The predatory gaze was locked on my trembling body as I watched, swallowing dryly. This was different from the shark-like dinosaur I’d encountered in the river. Whereas that creature had immediately attacked me on instinct, this one’s eyes seemed to glow with intelligence. It almost seemed as though humor danced within its gaze as it examined me. Soft hoots and clicks were emitted from the creature’s savage mouth and when I locked eyes with the beast, my heart raced, and a blurry memory flashed through my mind.

“They keep focusing me!” I yelled, slamming my fists onto my desk as I was forced to watch my squishy mage’s body ragdoll across the screen once again. I quickly unscrewed the bottle next to my desk, took a sip of RPG-Fuel, and slapped my hands back on my PC’s peripherals just in time to resume controlling my character as the stunlock ended. I yelled into the mic, begging the tanks to do something for me, but they were all busy dealing with the enemy’s enslaved beasts.

“And?” Aaron called back. “You’re the healer! Of course they’d focus you!”

“Yeah but you’d think the tanks would do something,” grumbled NotMicah, one of our deceased mages. “How the hell are you alive, Schlong?”

“Well,” responded Aaron from over the mic, “If you want to not be attacked, just remember: as the great Sun Tzu says, ‘Convince your enemy that he will have very little to gain from attacking you.’”

“Sounds like you’re just saying ‘don’t aggro’,” NotMicah snipped.

“Basically.”

“Craaw?” the creature hooted again, soft clicks accompanying the sickly smile which adorned the twisting head. One eye locked on me like a bird trying to figure out if it’d spotted a worm.

It was curious. And that meant I wasn’t on the meal plan.

Yet.

The words echoed in my mind.

Convince your enemy that he will have very little to gain from attacking you.

I glanced around. Bushes, rocks, sticks, and moss. Not much help right now. What could I, a Frail Baby Dino possibly do to convince this… Deotrexaptor that I wasn’t worth it?

I clenched my jaw. If I was a predator, what would scare me off?

What would make me decide to leave food alone?

The answer raced through me like a lightning bolt. I glanced back to the eyes of the Deotrexaptor, seeing the intelligence gleaming within. As it watched, I bunched up, pulling my head as far into my body as I could, using my arms to support myself as I leaned over. My long tongue bent around inside my mouth, reaching.

You ever shoved a finger down your throat when your stomach isn’t feeling great? Yep.

I gagged. And promptly threw up.

You have developed a new Skill: [Regurgitate Lvl 1].

[Regurgitate]

When in doubt, force the food out.

A handy skill for swiftly removing toxic substances from one’s body.

[Regurgitate] is a Skill that has no requirements.

Aha… funny.

Naturally, there’d be a skill for this…

I glanced back to the xaptor, as I’d taken to calling it. The sickly smile was gone. Instead, the creature eyed the mess I’d left upon the ground with a cautious glance. It clicked its teeth, but no more soft hoots escaped it.

Then suddenly, a shriek sounded out from behind me, back towards where the giant worm had been. The xaptor snapped its head up at the noise, gave me a final sideways glance, and charged past me. I followed it for a second, but the natural camouflage of its reddish-brown feathers made it impossible to see as it vanished toward the artificial clearing.

I sighed in relief, and tasted a foul flavor in my mouth.

Ew. I’ll have to find some water to wash that out soon.

At least now I could represent for the home team, you know? Throw it up and all.

Against my better judgment, I snuck forward through the brush, cocking my head as I heard the sounds of fighting. I couldn’t see much, so I jumped up toward a tree with low-hanging branches and grabbed them, pulling myself up and breathing heavily. My arms were definitely not built to perform maneuvers like that, but at least I had a better view of the scene unfolding before me.

You’ve developed a new Skill: [Climb Lvl 1].

[Climb]

When in a losing fight, escape to new heights.

Many think to escape up a tree, but certain dinosaurs can even be airborne.

[Climb] is a Skill that requires you to have at least two limbs.

I held onto a branch above me as I leaned out over the small tree-covered field. The feathered dinos squawked as they fought, and I could vaguely see a hulking mass underneath them. The tree worm.

Like a whale’s tail splashing down into the ocean, the pink and brown mass wriggled, burrowing into the ground, and slamming dirt into the air.

The pack of dinosaurs went flying. Some flapped small arms hopelessly as they hurtled through the air, and others managed to slow their fall, while the lucky few caught themselves on the nearby trees or landed in the brush.

But the clever dinos regrouped. Swiftly, they gathered together, engaging the dirt-swimmer once more as it reared its round head above the ground.

Muffled moans accompanied the attack as the tiny dinos ripped into the pink flesh of the worm.

Suddenly, the solo creature shot back out of its hole, a pillar of flesh soaring straight into the sky, standing at least fifteen feet tall. It spun slowly, as though unbalanced in this position, before falling back to the ground, directly towards where the pack of dinos had been attacking it. Yet with a chorus of hoots, they fluidly moved out of the way, crouching and pouring their energy into their strong leg muscles.

The immense worm crashed down onto trees and moss, a shockwave rushing through the field.

Damn, I thought as I held onto the branch as the tree shook. That thing’s insane! What kind of attack was that?

As I squinted, trying to get a better look at the giant beast that had performed it, the magical blue boxes appeared once again.

Your [Observe] Instinct has leveled up. It is now level 5.

Well, at least it was working how I wanted it to again. There was definitely a need to look into the issues I'd had with it in the future though. For now, however, I might as well see what information I could glean with this new level. I used the ability on each of the creatures fighting. Maybe it would level up again.

Little Deotrexaptor [Lvl 14] Little Deotrexaptor [Lvl 15] Deotrexaptor [Lvl ???] Little Deotrexaptor [Lvl 15] Alpha Deotrexaptor [Lvl ???] Giant Tree Worm [Lvl ???]

Well, the Deotrexaptors might stand a chance considering the worm wasn’t the only unknown level here. Since the question marks typically indicated an enemy too strong to be understood by me, it was probable that they were comparable to the worm’s power.

Then again… as I watched the single titanous mass burrow under the ground and burst forth, sending the xaptors flying, it was possible that the worm simply out leveled them entirely.

If they had any kind of Observe ability like mine, then they might already know this. Unless theirs was able to see higher levels. So far, I hadn’t seen anything over level 15, so perhaps that was the limit of my instinct.

The pack dinosaurs were sent flying as the worm slammed its body against the ground again, nearly crushing a few of them. And yet, as I watched, the Deotrexaptors quickly descended upon the fallen form of the giant worm, ripping and tearing with their sharp hind talons.

They had toes like me. Big ‘uns. Maybe this was my family? But then, if that was the case, why was I adorned by scales while they were covered with feathers? Perhaps this body of mine hadn’t yet grown them.

The predatory smile of the xaptor that I’d run into flashed through my mind.

No. This couldn’t be my family. They seemed too tightly knit to have just left an egg laying around with no protection.

Plus, chicks are usually born with some sort of down, so I couldn’t be related to them.

The worm moaned, which wasn’t something I’d ever thought a worm could do. Then, a massive crack in its side opened up, revealing rows of its own sharp teeth. It spun its body in a rapid circle, the open mouth coming down on one of the Little Deotrexaptors and crunching away with righteous fury.

The small dinosaur screamed in pain, and I gasped. I’d started unconsciously rooting for them after realizing they were the underdogs in this fight.

The other xaptors hooted and clicked their teeth together, louder now. The alpha, which was slightly larger than the rest and colored beautifully, howled, and the group charged.

The fight didn’t last long after that. While the worm slowly chewed on the xaptor it’d torn apart, trying to pull the rest of its body out of the hole, the other xaptors, led by the alpha, ripped and tore with a fury they hadn’t displayed until then.

Blood Lust [Lvl ???]

This ability is only usable when one has suffered great losses. Massive buffs.

Pack Fury [Lvl ???]

The Alpha can enrage his pack, buffing them. The pack also acts as one during this time.

That explained it. Big enough buffs could make all the difference in a fight like that. The corpse of the worm lay there as the Deotrexaptors continued to tear it apart, eating bits and pieces of it, before the alpha separated from the group and cried out.

Two Little Deotrexaptors approached the body of the other and dipped their heads to the ground. Then, they grabbed its small arms in their mouths and hauled the body off. The regular Deotrexaptor stayed behind, prowling around the body, while the alpha led the rest of them away into the undergrowth.

I just sat in awe. Though the group had lost an ally, they'd taken down a monster. I was stunned at the display of strategy and skill by what I might've once thought of as mindless reptiles.

That’s… what I need.