The crew packed up their bags the first thing at dawn on their third day within the Tower.

  A few, Merlin included, were bummed about the fact that they had to journey in the opposite direction of the forest after what they had gone through to get themself to it, as well as the effort they had put in to construct their tents. However, they had known it was long coming, even if they hadn’t met Krieger. They had not ventured into the Tower for a vacation after all. They would eventually have had to move, figure out what they had to do to clear the Tower, leaving their initial efforts behind. It had just come a little bit quicker than they might have expected—thankfully, too.

  After Krieger’s explanation, and Merlin’s translation, their mission became clear.

  The first floor of the Tower had once been a land sprawling with vast greenery, spring waters, and flourishing with life anywhere one could see. There had been countless villages then, and more than enough beasts to hunt to feed on. However, things changed a decade ago. Their god, the benevolent dragon, Xéros, and the being that encompassed their world, died. Which had come as a surprise. After all, He was immortal. There was no way a godly being was otherwise.

  The Drachens had prayed for days for answers, but none came. Their flourishing world began to dry up, and before they knew it, the greenery that spread out everywhere was slowly drowned out by the quartz sand that filled the lands now.

  At first, all the villages came together to figure out a way to survive on what they had. But every year the quartz sand grew more, not for once relenting. Before long, it sucked out the life from most of the flourishing lands that remained, leaving only a few that was not enough to sustain the villages. Because of that, the treaty between the villages was broken; war broke out, and the Drachens killed themselves faster than the sand might have, leaving only the two villages of Blatt and Stein.

  Krieger’s mission had been to convince the Drachens of Stein to join hands with the villagers of Blatt to ascend the Tower, journey to the second floor in hopes that it had not met the same state as the first floor. However, the Drachen Chief of Stein had called the attempt a fool’s journey. Ascending the Tower was perilous and harsher than trying to survive on what was left on the first floor, he’d said. They were not going to be joining hands with the villagers of Blatt on their fool’s errand. They would survive on what was left on the first floor and gratefully let themselves be taken when death came.

  “Then what was the need for them to attack Krieger and the others? They were going to end up leaving the first floor all to them at the end of the day,” Man-Shik asked as he trudged beside Merlin, flanking him to his left while Sofia flanked his right along with the other two first years, Park Yuri and Daniel.

  Merlin was narrating all the lore Krieger had told him to them. Besides Merlin, they had been tasked with guarding the camp by Senior Sun-Hee and Senior Hyunwoo when the conversation with Krieger had gotten into the deeper phase. That way, they were not blindsided by Krieger’s attackers while they were questioning him. And, well, the rest of the night had been used to rest up in preparation for the journey they were undertaking now. Merlin had no choice but to repeat all he’d learned to his mates after they had kept pestering him.

  He sighed, looking straight ahead at Senior Sun-Hee and Senior Hyunwoo as they led the march with Krieger in the lead.

  “They were not planning on leaving just yet,” Merlin replied to Man-Shik’s question. “They needed three hundred days of preparation…” He noticed he sounded too sure of the timeline then for someone who had been translating based on just body tics, so he added, “...I think.”

  “And so they attacked them because the time was too long and they couldn’t be patient,” Sofia said with a sigh. “That’s low.”

  “It’s war,” Park Yuri joined in the conversation. “Unlike us, they are still primitive in their mind. Their actions are fueled by quick gains not future prospects. And I’m sure Krieger didn’t escape on his own, they probably let him off as a messenger. Right?” She glanced Merlin’s way.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Merlin nodded, his hand holding the strap of his bag tightly while Blue slept soundly inside it.

  “He’s to relay to his people that they were to leave in five days or they would be wiped out,” said Merlin.

  “Ugh… That’s too cruel,” Daniel shook his head with a snort. “How exactly are we to prevent that now? This mission seems harder than just battling an enemy like in a Dungeon?”

  “Exactly,” said Man-Shik. “It’s…political. Politics is hard, and annoying. God, I hate politics.”

  “We still don’t know what to do to clear the first floor,” said Park Yuri. “Stop assuming things.”

  Merlin agreed with Park Yuri. They had no clue if they were on the right track, and were just following their instincts here. It was possible that the way they cleared the first floor was by defeating a monster just like Daniel had said, or maybe they had to resolve the issue between the two villages and have them ascend to the second floor together. Or, maybe, it was something totally different. It was even possible that they were meant to be the enemies of Blatt instead of Stein.

  Whatever the case was, however, they would have to join heads together and make a decision as to which village they would ally with. And that was the plan when they got to Blatt; they would make their decision after they had talked to the Chief of the village.

  Merlin, on the other hand, felt like they should do more. Currently, they had only heard one side of the story. Wouldn’t it be best if they found a way to hear the other side of the story? There was the possibility of Krieger having fed them lies, and the same could come to be from the chief.

  He would have to speak to Senior Sun-Hee in private later on to find out what she thought about that, and how they could go about it.

  Krieger suddenly stopped at that moment and spread an arm wide to halt the rest. Immediately, Senior Sun-Hee turned around and called for Merlin, who buckled up and rushed forward after settling his heart. It had skipped a beat at that moment.

  “Something’s wrong,” she said, placing a hand on the buckle of her Grimoire strap, readying herself to let her Grimoire loose when needed. “See to it.”

  Merlin nodded and stood beside Krieger. The dragonman glanced at him for a split second.

  [Sandworms], Krieger said. [Approximately two minutes from us.]

  Merlin relayed the information to his seniors in the best way he could. Senior Sun-Hee had her stoic gaze remain, however, Senior Hyunwoo’s expression shook like he was on the verge of panicking. But he reined himself in quickly. He turned around to the rest who had closed the gap, and announced that they prepared for the possibility of battle.

  Merlin, in that instant, threw his gaze around. Besides dunes of sand, there were no shades where they could hide themselves. If sandworms were exactly what he pictured, or, at least, shared any characteristics to his imaginations, then battling them in open ground would prove disadvantageous to them.

  [Nowhere to hide], Krieger drove the hammer in. Then he bent down and placed a hand on the sand, feeling its texture for a brief moment before standing up and nodding as he tightened his grip on his spear. [Two], he said. [Approaching from northeast and northwest. Pincer attack].

  Merlin clicked his tongue and relayed the information to the rest. A brief unsettling feeling fell upon the crew, but they had long prepared themself for something like this happening. So they took off their bags, unstrapped their Grimoires, and channeled mana, ready to battle.

  Krieger watched the actions and narrowed his eyes. The dragonman was studying them, Merlin saw, but he chalked it up to the instinctual action of a warrior in the presence of foreign people, so he didn’t let it sit in his thoughts for long. He refocused his attention on the battle that was on its way.

  “How do we fight?” Merlin asked, his question for Krieger as he bent down and placed his bag gently on the ground. Blue’s head popped out, he rubbed the little dragon’s chin and shook his head. He was to stay hidden. “What do we need to know?”

  [They are large. But they are quick. They fight by burrowing into the sand, making their opponents unstable. They also have tough skin. Killing them is impossible, because that can only be done from within their body. And their digestive acid acts fast].

  Merlin swallowed when that explanation was done. The sandworms were definitely just as problematic as he had thought them to be. Fighting beasts that burrowed into the ground was the height of troubling battles.

  “Then, what do we do?” he asked after taking a moment to digest Krieger’s words.

  Krieger glanced at him. [Bait and ride].

  Merlin’s brows furrowed. Surely that didn’t mean what he thought it was.

  “What?”