Chapter 2
Craaack!
Under the impact of tremendous mass, the bus—covered in thick plates of armor—crumpled like a sheet of paper.
"Kuh!"
"Gurk!"
People screamed and tumbled about inside the bus.
Since no one had bothered with seatbelts, they bounced around like marbles.
Jeon was no different.
"Urrgh!"
Jeon, who had been tumbling frantically, barely came to his senses and got up.
His forehead was split and bleeding, but he didn't even have the luxury to wipe it.
Because of the unbelievable sight visible outside the window.
Swoosh!
Everything in sight was red sand.
The giant armored bus had been completely buried in the desert sand.
"Damn it! The Sand Worm is dragging the bus into the sand."
"We're all dead."
"Fuck! Isn't there a single Awakened here?"
The interior descended into chaos.
Cra-crack!
Even then, the bus's armor was falling away in tatters like scraps of cloth.
At this rate, before long all the armor would fall away, and the people inside would become food for the Sand Worm.
Perhaps they would suffocate in the sand before that. That might actually be less painful.
It was then.
"You damn worm bastard...."
One of the miners shouted in a rage and swung his hand toward the window.
Swish!
In that moment, a blade of wind rose from the miner's hand and flew out the window.
Jeon's eyes went wide.
'An Awakened.'
Judging by the blade of wind, he was clearly a magic-type Awakened.
However, its power was pathetic.
Thud!
The blade of wind failed to pierce the sand pressing down on the bus and dissipated.
It hadn't dealt any damage to the Sand Worm's main body at all.
Disappointment appeared on the faces of those who had briefly held out hope.
"He's F-rank."
"Damn it! I should have known. Why would a proper Awakened come to mine mana stones?"
Even among Awakened, abilities differed by heaven and earth depending on rank.
F-ranks were like pebbles lying at the very bottom of the Awakened ecosystem.
They were far stronger than ordinary people, but fighting a giant demonic beast like the Sand Worm was beyond them.
Whatever his reason for boarding the bus to the mana stone mine, his ability—the blade of wind—could not inflict damage on the Sand Worm.
Above all, the compatibility was poor.
Piercing the sand surrounding the Sand Worm's body with a blade of wind was impossible in itself.
"Die! I said die!"
The Awakened lost his reason and repeatedly fired blades of wind. But they couldn't pierce the sand, and he simply exhausted his mana.
It was then.
The armor where the Awakened stood was completely torn away, and suddenly a massive tongue appeared.
It was the Sand Worm's tongue.
The tongue lashed out like a whip, snatched the Awakened, and vanished into the sand in an instant.
"Aaaargh!"
The Awakened's scream pierced through the sand.
The scream quickly faded, but there was no need to see with his own eyes to know what had become of him.
"We're all going to die. We're going to die."
"What do we do?"
"Sob!"
Sand poured into the bus like a tidal wave. And once again, someone disappeared.
"Eek!"
Jeon bit his lip with all his strength.
Blood flowed, but he didn't even have the luxury to feel pain.
The sand had already reached his waist.
Suffocate in the sand, or die as the Sand Worm's food.
Neither was what Jeon wanted.
His mind, which usually worked so nimbly, was now rigid as if struck by a petrification spell, and no thoughts came to him.
Boom!
At that moment, a massive impact struck and the bus was split in two.
"Aaaack!"
"Kuk!"
A considerable number of passengers disappeared into the sand.
"Fuck!"
Jeon cursed and looked around.
The sand was already up to his shoulders, and he couldn't even make out the people nearby.
Jeon made a decision.
'If I stay like this, I'll die.'
Riiip!
Jeon hurriedly tore his clothes to make a long strip of cloth. Then he wrapped his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth tightly with the cloth.
It was an emergency measure to block the sand.
Having finished his preparations in an instant, Jeon launched himself into the sand.
'Huk!'
The desert sand pressed down on Jeon with tremendous pressure, like the waters of the deep sea.
He couldn't even move a finger, let alone breathe.
Jeon didn't resist the pressure and surrendered his body to the sand.
Screech!
The faint sound of twisting metal reached his ears.
It was the armored bus's final death cry.
He didn't need to see with his own eyes to know the final fate of those who had been inside.
Tsuuu!
The sand was churning like waves.
Something massive was swimming through the sand and approaching.
The flow was felt with strangely vivid clarity.
'It's coming.'
Jeon tried to move his arms and legs to escape from his current position. But escaping the tremendous pressure of the sand pressing on his entire body was impossible.
Even then, the Sand Worm was drawing closer.
'I don't want to die. I can't die yet.'
His heart pounded.
It felt like his heart would burst before the Sand Worm could devour him.
He felt the blood coursing through his body like mad.
The blood racing through his entire body surged toward Jeon's head like a runaway train.
Boom!
At that moment, something exploded inside Jeon's head.
It was an explosion that only Jeon could feel.
At the same time, seven lines appeared on Jeon's wrist.
The lower portion of the lines, engraved like a tattoo, was dyed orange.
Jeon couldn't see the scene because his eyes were covered with cloth. But he instinctively realized what was happening to him.
'It's an Awakening.'
The Awakening, said to come like a blessing for only a select few, had clearly come to him as well.
He couldn't yet know what his stats were.
Because he couldn't check the rank insignia that had appeared on his wrist.
The seven lines appearing on an Awakened person's wrist were just like a soldier's rank insignia.
The only difference from ordinary rank insignia was that there were only seven bars. That was why people called the proof of an Awakened person a "rank insignia."
The moment he Awakened, breathing became easy, and the tremendous pressure on his body vanished.
The sand that had been crushing him now felt as comfortable as amniotic fluid in a mother's womb.
No one had taught him, but Jeon knew his ability was related to sand.
Jeon hurriedly waved his hand. Then his body, which hadn't moved an inch until now, smoothly slid forward.
Thoom!
An unbelievably massive mouth appeared right where he had been.
It was the Sand Worm's maw, lined with countless teeth spinning like gears. He could see the teeth stained red.
It was the blood of the victims it had just devoured.
Kwaaraa!
The Sand Worm's maw devoured the spot where Jeon had been just moments ago.
If he had been even a moment slower, Jeon too would have become a chunk of meat and been digested in the Sand Worm's stomach like the other victims.
'Insane!'
Goosebumps rose all over his body.
He had avoided the Sand Worm's attack thanks to his lucky Awakening, but the fundamental problem wasn't solved.
It was impossible to catch the Sand Worm, tyrant of the desert, with a newly Awakened ability.
He could tell just by looking at how the F-rank Awakened had become food earlier.
'Right now, the top priority is using my ability to escape the sand.'
Jeon stretched both hands forward.
In an instant, his body wriggled like a fish and swam through the sand.
Tens of millions, hundreds of millions of sand grains seemed to push Jeon's body forward of their own accord.
Jeon quickly burrowed through the sand and headed toward the surface.
Then, a strong vibration was felt from behind.
The Sand Worm was chasing Jeon.
Though Jeon was moving fast, the Sand Worm was faster.
At this rate, it was clear he would be caught before long.
'Damn it, is there no other ability besides swimming through sand?'
Jeon desperately thought about what he could do.
It was then.
Goosebumps rose on his back.
The Sand Worm had almost reached him.
He could feel it opening its mouth wide.
Suddenly, he thought that it would be nice to shove a mass of sand into the Sand Worm's mouth that had swallowed so many people.
In that instant, the flow of sand around Jeon's body changed strangely.
Some of the sand gathered in front of Jeon and condensed.
Jeon muttered as he looked at the heavily condensed sand.
'Sand Blaster.'
No one had told him.
The name had simply come to him.
Most skills were like that.
They appeared when the conditions were met, as if they had been engraved in his mind from the beginning.
Fwoosh!
In an instant, the condensed sand sprayed forth like a jet of water.
The stream of sand, fired with powerful pressure, struck directly inside the Sand Worm's mouth.
The Sand Blaster made a small hole in the Sand Worm's palate.
Though it looked like an insignificant wound on the outside, the Sand Blaster had shredded the inside of the Sand Worm's palate like a rag.
The Sand Worm let out a shriek of tremendous pain the likes of which it had never felt in its life.
Grooooar!
The giant Sand Worm thrashed about, making the surrounding sand heave as if an earthquake had struck.
Jeon took advantage of the opening and increased his speed.
Thanks to that, he was able to put a great distance between himself and the Sand Worm and emerge above the sand.
"Pwah!"
Jeon exhaled the breath he had been holding.
As fresh air entered his lungs, he felt alive.
It was then.
"A survivor. There's a survivor over there."
"So it was a Sand Worm. Everyone, get ready."
Suddenly, people's voices could be heard.
When Jeon raised his head, he saw a compact car.
The small compact car, covered in thick plates of armor, had large wheels suitable for desert travel.
Even so, if a Sand Worm attacked, it would be sucked into the sand in an instant. Yet the people in the compact car didn't show a hint of fear.
Men with an unusual air approached Jeon from the car.
'They're Awakened.'
Jeon recognized at a glance that they were Awakened.
The fact that they could walk so boldly on the desert despite knowing there was a Sand Worm meant they had that much confidence in their strength.
It was then.
Whoooosh!
The giant Sand Worm that had chased Jeon through the sand revealed itself.
A middle-aged man who appeared to be the captain shouted.
"Hold it so it can't escape into the sand."
"Okay! Captain."
A blue-haired woman reminiscent of the blue sky answered brightly and stretched her hand toward the Sand Worm.
In an instant, cold air spread rapidly and chilled the sand where the Sand Worm had surfaced. Because of that, the Sand Worm couldn't enter the sand and floundered for a moment.
"It's too big, so I can't hold it for more than a few seconds."
"That's more than enough."
The captain smiled coldly.
He drew a large longsword, a Claymore, and ran toward the Sand Worm. His subordinates followed behind.
"Chaa!"
The Claymore fell toward the Sand Worm's body like a guillotine.
Shhhraaack!
The Sand Worm's tough hide was torn away like paper, revealing red flesh.
The Sand Worm thrashed in pain.
Then one of the captain's subordinates approached the Sand Worm and placed his palm on its body.
"A Sand Worm that surfaced. Truly a rare case."
It was extremely rare for a Sand Worm to surface. That was why they were difficult to hunt.
Vrrrm!
The man's palm vibrated at a blinding speed invisible to the eye.
His name was Aiden, and his Awakened ability was Hyper-Vibration.
Boom!
The Sand Worm's body where his palm touched exploded like a firework.
The finisher was the giant who had arrived the latest.
A giant with a head at least two sizes larger than an ordinary person's leaped into the air and plummeted straight toward the Sand Worm's head.
Kwa-boom!
With an explosion, the Sand Worm's head burst apart.
"Heh heh!"
The giant burst into laughter, covered in the Sand Worm's blood and flesh.
Jeon's mouth fell open at the sight.
'These crazy bastards!'
The Sand Worm that had devoured so many people had become a lump of meat in mere seconds.
It was a scene he wouldn't have believed if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
Srrng!
The captain sheathed his Claymore and looked at Jeon.
In that instant, Jeon felt a chill run down his spine.
Because the captain's eyes were cold and terrifying.
"So, among the people on that bus, you're the only one who survived?"