Skeleton Knight in Another World Vol. 3

by Ennki Hakari

  “Let’s get going, shall we?”

  With that, he led the way, greeting the guards at the gate on the way out of town and heading down the hill toward the road. From there, we turned north. After traveling a short distance, we left the road and made our way west into the desert.

  Along the way, Carcy told us what he knew about sand worms: They burrowed deep into the earth during the day and only came out to feed at night. They also usually fed on the dead, which was why we were using corpses as bait.

  Sand worms were apparently weak against fire, though they could withstand a certain amount of heat thanks to their outer skins. However, their bodies would quickly begin to burn once they exceeded a certain temperature, so we wouldn’t be allowed to use any fire attacks during this excursion.

  “Can’t you just sever their heads? I know that works with soil worms.”

  “No, the soil worms you’ve seen back in the forest are around three meters long, but that’s nothing compared to sand worms. They’re around twenty meters long, and as thick as a person is wide. What’s more, their skin is highly elastic, making it difficult to pierce with a blade. Not only are they incredibly strong, but they dart back underground at the first sign of danger. It’s quite a challenge to kill one.”

  I tried picturing the sand worms based on Carcy’s description. They sounded a lot like the massive, burrowing, man-eating worms I remembered seeing in an old movie once. What was it called again? Tremblers?

  At twenty meters long, they must have been absolutely massive. But if they truly were only as wide around as a human’s torso, then it should be no problem to chop off their heads with my trusty Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg.

  All we had to do now was find one of them.

  ***

  We continued on until we reached a place where the dirt was soft and we could no longer proceed with the cart. Carcy turned around to address us.

  “Well, this looks as good a place as any! Go ahead and put the bait out, then we’ll take the cart and hide behind that rock over there while we wait for the sun to set.”

  The spot he pointed to seemed like a rather unremarkable patch of dark red desert. Beyond that, a large rock protruded from the earth, looking almost like a horn. There was no way anyone—or anything—would be able to see us once we were on the other side.

  The three guards did as they were told, grabbing their spears from the cart, piercing the goblins, and carrying the corpses over to the designated spot, disgust etched on their faces.

  After the bait was placed, we hid behind the rocky outcropping and chatted among ourselves. Ponta curled up into a ball and slept contentedly on Ariane’s lap.

  The guards took turns looking out from behind the rock to see if anything was happening on the other side. Carcy spent the time looking at the nearby plant life and making sketches on a scrap of parchment.

  As the sun finally began setting, the grass and shrubs that somehow eked out a life in this patch of dark red earth began taking on a reddish hue of their own. The shadow of the rock grew long, stretching across the desert floor. As the temperature dropped, Carcy’s excitement grew. He poked his head around the rock over and over, unable to contain himself. The guards chuckled to themselves as they watched him.

  With dusk, came monsters. Unfortunately, these weren’t the monsters we were looking for, but they were a familiar sight all the same. As soon as the sound of flapping wings filled the air, Ponta darted up from Ariane’s lap to wrap itself around her neck. Ariane, for her part, looked rather pleased with this.

  Carcy mumbled to himself as these newcomers approached the bait. “Well, well, sand wyverns. How interesting. They don’t usually scavenge dead bodies.”

  Two sand wyverns landed next to one of the dead goblins and began pecking at it. One of them, seemingly on edge, kept poking its head up to look around. A moment later, with no warning, it rocketed off into the sky. Its companion, however, preoccupied with its meal, let out a shriek as something erupted from the ground and swallowed it whole.

  As if on cue, massive worms began springing up from the earth, one after another.

  Their bodies were a dusty yellow color mottled with green, their mouths opening like four-petal flowers spreading to catch the morning sun. Inside these gaping maws, row upon row of tiny teeth moved about, as if searching for their next meal. Behind their mouths, they had gills, like fish, which I presumed were used to expel dirt. Along the sides of their bodies wriggled hundreds of tiny legs, reminding me of centipedes.

  Even with only their heads sticking out of the ground, they were still an impressive five meters tall. They twisted about, moving their heads toward the rotting bait. I counted five in total.

  Carcy looked slightly dejected. “I didn’t imagine we’d attract so many. It’d be suicide to face off against all of them at once.”

  But the sight we’d just seen had given me an idea.

  “Do sand worms not just eat the dead? That one ate a wyvern.”

  His eyes never left the sand worms.

  “They prefer to scavenge, but they’ll eat living creatures as well.”

  That meant we were just as likely to become a meal.

  If I used my magic, I could probably take down the whole group, but I wasn’t sure it’d be a good idea to draw so much attention.

  It soon became clear that the goblins we’d brought weren’t enough to feed all five sand worms. They began fighting among themselves for the tasty morsels, and one of them was forced away entirely. The excluded sand worm began looking around. When it turned in our direction, it seemed to sense our presence. It drove its head back underground and started rushing toward us, a mound of dirt piling up as it sped along.

  “Waaaaugh!”

  One of the men, shocked at this monster’s speed, let out a shriek of fear and made a break for the road, leaving the relative safety of the rock behind. The mound of dirt followed the guard as he ran.

  “No! Stop!”

  I jumped out from behind the rock and chased after the guard, quickly catching up to him. Just as I did, the sand worm’s head exploded from the ground, splitting open and exposing hundreds of teeth as it lunged toward us.

  There was no time to draw my sword, so I simply threw my body against the sand worm. I grabbed it by the gills, yanking with all my might, trying to hold it back. Up close, its numerous, gyrating teeth made it look like some sort of bizarre alien baby. My ears rang with their unsettling grinding as the massive beast tried tearing itself from my grasp, but I doubled down, putting all my strength into keeping it in place.

  “Gyaaaaaagh!”

  The guard’s legs had given out in fear, and he was now crawling backward, away from the worm, leaving a damp trail in his wake. The crotch of his pants was damp as well. I wondered if sand worms were particularly sensitive to smells.

  With most of its body still firmly under ground, the sand worm started twisting around to try and throw me off of it. It was incredibly strong—as you’d expect from anything that was twenty meters long—and I had to crouch down and lower my center of gravity in order to keep myself from being tossed away.

  “Nnnnng!!!”

  I knew I wouldn’t be able to properly fight the sand worm with so much of its body buried. I needed to find a way to get it out of the ground. However, given how much of a fight it was putting up, our struggle had rapidly descended into a game of tug-of-war. I slowly started pulling back, dragging the sand worm out of its hole, until it was fully exposed, thrashing about on the ground. Its mouth opened and closed, snapping uselessly as I held it against my chest.

  It was like a real-life horror movie unfolding in front of me as I watched its body writhe about and heard its bone-chilling cry. I wrapped my arms around its gills, in my best attempt at a chokehold.

  “Arc!!!”

  Ariane came running up, sword in hand, looking for her opening to strike. But the sand worm seemed to realize what was going on and continued twisting and writhing about, keeping her fro
m getting close.

  “It’s fine, Ariane! Just stay back!”

  I tightened my grip on the sand worm even further, trying to keep it still so we could stab it. The harder I squeezed, the more it struggled to get away. At this point, our battle was down to sheer, brute strength.

  Finally, the worm slumped weakly to the ground. When its body stopped spasming, I let up on my chokehold. The worm lay limp on the desert floor, a much darker shade than it had been mere minutes ago. There was a dark impression on its skin right where I’d been squeezing.

  “Never in all my years have I imagined that someone could take down a sand worm with their bare hands…”

  The awe was apparent in Carcy’s voice as he came running to my side. After thoroughly examining the massive worm, he turned his gaze to me, eyes peering out suspiciously from behind his glasses, as if he were trying to see through my helmet.

  The two remaining guards were close behind him. As soon as they arrived, they surrounded me, their faces filled with astonishment.

  I was starting to wish I’d used one of my spells rather than expose my superhuman strength like this. It was too late now, of course, but I wondered if the latter would have made less of a scene.

  I stood and brushed the dirt from my cape and armor, trying to pretend like nothing out of the ordinary had taken place.

  For his part, Carcy chose to say nothing and instead refocused his attention on the sand worm.

  I looked toward the area where we’d left the goblins as bait, but it was now completely clear; no corpses or sand worms in sight, just an empty expanse of desert.

  “I take it we can consider the sand worm hunt a success?” I turned back to the sand worm to find Carcy busy touching and pulling at its massive body.

  “More than a success! I never imagined we’d secure a specimen in such excellent condition!”

  The researcher was ecstatic, excitement evident in his every movement.

  “Master Carcy, it will be fully dark any moment now. If we don’t load up the sand worm immediately, the wyverns will almost certainly return.” The guard who’d been crawling away just a few moments ago urged Carcy to hurry.

  The sky was a deep purple now, the sun hidden behind the mountains to the west.

  “I suppose you’re right. I originally anticipated spending the night out here, but we finished much faster than I anticipated.”

  Carcy directed the men to take the sand worm back to the cart and coil its long, snaking body tight enough to fit it inside. Once they had, we turned the cart around for the trip home.

  As we headed back to Branbayna, Carcy made an offhanded comment to the other guards.

  “There’ve been a lot of sand wyvern sightings in the area lately.”

  “We also ran into a swarm of them on our way to Branbayna. We killed a few, but we left their bodies in the desert.”

  “Is that so? I don’t suppose you’d mind if I had Skitts send some men to pick them up, would you?”

  Ariane and I had no particular use for them, so we readily agreed.

  The hill on which Branbayna sat came into view, like a beacon in the dark, and the tension among the guards eased noticeably. The town’s gates were already shut for the night, but after Carcy explained the situation to the watchmen, they let us inside.

  As we passed through the town square, making our way to Skitts’s estate, I called out to Carcy.

  “I believe we’ll be leaving you here.”

  Carcy hit his fist into his hand as if remembering something and rushed back to the cart, pulling out a cloth-wrapped object.

  “This was an incredibly productive day. As promised, here are the books I offered you as payment. I hope they may be of some help to the homeland and, if I’m lucky, maybe they’ll inspire others like myself to take an interest in life beyond the villages.”

  Carcy’s eyes locked on Ariane’s as he handed her the books with his left hand and offered her his right.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Ariane gave his hand a firm shake. Carcy smiled.

  “Thank you again. Oh, and one last thing. You may want to be careful who you allow to read these books.”

  Ariane returned the smile, and Carcy made his exit, waving back at us as he walked alongside the cart toward the estate.

  “Shall we make our way to the inn?”

  “Yes, let’s.”

  Carcy disappeared into the darkness as we started down the deserted street.

  ***

  Ariane and I left Branbayna early the next morning. As soon as we were out of sight of any townsfolk, we used Transport Gate to return to the fork in the road where we’d wandered astray the day before.

  Ponta pranced excitedly around the large rock where the road split, chasing a butterfly as it lazily fluttered past. Ariane sat on the rock and took a swig from her water skin, letting out a deep sigh. I sat beside her and pulled a fuzzy plant out of the ground. It resembled a cat’s tail, and I waved it in front of Ponta to try and get the fox’s attention. But Ponta ignored me and, with a dismissive flick of its tail, pointedly looked in the other direction.

  Feeling a bit lonely, I turned my attention to the gently rolling hills that spread out ahead of us. Far off to the west, I could just barely make out the fuzzy rise and fall of a line of mountains stretching from the north to the south. I figured this must be the Riebing mountain range. Lamburt, our destination, was on the other side.

  According to what we’d been told back in Branbayna, the road snaked around the southern end of the Riebing Mountains and continued from there. Given how clear the air was, I figured we’d be able to cover a good portion of distance by teleporting. Though, while there were certainly fewer monsters along this path, there would be far more villages, fields, and travelers, increasing the chances we might get spotted. I sighed as I looked around, realizing the journey might take a lot longer than I’d originally anticipated.

  “I guess we should probably get going.”

  “Probably.” Ariane stood, catching the attention of Ponta, who’d been lazing about in the sun. It summoned a magical gust of wind and glided toward my head, just barely missing the mark and landing on my face. I pushed the fox up onto its perch, hefted my bag over my shoulder, and began making my way down the southwest road.

  Whenever I was sure no one was looking, I used Dimensional Step, sometimes teleporting us off the road in order to avoid people seeing us. In what seemed like no time at all, the sun started to set above us.

  Even though we’d been traveling all day, the landscape alongside the road remained an unending series of tree-covered hills, though the Riebing Mountains now appeared much more massive. We were practically at their base.

  Tonight, we’d stay at an inn in the small town at the edge of the forest. Tomorrow, we’d tackle those mountains.

  Chapter 1.5:

  Ariane’s Drunken Misadventures

  There was a small town built just off the road. To the west, a large swath of forest and the Riebing Mountains loomed behind it.

  The town’s stone walls looked sturdy, and it sported an elegant, multi-story gate. However, the whole scene looked rather desolate, with only the two guards standing watch out front. I called out to them, asking to be let inside. Despite how suspicious we must have looked, draped in our dark cloaks, armor peeking out from underneath, the guards quickly let us in.

  Maybe they didn’t get many visitors? But that seemed unlikely, given the town’s proximity to the road.

  As we passed through the gate, I asked one of the guards for directions to the town’s inn. The streets were crowded with people rushing back home before night fell, though a few of them offered us side glances as they hurried past. The inn the guard had pointed us to was near the center of town facing the square, which was bustling with activity.

  The inn was larger than the buildings surrounding it. Judging from the din of voices and the smell of food drifting out, I guessed that the first floor was some sort of tavern.

  A be
ll clanged as I pushed open the old wooden door, announcing our entrance.

  The tavern was filled with several round tables, men and women with glasses in hand crowded around, bantering as they drank. Behind a counter, I could see several middle-aged staff members bustling about the kitchen. A large, well-built woman dried her hands on a towel hanging from her waist and looked over toward us. She seemed to be the innkeeper.

  The boisterous atmosphere quieted like a receding tide as everyone followed her gaze to the two mysterious new guests.

  “Welcome!”

  The woman stepped away from an old man grumpily stirring a pot in the back and offered us a wide grin.

  I cut through the crowds of men whispering among each other, my armor clanking on the stone floor, and approached her.

  “I’d like two rooms for the night.”

  The woman nodded, all business. “Right-o. And whaddya think about dinner?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at the crowd. Several of them were still staring at me, though they quickly turned away when they noticed me staring back.

  “I’d prefer to take it up in our rooms, if we can.”

  She caught sight of the helmet under my hood. “I see, I see. Ya know, I have some nice liquor just right for a knight like yerself. All the blokes ’round here order the cheap stuff. If ya buy a drink, I’d be okay with ya eatin’ in yer room. Whaddya say?”

  The woman patted a small cask sitting next her and grinned. It looked much smaller than the other liquor barrels, no more than five liters or so.

  A drunk man watching us shouted toward the woman.

  “Ya got it all wrong, lady! Momma jus’ won’t give us enough money to pay for the good stuff!”

  The tavern burst out into laughter, shattering the silence.

  She’d probably taken one look at me and figured I had money to burn. I couldn’t help but smile at her sales tactics.

  “That’ll be fine. Is this enough to cover the cask and two rooms for the night?”

  I reached into the leather pouch at my waist and showed her five gold coins.

  “Th-that’s way too much!” The woman’s eyes went wide as I dumped the coins into her hand. She immediately started counting out my change. “Jus’ hold yer horses. Lessee, five sok, so I owe you…”