Not even a millisecond seemed to have passed for Snock. But when he opened his eyes he was no longer in the middle of the black market, but inside a warehouse in the city of Cartago.

'So that's what the pack leader meant... what a prodigious power' the giganotosaurus thought, while he admired the effectiveness of [Teleportation].

With a glance he quickly counted the dinosaurs around him. Everyone was there, including the atrociraptor team. Ghost, Tiger, Panthera, and Red also seemed quite amazed by the power of [Teleportation]; as far as the other dinosaurs were concerned, they were practically insane.

"What... what happened?"

"The world has changed!"

"What magic is this!?"

The dinosaurs were starting to fidget. Snock considered whether to intervene and restore calm, but before he could decide the door he swung open and several dinosaurs entered the warehouse. Among them Snock recognized Buck at once. "You're back" the t-rex growled.

Even though Sobek was open to forgiveness, it didn't mean all other dinosaurs were. Until Snock was officially readmitted to the pack, everyone would always look down on him. The giganotosaurus knew this and did not object.

Suddenly a much larger dinosaur than the others entered him. His appearance caused all the dinosaurs just rescued from the black market to back away. It was Sobek. "Great job, Snock" he said. "You've saved several lives, it seems"

"I did what I had to" the giganotosaurus replied. Until Sobek re-admitted him to the pack, he would have always behaved humbly in front of him.

"Good. Now let's take care of you…" Sobek looked at the newcomers, who were clearly scared of him. "Listen to me! I am Sobek, and I am the pack leader of all the dinosaurs in this world. All those who are part of my pack will no longer have to fear hunger, thirst, cold and humans. You have my word that you will thrive here and you will no longer have to feel fear"

The other dinosaurs didn't seem convinced at all. They continued to watch him with fear and many of them had nervous tics in their eyelids. It was not difficult for Sobek to understand that they must have had some kind of mental disorder; not all of them, but surely most of them had serious problems with their psyche. "To start, let's fix those wounds" he said, changing [Teleportation] to [Regeneration].

This had a better effect. It took the dinosaurs a few seconds before they realized their wounds were healing. When they noticed it they burst into shouts of surprise mixed with joy.

"My horn!"

"My eye!"

"My tail!"

"My paw!"

Many of those dinosaurs had been deprived of one or more body parts; to see that they were growing back was a jubilation to them.

"My subjects will lead you to a place where you can recover. We'll take care of you" Sobek said, nodding to Buck. He was obviously referring to that sort of dinosaur 'psychiatric hospital' that Al was running. He sighed; unfortunately he couldn't help the dinosaurs any more than that. [Regeneration] only healed physical wounds: psychotherapy was necessarily needed for mental wounds, provided it would be enough. To be safe before they left, he removed all offensive abilities from the newcomers, so they wouldn't risk hurting someone in a fit of rage. "I guess they weren't treated very well" he growled rhetorically.

"No, pack leader" was Snock's simple reply.

"You handled things excellently and saved many of our brothers. You are to be commended for this, Snock"

"You flatter me. I am not worthy of such praise"

"Yes instead. Now go. This is just the beginning, I'm afraid. Many of our brothers are still in cages, and I fear many more will be taken off the black market in the coming weeks. Keep it up and one day you will receive my forgiveness"

********

The news of what had happened in Maltawin's black market did not take long to spread around the world. The title "ATTACK OF DINOSAURS IN THE STREETS OF MALTAWIN" appeared for days in large letters in all the newspapers.

Of course someone tried to pass the situation off as a violation of the peace treaty, but luckily most humans still possessed some common sense. Everyone knew that if the dinosaurs wanted to break the peace they wouldn't just attack a random city and then retreat. Journalists and international bodies investigated thoroughly, and it soon became clear that what had happened was a riot, not an attack.

Maltawin's black market wasn't exactly unknown, even if local law enforcement turned a blind eye to the issue. Adding this to the survivors' statements, the recordings and the crime scene, it was not difficult to put two and two together and realize that not only were the dinosaurs detained there, in clear violation of the peace treaty, but they were also used for illegal things as well. human legislation, such as clandestine fighting.

It didn't take long before public opinion changed direction. When the news first came out, everyone had condemned the dinosaur attack, but as soon as the truth was revealed, people quickly turned around and agreed instead with the dinosaurs. After all, what thinking being would ever accept being used as a toy? Now that the dinosaurs had become intelligent, it was normal if they decided to rebel under such circumstances.

The NMWA did not think very differently.

"We have reason to believe that this attack was not wanted by lord Sobek" President Palma said as soon as the assembly met. "He wouldn't have risked violating such a delicate peace treaty, not after all the efforts he put into it. Furthermore, according to the records obtained, none of the dinosaurs ever mentioned him, in fact they almost never spoke. Their behavior seems more that of normal beasts whose chains have been untied rather than that of creatures that have long planned an escape"

Many inside the room nodded. What had happened in Maltawin didn't seem to have anything to do with Sobek and his pack. What is the point of causing such an international incident immediately after the signing of the treaty? Nobody would have risked so much.

"Do we have the possibility to verify this information?" someone asked.

"How? By asking lord Sobek directly?" another mocked him. "First of all, if he was the culprit, what makes you think he would admit it? In addition, I remind you that the peace treaty requires all the dinosaurs to be released; technically speaking, humans are the first to break the treaty"

"What nonsense! We certainly didn't order the criminals to hold illegal fights!"

"No, but that's not how dinosaurs will see it"

The room was heating up, so President Palma quickly calmed down: "Order, order!" he screamed. "Whether lord Sobek is the culprit or not doesn't matter now. What matters is that if it happened once, in all likelihood it will happen again. We must try to prevent this from happening, or there may be civilian casualties next time. I propose that every nation set up a task force to track down and stop any illegal dinosaur detention"

"Tsk! And do you think this will be enough?" the emperor of Almagna spoke suddenly. "Don't believe it. This rebellion was just the beginning. If we keep kissing lord Sobek's ass and being afraid to fight back, the attacks will only escalate!"

"What are you saying?"

"What we all think! Dinosaurs are many, strong and well armed, and we don't know how far they could go. The power of those creatures will only increase!". The emperor slammed his fist on the table: "If you want my opinion, lord Sobek is actually the mastermind behind this attack, because he knows he can afford it! He knows he can do as he wants and turn the peace treaty around as he pleases. Let's face reality: this sudden change in the attitude of the dinosaurs began immediately after lord Sobek evolved again. Doesn't that give you some suspicion?"

A murmur spread throughout the room. "I'll tell you what really happened" the emperor continued. "Lord Sobek accepted the peace treaty because the power of his army could compete with ours, but at the cost of immense bloodshed. After evolving again, however, he gained enough power to greatly decrease this cost. This, coupled with our complacency, convinced him that he could act as he wants, so he sparked a revolt in the Maltawin's black market! And it won't stop there. The more time passes, the more the power of those creatures grows. For the moment, fortunately, they are still calm, but very soon they will be so strong that they no longer have to worry about a possible war with us. Open your eyes! They are already partially controlling us, manipulating our economy and our way of life! This isn't an issue about clandestine fighting or who's to blame for what, they want to get us off the top of the food chain! If we don't do something we will become their cattle!"

The people in the room began to nod. The emperor's words made sense. After all, if there was an intrinsic rule in every people it was that those who gained power always wanted more. And as the strength of the dinosaurs grew second by second as their leader evolved, sooner or later they would reach such power as to undermine humanity from the role of the dominant species on the planet. Faced with that prospect, what creature would have pulled back?

"What are you proposing, now?" Queen Mackenzie asked.

"What I propose, my gentlemen, is to change the fundamental law of the NMWA. It is time to restart the war industry!"

The people in the room made a sound of amazement mixed with fear. The basic rule of the NMWA was that all nations that were part of it were to cease all war-related research and development. "Sir, with all due respect, this law has kept the peace for decades!" President Palma exploded.

"Yes, because we had no other enemies except ourselves. But now we have a real opponent! Or do you think the dinosaurs will imitate us and not improve their arsenal?" the emperor asked rhetorically. "With our current war technology we will have no chance. If we want to survive, then we must let go the old beliefs and restore the search for new weapons. Only in this way can we avoid being trampled!"

Those words raised a debate that lasted for several hours. In the end it was decided to put it to a vote. Although there were many against, the emperor's thought was shared by many others. Some also wanted the abolition of that annoying law to restore the war industry for other purposes as well. So, in the end, the vote favored the emperor's suggestion.

And so, that day, humanity's research and development of new weapons officially began. The era of world peace was truly over. Even the peace treaty with the dinosaurs, very soon, would have been nothing but waste paper.