I Became a Dark Fantasy Villain
Chapter 472

Chapter 472

Ian met Seren's confused gaze and added calmly, "I'm a spellcaster."

"What does that… So you, Agent of the Saint, are what?"

However, Seren's expression didn't change at all. She must have heard him clearly, but it seemed her mind couldn't accept it.

Right, she definitely didn't see me during the fight with Inaskurgl.

Ian, shrugging, jumped down from the corpse without adding anything further.

He figured he'd have to use magic sooner or later anyway. It was better to get it out in the open now and save himself the trouble. Even if word reached Hyked, it didn't really matter.

Not only was there a good chance Hyked had already noticed, but he also wouldn't be able to find out that Ian was of a white magician's lineage.

Grrrrowl….

Moro, who'd been lying flat on its belly, slowly pushed itself up again. Ian made his way over to Diana.

Diana said in a subdued voice, "It seems Yanar Tash has prepared something, Ian Hope."

"You think so too?" Ian, stopping as he replied, smacked his lips. "I was hoping it'd be too scared to react. But, as expected..."

"It looked scared, so I was hoping it'd stay quiet. But of course..."

"Scared? Of you?"

"If I'm not mistaken, yeah."

"Hmm…"

Even after hearing the unbelievable story that the archdemon feared him, Diana showed no sign of surprise. She simply let out a low hum and scratched her chin beneath the mask. Perhaps she didn't find the idea too far-fetched since, after all, its opponent was Ian.

Sssshhh—

Just as the wind blowing over the dune swept past her, she muttered, "Then it might be plotting something to drive you out of the desert."

"I'd like that if it's possible. You've already figured out where we need to go, haven't you?" Ian tilted his head slightly and added, "While pretending you didn't hear anything."

"…Yes. Of course." Diana flicked a glance past Ian's back as she replied.

Seren, who had finally processed what she'd heard, was staring blankly at the back of his head. Lucia was already making her way toward Moro.

"But I can't guarantee we'll be able to move quickly. Monsters like that will keep ambushing us from now on." At Diana's continued words, Ian nodded in agreement.

The scorpion spiders had given a decent amount of experience points. Perhaps other monsters would too. However, he had no intention of fighting every single one of them while traversing the desert.

"So…." Diana, pausing for a moment and letting out a sigh, looked back at Ian. "Engrave that snake's magic onto me as well."

Yog, which had been hanging limply on Ian's pauldron, jerked its head up.

As the creature's exclamation echoed in his mind, Ian spoke. "I didn't expect you to say that."

"Honestly, I hate this so much I could die, but we don't have a choice," Diana added flatly, casting an uneasy glance at Yog. "Being the guide is my role. Just like fighting is yours."

So that's why she's acting out of character.

A faint, dry laugh finally touched Ian's lips. "Forget it."

"Huh?"

"Since Sir Seren can hear this fellow's voice anyway. You can just have her relay it. Sorry to say this, but…." Meeting Diana's confused eyes, Ian gave a small shrug. "This time, we don't get to split things cleanly between who fights and who doesn't."

"Wait, hold on. You mean I have to fight too?"

"If the situation calls for it. If you don't want to, guide us well enough that we won't have to."

With that, Ian extended his right hand. Yog slithered eagerly down his arm like it had been waiting for the cue.

"From now on, you're the one carrying it around. Its detection range isn't as broad as you'd think, so staying close will help."

"Wait, then why not just give it to Seren—" Diana, muttering as she looked down at Yog coiling on Ian's palm, quickly stumbled backward in surprise.

Ian had flicked his wrist, tossing Yog at her. Yog, which had brushed past her and fallen to the ground, immediately raised its head with a hissing sound.

"Don't come near me—wait, wait, hold on—Ian? Ian!" Diana, who had urgently spat out the words while looking back at the creature, turned her head.

However, Ian had already turned around and was walking toward Moro. Lucia, who had mounted Moro's saddle, looked back at him and gestured.

Diana, who had been watching Ian walk away without a backward glance, suddenly froze. Yog, having silently crawled over, was climbing up her instep onto her calf. As if intending to make her feel its texture properly, it wrapped its body around her leg.

"Goddammit." She muttered under her breath, lowering her head.

Yog flicked its violet tongue at her, their eyes meeting.

—I'm looking forward to this, Pointy Ears.

Of course, Diana couldn't hear the whisper.

***

The Black Desert was far from flat. It was filled with large and small dunes, making it feel like passing through a mountain range made of sand.

—Tell Pointy Ears to go right, Halfwit.

The party moved at high speed between the dunes, which formed a shallow, valley-like passage. They hadn't stopped even once.

—I'm just kidding. Something's lurking over there. We have to go left.

It was thanks to the advice of the black snake coiled around the fairy's neck. Every time the creature flicked its tail, Diana's shoulders flinched.

Such a bad habit, honestly.

Ian, trailing behind the others in silence, gave his head a shake. Watching Yog revel in its power wasn't exactly pleasant.

However, thanks to it, they had avoided every ambush so far. The predators hidden beneath the sands hadn't gotten a single chance to strike. Of course, there weren't as many giant predators hidden in the sand. The real threats of this Black Desert were much smaller than that.

—Something's crawling up. Deal with it, Halfwit.

Of course, Yog didn't miss such dangerous elements either.

They were mainly black scorpions, about the size of a small puppy, that crawled silently, or desert rats that swam through the sand with only their ears exposed. Rats were just a convenient term. In truth, they were grotesque demonic beasts, their jaws lined with jagged, saw-like teeth.

This time, it was a scorpion.

Crunch!

Seren, who had stabbed the scorpion with her short sword, straightened up from her bent posture. The two desert rat corpses hanging from her belt dangled. It was her effort to avoid eating something like a scorpion spider again.

That's just as disgusting in my eyes.

Just then, Seren tossed the twitching scorpion toward Moro. The beast, having been staring at the back of her head, opened its mouth as if it had been waiting and snatched the scorpion.

Crunch, crunch—

As Moro chewed enthusiastically, Seren met Ian's gaze and gave a slight nod.

"Let's go." Her voice came quietly from beneath the cloth mask covering the lower half of her face.

She was fulfilling her role with precision—as both interpreter and escort. Even without the ability to wield chaos power, the smaller desert beasts were no match for her.

Everything was going smoothly, but the tension among the group hadn't loosened in the slightest. If anything, it was the opposite. It wasn't just because of the dunes that gently curved on all sides, obscuring their vision.

Ssshhhhhh…

It was because, at some point, a dry wind had started blowing relentlessly.

At the top of every dune, sand scattered by the wind danced in curves that seemed to soar into the sky. Not only did it further narrow their already limited visibility, but it also hindered their breathing, forcing Ian to take out clothes from his storage to make a mask to cover his nose and mouth.

Lucia had even added a layer of her iron mask on top of that. Diana was the only one not covering her face. Her wooden mask seemed to block even the sand mixed in the wind.

Ian lifted his head, trying to shake off the gnawing sense of unease. Beyond the swaying silhouettes and heat distortions, the red-brown sky bled through faintly. Swirls of turbulence churned across it, large and small, distorting its shape.

Looks like the surface of Jupiter.

Recalling a documentary he had once seen, Ian silently smacked his lips. He was inwardly hoping that this was a sign Yanar Tash was preparing a defense, not an attack.

If that were the case, they might be able to pass through without ever setting foot in the creature's territory. Perhaps it was because he had seen the illusion, but Ian instinctively sensed that the creature's domain wasn't far off.

—Looks like we'll have to go up and over this one.

Yog's leisurely whisper spread when they reached a dune that rose high like a small hill.

—Whichever way I look, the feeling isn't good.

When Seren relayed the message, Diana clicked her tongue in irritation. The reason they hadn't climbed the dunes and had gone around them was that it was faster in many ways. Moreover, this particular dune was quite high.

"Well, maybe it's for the best. Gives me a chance to reorient," Diana muttered as she started up the sloping sand. "No matter how I think about it, we're leaning too far west. Do you hear that, snake? We need to go north. Not west."

—-That's your role, Pointy Ears. If you had just gone straight north, you'd already be in some beast's stomach by now.

Yog's jab, of course, never reached Diana. Seren merely walked silently by Diana's side, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"…The visibility is still poor," Lucia murmured from behind, who was sitting with her back leaning against Ian's chest. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced to the side.

Ian followed her gaze and nodded. "Because the wind is getting stronger."

The sand-laden wind gusting over the large and small dunes was rising higher and higher. It almost looked as if a black aurora draped over the desert. This didn't seem like a normal phenomenon.

—Hmm… so this wasn't the right way, either?

Yog's murmur came just as they crested the midpoint of the dune. The gazes of Seren, as well as Ian and Lucia, turned to the neck of Diana's neck. Only Diana, unaware of the attention, kept climbing with her head down.

—I smell something… rather unpleasant up ahead.

At the continued whisper, Ian's gaze shifted to the top of the hill. The wind blowing from the opposite side was creating a black trajectory that seemed to soar into the sky.

In any case, Ian couldn't smell anything.

Rumble…

It was then that a low tremor spread through the ground. Diana, who had flinched in surprise, instinctively lowered her posture.

Screech! Screech!

Howls echoed across the rolling wind, faint but unmistakable. Diana turned to Ian, only to find that everyone else was already looking at him too.

—Huh… monsters fighting each other, maybe?

As Yog's tensionless whisper continued, Ian nodded his head forward. Seren, nodding in agreement, started walking again.

Diana, who had been looking at Ian with a frown, also reluctantly started moving forward again. However, instead of taking the lead, she walked beside Moro.

Screech! Screech!

The ground shook again with each burst of shrieking. Though not yet visible, it was clear that one creature was screaming, and it was quite large.

Ssssshhhhh—

The sand-laden wind, surging like a curtain, drew closer. The group, raising their arms to cover their faces, passed through it, with no one needing to be told.

Screech! Screech!

The view of the opposite slope of the dune was revealed. Down below, a giant, six-legged black lizard was thrashing on the ground. It was wildly emitting waves of primitive magical energy from the multiple horns on its forehead.

Though much larger and more repulsive-looking, it was clearly a Desert Basilisk.

Crunch, crack—

Clinging to various parts of the thrashing, struggling creature's body were much smaller things. They were pitch-black, caterpillar-like, or rather, maggot-like worms with pointed tails. Each one was the size of a wolf, with large and small sharp teeth arranged in a circle on its head.

Screech! Screech!

They were swimming through the sand and leaping up to sink their teeth into various parts of the Desert Basilisk. It looked as if they were trying to pierce its hide and burrow inside.

Thud—Thud—

The basilisk rolled and flailed, shaking some loose or crushing them under its bulk. But the creatures simply dove back beneath the sand, undeterred.

Only about two of them lay sprawled with their guts burst.

—Hmm…

However, the only one watching the battle between monsters with amusement was the black snake coiled around the fairy's neck.

The group, standing side by side on the hill, were looking at a completely different place beyond the sea of black sand, which now truly looked like crashing waves.

"This is… insane…."

It was because a curtain of darkness, undulating like storm clouds, was spread out wide. It soared so high it even obscured the sky on the other side.

Lucia, who had been staring, mesmerized, at the ominously writhing center of it all, finally murmured, "That's… don't tell me…."

"A sandstorm," The one who answered was Diana. As she spoke, her eyes, visible beyond the mask, widened as if reality was sinking in, and she looked back at Ian.

"A sandstorm is coming!"