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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 392 Part 1

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 392: Side Story 10 –Meetings And Passings By – Part 1

「Apart from all that…… Look, I don’t mean it like I want to be one and only number one, alright? However, there is no way that you can enjoy a mouth-watering feast that sits right in front of you if you have no teeth to process all of the food with, right? As for the “Remnant Legacy Weapon” and the “Hero’s Legacy Weapon” there was nothing that could have been done about that, so that is all water under the bridge at this point in time, I made my peace with that. But you know…… if you see a wagon like that passing you by, you just can’t help it but to want to jump right into it, right?」

At first it was just a silent muttering inside of her heart. But then that noise began to grow louder and louder, which finally allowed her to properly voice her thoughts into words and sentences. And when she was finally done pouring it all out, her shoulders dropped helplessly.

「Umm, that’s quite the detailed story that you have given me there…… Honestly, about that cooperation that we mentioned, do you think you could……」

「I do not really care all that much. Besides, for something like that, I don’t think it would be reasonable to ask for payment in advance…… However, if it turns out that I am going to be busting my ass all for free and nothing, then mark my words: I am going to use every resource available to me to turn your boss into a pack of sausages, understood?」

「Understood, but I must say, that was one heck of an intimidating message right there……」

However, they could not afford it just stand there and chat away like that without moving forward. In fact, they have been heading forward into the desert for quite a while now, and thanks to the combination of Saiga-0’s Maximum Firepower and Imrod’s Mjolnir (and Diale’s Vorpal Bunny magic) the enemies around here were hardly even a problem. However, they have been walking for a while now, and still they were unable to unveil the whole map of this place. That is exactly why……

「I think that this place is almost as confusing as that forest we have been going through up until now, but in an entirely different sense…… What about the map?」

「Both of us have it activated, however……」

「Well, it’s not giving us anything useful…… Not that I expected something else here……」

The mapping item is activated simply by taking it out of the inventory, and once activated it displays the area of radius about twenty five meters centered around the user.

However, since this is an open field and not a closed structure, it was hard to utilize this item the way it was intended to. It was the same case here as with the Great Forest a while back, but this time around you wouldn’t even have any landmarks to navigate by. Everything looked just the same wherever the eye could see.

Now, to put things into perspective here, Tottori needed to use about fifty of those mapping items in order to finalize the map leading from the Frontline Base through the Great Forest all the way towards the Village of the People of the Forest, Tier Planten. So far, Saiga-0’s party managed to fill only two items with data. By this simple indication it could be said that they were in for a very long track here.

「What about the transfer scrolls?」

「We have some at the ready, why? You want to use one?」

「No, not really. But it’s a good thing that we have them on us. I guess that another issue that would need our attention here would be food and water. But since this is a desert biome, it would be kind of natural to expect an oasis or two to pop up at some time, right?」

「If we do manage to find one in here, we should really consider ourselves lucky. Otherwise our near future might look pretty bleak, I won’t lie……」

Although it was the fault of playing half-heartedly that got all of them into this mess in the first place, for a while now Saiga-0 thought that it will be a good idea to actually start exchanging information with Imrod, since she was bound to bring some good insight on a lot of things.

「Yet another problem is the sand that forms the ground in here…… How do you feel stepping on it?」

「I will have no problem with swinging my sword, but going on the defense here might be a little bit……」

「That’s the lack of mobility speaking right here. Since you don’t have it all that much, you risk losing balance and falling to the ground.」

Walking around the desert in a full suit of armor, with each and every step taken Saiga-0’s feet were sinking into the sand a little bit. It was not that much of an obstacle in here, and it was certainly better than swamps, but there was another problem here that needed to be watched out for. Judging by the look of things, there were bound to be quicksands in here, so with little to no mobility falling into one would spell a certain doom. Not to mention there was always a possibility of there being monsters that would actually bury themselves under the sand and launch a surprise attack that way. So just going through the desert was making Saiga-0 feel all anxious and uneasy.

「Ahh, look…… This is most certainly one of those monsters that comes from below the ground!」

「It sure looks that way…… Here it comes!」

「What?」

That was the report of the mantle tied around Saiga-0’s neck, not the result of her own intuition. And surely according to the mantle’s intuition, the ground beneath their feet started to shake a moment after that.

Both Saiga-0 and Imrod cast a quick glance at one another, and then jumped back so that they would not be standing near one another. And surely a moment after they jumped away, something started to emerge from down below the sand, making a move as if a set of mighty jaws were closing on that exact spot. They would have been devoured if they stayed there.

「Is that a snake!?」

「No! It’s something way more classic…… It’s a worm that comes out from beneath the sand! It’s a Desert Worm!」

The desert worm comes out from beneath the sand and rises up like a pillar, being tall enough to look down upon the players. According to Saiga-0’s assessment, it must have been over ten meters tall if not more. But it also made her understand something.

It was the same type of feeling that she felt when they happened to encounter the Arctus Regalex…… the giant oarfish inhabiting the underwater city. However, while the Arctus Regalex was a mighty organic lifeform, something about this desert worm didn’t feel right for Saiga-0. It was as though this monster was not an organic lifeform, but something else entirely. It made Saiga-0 feel grossed out, quite unlike the Arctus Regalex.

「Oi, oi! Does that mean that our adventure is going to come to a close right after it started……!?」

「No, I think that the three of us have a chance at beating it…… Or at least I hope so.」

「Haa? Three?」

In Lulilas, the Arctus Regalex could move around freely, because the terrain was giving it a superior edge over its enemies. However, this here desert was not the case. The Players would be unable to chase the giant worm if it chose to dive under the sand, but on the other hand, the biggest advantage of the desert worm comes from surprise attacks. So if it was to be stripped of that advantage……

「Are you really sure that you want to do this, Saiga-0-san?」

「Fighting it here surely is dangerous…… But we don’t have any other choice…… We have nowhere to run here, nowhere to hide……」

At that moment, a pair of white, long ears grew out of the mantle’s hood that Saiga-0 was wearing. Somehow, Imrod thought that it was not the part of the armor she her companion was wearing. It was way too mismatched.