Chapter 18: Oxalaia

[Spinosaurus aegyptiacus] Level: 12 Length: 12 m Height: 4.2 m Weight: 6 ton Diet: carnivore, fishivore Strength: 1,680 Agility: 1,430 Defense: 950 Maximum speed: 13 km/h Experience points: 1,900/60,000 Skill points: 0 Fame points: 0/1,000,000 Bonus Money: 1,830 By now Sobek's length had become equal to the one of a t-rex. However, his height was still less: a tyrannosaurus generally was 5.5 to 6 meters tall. This is for a simple matter of skeletal structure: the body shape of the spinosaurus was more horizontal, favoring the quadrupedal gait, while that of the t-rex was diagonal, allowing a bipedal gait. Even leaving out that detail, the difference between him and a tyrannosaurus was glaring. A t-rex had dozens of times his strength, ran at least twice his speed, and most importantly had a muzzle designed to bite and tear. Quite the opposite of him, in short. Not to mention that a t-rex was at least two tons heavier than him. He still had a long way to go before he could reach the top of the food chain. Once the meal was over, he dropped the ichthyovenator skeleton into the water and left. The sun was starting to set, so he had to get back to his islet as soon as possible, but he still had time for a short detour. By now he knew that in the mangrove forest he couldn't find other fish-eating dinosaurs: beyond the mere presence of the ichthyovenator, that on its own would have surely kept other predatory dinosaurs away due to its territoriality, his nose had confirmed the total absence of the preys he wanted. However, he wanted to go backwards by moving slightly to the west, so that he could spot another fish-eating dinosaur and thus discover its territory. He swam with his body on the water for several kilometers, leaving the mangrove forest behind and returning to the more open swampy area. Just as he began to think he was wrong, a familiar smell reached his nostrils. There was a baryonyx nearby. However, he couldn't go and get it right now since he didn't want to move at night. It would take too long and it was too risky. Now he knew where its territory was and that was enough for him to find it the next day. Just a little later, however, he spotted a new smell. It belonged to a fish-eating dinosaur, but it was unlike anything else he had ever found. This obviously immediately activated his curiosity and his desire to discover the source of that new smell. Sobek wondered if it wasn't a suchomimus. From what he remembered it must have been one of the deadliest river predators along with the spinosaurus, so it could definitely provide him with more skill points than any other predatory dinosaur he had found so far. He recorded in his mind the position of the territory of each of the two animals, after which he hurried back to the islet: the sun was now almost gone and the sky was just some minutes before the complete onset of darkness, and it was imperative stay out of the water at night to avoid being sneakily attacked by a giant crocodile.. After a restful night's sleep, the next morning he immediately set out on the hunt, heading west without thinking twice. He considered which of the two dinosaurs he would have had to face first, and in the end he chose baryonyx: since it was his first meal of the day he wanted to be on the safe side. He didn't know what the other dinosaur was and he didn't know if he could beat it; Sobek didn't like to hunt on an empty stomach, so it wad better aim for the safest prey first. He found the baryonyx intent on fishing in a swamp marsh, submerged up to the head. Killing it was easy: the baryonyx was no longer a real challenge for him. Aftering having devoured it, he obtained the usual 5 skill points and 25,000 experience points. He waited to digest the meal well, then headed for the other dinosaur's territory. Now that he'd gotten his power source for the day, he could afford to quietly investigate. As the source of the mysterious smell drew closer, Sobek noticed something in the distance. Something that made him jump in surprise and that he had absolutely not expected to find. It was a sail! For a moment he stopped: had he encountered another spinosaurus? But the smell was different, even if similar. Yet the animal in front of him was very similar to a spinosaurus... except for the color. Even from a distance, Sobek could see that it was green and brown, suitable for blending in with the mangroves of the swamp, in stark contrast to the yellow and red of the spinosaurs. When he was close enough, the System cleared all his doubts. [Prey identified: Oxalaia quilombensis, spinosauridae. Experience: 33,000 points] Now it was all clear. Like the ichthyovenator, the oxalaia was also a close relative of the spinosaurus. Indeed, from an evolutionary point of view, it was even closer to Sobek. That's why they had so much in common. The oxalaia was virtually identical to a spinosaurus, except in color and size: it was significantly smaller than an adult spinosaurus. Even so, its length reached 12 meters, on par with Sobek. Sobek still had the advantage: with his current abilities he could have killed it easily. However, the resemblance that oxalaia had to spinosaurs made him have second thoughts. Sobek had learned that spinosaurs nested in large herds and that this was brood season; since they were so similar, it was likely the same for the oxalaia. Which meant that the one in front of him was probably a parent who had come to fetch food for its cubs, just like his father had done for him for a long time. If he had followed it, he could have tracked down an entire herd of oxalaia, which meant an immense source of food! He called himself stupid for not having thought of it before. Actually, it was probably the same for the other fish-eating dinosaurs. If instead of attacking on sight he had followed them he could have saved himself a lot of headaches! Sobek paused for a moment, surprised by himself. He didn't remember much of his life as a human, but he was pretty sure that, given the situation, he should have empathized with oxalaia: just as his father had done its utmost for him, that dinosaur too was hunting for its children, consequently killing it would have condemned an entire family to starve to death. Yet, although Sobek knew it perfectly well, he felt that he didn't care. In his head there was only one thought: to find the herd of oxalaia and use it for easy food. Being a spinosaurus was just affecting him to extreme levels: his mind was exactly the one of a predator. Sobek felt he should have been afraid or disgusted with himself, yet not only he didn't feel nothing, he even thought it was stupid. After all, he was talking about his survival: in nature the predator didn't ask the prey if it has any cubs to take care of. And even if it did, it wouldn't have given a damn: they'd just have been extra food. With this thought in his head, Sobek made up his mind to follow the oxalaia. The animal didn't keep him waiting long: it'd already been fishing all morning, so it finished early and started swimming away. Sobek followed it unnoticed thanks to [Ambush]. He discovered that the oxalaia refuge was not a warm sandy beach on the river bank like that of the spinosaurs, but a muddy mangrove-covered island in the middle of the swamp. Above it were at least fifty oxalaia, and many of them had nest full of cubs. Sobek had seen it right. All he had to do now was choose one of them and wait for it to go to hunt, then he follow it and kill it out of sight of others. He certainly didn't want to alarm them: if they had discovered his existence they would probably have changed their area, or in any case they would have become more cautious. They didn't keep him waiting long. Like the spinosaurs, the oxalaia parents also took turns hunting. Once a group of them returned, the others jumped into the water and separated, each one headed for its own territory. Sobek randomly chose one and followed it from afar. Once they were far enough away from the nest, he attacked. The fight didn't last long: against the power of [Swim speed] the oxalaia had no chance. Sobek dragged it away and hid in the middle of a group of mangroves; he didn't want to risk being seen by another oxalaia while he ate. When he was done he could call his hunt satisfactory: he had 33,000 experience points and another 5 skill points! The oxalaia was larger than the ichthyovenator, but probably due to the sail, a vulnerable point, it was considered weaker by the System, so it yielded fewer skill points. It was still a lot anyway. Not only that, he had found an excellent source of preys! As night was falling again, he returned to his islet. He had already decided where he would have hunted in the next few days.