With the airborne bandits wiped out, I turned my sight towards the ground.

The bandits that had been charging towards the travellers seemed to have gone ahead with their attack despite the loss of their air force, either because they did not know about their decimation or they didn't care.

It also looks like their surprise attack had been quite effective as the group of travellers they hit were scattered around and some of them were even fleeing.

The bandits had targeted this group specifically due to the fact that they were quite a distance away from the other groups and could not receive help easily.

I dove towards the group of bandits, aiming to smash into the ground to make as dramatic of an entrance as I could to get their attention and take off pressure from the travellers.

But right as I was in the middle of my dive, the ground suddenly shook and something burst out under the sand near the group of bandits and throwing up a giant dust cloud.

There were screams and cries of panic before the dust cloud settled to reveal a giant sand worm sprouting out of the ground.

What the heck?! They have these kinds of monsters in this World as well?! And what the hell is it doing here?!

The already panicked travellers were even more panicked and the bandits seemed to be grabbing whatever and whoever they could before regrouping together, presumably in preparation to escape and hoping the sand worm would be more occupied with the fleeing travellers than them.

But it seems like it was not their lucky day because the sand worm opened its mouth wide to reveal rows of serrated teeth before it crashed right down on top of the group of bandits, swallowing the entire group including the people they had grabbed up.

The giant sand worm then burrowed back into the ground, disappearing into the sand with the people it had swallowed with it.

The only thing that it left behind was a large crater in the sand that was already rapidly being filled up with the displaced sand to cover up the hole.

Nevertheless, I still dropped down on them, furling my wings behind my back as the remaining travellers climbed out of their hiding place.

There were a few Mercenaries who were still ready to fight and arranged themselves into a defensive line to face off against me.

I turned to them with raised hands, "I'm a passing Mercenary. I saw the bandits and rushed over to help."

A few of them lowered their weapons slightly but most of them still held on to their weapons, clearly not believing me.

I took out my Guild card and raised it into the air to show it to them, which finally convinced them that I was not a bandit.

Of course, I made sure to cover the picture that showed my face so that they couldn't see it, especially since I was still wearing my [Mask Of Impossible Identity] at the moment. ʀἈNòᛒЕ§

Good thing the sight of the card was already enough to convince them…

One of the travellers made a rush towards the crater that the sand worm had disappeared into.

"Tommy!! Rika!! No, no, no!! Griselda!! Miranda!! Please, someone! Anyone!!" She cried out from the edge of the crater.

The Mercenaries also went to join her, two of them lining at the edge to peer inside the crater.

"Shit… That thing got Utae as well… Think she's alright?"

"After getting swallowed up by a Sand Leviathan like that? I highly doubt it…"

Ah, so that's called a Sand Leviathan. I would have thought that they might call them worms as well considering the fact that it resembled an earthworm except it was gigantic in size and had a giant mouth that can swallow up buildings.

Another Mercenary placed a hand on the crying girl, "Sorry… But I think you should probably give up on them… Once a Sand Leviathan burrows into the ground, there's no way to track it."

"Noooo!! Please! Someone save them!!"

"They're already in its stomach already, girl. There's no way anyone can survive that. Hey, at least those bandits are also dead so there's that."

The girl still continued to sob at the edge of the crater, not moving from it.

The Mercenary that had tried to comfort her turned to me, "Thank you for trying to help. We'll take it from here."

Well… Now I feel a little bad… Maybe I should have came to help them on the ground first or told Katsuki to deal with them while I took care of the ones in the air myself.

Just as I was about to fly up into the air again, the crying girl suddenly let out a gasp and took out a small compass to inspect it.

She leapt up onto her feet and waved the compass around, "Look! Here, here!! One of my companions is carrying something valuable that we placed a tracking enchantment on it so that we can find it if it gets lost! We can use this to track the Sand Leviathan down! Please, they might still be alive!!"

The Mercenaries looked at each other before looking back at her.

The leader gave her a sympathetic look, "Miss… I have to tell you that we are only just D Ranked Mercenaries… Trying to fight a Sand Leviathan is completely impossible for us… Even if we were to track it down, we would just get obliterated by the monster and add ourselves to the casualty list…"

"No… No way… Is this about the money? I can pay you all more after you rescue them! Please!"

"Miss, this is definitely not about the money. No matter how much Creas you throw at us it's not going to make us stronger than how we are right now. It won't change the outcome at all."

Oh, if that's the case…

I went up to the girl, "How about lending that compass to me? I'll chase that monster down and try to save your companions for you."

She turned to look at me with grateful eyes but the other Mercenary responded first.

"I'm sorry, lady… But if you're feeling responsible for not arriving in time, I would suggest that you just give up on that instead of sending yourself to your death. This isn't worth it… Even if you are able to find the Sand Leviathan, what are you going to do if it just stays underneath the sand? You're not going to just start digging, are you? What's more, are you really going to fight a Sand Leviathan on your own?"

I shrugged, "I'll figure it out. At least trying is better than just giving up here, right?"

Besides… I'm not really alone but these guys don't need to know that.

The girl quickly stepped up to me, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I promise I'll definitely pay you greatly for this! But if I may ask… Please take me with you!"

I tilted my head at her, "You want to come with me? Are you able to fight as well?"

She shook her head, "I can't, but… I know this is going to sound rude, but the thing that my companion is carrying is incredibly valuable… I cannot just trust someone who I just met to not attempt to keep it for themselves even if you are able to beat a Sand Leviathan on your own." Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire

Well that's a problem… Because if she's there, then I wouldn't be able to use my Shadow Guards to help me defeat the Sand Leviathan…

I shook my head, "Sorry, but I have skills that I would rather no one else see but myself. If there are witnesses, I would not be able to fight at my full strength and that would be a bigger risk for me. If that is your condition to help you, then I'm afraid that I won't be able to do it either."

Her face fell immediately and I could see that she was struggling to decide if she would just accept my conditions and put her trust in me or reject my offer and figure out something else.

She most likely came to the conclusion that even if she doesn't ask me for help, whatever that was valuable would be lost anyway so it didn't really matter.

"In… In that case… I'll leave it to you… But I need some assurance that I am able to trust you! Especially since you are hiding your face behind a mask! Why would an honest person be hiding their face behind a mask?!"

I smiled and did a curtsy, "My apologies for the late introduction. I am the Young Lady of the Nilm Family, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. If there is anything you are unsatisfied with me later, you can direct your complaints to my family. Is that good enough for you?"

Her body froze up for a few seconds before she immediately sank to the ground with her head pressed against the sand, "Please forgive my rudeness! I have absolutely no problem with this!!"

Oh wow, I wasn't really expecting that big of a reaction but ok…

Anyway, I have a Sand Leviathan to hunt down now…

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