Hunters cannot outrun a Diablos in the Desert. First, the sand is too soft for them to build up much speed. Second, the Desert offers no cover. Hunters may be far more agile than a Diablos, but they cannot find any terrain that will slow the Monster down.
Therefore, any Hunter with even a little experience would never choose to race a Diablos.
Riding a Sandship, however, was another matter entirely. To keep the Diablos from abandoning the chase too soon, Altaïr had to lower some of the sails and carefully control their speed and distance.
That gave the pursuing Diablos the illusion that it was "just about to catch them."
He also had Morgan set up his Heavy Bowgun and periodically fire at the Diablos to keep stoking its fury.
In this way, they led the sizable Diablos on a chase for several kilometers.
At that moment, Clawdia, standing at the bow, suddenly twitched her ears.
She turned and shouted, "There's a Diablos roaring up ahead, meow! It isn't far, probably only one or two kilometers away, meow!"
Altaïr, who was concentrating on steering the Sandship, lost focus for a split second. The vessel raced up a small dune, and its speed dropped noticeably when it landed on the other side.
The Diablos close behind them barreled straight through the dune, rapidly closing the gap to less than twenty meters.
Isis grabbed her large shield and weapon, eager to leap into action.
If the Diablos caught up with them, it would finally be her turn to step in.
Unfortunately, Altaïr denied her the chance. He swiftly adjusted the helm and sails, accelerating the Sandship and widening the gap once more.
Isis sat back down with a sullen expression.
"Meow?"
As the Sandship crested the dune, Clawdia thought she glimpsed another vessel approaching from the opposite direction in the distance.
Suspecting that her eyes had deceived her, she sprang nimbly up the mast and peered into the distance.
Sure enough, another Sandship was only a few hundred meters ahead in a straight line, staggering toward them along a bizarrely erratic course.
Clawdia immediately shouted down, "Another Sandship is approaching from seven hundred meters ahead, meow!"
"?!"
At her warning, Altaïr instinctively reached for the helm and sails to make an emergency course change.
The group, including Clawdia, was completely confident they could protect themselves against a Diablos. Even if it caught up with them, the worst likely outcome was damage to the Sandship.
For ordinary people, however, a Diablos capable of flipping a small Sandship was a true tyrant of the Desert. If they led one toward unsuspecting travelers, even by accident, they would bear responsibility for any harm it caused.
Clawdia's next words stopped Altaïr in his tracks. "That Sandship is luring a Diablos too, meow! Someone on board is still firing at it, meow!"
Morgan raised his Heavy Bowgun and looked through the scope. "It's the Vanguard Hunting Party."
Everyone aboard, including Morgan himself, had the same question. Where had they gotten a Sandship?
Busy steering, Altaïr had no time to dwell on the matter. At least he no longer had to worry about endangering innocent travelers and could focus on maneuvering out of the other ship's path.
With only several hundred meters between two Sandships racing straight toward each other, they would pass in little more than ten seconds.
The other ship had clearly spotted them as well and was adjusting its course. The two Sandships drew closer and closer.
"U-Um, we're not going to crash, are we?" Isis gripped the sides of the ship nervously.
Altaïr glanced at the other Sandship's heading, his tone relaxed. "No, that isn't a collision course. As long as we hold our heading, we'll pass each other a few dozen meters apart...
"***** What the hell are you doing?!"
The previously nonchalant Altaïr suddenly unleashed a string of Desert curses. The other helmsman must have lost her mind. The bow jerked violently, then swayed from side to side as though the ship had gone out of control, sending it along an erratic course.
Under those circumstances, Altaïr could not predict the other ship's heading well enough to avoid it.
—--
At the same time, a similar cacophony of panicked shouts erupted aboard the other ship.
"Boss! What are you doing, Francesca?!"
"We're going to crash, meow! Stop the ship, meow!"
"Like hell we're stopping! Do you want the bastard behind us to ram us?! Everyone lie flat and stop moving around! You're throwing off our center of gravity!"
"There's no time! Hard to starboard! Capsizing is better than crashing!" Serl roared, hauling on the rigging as he pulled out a Flash Pod and hurled it behind them.
Francesca instinctively turned the helm to comply. Thanks to the earlier chaos, they were not traveling too quickly, and the sharp turn went relatively smoothly.
When Altaïr saw the other ship commit to a clear turn, he breathed a long sigh of relief and steered the opposite way. The two vessels slipped past each other with almost no room to spare.
At that instant, the Flash Pod detonated.
The blinding flash stunned both Diablos pursuing the Sandships. The two vessels seized the opportunity to accelerate away and circle behind a nearby dune.
Temporarily blinded and disoriented, the two Diablos thrashed about in a fury. Their roars and the tremors from their movements soon revealed their positions to each other, and they slammed together with enraged bellows.
Behind the dune, the two Sandships came to a stop one after the other.
The three members of the Vanguard Hunting Party, along with Francesca and Alva, climbed down from their ship covered in dust and grime. Buck, a burly man whose sturdy build made him look exceptionally tough, could no longer hold back and dropped to the sand to retch.
Altaïr and his group also jumped down from their Sandship.
The moment Altaïr saw Francesca there, he knew who had been at the helm. Although she was his senior and like an older sister to Isis, he could not help speaking up.
"Sailing a Sandship through the Desert isn't particularly difficult, but using one to lure a Monster is much harder. Without enough practice, it can be dangerous..."
Embarrassment showed on Francesca's face.
Of course she knew that. At first, she had not realized that luring a Diablos was part of the plan. She had thought bringing her Sandship was merely a means of transportation.
Francesca was about to apologize, but Serl spoke first.
"We're partly to blame. Weight distribution is critical on a small Sandship, and we all crowded beneath the canopy, leaving too much weight aft. That makes it easy to lose control during even a slight turn."
Altaïr glanced at him in surprise.
Serl's explanation made some sense, but deciding where the passengers sat and adjusting the vessel's center of gravity were, strictly speaking, the helmsman's responsibility.
His desire to defend Francesca could not have been more obvious...
Altaïr gave the two of them an amused look.
Of course, he was not about to press the issue under the circumstances. After saying, "I'll help you figure out how to balance the ship properly later," he followed Alva and Morgan up the dune to observe the two Diablos fighting nearby.
Isis stared at Serl with gleaming eyes for several seconds before running off as well. Francesca, the tips of her ears slightly flushed, hurried after her.
Only the members of the Vanguard Hunting Party remained beside the Sandship, and the atmosphere grew a little awkward.
Feeling someone pat his thigh, Serl looked down and saw Pawdrick giving him a thumbs-up. "Nice job, meow!"
Buck, who had spent a while dry heaving on the ground and was beginning to recover, rose with Brandley's support. "Brandley, don't you think the two of us would be better off aboard Altaïr's ship? We could take Alva with us, too."
"I think that's a good idea." Brandley nodded solemnly.
Serl glared at them both in exasperation. "What nonsense are you spouting? Come on, help me right the ship!"
—--
Meanwhile, the battle between the two Diablos had ended in less than a minute.
The loser fled in panic while the victor raised its head high and unleashed a series of defiant bellows.
"Our Diablos won!" Isis gave a small cheer.
Just then, Clawdia cried out in alarm. "Two o'clock! Something's coming through the sand, meow!"
Before anyone could even turn to look, a colossal dark crimson beast burst from beneath the sand and effortlessly sent the "victor" flying.
A thunderous roar reverberated among the dunes.
P.S. It has one horn in the manga and is also called the "One-Horned Demon King" in the game. For some reason, however, the setting compendium depicts it with two horns. Perhaps the artist made a mistake.