It was a long silence before a large tremor shook the ground, "It is here," He quickly left the feast after mumbling to himself. The chief sent one of the young hunters to follow him, "This could be my chance," Kolvma rushed up a dune that was on the outskirts of the town, followed by Covo who was only a few paces behind him. The older hunter dived to the ground and the top and lay on his belly, watching the desert. Covo did the same and looked at the ocean of sand in front of them.
"What was that, Kolvma?"
"Shh, just watch, nature may just give us the answer to that question," The older man pointed at a large jet of sand that appeared a few dozen meters away from them and as Covo acknowledged it, a large creature burst from the sand with something much smaller than itself in its mouth. Sand wyrms would often burst from the ground after catching prey as they would hunt from the sands below them, but this wasn't a simple wyrm, it was much larger, probably the beast that left the tracks near the shoreline that he had spotted as well as the beast that, if passing near the village, could cause such tremors. The young Ilty-Ilty hunter was as both were spectators to the large creature diving in and out of the sand with more and more prey, "A monstrous sand wyrm, there it is."
"Is that the thing that has been causing the tremors, Kolvma?"
"You can feel the ground shake from here as it emerges and then dives back into the ground, that is most likely the culprit," The hunters lay still as they continued to watch the beast until it finally moved on, the large jets of sand indicating its departure, submerging itself into the sand and slithering away, out of sight.
"That is both terrifying and beautiful."
"Nature at its finest," Kolvma stood up and dusted off the sand from his clothes, "I will have to hunt that thing."
"Did the chief ask you to kill it?"
"A beast that large is unhealthy for a habitat, too big, too resource demanding, they will do nothing but cause chaos," Covo followed a few paces behind Kolvma as they walked down the dune.
"But isn't that something that happens naturally?"
"From what I saw, it was probably 2 or 3 times the size of a regular sand wyrm, at least, that isn't normal," The experienced hunter shot down his inexperienced brethren's idea, "There is nothing good that can come from leaving that thing around."
"How are you going to kill it?"
"I don't know, but rarely do I know when I get into a fight," He replied as they were met by the chief, "I think I know what is causing the tremors, and Covo and I just saw it," The chief nodded, "It is a very large sand wyrm, the impact of its body on the sand as it landed from hunting was enough to tremor the ground."
"I saw it as well, chief, it was massive."
"What do you think should happen to such a creature, Kolvma? Is it something that we have to grow to accept or is it something that needs to be dealt with?"
"I will have to kill it," The hunter replied as he walked past the chief, "I will need to rest and come up with a plan."
"Whatever we can do to help you, Kolvma, we will do," The hunter nodded and headed to the house he used in the village, "Rest well."
"I normally do, this beast shouldn't cause me too much problems once I get it to fight me, it is a sand wyrm after all," He called back before entering his house. The creature was large and even from afar, Kolvma could tell it was fast or at least very mobile for such a size. Sand wyrms were nothing new to him, but one of this size was unusual and could be very dangerous. He looked at the notes that he had gathered that day, "Who would've thought that a beast of this size would be able to suddenly just appear," He muttered to himself, "What caused this wild growth?"
The sun was rising as Kolvma had already begun walking in the desert, trying to find the creature that Covo and him had seen the previous night. He was alone as the day before, but he wasn't simply looking for clues, now the tracks had a body and the tremors had a source. The hunter didn't follow the shoreline this time, deciding to head into the desert more than before, maybe his presence would attract the beast thinking it was prey or give him an indication on how to pull the beast from its hiding. Jets of sand appeared a few meters away from him but, to his disappointment, a small sand dweller slithered passed him. It wasn't fleeing, he wouldn't have much luck in this area of the desert it seemed. Kolvma pressed forwards, continuing his advance through the desert in search of the colossal sand wyrm spotted the night before.
The sweltering temperature of the desert was quickly gaining on him as the hunter forced his body to continue through the burning sand that pulled his feet down when he wanted to lift them up to take another step. It was not the easiest situation he had hunted in and with the crushing heat and the restraining sand, it would probably rank as one of the worst ones, "Come out and fight me, coward!" He shouted at nothing. It was already the middle of the day and his body wasn't going to allow him to keep going, it was time to head back, empty handed without even spotting the creature during the day. He turned around and began heading back to the village, there was no need to push too far to find the beast and end up dying to it because his body could no longer carry him.
The ground had remained quiet as he walked back until he reached the sandy plains that were in between the village and the harsh desert. The tremors appeared once more, violently shifting the sand as sand burst from the ground, "Show yourself!" The hunter drew his axe and held his shield up, trying to make sure the ambush predator couldn't find its way into getting him by surprise. A burst of sand followed by a large tremor revealed the creature he had seen from a distance the night before. The sand wyrm was huge, the tracks that he had seen must've been the remains of its tail's tracks, not its actual body. He cracked his neck and tightened his grip on his axe, Kolvma needed to find a plan on how to kill something of that size and fast.
The wyrm lifted its colossal body and held itself in the same way a snake would when it was attempting to be intimidating, except instead of a snake that was a few meters long, the wyrm was extremely large. Its beige and yellowish brown scale shined in the sun as its hissing revealed the deadly set of blades the creature's mouth concealed. Kolvma didn't back down and instead bashed his shield with his axe twice, trying to remember the way he had fought wyrms in the past. It shook its head and body slightly as it hissed once more, "Come on! Do it!" The hunter shouted. The beast, as if understanding the hunter's words, moved to slam its head down on the ground, Kolvma had to dive out of the way of the enormous creature's attack. He quickly rose back up to his feet and rushed to get closer to the beast's body. He struck it with his axe and it dug in, shattered one of the oversized scales and allowed him to climb onto it, what was his plan? Something to hinder its movements and allow him to hold it mostly still to be able to finish it. The beast rose and twisted back to find the hunter that was hacking at the scales on its back. It hissed before trying to strike at him with its head once more, pulling all of its body out of the sand. The large amount of tremors has attracted the tribe's people who were now all spectating the hunter's battle, unsure if they should intervene or let him fight.
Kolvma whacked its head with his shield and he hopped off of it, trying to pull its attention to him once more. The beast lifted its tail as it lunged forwards with its head, sliding under its own colossal body as Kolvma began to mount its body once more. The wyrm's head made its way under its tail and then moved to lunge at Kolvma, who had hopped down into the loop of its body. The hunter dived to the side of the beast's body and barely got out of the loop as its head dug into the sand and its body began moving all at once. He hopped down and spotted the tribe watching as the beast emerged from the sand once more. A grin appeared on his face as the beast went to lunge at him once more, its colossal body speeding towards him before stopping a few meters away from him. It hissed in confusion and tried biting at Kolvma, a large knot had appeared, created by its own body. The rough scales of its body were preventing it from sliding out of the knot that had been caused by its powerful attacks. It roared as Kolvma walked towards the tribe's chief. "So this is the beast, Kolvma?"
"Yeah, that's the beast alright, killing it will be a bit of an issue," They began speaking at the beast thrashed around trying to free itself, "We would need to distract its head to be able to get under the head scales."
"What can we do?"
"Have some people in front of that thing without getting too close as me and some others can get on it and finish it," The hunter explained, "Can you do that?"
"Yes, we can," The chief lifted his fist and the tribe joined him as they followed Kolvma down to the colossal wyrm that was trapped in the coil of its own body. A group, under the directions of the tribe chief, stood in front of it in order to distract it, causing the sand wyrm to lunge its body but hit nothing but the sand. He took the lead as he scaled the beast's body with his axe as a handle to pull himself up onto the creature. The tribe's people joined him on the beast as it tried to get rid of them, writhing and thrashing, still blocked by the large knot that immobilized its body. Kolvma brought his axe down onto the beast's head several times, shattering the protective headscales but before he could finish the job, the beast managed to throw him off and the coil was beginning to loosen. If the beast got away now, they would probably never be able to trap it in such a way again. Kolvma looked up at the head of the beast before it suddenly collapsed and lay limp on the floor.
"What the hell?" He exclaimed before spotting one of the young hunters on top of the still sand wyrm's body. It was Covo, his spear jammed all the way into the creature's head that Kolvma's axe had softened up, "Good job, Covo," He muttered to himself as the tribe cheered both him and Covo.
Several more spears were thrust into the beast's head to make sure the creature was dead, "You are one special hunter, Kolvma," The chief talked as the tribe got to work on the giant corpse of the beast, "Thank you for your help."
"It was a short visit in the end," He shrugged, "But this creature is worrying."
"I am aware, Kolvma, a predator this large needs food, a lot of food, but at least we saw you hunt it with near perfection."
"Covo was the one to finish it," The two older men laughed, "Everyone has to have their little moment of glory."
"That is a rather large moment, in my opinion, Kolvma," The sun had begun to set, "With a body of that size, we will have a lot of meat."
"Don't forget that there are other things on a wyrm that you can use," The chief nodded, "I will have to head back home eventually."
"Yes, I am aware, but stay tonight and our tribe will celebrate your successful hunting," The chief's suggestion sounded much more like an order than a simple suggestion, "I don't think a necklace with those teeth would be very useful."
"I will take one of them to add to my trophy collection," The older man nodded. Several piles of scales had begun to form near the body as the entire tribe got to work on the beast's body. It would be only so much time before the materials that the body of the wyrm used as armor and weapons would be converted into armor and weapons for the Ilty-Ilty people.
"You have done a lot for my tribe once more, Kolvma, I cannot thank you more."
"There is no need to thank me, chief," The hunter stopped as he couldn't find a reason for the chief not to thank me, "Just, doing what seems right."
"Will you return home at sunrise?"
"I will be heading home, yes, I wouldn't want to burden the tribe with my presence," Kolvma shrugged, "Is wyrm edible?"
"You have already eaten it while you were here," The chief explained as Kolvma headed to the jaws of the creature, "Already claiming your trophy?"
"Yeah, I see no reason why I shouldn't do it now, it changes nothing if I do it now or tomorrow," He shrugged as he ripped out one of the many teeth in the colossal beast's mouth.