Chapter 22: A Chest

The approaching dinosaurs bellowed again, much louder than before. Miguel winced for a second, covering his ears, and then turned to run towards the crevice behind the rock. As a hiding place, it might not be wide enough to shelter them from the beasts – but it had to be better than nothing.

But he paused before he reached it. Rather than advancing further, the darker-colored monster had stopped to sniff at the mangled legs and abdomen of Noah’s avatar. A long purple tongue snaked out, and then it lifted the morsel into the air.

The lighter creature had also stopped, and as its fellow began to eat what remained of Noah, it screamed in rage. Stopping its advance, it dashed forward towards the darker blue dinosaur, and attacked.

Miguel didn’t see the start of the fight; he was too busy covering the last few yards of ground around the boulder and towards the relative safety of the crevice behind.

Notification: You have gained 20XP

There, standing peeking around the corner of the boulder – Sid on one side and Miguel with Aluna at his shoulder on the other – all three companions watched in shock and awe as the dinosaurs began to tear strips from each others’ flesh in fight that was as energetic as it was aggressive.

The paler creature had the upper hand at first. It tried to wrest the remains of Noah from its rival’s mouth, and in the process, bit fiercely at the other dinosaur’s neck and haunches. It put its forelegs up onto the other creature’s flank; Miguel now saw that the monsters had slashing claws on their feet, and these were digging deeply into its foe. Scarlet blood flowed down, and splattered widely around the rocks underfoot.

Having swallowed its stolen morsel, the darker-blue creature now focused fully on a counter-attack. The two monsters were equal in size, but the darker one appeared to Miguel to move a little faster. It butted its rival’s head, then drew back from the attack and barged again with the full weight of its body, causing the paler creature to stumble backwards for a moment and fall heavily to the rocky ground. Then the darker one attacked, lunging at its foe, slashing again and again with its claws and teeth, and finally placing one claw on the other’s throat just below its bulbous head. With its enemy subdued, it sank its curved teeth into the paler creature’s neck.

“That pale one is done for,” murmured Aluna appreciatively. “Look at all of that beautiful blood.”

“Mmh,” murmured Miguel.

He was pleased to see their attackers turn on each other, but it seemed more of a pity that they hadn’t both been killed or seriously wounded in the fight. Perhaps their only hope now was that the darker-blue creature would feed on its rival, and then move away from them, having eaten its fill.

And at first, that appeared to be happening. When the paler dinosaur on the ground stopped struggling and lay still, a further notification appeared:

Notification: You have gained 100XP

Miguel was unsure what they had done to deserve a share of the reward for the kill... but he would happily accept it.

Now, he could only watch on as the victor then began to tear huge slabs of flesh from the dead dinosaur’s flank, gobbling each one down in a single mouthful. At times it threw a chunk of meat and gristle into the air and gulped it down whole, the muscles in its neck rippling. Blood flew all around during this brutal feast, splattering across the hillside and pouring down the long neck of the darker dinosaur and across its scaled flanks.

Miguel noticed something else. As the dinosaur was feeding, it was also growing, mutating... Its hind legs were getting longer and chunkier, its head bigger, and the claws on its forelegs were lengthening too. Even just a minute into its canibalistic feast, it looked clearly taller than before – by a yard or more.

“Now that’s our quarry,” murmured Aluna. “A real predator.”

“Get back behind the rock,” replied Miguel, turning towards her. He had seen enough. He moved past Aluna and began to search around in the furthest reaches of the narrow gap between boulder and hillside.

Having come in the other side of the crevice, Sid was already looking around the same area. “We just need to find some nook or cave down here,” said the red-bearded man, without looking up.

“Did you see how big that creature’s getting now?” replied Miguel.

“Yeah. I saw. Might have done us a favor – it’s surely too big to squeeze in here now.”

“I hope so.” Miguel was crouching down, trying to search for a hiding place under the rock. Perhaps such a spot would be out of reach of the dinosaur’s frightful head, and even its long tongue. But so far, the only gaps that he could see were tiny.

The ground below looked loose, however, and he began to scrabble at it, moving some earth and stones with his hands. A hole could be dug, he could see, but it would take a hell of a lot of time to tunnel down with his hands.

Too much time.

“We’re supposed to be demon hunters, not demon hiders,” commented Aluna from just behind Miguel.

Still on his knees and digging, Miguel turned to look back at her. “Feel free,” he said, “if you fancy buying us some more time by feeding yourself to that thing. Who knows how big it can grow?”

“Charming,” she responded. “Hey, what’s that?”

Aluna was pointing to the far side of the gap, where Sid had previously been standing. Now Miguel got up and looked. Around twenty yards across the scree slope from their position was another boulder, a much smaller one. And behind this boulder, partially hidden from sight, was a square wooden chest with four torches rammed into the ground around it, one on each side.

“That’s... well, it’s a chest, and it must have some kind of supplies, right?” said Miguel, a feeling of hope resurfacing inside him. Just after he spoke, a further rattling roar came from the other side of the rock, even louder and deeper this time.

“Weapons, surely,” said Sid, nodding. “But who’s going out there to get it? It sounds like that dino has finished its dinner.”

And indeed, they could hear further thumping footsteps. So far, though, the darker-colored creature hadn’t shown itself at either side of the gap, and it wasn’t obvious which way it was moving.

Cautiously, Miguel stepped towards the end of the gap, in the direction of the chest. If he could just dash out while the beast was still occupied – or perhaps satisfied after its feed – then maybe he could get there and back quick enough to escape its notice.

Just then, he heard a voice in his head, and saw a corresponding set of writing across his vision, in much the same way that experience points appeared:

Notification (global): All teams have now entered the competition.

Notification (global): Greetings, Demon Hunters. Your immediate objective is survival. There are two ways to win this contest: you can be the last team standing, or you can kill the last of the razor-lizards. There are eight teams in all, and twenty-two out of twenty-four razor-lizards remain in play. Good luck.

Notification (private): Team Kampion now has 3 active members. Shared experience will be divided accordingly.

“Did you all see, uh.. did you hear...?” began Miguel, turning to look at the others. He was interrupted by another message, though this one looked different, the words being magenta in color. It was not accompanied by the guide’s voice, either:

Incoming message from team headquarters: Rishi here. Get in there and fight! We can’t have our team cowering behind a rock. Get in!

“What the fuck...?” murmured Miguel.

“That asshole,” said Aluna with a shrug, balling her fists. “Can’t win a single contest himself, and tells us to hurry up.”

Miguel stared back at the others. “Well, it’s game on. And clearly we are gonna need whatever’s in that chest.”

“Think you can make it there and back?” said Sid.

“Well, I am the fastest here, I guess. Speed eighteen.”

“Faster than me,” said Aluna.

“And me,” added Sid.

Miguel nodded. “Right. Then you two wait here, towards the middle. If we’re lucky, that dino or razor-lizard is going to rest for a spell. And you’re right, Sid – it’s probably too big to get in here now. But I still want to get there and back as quickly as I...”

Miguel was interrupted again as the huge boulder beside them began to shake and move. It partially tipped towards them, causing hundreds of small fragments of stone to fall down around them, and all three group members hunched down, raising their arms to cover their faces.

Then the boulder rocked back again, righting itself. They all looked at each other, shocked. “It pushed the boulder?” said Aluna with a gasp.

Sid just grunted, but now even the big man looked worried.

“We’re in trouble now,” murmured Miguel.

There were a further five or six thumps of heavy footsteps as the razor-lizard moved once more, and then its enormous head appeared at the far side of the gap, closest to Sid. Miguel’s hunch had been right – it had continued to grow through eating, and was now at least twice as large as a before. Its head had changed shape, too; there was now a large lump above its red eyes, with horns on the crest that Miguel didn’t remember seeing before. It opened its great toothy mouth and let out a roar so ferocious that it felt like they were being lasted backwards by its breath.

All the same – it clearly could not get in. With a snort, the creature took a step back and turned its head, one beady eye looking at them.

In his mind, Miguel dubbed their foe ‘Razor-lizard Rex’. It was the king among their targets, at least for now... Though another thought immediately occurred to him. If it got this big from eating one other razor-lizard, what would it look like after eating another ten or more?

That would be why slaying the last of the razor-lizards meant winning, he reasoned. For a razor-lizard to be the last one standing, it would be huge, and almost impossible to kill.

But there must be a way. And it began with getting the equipment.

“You two are going to need to keep it busy,” said Miguel, pointing down to the ground where many small rocks had been loosened by the razor-lizard’s shove of the vast boulder. Throw things at it, anything you can. Enrage it. While you do that, I’ll go for the chest.

“Agreed,” said Sid, stroking his beard.

Aluna stooped to pick up a couple of rocks, and then ran her fingers over the edge of one stone with a grin. “Let’s see if I can take out one of its eyes,” she said.

Miguel didn’t respond; he had turned, and was already moving towards the far side of the crevice. Something at the back of his mind told him that these razor-lizards would be good at spotting movement, so he proceeded slowly at first. He had speed, that was clear, but he could wait, only using it if necessary. The first priority was not to be seen.

He now heard further cries of rage from the lizard, and another great thump as it bashed against the boulder once more. The plan was working, it seemed. Unable to resist the temptation to make haste, Miguel began to run across the scree slope towards the chest... and then slipped. He scrabbled with both hands and feet, landing briefly on all fours and stopping dead still.

He looked all around. So far, he didn’t see any sign of another razor-lizard, nor of any enemy competitors either. But Razor-lizard Rex appeared to have fallen silent. It was currently obscured by the vast boulder – but had it heard him moving?

Picking himself up gently, Miguel made his way across the last couple of yards of scree to the chest, and then turned. He still couldn’t see Razor-lizard Rex, meaning – hopefully – that the mighty creature was still peering into the other side of the crevice, trying to figure out a way to get at Sid and Aluna.

His heart thumping even faster than before, Miguel threw one of the torches aside and flipped open the chest, only remembering at the last second that the chests on the task at the underwater lake had been trapped. This time, he was lucky, however. It swung open harmlessly.

Inside were various tools and a few weapons – including a modern metal composite bow, not very unlike the one he had practiced with back at the gym. With a tense smile, he picked it up, immediately using the command to 'unequip' it, and it obligingly swung around towards his back.

He did the same with the next few items, picking them up and then immediately unequipping:

Unequip dagger

Unequip dagger

Unequip shovel

Unequip hand axe

There was also a quiver of arrows and four loaves of bread in the chest, as well as a set of tools, and four backpacks. He threw one of the backpacks aside, then put two inside the other one along with the bread and tools, and slung it over his shoulders.

Then he looked up. And as he did so, he felt the blood drain from him, his entire body starting to shake with fear that he somehow could not control.

For Razor-lizard Rex had just rounded the great boulder, and was looking directly at him.