints were quietly laid out like background music under the scorching sun, when Leonardo stretched out his arm towards Tur’ark’s torso. A dry wind, different from the sandstorm, shook the hem of his cloak. Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Ero instinctively shut his mouth.
A moment later, the condensed air in Leonardo’s hand was fired, flying towards the monster’s exposed belly.
Tur’ark’s abdomen was compressed into a flat shape according to the shape of the magic-made air sphere. The beast’s body was immediately pushed back, colliding with a Boulder with a heavy thud. At the same time, all sorts of things mixed with gastric juices began to pour out of its wide-open maw.
Ero, who had been sitting comfortably, hurriedly stood up at the flood of sewage.
Foul-smelling chunks of meat and muddy sand. And even scrap metal and gelatinous lumps mixed in, though why they were there, he didn’t know. Fortunately, there were no people inside.
Ero blocked his nose and pressed his back against a rock to avoid the gastric juices spreading in all directions.
“Ugh, the smell—”
At that moment, Tur’ark, convulsing and panting, spat out two small orbs.
The Mana Orbs that fell to the ground rolled around in the filth and soon rolled to Ero’s feet. The surface was wet and bumpy, but they were in better condition than expected. Moreover, the numbers were clear enough to recognize at a glance.
‘540’, ‘79’.
What’s this?
Leonardo, who had approached at the right moment, also bent down to check the numbers on the Mana Orbs.
The two men, raising their eyebrows, simultaneously met each other’s eyes.