The mouth of the wyvern peaks.
A ravine just wide enough for two steam tanks plus a little bit of leg room.
It bends and turns sharply, making it difficult for the wyverns to strafe the road.
The cliffs on either side stretched upwards higher than the walls of Carla.
Hikari stands before the cliff side.
To her back, a sandstorm brewing in a vast desert.
A good scaling point.
Uneven protrusions for her to anchor her boots on.
A vertical flat cliff side.
"Perfect."
A pulley and a set of picks strapped onto her back.
Hikari bent her knees.
Her mana courses through her.
Small pieces of stone chatters on the ground around her.
She jumps.
A third of the way up the peaks.
She uses her telekinesis to cushion herself before she lands.
Thud.
The shockwave brushes off the loose pieces of stone, but the protrusion can hold her weight.
She bends her knees and jumps.
Two third of the way up.
Jump.
She appeared over the top.
The howling wind pushed her silver side burns behind her shoulder.
She paused to look into the distance.
Tall pillars over the ridgeline. As impressive as the spire of Moradale.
Enshrouded in a thick fog.
Flocks of wyverns flying in and out of the fog.
"Nice."
Hikari got to work.
She unpacked the pulley set.
Fastened it into the stone ground with picks.
She looks over the ledge.
A group of miners were signaling to her.
She unfolds the platform.
There, a pulley system that allows moving supplies up and down the cliff.
They would construct a lookout post to warn the miners below.
She cranked the lever, the first group of miners were up.
They drilled holes around the pulley to secure it.
The second group showed up with telescopes and a bell.
They would ring the metal bell on seeing the wyvern.
The third group brought a steam core which would power the pulley.
They load it with coal.
Hikari would have to be doing other things than babysitting the pulley.
The fourth group brought Hikari's bow and arrows.
An improvised ballista and bolts for her.
A ballista bolt has a low chance of actually hitting a strafing wyvern.
But It just has to dissuade it.
The platform came up.
Supplies.
Tent cloth.
They were coated with anti-flame gel that the merchant convoys had been using.
It wouldn't block a wyvern's breath at point blank though.
Hikari had to crank the lever a few more times until there was enough.
There was a stone formation for her to set up a tent.
The miners did the same.
Stone is a sure defense against the wyvern flame.
She scoped up a pile of supplies and dropped them into her tent.
The steam core hummed as it pulled the platform up.
The miners were fixing armor platings to its side to protect it from wyvern flame.
The lookout post was just about done.
Hikari was getting ready to disassemble her armour for a rest.
There were dried rations in her tent.
"Wyvern!"
The miners manning the telescope shouted.
The camp froze.
Hikari looks up.
Her bow in resting position.
A ballista bolt between her fingers.
The wyvern flies towards them.
A single youngling.
A musket line with acid dipped muskets could take care of it.
Hikari draws and fires.
The wyvern was startled as the ballista bolt flew past it.
It changed course and flew in the direction of Herdial.
The camp breathed a sign of relief and went back to their posts.
Hikari stretches.
Half a morning of matching through the sandworm pass.
A dozen smaller sandworm kills.
She goes into her new tent for some rest.
…
"Ahem! Hikari, are you there?"
Hikari hears a voice outside her tent.
A man's voice that's half a pitch higher than normal.
She finishes the rest of her ration pack.
A leather pouch filled with dried grains, ivory berries and 'other' stuff.
"Who are you?"
She leans forward and sticks her head out of her tent
"Rey hearthstone. I'm in charge around here."
He tilted his head and looked upwards at the giant face.
Just the lips would cover his torso.
The ruby red eyes were the size of his head.
But nonetheless, he seemed unfazed.
"Rey hearthstone. You may call me Rey."
Rey took out a wrapper out of his pocket.
He could feel the giantess leaning towards her.
"Herdial chocolate. The cacao farm from which it is made is blessed with the spring water of the goddess of water Herda herself."
Hikari leaned her face towards him.
Her nose hovered over him.
He could feel her breathe.
The giantess sticks out her tongue.
He hesitated.
That mouth was big enough to suck him like a lollipop.
He tossed the chocolate in.
The huge tongue rolled up and withdrew.
He could feel the jaw movements.
The ruby red eyes closed for a moment as Hikari savoured the taste.
Deep cacao flavor. It wasn't just oversweetened like the ones Ria bought from Moradale.
"I'm glad you liked it. Now, a word in private."
Hikari's gaze turned back to him.
"Come in."
The giant face disappeared into the tent.
Rey gulped and walked through the slit between the tent cloth.
A strong stench engulfs his nostrils.
The smell of sweat accumulated from a march through the sandworm pass.
He covers his nose with his hands.
It was pitch black in the tent.
There was just the eerie glow of the giantess's ruby red eyes staring him down.
He lights up his lantern and sits down.
He glances to his left.
A pair of boot soles each big enough to be his bed.
In front of him, he could see a pair of giant socks.
He looks up.
He could see the dim silhouette of a muscular giant woman.
A pair of titanic moons.
He swallows.
"Ahem! Good job on the sandworm titan. I really wasn't expecting a titan to appear. I would have been dead if it didn't happen to be you who was on the raid."
"Megaphone."
"Ah, you're right. I am one speaking through the megaphone."
Hikari leans towards him.
She studies him.
He was about the same build as Ria.
She could sense a hint of mana in him.
But it was weaker than even Ria's.
Rey was sweating as the ruby red eyes loomed over him.
"So-."
Before he could start his next sentence, the giantess moved.
He stood frozen in place.
She could easily crush him with a misstep.
Hikari leaned back against the stone surface at the back of the tent.
She stretched out her legs.
Rey stood still as a pair of giant feet clad in thick socks flanked him on both sides.
The smell was even stronger, he could barely breathe.
The pair of moons approached.
It stopped right in front of him.
Hikari touches her toes with her fingers.
She leans back against the wall.
She could sense a slight trembling in Rey.
Her legs were withdrawn.
She crosses them in a meditating pose.
Rey was breathing heavily.
He pulls his collar and wipes the sweat accumulated on his neck.
"Come closer."
Rey's legs moved on their own.
They were trembling but they could still carry his meagre weight.
He moved towards the giantess.
"Closer."
He stopped about a metre away from the giantess's socks.
Laying horizontally, they were still taller than his knee caps.
Hikari looms over him and looks down.
She sees his crotch armour.
A thick piece of wood.
Double rubber straps hidden under his shirt.
"You have good control."
"Well… yes… you do have a certain reputation. I just want a normal conversation with you… so I have taken the necessary precautions."
It was a rather uncomfortable discussion.
The giantess hand lowered in front of him.
A gentle flick from the fingernail onto the crotch armour.
Rey takes a step back to maintain his balance.
Hikari observes.
The Herdial general still maintained his composure.
"There's more isn't it?"
"Hortifern. A suppressant commonly used by merchants to avoid being manipulated during negotiations. It's very common. Herdial is the biggest exporter of the potion. I issued some to the man around you so as to not disturb you."
"Interesting."
Thud.
Thud.
Hikari flicks her fingernail at Rey's crotch armour.
Thud.
He falls backwards onto the ground.
"Hey… stop that."
"You're good."
"Can we just get down to business now?"
Hikari keeps her hands behind her legs.
"Sure."
Rey sits upright.
He puts his lantern by his side.
"We'll be heading into the mine soon. I could use your strength. Who knows what kind of horrors are living there now?"
"Horrors?"
"Yes… the mine shaft is actually not just for mining. It had long been a monster hunting ground. The monster population would have regrown after the mine had been closed for so long."
"But I hate caves."
"I figured that. I saw you fight that wyvern on the road here. But, it happens to be something my house specializes in. I'll introduce you to my sister. She'll teach you the basics of sand bending."
"Sand bending?"
"It's not a hard mana form to manifest compared to the Razenheir form. We train hundreds of sand benders a year. Don't be fooled by the sand. We are the most comfortable when fighting in the desert. But we can also bend certain types of stone as well. The stone in the wyvern peaks is one of them."
Hikari pauses.
She leans forward.
Her massive moons loom over Rey's head.
"Is the general busy?"
"No not really- uh… I mean yes! I am very busy. I need to oversee the construction of the forward base and- "
Rey backs off, he falls backwards.
It hurts.
The ground sheet didn't cushion him much against the stone.
The moons follow.
"I'll be gentle."
"No wait! Hold on-"
…
Hikari marches towards the trading town.
The shelter at the mouth of the wyvern peaks had been constructed which affords her a break.
She was sick of the dried rations.
She was looking forward to her cauldron back at the RazenHeir camp.
No wyvern kills sadly.
Her arrows scare them away before they could get close enough for a kill.
She passed by a convoy of steam tanks.
They were fixing the road.
The one at the front had a shovel to clear out the sand.
The one at the back had a roller to flatten the road.
Sand benders on either side hardening the ground.
A line of infantry with their shields guarded them.
She watches them work.
They press their hands into the sand.
A patch of it would crystalize into hardened stone much like the mountainous terrain of the wyvern peaks.
Their mana was too weak for her to learn anything.
She cleared the sandstorm.
The trading town was within sight.
She stops.
Movements.
She draws her throwing daggers.
They hover around her, forming a blade barrier.
The sandworms lunged out of the sand.
Small ones that prey on individual soldiers.
The repaired road was too tough for them to burrow through so they couldn't attack from directly below her.
But her presence had attracted the whole pack.
Her throwing daggers whirls around her, slicing through the sandworms that were no thicker than her thumb.
She senses more sandworms burrowing under the sand towards her.
She draws more throwing daggers.
An inner ring of whirling steel.
Something large was approaching.
A raging sandstorm approaching her at break neck speed.
It felt massive.
She draws her sword.
A woman emerges from the sand storm.
Tanned skin. Short hair.
Her skimpy clothing reveals her incredible physique.
Thud.
She slams onto the ground.
Hikari could feel her incredible aura.
The sand around her swirls.
She releases a pulse of energy.
The sandworms below the ground turned their attention to her instead.
The whole pack was gathered right below her.
"Watch out."
The sandworms lunged out of the sand.
Their teeth bared.
The woman held her stance.
A burst of energy.
The sand suddenly hardens into stone.
The sandworm's bodies were crushed between the sand.
They drop harmlessly on the ground squirming.
The woman gathers a cloud of sand around her and coalesces them into stone.
She crushes the remaining sandworms.
"Hrmp, nothing but small ones. She grumbled."
She turns to look at Hikari.
With a leap, she landed right in front of the knight clad in wyvern skin.
Hikari keeps her sword.
"Hikari of RazenHeir."
The woman circles her, visibly impressed by her physique.
"Sheela. Sheela hearthstone. My brother said there's a giant who wants to learn sand bending from me. Ho, looks like he isn't lying. With those muscles, you'll make a fine sand bender yet"
She turns around.
"Come along now. We have no time to waste. You have only a few days to learn before he throws you into the caves with him. You don't want to be buried under the rock slides don't you?"
With a thrust of her legs, she leaps off towards the town, skating along the sand like it was a smooth layer of ice.