Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

I looked at the sandstorm with farsight magic.

The earthen coloured smoke was whirling up to the sky.

It was still far away but I couldn't help but gasp at its scale.

「This is too big of a scale, Reiji-kun. Are you sure about this? I mean, you even bragged in front of prince Harsesh and the others.」

I called out to Reiji who stood on the bow of the ship, looking at the sandstorm.

「Don't worry, Chiyuki. I won't say something that I can't do.」

Said Reiji with his back to us.

But I knew that he had his usual daring smile on his face.

「Well, I guess it means that we really can leave this matter to you. You're going to use the power of that high rank spirit right?」

「Exactly, Ishtar. I should be able to clear this sandstorm with their assistance.」

Ishtar was laughing delightfully upon hearing Reiji's reply.

Honestly I was also curious about the power of the high rank spirit he got when I was asleep. I was also curious about the distance between the two, which seemed to be closer than last night.

Suddenly, I felt another presence coming toward us from inside the ship.

It was Totona, Nel, Harsesh, and Medjed (Natural Enemy).

「Yo, Totona. You're coming too eh? Uhm?!!」

Reiji, smiling upon seeing Totona, showed a rather complicated look on his face upon looking at Harsesh.

Harsesh seemed to be in a bad mood.

Maybe he actually didn't wish to come to this place.

All is well as long as it didn't turn into a quarrel though.

「Oh my, how rare to see you come, Har-kun? Fufufu, you must be worried about Reiji. Good, it's really good. I'm looking forward to your competition.」

Ishtar seemed to enjoy this situation.

She was merciless even to her own son.

Harsesh's mood seemed to become even more complicated seeing his mother acting like that.

「Humph!! I just want to see the situation of the sandstorm!!」

But Harsesh replied in a tsundere-like manner.

「Calm down, prince. I'll project the latest situation with projection magic.」

Harsesh almost choked on his own words hearing Totona's remark.

Totona took out a magic crystal and recited an aria.

The image of yellow coloured smoke was raging inside the crystal.

Yeah, the scale was huge after all.

「Eh? Why can't I see the inside of the sandstorm?」

She pointed at the image in her crystal.

There was a silhouette of something long and narrow inside the sandstorm.

What the hell was that?

「That might be a great sandworm. This sandstorm seems to be caused by it.」

「Great sandworm? That creature is the cause of this sandstorm? First time I see such a creature.」

「Indeed, Black Haired Sage. This is also the first time I see a great sandworm growing into this size.」

I had read about great sandworms before. They were giant insects who moved under the desert. Though not much was known about their ecology, even the smallest one could reach ten meters in length, I heard that the big ones could swallow a city.

When they have a meal, they suck their prey along with the sand around them.

When that happens, they would create a quicksand.

That's why it was common knowledge in this region to get away as far as possible when the sand under your feet starts moving on its own, otherwise you would become dinner for the great sandworm.

But, sandworms had another characteristic, namely the fact that they would spit the sand they swallowed once it reached a certain amount.

When that happens, it would create a sandstorm.

「A great sandworm of that class will spew sand for three whole days. Hero of light, can you do something about it?」

Those remarks left another shock in me.

Spewing sand for three days equaled three days of sandstorm.

Totona was looking at Reiji.

I couldn't read her expression since she was as expressionless as usual.

「Yeah, leave it to me Totona. I'll try to do something about this situation.」

Reiji replied back with a ferocious smile on his face.

「You better keep those words, Hero of Light!!! I'm going to kill you if it turns out you're just all talk!!!」

「Wait a minute, prince Harsesh!!!」

I ended up raising my voice hearing Harsesh's remark.

「Don't worry, Chiyuki!! Prince, this life of mine is yours if I fail to do something about this situation!!」

After saying that, Reiji looked into the direction of the ship.

A while later, I could see the massive cloud of dust even without the aid of magic.

The cloud of dust became bigger and bigger as we came closer.

At this rate, the sandstorm might swallow our ship.

Everyone in this place looked at Reiji.

「O SHINING BEING! HEED MY CALL AND TAKE FLIGHT!! MASTER OF WING OF LIGHT, BENNU!!」[TL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennu]

A huge, shining bird appeared above our ship following Reiji's cries.

High-rank spirit of light, Bennu.

And just as its name states, it was soaring above us while casting brilliant light, it was a sacred bird which was hailed as the Shining Being.

According to the legend, it was born while embracing the sun on the hill of the beginning.

Sacred bird Bennu, who shone like a sun, flapped its wings, creating a thin light membrane that protected our three ships.

The unstoppable sandstorm assailed our ships.

And yet, the light membrane protected our ships.

Naturally, we also couldn't see anything around us due to the sandstorm.

「BENNU!!」

Bennu flapped its wings again upon hearing Reiji's words.

The next moment, it conjured lightwaves that repelled the sandstorm.

As the sandstorm vanished, the only thing that remained was a huge caterpillar that looked like it was trying to scale heaven.

That huge caterpillar must be the one hailed as the great sandworm.

Tons of sand spewed out from the tiny holes in its body..

But that sand got blown away with every flap of Bennu's wings.

There were numerous moving tentacles around the area which looked like the mouth of the great sandworm.

「Uwaa, that's gross!!」

I spouted my first impression almost spontaneously.

That is just how revolting the figure of the great sandworm is.

「SHINING WING OF RADIANT BLAZE! FIREEE!!」

Bennu flapped its wings again to answer Reiji's cries.

Bennu's wings shone even brighter than before.

It covered our surroundings with brilliant light, even I could barely see the figure of the great sandworm.

The great sandworm got swallowed by the wings of light, and then vanished without a trace.

And once the light had vanished, the great sandworm's figure had already gone.

「Thanks!! Bennu!!」

Bennu's figure vanished as Reiji said so.

「YOU DID IT, REIJI!! YOU MASTERED THE WAY TO USE THE HIGH-RANK SPIRIT OF LIGHT!! AS EXPECTED OF THE MAN THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION!!」

Ishtar was really delighted.

「IT'S NOT YOUR POWER!! DON'T FORGET THAT YOU ONLY MANAGED TO PULL SUCH A FEAT DUE TO BENNU'S OVERWHELMING POWER!!」

Harsesh on the other hand seemed to be really annoyed by the result.

Well he must feel really annoyed right now to see Reiji use the power of the high-rank spirit he failed to use.

「What do you think of my power, Totona?」

Reiji asked that question to Totona, completely ignoring Harsesh's presence.

It was as if he expected something from her.

「I see… I've seen your power, Rena's hero.」

I looked at Totona's expression as she spoke, and a question suddenly popped out in my mind.

She normally never showed her expression that much.

And yet, for some reason, I caught a glimpse of anxiety from her current expression.