"Great job" Sobek confirmed satisfied when Mazu brought him the good news. "Another piece went in his place"

He now had a lot of bonus money, which meant he could afford a lot of weapons and armor. Also, at the next battle, Sobek planned to take over the whole continent, which would earn him a huge number of bonus money. Which meant he could afford to equip his army with better means than mere individual strength.

Sure, he couldn't spend it lightly anyway. Thanks to Rambo and his intelligence, he knew that humans were setting up surface-to-air missiles. When the time came he would need an effective counter.

With marine reptiles he could have created a blockade to prevent ships from passing by and with pterosaurs he could stop planes, but to block the missiles the only solution was another missile. There were no third possibilities.

However, he would think about the war when the time came. For now, the truce still held. He could afford to focus on something else. For example, he now he wanted to go to other continents.

Since he had had to spend most of his time eating to improve his skills, Sobek hardly ever moved from Marsala, with rare exceptions. There were others who had gone to neighboring continents. Sobek had been able to admire the landscape and geography thanks to the mind-sharing ability of [Contract], but he felt as if he was simply looking at photographs. He wanted to be physically present at least once.

And then it was important that the troops saw their commander from time to time: he allowed them to keep morale high.

For the first time he used [Teleport] on himself and went to the continent to the northwest, which the humans called Latissa.

The continents Maakanar, Laurentia and Saramir were almost completely on the equatorial belt of Eden, consequently the climate, fauna and flora were almost completely identical. All three continents, at least before the arrival of humans, were covered by gigantic forests and full of large dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals, since all that vegetation allowed for immense quantities of food.

However, the other two continents of Eden were very different. Latissa, in particular, was almost completely in the polar region of the planet. A small part of it even matched the north pole. Since the axis of rotation of Eden, like that of the Earth, was inclined by 20-25 degrees, in much of the continent the creatures had to endure a tremendous circadian rhythm, with very long days and almost eternal nights. And since the seasons on Eden lasted a whole year, on Latissa the days and nights lasted two years each.

Fortunately, this was not true for the whole continent. A small part of the emerged land was located lower than the polar region, in a temperate belt. There you could find the typical vegetation of Canada, Russia and Northern Europe, or immense grasslands such as Patagonia. In the part of the continent located further north, however, there was a real permafrost, and even an ice cap at the highest point.

That continent naturally hosted all the creatures that lived in those extreme regions: penguins, polar bears, seals, skuas, albatrosses, but also Ice Age animals such as woolly mammoths, cave bears and woolly rhinos such as elasmotherium. Thanks to the low temperatures, dinosaurs were rarer on that continent, which had allowed mammals to become very numerous.

However, many dinosaur species also existed there. The more temperate and permafrost regions, however colder, saw a great bloom of creatures such as the leallynasaura, small dinosaurs that lived in Antarctica during the Jurassic. The coniferous forests typical of cold regions provided large quantities of food to the glacialisaurus, an ancient genus of sauropods. Then there were ankylosaurids such as the minmi and the antarcopelta. The presence of these herbivores also favored carnivores such as cryolophosaurus, nanuqsaurus and some polar allosaurus species, which thanks to their smaller size and thick plumage could easily survive the lowest temperatures in the region. And there were many other dinosaurs that lived there, especially Cretaceous theropods, which, having evolved their plumage, could warm up despite the harsh conditions.

Sobek teleported to the southern part of Latissa. Although with [Reinforced skin] he didn't have to fear hypothermia, he didn't like exposing himself to the cold. After all, his was still the DNA of a dinosaur that lived in North Africa during the Cretaceous period, where the average temperature was between 35 and 45 degrees Celsius.

He appeared on a small hill that he had seen in the memories of some pterosaurs he had sent there. From up there he could observe a large portion of the territory. The environment was very reminiscent of Scandinavia, or Iceland. The air was clearly colder and smelled different, more humid. The smells, sounds and colors were completely different from those of the forest. On Maakanar, everything was covered by a tropical jungle where the sounds of countless species could be heard; but here on Latissa everything seemed to have subsided, as if a veil had fallen over the world.

"It's just another ecosystem ..." Sobek mused, then looked slightly south. Just half a kilometer from him there was a large forest of fir trees, and hidden under them, countless species of dinosaurs.

He knew they had seen him: thanks to his incredible hearing he could easily hear their words. After all, it was impossible to conceal his 43-meter-long body. Not wanting to make them wait, he walked towards them. Under his weight of 21.5 tons, the ground shook slightly every time he took a step.

Once he arrived, he was greeted by a familiar voice: "It's him! He has finally arrived! ". A large tyrannosaurus made its way through the crowd. "My lord, you are finally here!"

"Buck, my friend. I didn't know I was expected with such trepidation, "Sobek laughed.

With very few dinosaurs left to train on Maakanar, Sobek had chosen to send Buck and Carnopo to manage their troops on the other continents. Buck was the one who had headed for Latissa. "Every visit from the pack leader is a cause for joy for me," replied the t-rex.

"And for me it is a joy to see you again," Sobek replied. "So this is our army?"

"Only a part. These forests are too small to hide properly, so the troops are divided into various parts of the region, "Buck explained. "Since we can now travel without problems from one part of this earth to another in a few moments, we decided that the best thing was to stay separated for now"

"Wise decision. I'm pleased, "Sobek said, watching Latissa's dinosaurs closely.

Most of them had a dull gray plumage, more suitable for camouflaging in the cold environment of the north. None of them reached very large sizes, probably due to fewer food resources. For example, the nanuqsaurus, a cousin of the t-rex, was not even half the size of its terrible relative.

While Sobek scrutinized them, the dinosaurs felt a little scared. How to blame him: in their perspective: Buck was already huge, but Sobek was more than twice his height and almost four times as long. He was a real monster, especially in the eyes of herbivores. To all of them, it was clear that Sobek could grab any dinosaur with his jaws and crush it.

But Sobek noticed one thing: many of them, especially the carnivores, looked rather thin. He could sense that they were healthy, but they were strange, as if they had just recovered from an illness. "Because I'm this way?" he asked Buck.

The t-rex shook his head. "When I got here, most of them were malnourished, some even on the verge of starvation," he explained. "They were used to this can be periodically covered with snow and frost, and therefore have plumage and colors to blend in with them. But for some years the frost and snow have stopped coming, only rain. This has prevented many carnivores from hunting efficiently. In addition, too much rain caused a die-off among the lower plants, which drowned leaving the small herbivores with less and less food. And the trees have also started to suffer from too much water, reducing even the food of the larger herbivores. This sequence of changes has caused the spread of hunger and diseases that have greatly weakened the animals of the continent "

Sobek nodded. He had guessed that that was the cause of the dinosaurs' thinness. Climate change caused by humans was having terrible effects in the polar regions, which were very sensitive to change. The permafrost was retreating and the melting of the ice caused alterations in the ocean currents that pushed the monsoons from the south inland. The environment was changing at an excessive rate, and in addition the melting of the ice cap was bringing to light ancient viruses and bacteria, which found easy hosts in animals already weakened by hunger. Probably many other species of the continent such as mammoths, polar bears, penguins, cave bears and cave lions were suffering the same fate.

"When I arrived, many were already planning to migrate north, hoping that things hadn't changed there," Buck continued. "I have provided them with the food they need to recover, but some of them are still weak"

"I get it," Sobek said, and then turned directly to the dinosaurs: "Listen to me all, my brothers and sisters! I am Sobek, the pack leader of all the dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles of this world! " "Perhaps it would be more correct to call me the pack leader of all diapsids… but details" "Any dinosaur in this world is under my protection, be it herbivorous, carnivorous, large, small, covered with feathers or scales. I do not distinguish between those who swim, walk or fly in the sky. Everyone is the same in my eyes, because I obey the sacred laws that nature has dictated for the pack, which require a pack leader to always take care of those who follow him. That's why I'm here today. I am here to tell you that what is happening is wrong. EVERYTHING is wrong "

Sobek let out a snort. "As Buck surely has already mentioned to you, none of the events that are plaguing this land are natural. The rain, the disappearance of the snow, the rise in temperatures, the reduction of vegetation ... everything is wrong. These disasters are caused by only one species, called humans. They, with their fumes and dust, are polluting our air, causing a chain reaction that is destroying not only this environment, but all others as well. Buck told me that many of you were planning to flee north in the near future; well, I tell you there is no safe place to escape. Because not only this earth, but the whole world is undergoing an ever more accelerated change, which will soon become irreversible causing the disappearance of almost every form of life from this planet. We will all die, and our children will die with us. We will be witnesses of the end of the world "

Many dinosaurs were visibly shaking, but Sobek did not stop: "Well, I am the one who opposes this villainy! I ask you, all of you, to raise your heads and scream ENOUGH! Because this world is not of humans! It doesn't belong to them! All of us, creatures who breathe, share the same air and the same water. It is therefore our duty to stop this madness before it is too late! As Buck has surely told you, we have already won several times against humans, but much tougher battles await us. Immense efforts will block our way, but we must not allow them to stop us! Because if we let ourselves be stopped, we will lose everything. This is a battle for survival, and we cannot afford to lose it! "

Now the dinosaurs had stopped shaking. On the contrary, they regarded Sobek as a leader. "I WILL FIGHT! I will fight to the death, but I cannot win alone. For all my strength, I am but a single creature against the whole world. But if one dinosaur alone is weak, many dinosaurs together are strong! And I tell you that we will win! We will defeat humanity and restore the environment as it once was and as it always should have been! DINOSAURS STRONG TOGETHER! "

"Dinosaurs strong together!" the dinosaurs roared as Sobek finished his speech. Many of them struck their paws on the ground, their blood charged like fire.

Sobek sighed. That was going to be just one of the many speeches he was supposed to give that day...