"Come on,

" Axilia whispered.

"That's all of them, darling. Let's move.

"

She and Ling Xin prepared to move out of the trees and get the hell away from those creatures while they were focused on the town, but I had different plans in mind.

Slowly, I got out from behind the covers of the trees and walked forward, closer towards the dinosaurs. This took Ling Xin and Axilia by surprise, and they moved to follow, but I stopped them a gesture of my arm.

"Wait here,

" I said.

"I have Lorelei, who can more or less communicate with them through their souls. If you two show up, however, they'll take it as a sign of hostility.

"

Hearing this, Ling Xin's eyes widened.

"Wait… are you trying to… make peace with them?

"

I nodded firmly.

"Listen. If we can ride one of those, making it out of this blizzard will be a piece of cake.

"

"Correct, but at the same time, if you enrage one of those, we're all dead meat,

" Ling Xin said with a smile.

"No pressure or anything. You got this, my future husband~!

"

"… Right.

" I took a deep breath, then cast my gaze towards the dinosaurs once more.

"Alright… Lorelei, I'll be counting on you.

"

"Yes, master.

"

"Go, darling~!

" Axilia cheered softly, keeping her voice down (thankfully).

With the two girls' well wishes, I stepped out from the shadows of the trees and slowly began walking towards the creatures. There were all kinds of dinosaurs here, from rexes to stegosauri. They also varied in size, some of which were so small that I didn't even notice them passing behind the bigger ones while we hid in the trees.

I kept my footsteps normal, making sure to not go to fast or too slow. I walked normally, radiating an aura of confidence but not hostility. It didn't take long for the dinosaurs to realize I was here, and they all immediately turned around and roared at me.

Thankfully, I had used Sound Magic to create a barrier around myself that lowered any loud voices to normal-speech volume, otherwise my ears would've been busted right then and there. Slowly, I held up a hand into the air… and let Lorelei do the talking for me.

"Stop. I am not here to fight you.

"

A mixture of confused, low-pitched voices came back.

"Who… in our… head…

"

"It is me. The human standing before you. Listen. I can tell… you are lonely. Sad. Can you tell me… about what happened in the past? Maybe I can find a way to help you, and we can all be happy together.

"

"Human… help…?

"

"I understand you are suspicious of me. But really, take a look at yourselves, than at me. How could I possibly hurt you?

"

Actually, I could nuke this entire town and them along with it if I wanted to, but that was a different story.

"… Fine… human… what do you… want…?

" The rex asked. He was the biggest of the pack, and I judged him to be the leader. On the surface, he was just growling with no context, but Lorelei could translate his inner thoughts and send them to me so I could respond in turn.

"You see, I don't originally belong to this place. I am just an outsider who randomly stumbled across here, and am currently looking for a way home. But as you can see… this storm, it's preventing me from doing that. If I had your help, however, getting home should be easy,

" I explained, spreading my arms to show I was kind and caring.

"Of course, I'm not asking you to do that for free—we are strangers, after all. Which is why… I can tell you guys are in distress right now. Care to tell me why?

"

The rex glanced at his companions, then narrowed his eyes at me.

"No… human… weak. Human… cannot do… anything.

"

This guy… is he looking down on me? Tch… fine.

I closed my eyes for a second, then suddenly snapped them back open as a deadly and oppressive Chaos energy field enveloped my body. This caused the rex and the other dinosaurs to stumble backwards a bit, just barely stopping in time before they crashed into the village walls.

Letting the black and red strands of energy consume me whole, I slowly raised one hand and formed a simple fireball in it. In the hands of someone else, this would've been just barely enough to kill a rat. But in my hands, it can scorch an entire house.

Suddenly, I flicked it to the side, setting fire to some dead trees away from Ling Xin and Axilia. Despite the snowstorm, the flames raged on, consuming the wood in the matter of seconds before spreading to another. I waited until several more trees were burnt down before conjuring a geyser in my palm and aiming it towards the fire, spraying transparent water at it until it finally dimmed away. Normal water wouldn't have done anything to a Chaos-fueled fire. Only Chaos-fueled water could effectively put it out.

Once that little performance was over, I slowly lowered my hand and let the Chaos energy sink back into my body.

"Was that performance good enough for you? Because if not… I can destroy the mountain above us right now. But if I do that, the avalanche may reach this village you are so fond of. I don't want to be your enemy, but if you are insistent on not cooperating…

"

I let out a wave of Death energy from my body, causing the fur on the evolved dinosaurs' bodies to all stand up as if a ripple of static electricity had been sent through them.

"GRRR…. We'll… cooperate…

" The rex said after a while.

I smiled and returned to normal again, posing as a normal human.

"Good. Now… tell me what happened in the past, and what your connection to this village is.

"

*****

"We… are tribe… called… Thaw'Kawl…

" The rex began, struggling to speak human speech. Still, I could understand what he was saying thanks to Lorelei, so it was good enough.

"Thaw'Kawl… leader… evil. Want… destruction. We… don't.

"

I narrowed my eyes.

"I see… so you guys were originally from the Thaw'Kawl tribe, but eventually left because you didn't like the leader's way of destruction?

"

The rex nodded its enormous head slowly, signaling that I was correct. Good to know.

The rex then turned to the village, and continued.

"Leader… want… destroy… village. We… protect… but… no… kindness…

"

"Ahh… you've been protecting this village, but the villagers see you as monsters and are afraid of you, huh?

"

The rex nodded again. I was pretty good at this.

"Every… Storm… Thaw'Kawl… leave nest… leader comes… we fight… lose lives… villagers… no care…

"

It was then that I noticed the countless scar marks on his body, hidden beneath his fur. If one didn't look closely, they were pretty much invisible. The other dinosaurs also shared these wounds, and I now knew it was from their previous clashes with their former tribemates.

"… I see. I will go speak with the villagers,

" I said after a short silence.

"They will acknowledge you.

"

"Thank… human…

"

I shook my head.

"No probl-

"

Suddenly, a terrifying roar rang out in the air, this time closer than last time.

Yes problem.

The roars the girls and I heard earlier hadn't belonged to this pack, but the Thaw'Kawl, led by that destruction-seeking leader. And now… they were getting closer and closer.

"Leader… comes… human… leave…!

"

"Leave?

" I laughed.

"Oh, no, no…

"

Level Three Space Magic — Portal Pair.

I suddenly cut open a portal, one in front of me and one above the rex's head. I stepped through the one before me and reappeared on top of the Rex, leaving it confused and surprised.

"Human… what…

"

"If you think I'm going to run from a battle I can win, you're wrong. You've fended off these guys before, haven't you? This time, we'll crush them once and for all. They won't ever come back again.

"

"Human… you are… strong… but… not strong… enough…

"

"Is that so? Well, you see… I have a tendency for two things. One, continuously surprising others with just what I am capable of, and two… proving people wrong.

" I smiled deviously and drew my Chaos katanas.

"Now… you aren't exactly a person, but the same rule applies.

"

Then, raising my voice, I hollered,

"Ling Xin, Axilia! Come here and grab yourselves a ride. An epic showdown is about to ensue!

"

Ling Xin and Axilia immediately responded to my command, swiftly and elegantly leaping up and each landing atop the backs of a dinosaur on either side of me.

"So… we're fighting someone else now?

" Ling Xin asked. Meanwhile, Axilia admired her new ride's beautiful soft fur.

"Woah…

"

"Mhm,

" I replied with a nod.

"Not exactly 'someone' though. They're- well, actually, there they are.

"

The thunderous, charging footsteps grew louder and louder as the earth began shaking violently once again, but on top of our new mounts, the quaking wasn't much. Out from the shadows of the forest, knocking down everything in their path, came charging a stampede of dinosaurs that looked just like the rex I was on. So, it was one rex and god knows how many of these were herbivores and us versus an entire pack of rexes. How nice.

Ling Xin readied her beautiful silver daggers and donned her Shadow Empress mask, while Axilia summoned her enormous reaper's scythe. I licked one of my Chaos katanas' blade, and smiled like a devil.

"… The hunt begins.

"