Zumomo

We decided to set out for reconnaissance right away.

Since I had Tree-to-Tree Transfer as a means of escape if anything went wrong, I initially planned to go alone.

However—

“I’ll be coming with you. As the Divine Rat overseeing this Sanctuary, I need to see the situation firsthand.”

Wheel-san was firm about it, so in the end, the two of us went together.

“I want you to ride on my back. I’ll take you to the monster’s location—super express.”

“Eh? But… is that really okay?”

It felt a little disrespectful to ride on the back of a Divine Beast, but Wheel-san chuckled at my nervous hesitation.

That smile of his was so warm and human-like, it almost made me forget I was speaking to a divine creature.

“No problem. If there’s someone willing to walk alongside me, it’s my duty as a Divine Beast to answer that trust.”

“Wheel-san… thank you. I’ll gratefully accept your kindness.”

“Good! Carrying one person’s not a big deal… probably. If the gods scold me for it, well, I’ll worry about that when it happens!”

His words were slightly concerning, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. The priority was building the Sanctuary.

I climbed onto Wheel-san’s back, and together we zumomo—slid swiftly through the earth beneath us.

Wheel-san’s back was surprisingly comfortable.

At first, hearing the zumomo sound, I thought he was digging through the ground. But that wasn’t it.

He was manipulating the soil itself with earth magic, gliding smoothly underground as if swimming through sand.

Just as he’d promised, we reached the monster’s location in no time at all.

“That’s the creature… the one nesting here…”

“It’s massive…”

Before our eyes loomed a monstrous wolf of unimaginable size.

It was indeed shaped like a wolf, but completely unlike the sand-dwelling Sand Wolves of the desert.

Its entire body was a muted brown, blending seamlessly into the surrounding sand. Most likely, the years spent living here had caused the sand constantly brushing its body to harden and cling to its hide.

Parts of that surface were chipped away, revealing reddish-brown metal beneath.

That… looked like rusted iron.

If its entire body was made of steel, damaging it would be an ordeal.

And on the back of this titanic wolf—larger than dozens of Sand Boars put together—grew a single green tree.

Sand on the outside, metal beneath, and a tree sprouting from its back.

I had never seen nor heard of such a creature.

“Wheel-san, do you have any idea what that thing is?”

“Yeah. I’ve only heard about it in stories, but that’s probably a Tycoon Wolf.”

Of course, I had never heard that name before.

Since it was an entirely unknown monster, Wheel-san’s insight was all I had to go on.

“So… should we proceed with the plan and send in the Wood Golems?”

“No, fighting that thing head-on would be a bad move. We’ll retreat for now and come up with a proper strategy.”

I nodded and climbed back onto Wheel-san’s back.

Then, with a zumomo… rumble, we glided back through the earth—while I racked my brain, trying to figure out how in the world we could take down that colossal beast.