Chapter 200: Crocodile Hunter

The team of three and their pet dinosaurs quickly made it to another checkpoint in regards to their goals. The checkpoint was simple, really, they just walked a couple more hours across the grasslands, and decided to drop the alien snakes there.

In other words, they cut the distance the snakes had to travel by a third. They’ll have it a bit easier to make it to the west hills now, and surely, the monstrous aquatic animals they had to cross paths with across the river, would also be reduced by a third.

Jimmy had thought about going all the way to the far edge of the grasslands, and drop the snakes there, but it was too far away to be worth the trouble. Not to mention, they might run into enemy tribes, which was something they couldn’t afford right now.

“This’ll buy me some time even if one or two of them make it to the west hills.” He said, as the snakes slowly slithered down from Rampage’s back.

Rampage, after some bartering, even sat down, allowing the snakes to get to the ground without risking a fall. If they fell off of his back, their sheer weight alone would kill them as gravity would do a great job at pulling them down, and smashing their bodies against the ground.

They slithered down safely, thankfully, and now, as they slipped into the river, their massive bodies so heavy that even the water within the river itself could hold them up, Jimmy watched them go, and figured that this was the best time to give the snakes a head start. A second wave of help, really.

With little to no effort, he scanned the river for heartbeats, particularly giant heartbeats, so he could see, or sense if there were any crocodiles in the water.

Jimmy had little experience with crocodiles, so he didn’t know what their hearts were shaped like, or even at what pace they beat, but he knew how to work around that. He couldn’t see the crocodiles directly, but he did focus his attention on the biggest, loudest heartbeat he heard, and used up a fraction of his mana to scan this host’s body.

The creature’s nervous system popped up in his head. Then its muscles. Then everything else.

This albeit new trick of his required a great deal of concentration from his part, but he succeeded. He got a detailed picture in his head, highlighting the body of a crocodile.

There was no mistaking it, so he went ahead with part two of his plan. He blew up the crocodile’s heart, on the spot!

This barely spent one-percent of his mana, because for a primal Mage like him, with all the advancements he had made over the past couple of weeks, he had it quite easy to blow a heart up. Well, he couldn’t kill Rampage for example, even if he tried, as his vessels were too big to block, but crocodiles? Easy.

Knowing how their hearts sounded, and how fast they beat now, he then went ahead and killed several more crocodiles within his radius. Nine of them, to be exact.

There were a lot more crocodiles close by than he had anticipated, so he was happy he got them, before the same crocodiles could’ve used their gruesome, nasty jaws to bite the alien snakes. The snakes might be big, they were tough, even, judging from their strong, curled black scales, but crocodile bites were really powerful, and so if the snakes got bit a few times, there wouldn’t be much they could do to preserve their lives. They were on their own now, as Jimmy wasn’t there to help them, or heal them if something went wrong.

Anyway, the nine dead crocodiles eventually started floating to the top, their bellies facing the sun.

Some of them were being dragged along the river current, and some were slowly getting beached, but either way, Rampage wasted no time in collecting them. Rampage figured that the snakes killed the crocodiles as a parting gift, so he started sticking his big face in the river, pulling the crocodile carcasses out, and piling them on dry land. He wasn’t a meat eater specifically, but he did know how important any bit of meat was for his dinosaur friends, and for his human friends too.

He even kept yawning at Gutaxun, inviting him to come have lunch. Rampage may be a terror to the most of the world, but towards his friends, he was a total sweetheart.

“I guess we could drag a few of them home,” Jimmy said, referring to the crocodiles. “Our food reserves are rotting away. I hope Anna found salt deposits.”

JJ then got closer to the group, and interrupted them. Jimmy almost forgot he was here, since he had been occupied with those crocodiles, but once JJ got his attention, he got a good prediction of what it was about.

“Alright, I should get moving as well.” He said. “Thanks for the ride, but it’s high time I tame my own dinosaur, and get out of your hair.”

“Right,” He nodded. “What kind of dinosaur are you looking to tame?”

“I’ll be heading through the High Grasslands today, so for now… any tall dinosaur would do. I’d love to find myself a meat eater like yours.” JJ said.

“Oh, don’t do that.” He expressed, “Dinosaurs like Gutty tend to be intelligent. I don’t know if all of them are as intelligent as he is, but they do get attached, very attached. If you abandon them and go for the next dinosaur that might benefit you, the pet you abandoned will not only get sad, but he’ll spend his entire life looking for you.”

“I wouldn’t wish such pain on my pets,” JJ nodded. “Which dinosaur do you recommend, then?”

“Pick one of the dumb dinosaurs, so they’d forget you within a day or so.” He said. “Or, you can wait for a few more hours, and we can get you a flying dinosaur? Wait… no that wouldn’t work either. It’s the breeding season for QTs, and I doubt they would want to fly away from their eggs for long.”

This was a tough choice. JJ obviously did not care enough to pick a pet, and keep that pet for life. He had a mission in mind, unfinished business to attend to, so to him, everything else was not important enough to worry over.

Thankfully, Zik came to the rescue, and pitched the greatest idea, an idea that no one else would think of. He was an experienced, hardened hunter, so he had a fair share of opinions regarding which dinosaurs he liked, or disliked.

“You can always get a Mud Back,” He pitched.

“I’m unaware of that nickname,” JJ expressed, “What do they look like?”

“They’re brown,” Zik said. “They used to be called Mud Dinos, but personally I like to call them Mud Backs. You should find a couple of them if you keep following the river. They’re not as big as Gutty, but they’re as dumb as a rock, and they’re fast too. When we used to fish for our food, our main concerns were Log Fish, and Mud Backs. Both of those fuckers have a mean jaw on them, and they love to eat fish.”

Zik was referring to crocodiles, and a species of dinosaurs called Megalosaurus Bucklandii. Jimmy didn’t know which species Zik was referring to specifically, but he did have faint memories of brown dinosaurs. He was sure he saw a couple of them over the past few weeks, across the river, even, but he hadn’t cared enough to approach them, and or tame them.

“They must be rare,” He added, “Haven’t seen many of those.”

“That’s because we used to fight them almost every day!” Zik exclaimed. “They’re crazy, but if you’re looking for a tall, violent dinosaur, they’re your best shot. I’d be careful though, because, tamed or not, they might try to eat you too.”

“Alright, then,” JJ nodded. “Thank you for the recommendation, Zikeriard. If I see a Mud Back, I’ll be sure to tame it.”

Afterwards, JJ greeted everyone, including the dinosaurs, and began his journey down the river. He was on a path now, and did not intend to come back for a while. Decades probably. He has called the grasslands, and its surrounding regions home for years now, but it was time for him to settle his loose ends.

Jimmy was sad seeing him go. In a way, they both were on their own now, because Jimmy, for example, would no longer have a guardian angel who’d look over him, and prevent untimely deaths, and JJ wouldn’t have a good friend to talk to. They were both alone from this point onwards, more vulnerable than ever to the dangers of the world. It was sad, it made them nervous, but their paths had to split today. They could only wish each other the best of luck.

After JJ went, Jimmy cackled, and said, “I can’t believe your full name is Zikeriard! Haha!”

“Watch it, kid.” Zik raised his nose like an offended rooster, “I have my grandfather’s name!”

“Alright, Ziki,” He wiped a tear off of his cheek, “Let’s go home.”

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