After 5 rounds of attack, Ash finally found its heart. They focused their attacks on that part after the sixth offense of the worm ended.
Knowing where to attack, Ludric unhesitantly dove in with his sword and shattered its heart.
They went straight to the next worm, but it unexpectedly retreated back to the ground.
"It escaped?" Desmund asked.
Ludric frowned.
Did it really?
Ash quickly manipulated his device and scanned the ground. But before he could read the data, the worm appeared again. Right below Rye and Freanor.
"Rye!"
"Frea!"
The two of them were swallowed whole along with the Raptors. Ludric and the others immediately lost their flight and fell down. Rosetta swiftly cast wind magic to slow down their fall.
Once they reached the ground, Ludric and Aerindel unhesitantly ran towards the worm.
"Halt!" Ash landed right in front of them and stopped their advance, "The ground around a Desert Worm turns into quicksand. Unless you fly, it is futile."
Ludric and Aerindel ignored him and continued to rush forward. They haven't reached it yet when a part of its body bulged and exploded. Rye jumped out from its body while holding Frea with him and the Raptors trailing behind.
He landed down with their body completely clean. The worm tumbled to the ground behind him.
"I'm sorry, I reacted too late." He handed Freanor back to Aerindel.
Aerindel hugged Freanor in relief. He shook his head, "You were focused on us and counting the time. Thank you for protecting my sister."
Ludric checked on Rye, "You alright?"
Rye nodded. He showed the marble stone in his hand which was bigger than his head, "Is this its heart?"
"For its size, it is quite small, is it not?" Ash studied it, "Grade B. You can sell it for some golds or ground it to make regeneration medicine."
"Regeneration as in…"
"Yes, the one that is able to regenerate lost limbs."
"It might be useful one day," Ludric let Rye keep it, "How's your mana?"
"Drained, but not depleted." Rye put the heart into his storage pack.
"I can find some more Desert Worms if you want to collect their heart." Ash offered.
"No thanks." Rye and Ludric said at the same time.
"I rather you search them so that we can avoid them." Ludric added.
"Then, it is best if we find a place to stay. It is not conducive to rest in the desert for the night. Desert Worms do not appreciate their territory being intruded."
"But why did they suddenly appear now? If they have always been here, that town shouldn't be able to be built here in the past." Freanor couldn't understand.
"Most possibly, they migrated from their previous location because of the demon invasion." Ludric speculated.
"Yes, their nest was previously further down west from here. That area has been claimed by the demons," Ash confirmed. He showed the rest of the map of Torihigen on his device, "These areas in red are those that have fallen. There is no currently ongoing battle as of now, but I suggest we go to Hala, the capital city. It is the safest place in Torihigen."
"The security at Hala is tight if I'm not wrong." Rye recalled.
"It is. They strictly check the ID, heritage, attributes, and mana capacity of everyone who came in and out. But it should not impose any problem for us. Our honorable elves will be able to pass after an additional checking. They are, after all, the companions of the Supreme Hero."
With that, the group decided to stop by Hala. If they went full speed, they could arrive there within 4 hours. Torihigen's outer territory was smaller than average and was mostly covered by dry deserts. With the Raptors' speed, they needed to cover their faces to prevent the sands from entering their eyes.
Once they arrived at the city gate, they saw that there was a long line of people who wanted to get in like them. Some of them managed to pass, many of the men were separated to the side, and all sick people were rejected. All cargo was scanned one by one. Anything that was deemed suspicious was immediately destroyed or burned.
"How could they reject sick people? Shouldn't they be prioritized?" Lilith couldn't help but feel angry.
"They could be carrying an infectious or incurable disease in them, or worse, a demonic substance," Rye fixed his glasses, "With the situation they are in, it is reasonable that they are paranoid."
"But they can't just abandon people like that," Desmund disagreed, "I thought you at least uphold justice although in a different way than ours, but I guess you're just a hypocrite."
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"I think you misunderstood something about me," Rye turned to Desmund, "It is not that I uphold justice or any noble cause. I am just considering the reasons and consequences of every action. Go ahead if you want to help those people get inside. But if anything happens to the healthy, uninfected people of the city because of your action, you are the one who will take responsibility."
Desmund was about to say something back, but Ludric stopped him with a warning look.
"Ludric–"
"But it doesn't mean there's nothing we can do." Rye added as he jumped down.
He walked to the group of sick people and their families. Ash and Freanor promptly went to follow him. Rosetta understood what they wanted to do and also got down from her Raptor to help them.
Hence, while the rest of the group waited in line, Rye, Rosetta, Freanor, and Ash helped diagnose and cure the sick people that could be cured. Fortunately, most of them were just common illnesses and some infections from their poorly treated wounds.
"Desmund, we must admit by now that the way we do things before Rye came wasn't entirely correct. We might've caused some painful and damaging consequences because we didn't consider twice, three times, about the actions we were doing. Whether in helping or in fighting," Ludric watched as his brother meticulously cleaned a former soldier's wound before casting a healing spell on him, "We need to start reflecting on that. Me, you, Lilith, and Rosetta."
Desmund, "…"
They slowly moved forward one step at a time until they finally arrived at the front of the line when the sun has finished setting.
When the guards saw Ludric's heritage, his eyes widened in disbelief.
The Supreme Hero!?
He immediately called out his colleague, "Inform the king! The Supreme Hero is here with his companions!"
Everyone's attention was immediately on Ludric and his group.
"The Supreme Hero is here! We're saved!"
"He finally came! He's going to disintegrate those demons into dust!"
"I knew Solistus would finally answer our prayers! Thank god!"
The people and the guards cheered and cried. Not long after, a minister came with a group of royal guards to escort Ludric and the others to the castle.
"We should've expected it's going to be like this." Lilith whispered to Rosetta.
"Ludric must've thought of this possibility when Ash said that the guards would check our heritage," Rosetta replied, "The fact that he didn't try to explain anything proved it."
"You mean…"
"If Ludric wants to help Torihigen, then our job is to assist him. Whatever Ludric wills to do, we only need to support him," Rosetta looked at Lilith, "Am I wrong, Lilith?"
"No, Rosetta. Your words are right," Lilith hurriedly answered. She paused for a short while and hesitantly spoke again, "But…Ludric usually discussed things like this with us first. Don't you notice that he changed lately?"
"To be exact, he changed after the day he made up with Rye," Rosetta agreed, "It's not particularly a bad change."
"He smiles and speaks less to us and it's hard to tell what he's thinking anymore. Is it really not something we need to worry about?"
"I have a feeling that that is the true Ludric. We've been together for 6 years, yet we never noticed anything," Rosetta said in irony, "I rather Ludric be unreachable than for him to force a friendly front for us."
"…" Lilith looked away and muttered, "…You really like him, don't you?"
On their way to the castle, the people of the city went to see the formidable Supreme Hero who successfully killed 3 demon generals and annihilated their armies. He could clean a whole kingdom 5 times larger than them from demons, so surely, he could defeat the demons in their country with a snap of a finger, right?
They entered the fortified castle gate with the guards saluting them with respect and reverence.
"Rye."
Ba-dump!
Rye's steps halted and turned to look at where the voice called him.
Yet there was no one.
"?" He touched his chest in confusion.
…What was that just now?
Aerindel noticed Rye was nowhere to be seen and stopped to check behind him, "Rye?"
But the bespectacled young man was nowhere to be found.