Chapter 43: Underground Worm

Shion and the others take the road to the Kingdom of Valenciu, where Aria is from. The journey takes several days at a leisurely pace.

The journey was going well and they were now moving through what is called the Rock Belt.

In one more day, they would reach the border crossing, but the weather was becoming very suspicious, and Aria and Haku talked about the weather.

‘It’s going to be cloudy’

“It’s going to rain a lot once we get into Valenciu. There’s even a swamp right across the border”

‘Like a woman’s heart, I hate uncertain weather’

“Haku, you talk like you understand women’s minds~. Anyway, why don’t we take a break? Let’s have some afternoon snacks”

‘Agreed!’

Haku stopped near one of the large rocks that could be seen here and there.

Shion pulls a cookie out of the dark bag and we discuss the future while eating the snack.

There is a church nearby that doubles as an inn, and Aria suggested that they stay there today.

“Haku and Aria, you can get some rest. There aren’t many monsters around anyway. I’ll keep an eye on things”

“Thank you, gentleman ~”

‘I’ll take your sweet kindness~”

Haku is resting in a prone position, and Aria is asleep with her back resting on his torso. It’s a familiar scene for them. Shion also sits there and watches it. He smiled, thinking that humans and demons can get along quite well.

After about thirty minutes, he was a little curious and decided to walk around the area.

There was a hint of life in the air. It was not night time, so he could not detect magic. However, he had the feeling that they were being targeted.

“What is this hole…?”

There was an unnatural hole in the ground about fifty meters away. There were multiple of them. He immediately drew his sword because he realized that it was a worm’s habitat.

The decision was correct and a worm emerged from the hole.

It looks like a giant earthworm, but it has a large mouth full of fangs.

Their body surfaces are slimy, and their bodies are extremely hard, making it difficult for them to slash or strike. Many of them are more than ten meters long, and they do not make any sound at all.

Even now it is silently moving behind Shion to bite him.

“Crap”

He dodged sideways, and the worm goes straight into another hole.

This is the tactic of the worm, which creates passages in the ground and moves from hole to hole. In this way, the enemy’s counterattack can hardly reach you, and you can keep attacking unilaterally.

In addition, they are highly agile, so even intermediate adventurers are often swallowed up if they are not careful.

Without pausing, the worm attacked Shion again. He quickly rolled to the side to avoid it and then slashed at it once.

“Too shallow. ………… Wait, that was…”

As the worm enters the hole, he notices that the part of the worm closest to the tail is bulging out. It’s like when a snake swallows a mouse.

“Don’t tell me that was…”

Of course, it is more likely to be an animal or some other monster. Worms are carnivores, but they don’t have much of a preference and will eat anything.

However, since there were no animals around here that could swell up so much, Shion refrained from using magic that would destroy the body in a mess just in case.

He tried to listen carefully and focus his attention on the sounds moving through the earth.

He sensed the direction in which I was going to fly out next, so he produced a and made it float diagonally to his right.

After that, he doesn’t move an inch. Even when the worm opens its big mouth in front of him. Because it’s better to be the bait yourself.

When there is prey in front of them, most monsters pay much less attention to anything else. It’s the same with worms.

He timed it right and unleashed a blade of wind from his dark ball. It was more than powerful enough to finish off the enemy.

The worm’s fangs never reached Shion, and it fell backward in half. Shion walked up to it and thrust his sword into its head to finish it off.

The other half of its torso moved unsteadily for a while but soon quieted down.

“I hope it’s cows or pigs”

He inserted the blade near the bulge and cut it. A large, dull-colored lump came out of the body.

Unfortunately, Shion’s wish did not come true, and what was inside was a human. Shion put his hand on his forehead and felt depressed for a moment, but then he realized that there was still hope.

The victim had full plate armor.

If you are swallowed alive, the fatality rate is high, but if your whole body is wrapped in armor, it’s a different story. He immediately took off his helmet. It was a man in his thirties or forties. Shion checked his breathing.

—Alive

So, he tapped him lightly on the cheek and continued to call out to him, and the man let out a moan, though he did not respond. After a short wait, he seemed to be able to pull himself up on his own.

“Urghhh… wha… did i… huh?”

He seemed to have regained consciousness, so it was not a bad result.

Shion patted his chest and asked the man what the situation was.