**#180. The Wasteland (7)**
—
“We’ll of course lend our strength, Sir Ray. We came over here ready to endure the storm together.”
Lady Grine’s voice came from the side, but Ray didn’t so much as turn his head.
He continued staring intently only at her disciple, Yeren, and delivered his lines.
“Here. Take it.”
Yeren took the pack of jerky, completely bewildered.
“Why are you giving me this…?”
“They say that when you ask for help, the odds of success go up if you offer a gift the other person likes.”
“A gift?”
Yeren looked incredulous.
“Why would you think I like jerky? I’ve never even touched the stuff during an expedition.”
“No need to hide it. That’s because you—”
Screeeeech—!
Just then, a sound like nails on a chalkboard tore through their ears.
They immediately turned their heads.
The storm’s narrowing perimeter had already reached and was clashing against Veronica’s barrier.
“Ray! The external impact is too strong, and my mana’s depleting too fast! At this rate, I can’t hold on for more than a few minutes!”
Veronica shouted urgently.
Flame shards. Bolts of lightning. Shards of ice.
All sorts of magic swept along with the storm, viciously scraping at the hemispherical barrier from every direction.
Like beasts targeting prey.
Thump!
Ray, kicking off the ground, rushed to the barrier and pressed his palm against it, infusing the elements of restoration and resistance.
The cracks in the barrier quickly started to mend.
“……”
“……”
Both the boy and girl, utterly focused on maintaining the barrier, were soon drenched in sweat.
Once the storm crashed in, there would be no turning the situation around.
So they remained silent, pouring all they had into their mana control.
But—
Crack—! Crackle—!
They couldn’t last long.
Unlike the storm, which drew from the boundless mana in the air, the boy and girl only had a limited supply.
“Ray…! It’s going to break…!”
“If it does, run straight to the bus. Jang, lower all the bus’s steel plates and cover the windows.”
“Y-Yes! Got it!”
Just then—
Green waves began to ripple across the surface of the white barrier.
At the same time, the rate at which cracks formed and spread began to slow.
Lady Grine and her disciples, positioned elsewhere, were injecting mana into the barrier.
“Th-Thank goodness…!”
Veronica exhaled in relief.
“……”
Ray calmly observed the green waves flowing through the barrier.
The key attributes embedded in green mana were wood, growth, expansion—
And—
‘The element of regeneration.’
For the purpose of restoring the barrier, green mana could partially substitute for white mana.
It was fortunate.
That Lady Grine and her disciples followed the plan and didn’t act out of line.
“You two! Switch out! Rest and recover your mana! We’ll hold the barrier!”
Lady Grine’s shout came from afar.
Ray nodded at Veronica, who was looking at him as if asking, *Are you sure?*
“It’s okay. We can take a break. If my prediction is correct, the amount of green—no, regenerative element they can use is practically infinite.”
“Infinite…? Ah, don’t tell me…!”
Veronica’s face lit up with realization.
“Wait, no… maybe not?”
But then she returned to her usual expression.
Following her gaze, Ray turned to see that the barrier’s cracking had resumed its previous speed.
Crack!
It looked highly threatening.
Crackle!
And dangerously unstable.
“You two! Just trust us!”
That didn’t sound reassuring at all.
“We’re holding it perfectly!”
That sounded completely wrong too.
Green mana was definitely being injected continuously, but something about the output felt off.
Having quickly seen through the incompetence of the new recruits, Ray grabbed the hand of the experienced member and pressed it against the barrier.
“Back to work.”
“I-I haven’t recovered much mana yet…!”
“Our lives are in your hands.”
Leaving the wide-eyed Veronica behind, Ray sprinted to the bus.
He helped Jang operate the exterior mechanisms to cover the bus windows with metal plating, then spoke to Demper.
“Park your vehicle and Lady Grine’s next to the bus. If the storm hits, they can serve as additional barricades.”
“But I still haven’t finished paying off—”
“You want to pay for your life in one lump sum instead?”
“A-Alright. I’ll move them right away.”
Ray returned to the barrier and infused it once more with the recovered regenerative and resistant elements.
And not long after—
“Kyaaaah! It’s breaking! It’s breaking!”
With Veronica’s scream, the barrier shattered into pieces.
Following Ray’s swift instructions, everyone retreated inside the bus.
“We’re all in! Ray! Hurry up! Get in!”
Veronica reached out her hand toward Ray, the last one still outside.
At that moment—
The boy was silently observing the massive sandstorm hurtling toward them.
‘Just before… it felt like they intentionally weakened their mana output. Did they not want to reveal their true power?’
Suspicious, Ray held out until the very last second.
As the storm swallowed the two vehicles parked beside the bus and bore down on them—
Fwoosh—!
He unleashed a massive burst of gray mana in every direction.
Grab!
He seized Veronica’s outstretched hand and leaped onto the bus.
Screech—!
Just before the door closed, in that fleeting moment—
Thick stone walls surrounded them, and thousands of vines shot up from the ground, wrapping tightly around the bus. The sight reflected in the boy’s eyes.
Bang!
The light vanished.
Only perfect darkness and the sound of tense breathing filled the bus.
“If we’d been just a little slower—urk!”
Demper didn’t even get to finish his sentence before a massive tremor rocked the vehicle.
The heavy steel bus shook violently, like a massive chunk of iron being flung around.
Everyone groped in the dark for something to hold onto, or dropped to the floor to lower their center of gravity.
And from outside, came terrifying, blood-chilling sounds.
──────!
It was the wailing of mana caught in the storm.
And the brutal march of magical forces crushing everything in their path.
…Even as the others were unable to remain upright, the boy stood tall.
“……”
Why was that?
With a strange sense of calm, a memory came to mind.
The day of the black rain. He had gone into the food storage and been chased by Hector’s gang.
Hiding in a trash bin while rain drummed on the lid above.
The warmth of the trash, the darkness within.
It all felt familiar.
The pounding heart, the roar, the darkness, the warmth of people pressed together—all revived the sensations of that moment.
“Will we make it…?”
Veronica’s voice broke the silence.
Ray snapped out of his thoughts.
“Definitely.”
“Really…?”
“This vehicle was designed for situations like this.”
In truth, he couldn’t be sure.
But he answered that way on purpose.
The darkness illuminated everyone’s emotions like a torch.
Jang, Demper, and Veronica—
Each of their “vessels” held fear and terror.
It was a primal emotion, one that anyone holding onto life would inevitably feel in the face of danger. One that could never be fully erased.
“It’s okay. Nothing will happen.”
Ray said, turning his gaze elsewhere.
Toward Lady Grine and her disciples.
He could see three circles dominated by green mana—and a single vessel filled with multiple emotions.
‘Not a trace of fear.’
Not even the slightest bit.
It was an abnormal emotional distribution.
No matter how brave someone was, it was impossible to have no fear at all in the face of mortal danger…
…Unless they held beliefs or values that transcended human understanding.
‘They’re something different from humans.’
How long the bus would last inside the storm would depend on the durability of the vines.
Cutting through the darkness, Ray stood before Yeren and spoke.
“Philip said that those who don’t work don’t deserve to eat.”
“…?”
“You can eat that. You worked—albeit a bit late.”
The pack of jerky was still in Yeren’s hand.
Though his expression was hidden, his vessel was overflowing with embarrassment and confusion.
Ray tilted his head.
Was it really that embarrassing to be rewarded with your favorite food?
───────!
Noise. Vibration. Noise. Vibration.
Again and again, time passed.
Those with living emotions trembled, praying for the hellish moment to end.
And at last—
───.
The tremors and noise ceased.
As if every sound in the world had been swallowed by the storm, only silence and stillness remained.
In that moment where no one dared move—
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The boy stepped forward, creating ripples in space, and opened the door.
Creak—!
A soft light poured in through the vertical gap.
Stepping onto the earth—
Before him lay a peaceful wilderness slumbering in the pre-dawn, as if no savage storm had ever swept through.
…At the edge of his vision, he saw the last of the vines retreating swiftly underground.
Demper, who had followed Ray out, looked around with wide eyes and shouted loudly.
“Wahaha! We’re alive! We survived!”
The rest of the group cautiously followed behind.
Just like Demper, they looked around with awe, then exhaled with relief, their tension easing.
Then—
“Look over there!”
At Veronica’s shout, everyone looked up.
“That’s…”
“G-Good heavens…!”
Perhaps the storm had even swept the clouds away—the sky was ablaze with countless stars, as brilliant as the desert sands.
They gasped, shivered with awe.
Had the sky always held this many stars?
It was a sight so wondrous it could only be described as divine.
As they all gazed up, Ray lowered his eyes—and suddenly realized.
Coincidentally, everyone here had a vessel that contained starlight.
‘The sky and the earth… not so different after all.’
Leaving the emotion-struck group behind, he turned and walked back to the bus.
The vehicle was in surprisingly good shape.
A few scratches and dents, but the engine started smoothly, and the dashboard was working fine.
A bit of maintenance and it’d be ready to roll again.
‘The vines must’ve been more durable than expected. Maybe they mixed reinforcement and binding elements?’
Thinking that, Ray stepped off the bus and came to a halt.
“……”
He felt vibrations beneath his feet.
Starting from the horizon, faint tremors rapidly approached, growing in intensity.
And then—he sensed a massive flow of mana traveling underground.
‘It’s fast. Too late to evacuate.’
Ray made his decision.
He dashed to Yeren, snatched the jerky pack, and hurled it toward an empty direction.
And the next moment—
Bang—!
Demper’s jeep, which had been turned into scrap by the storm, was launched into the air alongside the jerky.
Huge chunks of earth rained down like shrapnel.
And from among them emerged—
A sandworm.
Its massive form made the ones they had fought before look like mere hatchlings. It was so huge, it blocked the starlight above and plunged them into shadow.
“Shit… this is too much.”
Demper, frozen in fear, muttered in a trembling voice.
There was no point in running.
He knew that instinctively.
Buzz!
Veronica, with a hardened expression, immediately deployed a barrier.
But who knew how effective it would be against such monstrous evil in the wilderness?
And at that moment—
Ray was staring at Yeren’s vessel.
“……”
This time as well, there was no sign of fear of death.
He lifted his gaze.
Their eyes met.
—It’s your turn now. I showed my power earlier. That’s only fair, right?
That’s what her eyes seemed to say.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Ray stepped beyond the protective barrier.
“Ray…!”
“It’s okay.”
After briefly locking eyes with Veronica, Ray turned to Demper and asked,
“Is this your first time seeing one that size?”
“A-a typical adult Sandworm only grows to about ten meters at most. B-but that one’s at least twenty meters…”
Ray nodded and fully stepped outside the barrier.
“Then I guess you’ve never seen something that big go down either.”
“What are you—”
It was at that moment that the Sandworm’s head lunged toward the boy on the surface.
At the same time, a ring of light gathered above the boy’s palm, and a brilliant yellow gem appeared.
‘Laqria.’
The boy silently recited the name of an existence.
