"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 his colleague for his unhelpful attitude, but he didn't have time to do so; at that very moment someone shouted: "Over there!"

Under the gaze of the poachers, ahead of them a splash occurred and a red sail emerged slightly from the water. There was no doubt what creature it was.

Karl burst out laughing: "Ah ah! Incurable dreamer, huh? In your face, Sven!" he said in full hilarity, and then he grabbed the radio. "Boss, we found the spinosaurus! It had headed north!"

Wheathley's voice sounded strangely excited through the microphone. "We will arrive immediately! Meanwhile you take that damn beast! And keep in mind, I want it without even a scratch!"

"We'll do it, boss! Don't worry, we will have a big gift when you will arrive!" Karl answered and then he put the radio away. "Tranquilizers!"

The poachers fired several darts full of narcotics. Unfortunately, none of them scored: the spinosaurus moved too fast for humans to aim correctly.

"Fuck you, you beast! Sooner or later you'll get tired of running, bastard!" Karl blurted out irritated. He was one who likes simple things, and that spinosaurus was just making hunting difficult for him.

However, fate soon seemed to help them: the mangroves were getting thicker and thicker in the direction they were heading, leaving very little room for the spinosaurus. For such a large body, moving in such a small space was difficult. "That dickass is trapping itself!" Karl laughed. "Let's stay on it until it gives in!"

Sure, they too were hampered by plants, but the speedboats were smaller and more agile than the spinosaurus. Also, the poachers didn't mind actually reaching the animal: all they had to do was wait until the spinosaurus could no longer zigzag, and then they would have easily hit it. Once the tranquilizer hit, the hunt would have been over with their total victory.

And indeed it seemed that was just what was happening: the trees formed more and more obstacles and their long branches prevented the spinosaurus from escaping properly. At some point they arrived in an area where the mangroves completely closed the path, except for a tiny passage between their branches.

"It's done for now! It will never pass through there!" exclaimed Karl triumphantly. It was impossible for the massive body of a spinosaurus to make it through that small passage.

Yet, under the astonished gaze of all, the spinosaurus sail sank and disappeared completely. Although the water was not deep at all and was quite clear, the spinosaurus was nowhere to be seen.

Karl was flabbergasted. "How did it get through? For... magic?"

"Don't be ridiculous" Sven's voice brought him back to reality. "There is probably a passage wider underwater. It must have crossed it and now it must be on the other side"

Yes, it made sense. The mangroves looked quite dense on the surface, but under the water they were probably full of spots where the spinosaurus could pass. It was the only logical explanation, after all.

But now the poachers had a problem: only one speedboat could pass through the narrow passage at a time. This, however, involved risks: it meant that one of the two teams would have been alone and exposed, even if for a short time.

Karl roused everyone's mood: "We have no reason to be afraid. The spinosaurus is on the run, so we won't run the risk of the speedboat overturning. And then we'll be separate just for a few minutes"

This was enough to make poachers feel confident again; in a few moments all their fear was gone. "My team and I will go first, Sven and his team will follow us" Karl continued. He was not eager to cross the passage first, but after his speech he had to set a good example.

His speedboat began to cross the passage. They had to be very careful to avoid running aground due to the numerous branches blocking the road. But the poachers were certainly not unprepared and in less than a minute they were on the other side.

"See? There was nothing to fear!" Karl laughed radiantly, but his optimism was short-lived. A roar came from behind them, causing the poachers to turn abruptly. Before their terrified eyes, Sven's boat was thrown into the air and crashed into the mangroves, exploding within seconds. There was no screaming or crying: Sven and his team had died instantly.

In the flames, Karl and his men could glimpse a sail disappearing into the water.

Sobek had indeed played them. The passage he had led them to was actually too small for him to pass: when he had sunk he had not escaped to the other side, but had activated [Ambush] and had waited for one of the two motorboats to cross the passage and abandon the other.

At that point he had jumped out against the remaining one with [Swim speed] and hit it with such force that it lifted it out of the water and launched it into the mangroves, destroying it.

"Fuck!" Karl shouted, then he grabbed the radio. "Mayday, mayday! Boss, Sven's team has been wiped out! The spinosaurus destroyed it! We need help, and immediately...!"

He could say no more: the boat he was in rose and spun in the air, then rolled helplessly on the water and sank. Karl and the other two poachers managed to jump in time and prevented the speedboat from falling on him, but that was useless: with a spray the spinosaurus emerged in front of them with its jaws open and its teeth sank into their flesh.

The lives of the three men ended in that precise moment.

Sven wasn't wrong: in addition to the passage to the surface, there were others underwater. Sobek was then able to reach Karl's motorboat without going around. Within minutes, he had annihilated two other teams; he had only two more left.

Once again, however, Sobek was surprised at how much his human feelings were fading. He didn't feel the slightest remorse even at eating humans; such an action should have disgusted him. Yet he couldn't even remember why he had to disgust him: in his spinosaurus' eyes, humans were just an unused food source.

The only thing he felt was the displeasure that humans could provide him with very few points. They were worth just 1,000 experience points and 0.5 skill points, a paltry amount to say the least.

This is because unfortunately the system did not take into account the use of weapons: without them, humans were basically the most vulnerable beings in the universe, and consequently they provided very few points.

The only thing that allowed humans to be dominant predators was their technology. The System didn't take it into account, so humans were even less lethal than a bambiraptor. They had no claws, thorns, teeth or armor: in the wild they were almost completely defenseless.

In the food pyramid, humans without their weapons were at the lowest levels even on Earth, let alone in a world where dinosaurs still existed!

Sobek suppressed his disappointment and sank. He knew it was only a matter of time before the other poachers arrived: even if he hadn't heard of them, he was sure they had already warned their comrades. He had let them follow him for so long on purpose!

In fact, far to the south, two other speedboats were speeding towards his direction at full speed. On the largest of them Wheathley was incessantly yelling at the radio.

"Sven! Karl! Answer! What the fuck is going on!?" the leader of the poachers yelled. However, no response came from the other two teams.

Wheathley knew it couldn't be a breakdown, not after the last call he got in which Karl begged him to hurry. There was only one explanation: the spinosaurus had wiped out both of their teams.

Wheathley was not angry or saddened by what had happened: dying while hunting was normal for poachers. After all, they chased and captured very dangerous animals, it was normal to lose their lives in the process. However, he hated the turn events were taking.

Men were easily recycled: the world was full of people ready to work in that sector. But the same could not be said of the equipment: many of it was delicate and expensive. A speedboat was certainly not free.

Now more than ever it was imperative to capture the spinosaurus, so as to fully recover the costs of the expedition. Oxalaia weren't exclusive enough for the purpose: they needed the fastest spinosaurus in the world.

So, no matter how things turned out, he promised himself that he would have caught that animal, even though it would have taken him a hundred years to do it!