The crackle of leaping flames.
Under the onslaught of the slayers, the oasis home of the Giganotosaurus had transformed into a living hell.
Countless dinosaurs lay dead across the wilderness. Some had been hacked to death with blades, others were turned into hedgehogs by a barrage of arrows, and worst of all, some had been dragged by their necks behind speeding vehicles until they were brutally strangled.
Fed by Molotov cocktails, raging fires spread across the tender green grass, gradually climbing into the lakeside jungle, consuming the desert's fragile life-force inch by inch.
Yet, the slayers were paying a devastating price of their own.
They had hunted many dinosaurs before, the isolated, the cowardly, the overconfident... but they had never witnessed the sheer potential a dinosaur could unleash when its entire species faced extinction.
They had never seen predators and prey set aside their animosity. They had never seen a dinosaur deliberately take a bullet just to protect the juveniles of another herd.
To them, dinosaurs were merely livestock, mindless killing machines that shouldn't be capable of such things.
"Damn it..."
An off-road vehicle lay flipped on its side, human weapons and gear scattered everywhere. A Coelophysis and a lizard had clamped their jaws onto an unfortunate bastard, refusing to let go even in death, bleeding the slayer out until he breathed his last.
Spitting sparks, a crippled harpoon gun broke down completely. An Afrovenator's teeth were embedded deep inside the barrel, jamming the deadly lance within.
The firelight illuminated the pitch-black wasteland, reflecting in the constricted pupils behind a slayer's mask.
The euphoric rush of slaughtering dinosaurs moments ago was still fresh in his mind, but suddenly, the beasts had gone mad. Throwing all survival instincts to the wind, they fought for a single purpose: to slaughter the invaders.
It had all happened too fast; no one had time to react.
As one of the last survivors of his squad, his hands trembled violently as he raised his crossbow, aiming at the dying Triceratops in front of him.
"Aunnng..."
The Triceratops's cry sounded weak, but it remained deep and resonant, projecting an indomitable aura.
The tips of its two brow horns had snapped off from ramming a vehicle, and its frill was peppered with dark red stains, undoubtedly from bullet wounds.
Heavy, ragged breathing.
The Triceratops shook its head, forcing its fading consciousness back awake. Locking its gaze onto the human before it, it took a heavy step forward.
The harsh scraping of rock.
Tilting its head, it pressed a massive horn against the hard sandstone, scraping it twice. The piercing friction echoed through the air, as if it were sharpening its weapon for a final stand.
"You piece of shit... why won't you just die?!"
After sharpening one horn, the Triceratops tilted its head to grind the other. Though the practical effect was negligible, the psychological weight of the action was suffocating.
The slayer's hands shook so violently he could barely keep the weapon level, let alone aim. Staring into the unyielding eyes of the Triceratops, his resolve shattered completely.
"AAAAAHHHHH—!"
A piercing human shriek tore through the distance. A slayer's abdomen had been impaled by a massive bony spike. Stego bro hoisted the man high into the air, then whipped his tail, hurling him deep into the forest.
Drip...
Blood dripped from his tail. One of his thagomizers bore a terrifying, visible fracture.
Stego bro's body was riddled with crossbow bolts. All around him lay the impaled corpses of humans and the smoking wrecks of ruined vehicles.
The roar of a car engine.
High beams suddenly cut through the darkness nearby, rapidly approaching him alongside a mechanical growl. Stego bro closed his eyes in exhaustion, taking a deep, shuddering breath.
Memories flashed through his mind.
Back in the Stegosaurus enclosure of Jurassic World, a lonely young dinosaur used to stay by a secluded, forgotten pond, stiffly practicing swinging his tail against the towering trees.
Once, twice...
A few leaves would flutter down, the trunks barely swaying. Until...
Stego bro didn't open his eyes. Refusing to let the vehicle's high beams disorient him, he curled his tail to the left of his body with everything he had, slightly hoisting his forequarters.
A heavy stomp.
His front limbs slammed into the dirt. Stego bro bellowed, using the momentum to lift his hind legs and spin his entire body a full 180 degrees!
The car arrived right on cue, and his coiled tail snapped out like a loaded spring!
CRASH!
The sound of shattering glass mingled with the fizzle of electrical sparks. One of their few remaining heavy-duty searchlight trucks was violently taken off the board.
Carlo twitched his tail, casually crushing another vehicle that was trying to flank him in the dark.
His massive form began to blend back into the shadows as he turned his gaze toward the very last searchlight truck.
I'm... I'm going to die.
Even across a distance of a hundred meters, the driver of the searchlight truck didn't dare make eye contact with Carlo. Watching his comrades get wiped out one by one, he openly defied orders, cutting the lights and plunging the desert back into pitch blackness.
The crunch of colliding metal.
The vehicles circling Carlo suddenly lost their guiding light. Veering off course and failing to maintain their formation, they slammed into each other, erupting into a violent explosion.
"Tony, turn the lights back on! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Screw you! I'm out!"
The driver of the searchlight truck wasn't about to gamble his life on Carlo's blind-spot accuracy. Without a second thought, he slammed on the gas and fled.
The thud of heavy footsteps.
Ground-shaking vibrations rumbled continuously, gradually fading into the distance. A few slayers, unwilling to leave empty-handed after losing so many men, attempted to give chase.
"Fallback."
Lucian's voice echoed through the comms, prompting collective silent curses from the remaining men. Fortunately, he immediately tacked on:
"Time's up."
On the cargo beds of the pickup trucks, heavy canvas tarps were ripped away, revealing an array of expensive, high-caliber heavy weaponry.
"Aunnng—"
A colossal thud.
Another Dreadnoughtus collapsed under the relentless human onslaught, hitting the ground weakly.
The area surrounding the Dreadnoughtus oasis was littered with dying males. Their necks were riddled with arrows; most were suffocating as blood filled their windpipes.
The White King still stood tall, but his condition was far from optimal.
The humans moved too fast. The sluggish Dreadnoughtus could do nothing but absorb the damage, completely unable to hit the fast-moving vehicles. Unless...
BOOM—
Without warning, an off-road vehicle was blindsided, flipping violently onto its side and drawing everyone's attention.
"What happened?"
A voice barked through the comms. Three slayers scrambled out of the ruined vehicle, completely oblivious to what had hit them.
"I don't know, something—"
Before the mercenary could finish his sentence, a sudden rush of heavy footsteps cut him off. He was snatched up into the air, and before a scream could leave his throat, he vanished into the dark, his bones snapping instantly.
The other two tried to warn the rest of the squad, only to vanish into the shadows in the exact same manner.
Low, guttural growling...
Kafka quickly locked onto the next target, emitting a low rumble to alert her packmates. Upon receiving a response, she charged out immediately.
Under the cover of night, the vehicle headlights went out one by one, and the slayers' exhilaration turned into pure panic.
"What's going on?! What the hell is out there?!"
"Retreat! Fall back now!"
Two cars attempted to break away and flee. Seizing the opportunity, Kafka rammed one off course, while Katyusha and her pack swarmed in to finish the job.
"Damn it, it's the Giganotosaurus pack! Those campers were waiting for us!"
The escaping vehicle realized who the culprits were and scrambled to call for reinforcements, only to crash headfirst into a massive, pillar-like structure that appeared out of nowhere.
BOOM—
Flames erupted into the sky, illuminating a colossal silhouette and drawing the attention of every dinosaur in the vicinity.
Thud...
A massive footstep echoed. At the same time, the starlight began to wane as the sun peeked over the horizon, gradually unveiling Carlo's towering form.
"Aunnng—"
His body bristling with arrows, the White King let out a resonant cry, seemingly welcoming his ally back.
"Roar—"
Carlo walked forward with slow, measured steps, responding with a gentle rumble. He lowered his massive head, affectionately nuzzling his family members.
The rumble of approaching engines.
Before he could catch his breath, the distinct sound of the invaders echoed from the horizon once more. Carlo looked back, letting out a low, furious growl. He straightened his posture and signaled Katyusha and the others to take cover.
Exchanging one final glance with the White King, Carlo turned around. Facing the rising sun, he walked step by step toward the incoming invaders.
"Target sighted."
Not far away, a mercenary unit spotted the Giganotosaurus family separating from Carlo and reported directly into his headset.
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