By the time he got close enough to the poachers, Sobek understood two things.The first was that he could understand their language. He didn't know how it was possible: perhaps it was the same as one present on Earth in his previous life? Yet it didn't sound like English, French, Italian or any other language he knew. Furthermore, at the level of probability it was basically impossible for humans to develop the same language in a different world, because language wasn't a fixed thing, it evolved according to history and society. It was like expecting that somewhere in the universe existed a perfectly identical planet to Earth, where every single action of every lifeform happened the same way. It was simply impossible.The second thing he realized was that the poachers didn't have too strong weapons: if they did, they wouldn't have been in a hurry to leave before the oxalaia herd woke up. Dinosaurs were still animals, so they could be killed by human weapons, but they had characteristic
"Do you see anything?""No! Nothing at all"The six poachers who had headed north had the impression that they were looking for nothing. Wherever they headed, there was nothing but water, mangroves and aquifers; no trace of the spinosaurus."That bastard ran like a train! By now it will have distanced us by kilometers!" one of them, a fat man with a freckled face, snapped. Definitely, he was starting to get seriously annoyed by the situation.Another poacher, a guy with long hair and short arms, was more optimistic. "It may be as fast as a train, but it's still an animal. Sooner or later it will get tired of running away and we will catch up with it"His words were not wrong at all, in fact they were quite logical, but the guy who had spoken first still did not change his dark mood. "Tsk. You are always an incurable dreamer, Karl. We're spinning around here, we won't find it anymore"The poacher named Karl was about to reply, perhaps to try to lighten the mood again or perhaps to scold
After half an hour, Sobek heard the roar of the engines approaching. He promptly plunged back into the water: he couldn't risk to be seen, not now at least. His plan was carefully thought out and he knew exactly how he had to proceed.When Wheathley finally reached where Karl's last transmission had come from, he found only one of the boats overturned and another on fire behind a small passage in the mangroves. A real massacre that left not even a single survivor.The other poachers were nervous. Such a sight was enough to worry even men accustomed to death. "Was it the spinosaurus to do this, boss?" one of them asked."It seems obvious to me. No other animal would be strong enough to move a motorboat like that" Wheathley grumbled as he watched the wreckage of the burning speedboat. Only a creature that swam with the speed of a boat could do such damage.Suddenly one of the poachers shouted: "Over there! It's over there!"Everyone turned to the spot he had indicated. In the distance th
"Move! Everyone aboard the ship!""Shouldn't we wait for the boss?""Fuck him! The boss is dead! He hasn't answered the radio for twenty minutes, like everyone else! We have to get out of here before the spinosaurus returns!"In addition to the poachers who had gone to hunt Sobek, there were still five remaining on the islet of the oxalaias. They had originally regretted being left behind to check the animals, but now they were thankful they hadn't gone chasing the spinosaurus with Wheathley. Now they were in a great hurry to leave: the instant their leader had ceased communications they had decided it was best to disappear before the spinosaurus returned for them too."What do we do with the oxalaias?""Get the cages with the cubs and leave the others here! Spinosaurs are territorial, we don't have time to bring even the adult specimens on the ship!"Suddenly one of the poachers shouted: "Over there! It is coming!"Under the terrified gaze of the poachers, a sail had appeared in the m
Sobek already had 26,000 experience points, but he needed 90,000 to level up. Staying in the vicinity of the oxalaias' nest he could have obtained several new points in just a few days, but when he returned to their islet he found that the oxalaias were already gone.Unfortunately, what he had feared had happened: feeling in danger, the oxalaias had taken their cubs and ran away all together. Sobek had done his best to not frightening them, but the arrival of the poachers had changed everything. While humans would most likely never return, at least not for a long time, the oxalaias had no way of knowing this, and no animal would have remained in a place where it felt in danger.The oxalaias had a head start of at least three hours and the water helped them to hide their smell. Sobek could track an aquatic animal, but only when it was stationary; there was no way to follow them if they were on the move and had hours of advantage. His nose was certainly not as powerful as the one of a t-
Sobek's journey was rather slow. Certainly not for the long road: since he could now reach 170 km/h, if he wanted to he could cover the distance that separated him from humans in less than five hours.The fact was that he wanted to thoroughly clean up every stretch of the river he passed through of all available fishes. That way he could level up and keep growing as he traveled. The preys in the river wasn't as abundant as in the swamp, but still they provided him a good amount.On the first day, he had covered 100 kilometers and gained 53,000 experience points. The second day he had covered another 130 kilometers and gained 66,000 experience points. He had therefore managed to cover abundantly the 100,000 experience points required to level up, reaching level 17.At 17 meters long and 5.7 meters high he was already the largest spinosaurus ever found in nature and probably also the biggest ever existed even in the zoos. However, as they used to say, the bigger, the better: he planned t
"Darius, how would you classify the animals on our right?"A blue and white boat about thirty meters long was moving placidly on the river. Above it was a group of at least fifty people, most of whom clustered along the right side of the boat.The person who had asked the question was a woman in her thirties, still very handsome and with a youthful and energetic appearance. She had brown hair combed in a tuft and wore a very large white jumpsuit, suitable for repelling the sun's rays. The other passengers, except for the ship's crew, were dressed more casually, even if many of them seemed to be beginning to regret their stylistic choice because of the heat; none of them seemed to be over twenty.The guy named Darius was a rather short, very skinny in build dark-skinned guy. He was looking at the herd of dinosaurs ahead of them, placid herbivores with a large crest on their backs and a duck's beak. After a short wait he gave his answer."I would say ouranosaurs, professor. A rare specie
Sobek's awakening hadn't been the best. At some point his sharpest hearing began to perceive a loud shouting. Because of this, he had gone from restless sleep to half-sleep, and from half-sleep to full awakening. And first of all, as soon as he opened his eyes, he found himself in front of the undoubted silhouette of a boat.Immediately he had panicked, thinking that they were other poachers, but he had quickly rejected that idea: no poacher would have ever used such a flashy and easily traceable boat. It was clear that whoever was on that boat wasn't doing anything morally questionable."Rest assured and lower your voice! If we talk too loud we could irritate it!" a brown-haired woman on the edge of the ship said. "Spinosaurs don't have very strong hearing and smell, but they are still quite sensitive to noise. Do you see those holes in the back of the head? They are its ears. The sounds enter from them and reach the eardrum, which amplifies the frequency and..."Okay, there are two c