Chapter 71: Gorgosaurus

The two gorgosaurs were hiding opposite each other. The pack of pachyrhinosaurs was like a river between them. The ceratopsids were so many that it was impossible to see the end of the herd. Surely the plan of the gorgosaurs was to attack the pachyrhinosaurs and make them escape, and then focus on a single prey and capture it in chaos. It was an absolutely efficient strategy, much like the one of the lions or the wolves. However, the gorgosaurs didn't know that due to Sobek's constant attacks the pachyrhinosaurs had changed their defensive strategy! When they attacked, the gorgosaurs would have had a nasty surprise! Now the pachyrhinosaurus' defensive strategy was to stick together against the predator. When they flattened against each other, creating a living wall, the two gorgosaurs would have found themselves separated and unable to reach their companion. So Sobek could have attacked each one of them alone! If he had faced the gorgosaurs together, Sobek would have been in serious trouble. Compared to when he had faced the torvosaurs he wasn't much stronger. The only extra skill he had was [Reinforced skin], but as he had already been able to confirm the level 2/5 was not enough to protect him from the weapons that the dinosaurs had at their disposal. And the gorgosaurs were even stronger than the torvosaurs, as the experience points testified, since the gorgosaurs were worth 30,000 points more than the torvosaurs. But if he would have been able to separate them... then the situation would have changed. The pachyrhinosaurs were an impassable wall between the two gorgosaurs: Sobek could then attack the one from his side, and then take care of the other. Against a single gorgosaurus, Sobek had nothing to fear. He was superior in size, intelligence and strength. He was 24 meters long and had claws strong enough to cut through steel like butter, not to mention that he could heal from every wound in a matter of second and that his skin was now much more resistant than before, although not so much that it can withstand the bites of large predators. Against a single gorgosaurus he had nothing to fear. Against him, even a predator just a little longer than eight meters and with a bite similar to that of the t-rex couldn't do anything. He didn't doubt that the other gorgosaurus would have been able to break through the pachyrhinosaurs wall sooner or later, but he would still have had time to kill its companion. Sobek wouldn't have risked engaging in a two-on-one battle... but in a one-on-one, well, in that case he had no intention of abandoning the challenge. So he waited for the two predators to charge. When they began to slowly approach the pack, being very careful not to make noise, he knew it was time. In fact a few minutes later the gorgosaurs finally came out of the woods and attacked the pachyrhinosaurs. Before Sobek forced them to change tactics, pachyrhinosaurs panicked and scattered in fear every time they saw a predator; but now, it was different. As the spinosaurus had predicted, the pachyrhinosaurs didn't escape, but on the contrary they formed the living wall with their bodies, screaming bravely at both predators. The two gorgosaurs stopped their run, displaced by that reaction and completely disoriented. It was in that moment of inattention that Sobek attacked; taking advantage of the fact that the gorgosaurus on his side of the herd was turned away from him and had its attention on the pachyrhinosaurus, he jumped on it with his jaws already open and his claws unsheathed. The other gorgosaurus saw him and roared to warn its companion. That warning saved the predator who dodged his blow at the last moment. However, Sobek's attack was still successful: the claws only managed to touch the right hip of the gorgosaurus, but they opened deep gashes and also severed several muscles of the leg. The gorgosaurus roared and limped off. Sobek was annoyed that it had managed to avoid him, but it didn't matter: reduced as it was, the gorgosaurus had lost much of its agility. With its leg muscles ripped apart like that and the blood loss that didn't seem to be able to stop, it would never be able to flee or fight back efficiently. Sobek could also have simply waited for it to bleed to death. On the other side of the pack, the other gorgosaurus was furiously shoving and biting the pachyrhinosaurs trying to pass. However, it was clear that it would never arrive in time. By now, the winner of that battle was already decided. Sobek moved his claws again, but he had underestimated the vitality of his opponent: despite its condition the gorgosaur was able to dodge them and backed away even further. It was clear that more than fighting it was aiming to prolong the fight: it knew that if the other gorgosaurus would managed to reach them the situation could be reversed. They might have succeeded in killing their new, fearsome enemy, or at least they could have escaped. However, Sobek had no intention of waiting. He will quickly close the distance between them; in its condition, the gorgosaurus couldn't get away quickly. Cornered, the predator attempted a desperate attack, opening its jaws and throwing itself at Sobek, but Sobek threw a straight paw in its face. The gorgosaurus' skull shattered as if it were made of paper. The corpse of the predator fell to the ground and it didn't move anymore. Sobek looked at the other gorgosaurus. He had feared that once its companion died it would desist from attacking him, but it seemed that the predator had every intention of killing him. It probably hadn't noticed that its companion was dead and thought it was just hurt. With difficulty the gorgosaurus managed to overcome the pachyrhinosaurs; when it finally got to the other side of the pack, its legs had bleeding wounds. Even though pachyrhinosaurs didn't have horns their collars were still very sharp, so walking between them wasn't a pleasant experience. After they squared off, Sobek attacked first. This gorgosaurus, however, was much more agile than the other, which had been wounded by the ambush of the spinosaurus. It was able to quickly dodge the enemy's claws. Eventually the gorgosaurus found an opening and bit his neck. Even with [Reinforced skin], Sobek still felt severe pain, demonstrating how strong the bite of large predators was. If he hadn't had that ability, it probably would have broken his backbone. The gorgosaurus itself was confused at not being able to break his bones, but Sobek didn't give it time to recover: while it was still biting him he threw a paw in its chest. The gorgosaurus spat blood from its mouth and fell to the ground as its entrails came out of its belly. Sobek put an end to its suffering by pulping its head with one of his hind legs. At that moment he felt so strong that he couldn't help but roar triumphantly, frightening the pack of pachyrhinosaurs even more. As the herd of dinosaurs scurried away, he was able to feast on the remains of the carnivores. He also discovered that in order to cross the living wall, the gorgosaurus had seriously injured five other pachirinosaurs, which he obviously didn't disdain to kill and devour. By the time he finished using it all, he had gained enough experience to level up and 8 skill points for each of the gorgosaurs! Obviously he upgraded [Reinforced skin]. He also wanted to update [Powerful bite] to test the effects, but he preferred to put safety first. He had learned his lesson after his fight with the torvosaurs: before the offensive skills, he had to worry about the defensive ones. There was no point in becoming the best hunter if he was unable to defend himself from other hunters. After all, he already had claws as weapons so he didn't need a strong bite now. On the contrary, the confidence it gave him to see [Reinforced skin] at level 3/5 gave him an unparalleled sense of protection. After upgrading the skill, he lay down on the ground and leveled up. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= AUTHOR'S THOUGHTS Hi! Time for another of our little chat! 1) Michael Crichton, for those who don't know (heretics!), is the creator of the book 'Jurassic Park'. Because yes, before being turned into a movie thanks to the masterful work of Steven Spielberg, 'Jurassic Park' was just a book, one of the very first stories about dinosaurs. Therefore, I couldn't avoid to give him a small cameo in my story. In my opinion, he deserves to be mentioned in any dinosaur-themed story. Since in my story dinosaurs and humans coexist, and the story is chronologically set in the contemporary age and not in the 90s (when he published the book), here he isn't a writer but a famous producer and director of documentaries and environmental themed films. One last, little gem: since Michael Crichton was one of the reasons why dinosaurs became so popular with the general public, a species of dinosaur was baptized in his name: the crichtonsaurus, an ankylosaurid that lived 97 million years ago in China. 2) Obviously, the Ian Malcolm and Sarah Hardy who appeared in chapter 66 can only be them: two of the protagonists we love so much from the 'Jurassic Park' franchise. I think there is no need for explanations as to who Ian Malcolm is, because this character literally present himself with just his name. As for Sarah Hardy, she is Ian Malcolm's girlfriend in 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park', and is a photographer sent by Hammond to Isla Sorna to study dinosaur behavior. Needless to say, the relationship between you and Professor Malcolm is ... very complicated. 3) 'He saw that as an absolute victory!' from chapter 69 is a reference of 'Avengers: Endgame'. It is what Hulk said while he is trying to create a time travel machine. 4) Ankylosaurus (whose name from the Greek means 'fused lizard') is a dinosaur that lived about 70-65 million years ago in what is now North America, making it one of the last dinosaurs to appear before the KT event (the extinction that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs). With a length of over 6 meters and a weight of 6 tons, it is considered the largest of the ankylosaurids. Its thick armor and club tail made it nearly invincible once it reached adulthood, to the point that even predators like the t-rex would think twice before attacking it. As one of the most well-known dinosaurs, the ankylosaurus appears in several films: first in the documentary 'Walking with dinosaurs', then in the 'Jurassic Park' franchise several times (in 'Jurassic Park 3', 'Jurassic World', 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom', 'Jurassic World Dominion' and even in the animated series 'Camp Cretaceous'), and even appears in the animated film 'Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'. The ankylosaurus also inspired the monster call Anguirus from the 'Godzilla' saga. 5) The way Sobek kills the ankylosaurus in chapter 69, overturning it and slashing its throat, is the same way a t-rex kills an ankylosaurus in the documentary 'Last Day of the Dinosaurs'. 6) Kentrosaurus lived about 155-150 million years ago in what is today Tanzania. Although it has long been considered a 'primitive member' of the stegosaurid family, recent cladistic analyzes have shown that it is a more derived and evolved genus. It was much smaller than its cousin stegosaurus, reaching only 4.5 meters in length (although recent estimates have brought the length up to 5.5 meters); unlike the stegosaurus, however, it possessed a long line of sharp spines that ran from the middle of the back to the base of the tail, making it a formidable adversary to any predator of its time. Although not known as stegosaurus, kentrosaurus appears in 'Camp Cretaceous' and in the animated film 'Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'. 7) Olorotitan was a hadrosaurid that lived about 70 million years ago in eastern Russia, and could reach up to 12 meters in length. The head was adorned with a strange fan-shaped structure, turned towards the back and formed by hollow bones, which was probably used, similarly to that of other animals of the family (for example parasaurolophus), to emit strong vocalizations suitable for to intraspecific recognition or to frighten predators. Although not particularly famous, the olorotitan appears in the documentary 'Prehistoric Planet'. 8) Triceratops is another particularly famous dinosaur and one of the last to appear before the KT event: it lived between 68 and 65 million years ago, thus coexisting its habitat with the ankylosaurus and the t-rex, of which it was probably one of the prey. For a long time it was thought that its collar and horns served only for defensive purposes; in reality, today many paleontologists believe that they were covered with keratin and very colorful (at least in the case of males) and therefore was needed to attract potential mates; not only that, but based on the complex dances that many modern birds perform in courtship rituals, many scientists believe that the triceratops also danced exposing its colorful collar to attract females. And this was probably common to all the ceratopsids. Being considered the most famous dinosaur after the t-rex, the triceratops appears in several films, after which it is often shown fighting a tyrannosaurus. He appears in the 'Jurassic Park' franchise in all films and in the animated series 'Camp Cretaceous', in the animated films 'Fantasia' and 'The Land Before Time', in the tv series 'Primeval', and in numerous documentaries including 'Walking with dinosaurs', 'Prehistoric Park' and 'Prehistoric Planet'. 9) The fact that the triceratops faced by Sobek in chapter 70 has a broken horn is both a reference to the documentary 'Walking with dinosaurs', where a torosaur breaks a horn while fighting for domination over the herd, and to the documentary 'Last Day of the Dinosaurs', where a t-rex breaks a horn from a triceratops as they fight furiously after the meteorite crash. 10) Pachyrhinosaurus lived about 73.5-69 million years ago in present-day Alberta and Alaska; cousin of the triceratops, it could reach eight meters in length and four tons in weight. Instead of the horns typical of most ceratopsids, its skulls possessed massive, flattened bone thickenings; the largest of these thickenings was present on the muzzle, above the nostrils, while two other smaller ones were present above the eyes. A pair of horns sprouted from the center of the bony collar extending upward, while the skull was also adorned with several horns or smaller ornaments that varied between individuals. While not as famous as the triceratops, the pachyrhinosaurus has enjoyed some popularity: it appears in the 2000 Disney film 'Dinosaur', in the animated franchise 'The Land Before Time' and in the 2013 film 'Walking with dinosaurs: The Movie' (not the namesake documentary), as well as in some documentaries such as 'Jurassic Fight Club' and 'Prehistoric Planet'. 11) Gorgosaurus lived in North America about 70 million years ago and was probably an apex predator; even if it couldn't hold the comparison with the t-rex (which would appear shortly after) this predator could still reach eight meters in length and two and a half tons in weight. For many years, the species was considered a namesake of albertosaurus; however, recent studies carried out on the skull of these animals have highlighted evident differences, sufficient to justify the separation of the two genres, even if given their similarity they are still included in the same subfamily, the albertosaurines, which includes the lighter tyrannosaurids. Not being particularly well known, the gorgosaurus doesn't appear in many films: its best appearance is in the 2013 film 'Walking with dinosaurs: The Movie'.