Chapter 165: Useless resistance

The modest army of Cartago left towards the late evening. The sun was already setting over the mountains, but this wasn't a problem for humans: they had night vision goggles that allowed them to see at night. In reality, the darkness worked in their favor: the traps would have been less visible. The army they had managed to put together did not even number five thousand men and had very few vehicles. They didn't even have a tank. Even though they were outnumbered, the dinosaurs outweighed them in terms of strength. As militia chief Kemp understood, the only hope for humans was to lead the dinosaurs into unfavorable terrain and bomb them from above and below. As soon as they reached the quarry, they began placing explosives. They had brought several blocks of C4. If they had managed to lure the dinosaurs into the quarry, they would have buried them under several meters of rock. By the time they finished setting the trap, it was dark at night: the full moon was already high in the sky. Kemp was sweating: the deadline for the ultimatum was just around the corner. If they failed, Cartago would fall. The militia leader looked at his soldiers. Most of them showed signs of obvious apprehension on their faces. They were afraid. "Listen to me!" he screamed loudly. "I know you are scared. I am scared too. But you also know what we risk. In the city at this moment there are your families, your friends, your children; it is for them that we are fighting. If we are not able to repel the enemy, Cartago will have no escape. There is no room for fear here! Fight like lions, to the end, and show these creatures your courage! Ad victoriam!" "AD VICTORIAM!" the troops shouted back, chanting Odaria's military salute very clearly. Kemp grabbed the radio: "Cobra 1, Cobra 2, it's time. Bring them here" On the other side of the quarry, two shapes moved in the shadows and the unmistakable sound of a skid was heard. There were two jeeps, each with six heavily armed soldiers on board. "Turn off the lights!" Kemp yelled, and not a single light remained alight in the midst of the human army. The plan was simple and effective: taking advantage of the darkness, the teams known as Cobra 1 and Cobra 2 would have to approach the dinosaurs and fire a few shots. The animals would chase them and the two jeeps would lead them into the depths of the quarry with the favor of the dark. Many would have died or been injured by falling off the escarpment. Once all, or at least most of them, were inside, Kemp would activate the explosives, which in turn would have triggered a landslide that would have buried them alive. With any luck, no one would have had to fight. Too bad... Kemp didn't imagine that Sobek had already foreseen everything! All the humans knew was that there were at least two thousand dinosaurs and that they had shields. That's all. They had no idea if they might have weapons or if there could be more. And the intelligence, in every war, was the key to victory. Sobek, on the other hand, had foreseen their every move. He had had the movements of the human troops monitored by tiny anurognathus, pterosaurs so small they weren't even twice the size of a butterfly, practically invisible in the night sky even without [Ambush]. Thanks to that, he knew where the humans intended to confront them and what they wanted to do. But in doing so they had trapped themselves. Sobek and the two thousand dinosaurs he had shown the humans were waiting at the edge of the forest. All of them pretended to be asleep, but in reality they were very careful: they knew that the enemy was coming. When Cobra 1 and Cobra 2 made their appearance, a rain of lead fell on the dinosaurs: the soldiers in the jeeps fired madly. The dinosaurs pretended to be terrified and many of them rolled to the ground in agony. But in reality it was all a farce: the dinosaurs not only had [Reinforced skin] on their side, but for the occasion Sobek had given them all [Regeneration] too! As planned, Cobra 1 and Cobra 2 stopped firing quickly and retreated quickly. And Sobek, as expected, pretended to fall into the trap: followed by his entire army he ran after the two jeeps, which were heading at full speed towards the quarry. Kemp felt the earth shake and heard the furious cries almost half a kilometer away. He understood that the dinosaur herd was close. As it turned out, the jeeps quickly appeared on the edge of the quarry and threw themselves inside. Carter's breathing became labored and he prayed for his companions: he hoped that Cobra 1 and Cobra 2 would be able to climb the quarry on their side before it was too late, but in an emergency he would have to detonate the charges with them inside. Dinosaurs appeared very quickly. The giant herd was charging them like elephants. The earth shook because of their passage. At the head of all of them, the spinosaurus that had given the ultimatum to the city was advancing first. But contrary to Kemp's expectations, the spinosaurus suddenly stopped and let out a roar; behind him all the other dinosaurs stopped. Sobek, in fact, could see very well that he was about to fall into the quarry! After three evolutions his senses were the most powerful ever in the animal world. Sobek could see at night as if it were day. Although there were many dinosaurs that did not have night vision, he was enough: with just one command from him, the entire army knew when to stop to avoid the trap. Kemp gritted his teeth. Had the dinosaurs figured out the trick? If so, then things got more complicated. They should have pushed them into the quarry by force. He raised his hand and prepared to give the order to shoot, but to his surprise, the spinosaurus anticipated him: "NOW!" Kemp felt himself flung to the side and his eardrums exploded. He had never felt such excruciating pain in his ears. The force that hit him was so powerful that he rolled for ten meters before stopping. He was not the only one: all the soldiers lost their ability to hear in a single instant and were thrown forward tens of meters. Many were injured or crushed by their comrades or by vehicles rolling away. Unbeknownst to humans, that was nothing more than the effect of thousands of dinosaurs using simultaneously [Devastating roar]. The sonic wave that had been produced had a force equal to thousands of bombs. That was just the first wave. A second came a few moments later. Humans could no longer hear and were completely dazed by the sound, but many could still see. And out of nowhere, in the middle of the darkness of the night, hundreds of ceratopsids materialized, as if they were ghosts! Triceratops, torosaurs, stiracosaurs, pachyrinosaurs, synoceratops, achelousaurs, chasmasaurs, nasutoceratops, nedoceratops, albertaceratops: dozens of species of ceratopsids charged humans like a raging river. In moments their enormous horns pierced the humans in front of them and the survivors were trampled on their paws; the few who survived were torn apart by other dinosaurs behind them. Humans had no way of reacting. Few tried to fire a few shots, but no weapon was able to restrain their charge. It almost seemed like they had... "... armors!?" Kemp could barely think this before being pushed down the walls of the quarry. The charge of the ceratopsids was pushing the humans down the cliff. The death toll was insurmountable. Within minutes, the entire army of five thousand men was sent off the cliff. Kemp fell like a sack of potatoes and barely felt a pain before he died after his head hit a rock. The only humans who survived were those placed on the sides of the army, which thanks to their position had partially avoided the charge of the dinosaurs. Sobek expected that they would try to hold out to the last breath, but on the contrary they abandoned their posts and desperately tried to escape. Sobek's plan had worked masterfully. Humans thought they were dealing with only two thousand dinosaurs, but... in reality Sobek had brought nearly fifty thousand! While the humans concentrated on them, the legions led by Buck, Carnopo, Al, and Old Li had circled the quarry hidden by [Ambush] and assaulted the humans from behind. The power of [Devastating roar] had knocked out the humans and prevented them from hearing and thus organizing; at that point a charge of armored ceratopsidae was enough to push the entire human army down the cliff. While this was happening, Sobek and the two thousand dinosaurs with him had toured the quarry and reunited with the main army. Sobek watched in amusement as the few surviving humans attempted to escape. How foolish, they didn't even have a vehicle. Did they really think they were going to distance them with their legs? He felt it was time to do something, something theatrical. He could motivate his troops even more. He took out his [Personal weapon] from the [Inventory] and raised it into the sky in the form of a huge sword: "Take them all!" he roared. "Not let escape any human! This time, no prisoners! Humans have chosen to face us despite our goodwill. This... means... WAR!" The dinosaurs roared in turn and set out in pursuit of the few survivors. As for the humans, they no longer had a chance to hear Sobek's words, but they could clearly see the herd of dinosaurs rushing towards him. Many wept and tried in vain to escape, some called their mothers, others knelt and prayed to their god to save them, but it was all in vain: Sobek had ordered no prisoners, and no prisoners would be there. Sobek understood the pain of humans, but he certainly wasn't going to be weak for it. He wouldn't kill civilians, because they didn't choose to go to war; but he would never show mercy in front of soldiers, unless it was to his advantage. Sobek lived by the law of the jungle. And in nature, if you go to face an opponent, you have to be ready to die. If you die, you can only blame yourself for overestimating your strength; there is nothing that can change destiny. From Sobek's point of view, letting your opponent live was the equivalent of a heresy. He glanced at the quarry. The humans who had fallen there were all dead already, but unbeknownst to them they had given him a gift. He thought he should have bought the explosives from the [Weapon system], but fate had saved him bonus money. "Take the explosives!" he ordered to the dinosaurs. "And place it on their walls! Let them collapse like the fragile stones they are, and let humans show the uselessness of their resistance!" The dinosaurs roared in satisfaction and many of them, especially the smaller and lighter ones, rushed into the quarry and went to remove the C4 from the granite walls. The weapon that was supposed to exterminate the dinosaurs was now in their hands. Once the explosives were taken, the dinosaurs made their way towards the city. They did so silently, using [Ambush] for cover. Once there they planted explosives along the walls. At that point Sobek pulled his [Personal weapon] from his [Inventory], which took the form of a bazooka: "BUM!" he yelled in amusement before pulling the trigger. As soon as the shell hit the C4, the explosive charges detonated. A huge chunk of the wall collapsed as if it were made of paper, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. The roar was probably heard throughout the city. 'It's a real shame this [Personal weapon] can't transform into a missile. I would have preferred to destroy the walls like this... well, you can't have everything in life' Sobek thought. After all, the result had been the same: whether it was from the C4 charges detonated after being hit by a bazooka shell, or from a single missile, the walls no longer existed. "NOW, GO! TAKE THEM ALL!" With a roar, the dinosaurs poured into the city.