"Bwooo..."
Long, drawn-out horn blasts rose and fell, echoing through the streets and alleys of Loc Lac.
It was the signal for the arrival of the monsoon.
The local residents, long accustomed to this, immediately took shelter in their homes, and seasoned merchants hastily packed up their stalls.
Only the tourists and travelers visiting Loc Lac for the first time still looked bewildered. After hearing explanations from those around them, they were guided by the Loc Lac Rangers and Felyne guides to safety in a chaotic rush.
At this moment, the great Sandship fleet dock was undoubtedly the liveliest and busiest place in the entire city.
With its sails half-raised, the Dragonship, Hozan-maru, the fleet's flagship, was the first to glide out of the dock, charging into the boundless sand sea like a great whale returning to the ocean.
A total of twelve small Sandships followed, surging out of the dock one after another. They nimbly adjusted their formation, tightly encircling the Hozan-maru like a pack of beasts guarding their leader.
"Woohoo...!"
Standing at the prow, Serl couldn't contain his excitement and threw his arms up with a cheer.
Watching his usually composed and polite senior with amusement, Altaïr put his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, sharp whistle.
"Ahahaha! Full of spirit, aren't you, newbies!"
On another small Sandship just a few meters away, a burly man with a Great Sword on his back roared with laughter. "Be careful not to fall off!"
"Bwooo..." The horn commanding the Sandships' movements sounded from the Hozan-maru.
"Hey, you laggards! The Admiral's orders are in! Stop dawdling or you'll be left behind!" the boatsman partnered with the Great Sword user yelled at the top of his lungs. He then pulled the sails to adjust their angle, accelerating past them.
"Damn it!" Asa cursed, yanking on a rope. The gusting wind instantly filled the sail, and the Sandship beneath their feet shot forward, nearly throwing Serl, who was passionately standing at the prow, overboard.
Serl and Altaïr both turned to glare at him, but they didn't forget to adjust their stances to stabilize their center of gravity, finally managing to press the ship's prow, which had lifted from the high speed, back down.
Under the horn's command, the small Sandships surrounding the Hozan-maru all accelerated forward before spreading out in a fan formation.
The Hozan-maru had given the order to conduct a dispersed search. To successfully intercept the Jhen Mohran, the first step was naturally to find a trace of it.
In this environment of blowing monsoons and swirling dust, Airships and hot-air balloons would have to risk extreme danger to even attempt to take off.
Moreover, visibility in the air was extremely low. Finding a Jhen Mohran hidden in a sandstorm still had to rely on these fast and agile small Sandships, as well as the Hunting Fleet following near the fleet.
After separating from the other ships in the fleet and traveling at high speed for some time, they could no longer see any other vessels. The only sound in their ears was the howling of the fierce wind.
Asa half-lowered the sail, slowing the Sandship down a bit. He proceeded in a zigzag pattern, trying his best to keep the vessel steady.
Meanwhile, Altaïr and Serl adjusted the sand-proof goggles and face coverings on their faces, peering warily through the blinding sand and wind for any potential anomalies.
An unknown amount of time passed. Perhaps it was fifteen minutes, or maybe an hour had already gone by. Altaïr even began to suspect that the battle over by the Dragonship had already started, and that their ship had simply gotten lost in the sand sea and hadn't made it back yet.
A muffled "thump!" sounded, and the hull shook with it. The sudden change startled the three people on board.
"What's going on?" Serl asked instinctively. "Did we hit a reef?"
"There are no reefs in the sand sea," Asa muttered. "If we'd really hit a rock, the ship would've capsized by now."
A few seconds later, another "thump!" of a collision rang out.
Suddenly remembering something, Asa's head shot up, and he shouted hastily, "Quick, look around! Is there a school of Delex?"
Altaïr took two steps to the ship's rail and, sure enough, saw a triangular fin over a meter tall slicing through the sand's surface not far away.
In the distance, where visibility was blurred by the sandstorm, he could vaguely make out more fins circling around.
"A school of Delex! They're all around us, and there are so many!"
"We've hit the jackpot! Fire the SOS Flares, quick! And fire a few extra, in case the sandstorm's too thick for the others to see clearly!"
Asa's voice was tense, but held more excitement than anything. "I'm turning us around, hold on tight!"
With that, he forcefully pulled on the sail ropes and the rudder. The small Sandship made a sharp turn, heading back in the direction they had come from.
While the Sandship was turning, Altaïr and Serl fired off SOS Flares one after another. Feeling that one each wasn't enough insurance, they each fired another after the first ones began to fall from the sky.
Soon, an SOS Flare of a different color rose into the sky in the distance.
It was a signal from the Hozan-maru, marking its own position while also summoning the scattered small Sandships to return and regroup.
Only after they were done with all this did Serl finally have a chance to voice the question on his mind. "I've heard the saying that schools of Delex follow the Jhen Mohran as it chases the monsoon.
But is the relationship between them really that close? Does finding a school of Delex mean we've found a Jhen Mohran? We haven't even seen a shadow of it."
He was worried that if they had provided false information, it would seriously impact the Sandship fleet's upcoming interception mission.
Asa was busy maneuvering the ship through the sandstorm and had no time to give him a detailed explanation. In truth, even if he had the time, he might not have been able to explain it clearly.
Instead, it was Altaïr, who had specifically sought out Mr. Lamarck to ask about this very question, who understood it better. He took the initiative to answer.
"The idea that Delex follow the monsoon is a misconception. In reality, only the Jhen Mohran follows the monsoon, though the reason for this is currently unknown.
As for the schools of Delex, the monsoon means nothing to them. They come chasing after the Jhen Mohran.
As the Jhen Mohran swims through the sand sea, devouring minerals, its massive body also churns up organic matter buried deep at the bottom of the sand sea.
The schools of Delex come in pursuit of these nutrients. This is also why the Delex become exceptionally plump when they reach the vicinity of Loc Lac; it's because they've been gorging themselves chasing the Jhen Mohran the entire way."
"I see. But why is there so much organic matter settled at the bottom of the sand sea?" Part of Serl's confusion was cleared up, but at the same time, new questions arose. Altaïr mused, "Hmm... could it be because the Great Desert was once an ocean in ancient times? That's why you see Monsters like the Delex, Cephalos, and Nibelsnarf all have features reminiscent of aquatic animals."
"However, it seems the academic world hasn't reached a consensus on this point. We can only chalk it up to the wonders of nature."
Before he could finish speaking, the surrounding sand dunes began to heave and surge like real ocean waves.
The next second, a pair of tusks, so enormous they seemed utterly unnatural, jutted out from the bottom of the sand sea. Immediately after, a colossal shadow as vast as a mountain peak burst from the sand, twisting as it breached and leaped nearly a hundred meters into the air.
Its body blotted out the sun. For those brief few seconds, one couldn't help but wonder if night had already fallen.
"RUMBLE...!"
The moment the massive shadow crashed back into the sand sea, the earth trembled violently and the sands boiled. The raging sandstorm seemed to startle into a halt, as the surging dunes formed a terrifying tsunami that swept out in all directions.
Witnessing such a magnificent spectacle for the first time in his life, Altaïr couldn't help but gape, unconsciously murmuring:
"Here's to the wonders of nature."
"You can toast nature some other damn time!" Facing the oncoming wave of sand, no, a tsunami of sand, Asa couldn't stop himself from cursing. "Help me out if you don't want to die! We need to sand-surf and accelerate!"