《Kyoryu-Online [Dinosaur Fantasy, Isekai, LitRPG, Adventure, Action, VR MMORPG]》 Prologue My name is Rin Yuuki, And this is the best day of my Life. I was running past the many villagers and adventurers in this sprawling town, this one sunny day not out of fear or tension, but from excitement! Today was the day that the highly anticipated Open world VR-MMO Survival Game has finally released, and the best part was that it has Dinosaurs!!! "I might have to tell them I¡¯m a bit late today.¡± My sheer excitement for this day was uncontainable. I was at one of the many, MANY starter towns that the game had, and why is that? It is because the game has a massive Open world for players across the globe to start with. ¡°They should be outside the town for us to meet up.¡± I had a meetup with my friends who were just as excited about the game as I was! This game allowed us to travel through vast biomes, go on adventures both relaxing and life-threatening, and the best part was that we get to do pvp with each other,build our homes as little settlements and even form clans together! ¡°Hey, you guys!! I''m finally here, thanks for waiting.¡± I was out of breath from all the running as the starter towns themselves were quite large, since the game was a global server, it would be understandable if the towns each player started in would be the size of New York City as the game¡¯s economy is both run by its own players and npcs. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. "Haha! took you long enough. Okay, let''s sit down at the side of the gate while we wait for Rin¡¯s stamina to recover.¡± A girl with pale lavender hair, beautiful lavender eyes and clad in the same basic gear as I did suggest to our team to wait just a bit more before our adventure started. She was a rather popular person in our friend group of 4. Her name is Sakura, Haruka and the name she chose for herself in-game was Hakura. ¡°Hahaha! Thanks, I would just be a burden to you guys if we started exploring while my stamina ran out.¡± ¡°Aww! But I don''t wanna to wait anymore! Buuutttt I guess it can¡¯t be helped¡­¡± A short girl with deep amber hair, red velvet eyes and a strikingly noticeable bright red rabbit ear ribbon complained but quickly accepted our happenstance. Her name was Kasumi, Kana and her in-game name was Amber. ¡°And there she goes, with being childish again¡­¡± Kana¡¯s older brother chimed in poking fun at her behavior. His name is Senko, Kasumi and his in-game name was, and I quote: ¡°FlamePlayzAi.¡± Our clan only had 4 members, which was the number of people in our friend group. For 5 minutes of resting and catching up before our game session started, we were looking at the map trying to check for valuable resources we could farm and secure before nightfall, which was when predators started hunting. Rin Yuuki: Game Name: Ryuki Age 17 Level: 01 Hp: 800 Atk 300 Def: 260 Speed: 120 Sakura, Haruka: Game Name: Hakura Age: 18 Level: 01 Hp: 760 Atk: 280 Def: 250 Speed: 130 Kasumi, Kana: Game Name: Amber Age: 16 Level: 01 Hp: 740 Atk: 260 Def: 260 Speed: 150 Senko, Kasumi: Game name: FlameplayzAI Age: 19 level: 01 Hp: 820 Atk: 320 Def: 240 Speed: 200 Our big game plan was to hunt down an Allosaurus! Chapter 1 We were resting at the side of the town¡¯s gate huddled around 15 meters from the actual gate to avoid getting in the way of the other players that were entering and leaving. ¡°So first order of business, Do you guys actually think hunting down an allosaurus wouldn¡¯t just waste our time?¡± Hakura questioned Senko¡¯s motivation to hunt down an allosaurus. ¡°Well it shouldn¡¯t be that hard if all of us ganged up on it four to one- OUCH!!!¡± Senko proudly announced only to get pinched in the ear by Amber. ¡°What is your problem!!??¡± ¡°Are you drunk even in game!? You mean to tell us that you planned for us 4 to hunt down a large carnivore with our beginner gear!?¡± Amber was pulling hard on her brother¡¯s ear scolding him for wanting us to get reckless on this mission. ¡°Alright how about this, what if for now we grind out the low level mobs to at least try to gain levels up to 8 to 12, because I heard the lowest levels that allosaurus can be is around level 15 to 18.¡± I chimed in to stop the siblings from fighting and causing a commotion in town. ¡°Ugh! Fineeeee I guess it can¡¯t be helped¡­¡± Senko whined and accepted the plan instead. It was settled, We mapped out the beginner area and started heading out the stone bridge that connects the beginner town to the wild areas. The town was isolated from the wild areas via a large blue moat which makes the beginner town very relaxing and soothing. While walking the stone bridge together as a group I couldn¡¯t help but appreciate the games cell shaded artstyle, the sun was shining very brightly illuminating the road ahead of us, the game¡¯s landscapes was simply gorgeous to look at¡­. It took roughly 3 minutes to pass the bridge and left the town¡¯s safezone barrier, and before we knew it we were at a lush green fields where dinosaurs grazed. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Woah~ there so many wildlife and the fields are so beautiful!¡± Hakura was amazed by the leve of graphics and fidelity the game shown. ¡°Look over there! So many dinosaurs!¡± Amber was admiring the dinosaurs while me and Senko looked at each other trying to scout the area around us. The dinosaurs in this area seemed to be the sauropods: Apatosaurus, Camarosaurus, brontosaurus, the stegosaurs: Lexovisaurus and stegosaurus and even some iguanodons and stegoceras while pretosaurs and birds soared from the skies down to the land. I noticed that the sauropods were grazing from trees and some were taking a swim, the stegosaurs seem to be minding their business while stegoceras were headbutting fighting for dominance. ¡°Do you think We should¡¯ve done this alone? Hakura and amber might get scared if we encounter a carnivore Y¡¯know¡± Senko sent me a private message ¡°I can¡¯t exactly comment on that, because we all bought the game together so it¡¯s only fair for us to all experience it together¡± was my response. ¡°How about this You cover my sister¡¯s back while I cover Hakura¡± Senko suggested and I sent him a thumbs up emoji. ¡°Alright for now~ let¡¯s look for the easiest dinosaurs to take down as a group, preferably something us 4 can gang up on.¡± I announced to my team. ¡°Agreed.¡± Hakura and Senko said while amber nodded. ¡°Everyone use the area scan feature so we know what creatures are nearby.¡± Hakura suggested We all activated the scan feature and saw that the low level dinosaurs we can fight on our own or as a group were Heterodontosaurs and Hypsilophodont. ¡°Alright let¡¯s deduce which specific one we should hunt down.¡± Senko suggested.¡± ¡°We can hunt down the Pisanosaurus, Heterodontosaurus, and Echinodon although it wont give much exp for groups because they are too tiny, but We can try our shot on Hypsilophodon, Dryosaurus and Thescelosaurus or even the parkosaurus.¡± Those dinosaurs were the size of large dogs or monkeys which would let us gang up on some of them one at a time. Their mouths resembled bills and beaks so We still had to watch out¡­ Dryosaurus was a herbivore that lived in the Jurassic period and inhabited North America. Its fossils have been found in places such as South Dakota, Colorado and North Rhine-Westphalia. Dryosaurus earned its name from the oak shaped teeth of its mouth, a marked characteristic of herbivorous dinosaurs that fed on lush vegetation. It also featured a beak at the front of the mouth which would have been used for cropping off parts of plants. Parksosaurus is usually treated as a hypsilophodont dinosaur?,? ?and as with others of its kind,? ?swift speed and agility were key to the survival of the individual.? ?With this in mind,? ?the larger predators of the time such as large tyrannosaurs like adult Albertosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex probably did not even bother with smaller dinosaurs like Parksosaurus.? ?However,? ?troodonts,? ?such as the Troodon genus itself would themselves have been swift and deadly,? ?and certainly capable of taking down a Parksosaurus,? ?especially from an ambush. ¡°Raise your hand if you vote dryosaurus and keep them to your side if you vote parkosaurus.¡± Senko proudly announced while raising his hand and only I seem to want to fight Dryosaurus¡­. ¡°Tough Crowd.¡± I joked. ¡°I guess were splitting up huh?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Senko agreed. ¡°For now let¡¯d meet up at this dead log, Mark it on your maps so we dont get lost.¡± We then split up in pairs and started tracking the dryosaurus and parkosaurus respectively. Chapter 2 The four of us have separated into groups of 2. Hakura and Amber chose parkosaurus while Senko and I chose Dryosaurus. We were currently at ¡°Gentle Expanse,¡± which was grassland outside our unnamed starter town, because the devs of Kyoryu Online decided to let the game¡¯s players do the naming of the many towns they may start in which was absolutely genius on their end. ¡°The dryosaurs in this area are ranging from level 2 to level 12, so we would need to lure one of them in so we can have the high ground¡± Senko said while we were walking towards one of the many dryosaurus in the area. ¡°I get what you mean, dryosaurus are fairly large so we really need to take one out at a time, Anyway what weapon did you choose at the avatar creation? I picked a sword, and for my range weapon I picked a pistol.¡± ¡°Oh that, well I chose a staff for my melee weapon and a Long bow for my ranged weapon.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Senko scratched his butt while we walked to a fairly large rock to hide from the dryosaurus herd. ¡°So whats our plan?¡± I asked with my arms crossed. ¡°You know those Hypsilophodont bait from the town¡¯s marketplace? I bought a few of them with Amber before meeting up with Hakura outside of town, We lure one away then jump it!¡± ¡°I get the idea of your plan but you do know dryosaurus is way bigger than us right? We¡¯re not exactly professional at this so We need to lure it in an area where it wouldn¡¯t have an advantage of running.¡± I expressed my doubts towards Senko. ¡°How about the riverbank, surely it would be muddy enough so we can knock it down and go for the kill.¡± He confidently proclaimed. ¡°Alright I¡¯ll just follow your lead then boss.¡± We shook hands and then checked the beastiary. While looking through the mobs beastiary section it said that no dinosaur will be fully defensive or would passively let others kill them, some will fight back, others have defensive poisons, spikes, smells, features, run away fast. As far as I know dryosaurus are dinosaurs that acted as the herd¡¯s look out for carnivores then run away fast while the larger herd members fight for survival. ¡°Do you think it will work?¡± I wondered loudly ¡°It will work, Trust me bro I¡¯m a pro!¡± ¡°I now wish I had sided with Hakura and Amber.¡± I smirked sadly The way Senko confidently said to trust him made me even more worried. Whenever I was in co-op with this guy We always lose due to him not explaining the plan to the team. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°We need to be able to get it close enough to sink in the riverbank mud in order to slow down it¡¯s mobility.¡± I suggested ¡°Yes I know that.¡± We then threw 3 pieces of the bait near the dryosaurus herd from behind the rock we were behind of hoping one of the juveniles will fall for the bait. It took around 4 seconds before one of the younger dryosaurus noticed the baits and ate them. ¡°This is it.¡± I attached a silencer on my pistol then slowly approached the dryosaurus from behind but maintaining a distance while Senko climbed on top of the large rock. Senko threw more near the riverbank and the lone hypsilodont fell for it. That was our chance to attack! Senko shot an arrow from his longbow and pierced the dryosaurus knee¡¯s causing it to panic while I immediately fired 3 rounds from my pistol, 2 of which shot it¡¯s arm and hip while the last one missed. ¡°This is it!¡± Senko shouted while preparing to fire a second arrow while I charged at the staggered dinosaur and tackled it knocking one of it¡¯s leg down the river bank sinking to the mud while trying to pin it down for Senko to keep shooting with arrows. The Dryosaurus was struggling hard, it was trying to shake me off while trying to scratch me chipping down my health. ¡°Hurry up and shoot it!¡± I screamed trying to maintain it from escaping while keeping it down the water. ¡°Keep it still! If I accidentally shoot you it will escape!¡± Senko struggled to aim due to both me and the Dryosaurus struggling. The bipedal lizard kept scratching and kicking on my body which was not only slowly lowering my healthpoints but also chipping down my armor¡¯s durability. I couldn¡¯t let that happen! ¡°I¡¯m not letting you escape!¡± I took out my short sword and started slashing on it¡¯s already injured hip and knee cap causing it to bleed harder and making it¡¯s good leg sink in deeper! ¡°There¡¯s your opening!¡± I shouted at Senko ¡°Thanks for the wait!¡± He shot the arrow directly on it¡¯s eyeball killing it instantly and the dinosaur¡¯s corpse collapse on the river bank ¡°What took you so long?¡± My Healthpoints was lower than 220 and my stamina was just gone, my basic gear was torn apart¡­ I basically sank down when the Dryosaurus died. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to accidentally kill you, and let it escape.¡± ¡°Yeah thanks¡­¡± We heard a small chime which alerted us saying that we gained 3 levels, we were now level 4 and our stats increased by a good portion. Rin Yuuki: Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 04 Hp: 820 Atk: 280 Def: 265 Speed: 155 Senko Kasumi: Game name: FlamePlayzAi Age: 19 Level: 04 Hp: 850 Atk: 330 Def: 245 Speed: 210 We both also got 15 skill points total from the level up which we could use to raise our stats by 1 point per skill point used. ¡°Looks like we both got leveled up from the kill.¡± Senko mentioned. ¡°Yes that¡¯s good and all but let¡¯s prepare to bring this guy back to town, I need new gear and something good to eat.¡± I was very salty at my appearance after this first hunt. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s call Hakura and Amber to our location and just rest up for a bit after we get the guy out of the riverbed.¡± We sent Hakura and Amber the message of our kill and asked them to borrow a wagon and 4 sets of ropes. I picked myself up and helped Senko drag out the lizard off the river bed before it drifted away. We then waited what felt like 20 minutes when We saw Hakura and Amber about 22 feet away with the wagon and 4 ropes. ¡°Hakura! Amber! Over here!!¡± We stood up and waved at the 2 young lass. While the 2 walked towards us we saw 12 Agilisaurus strapped to their Wagon, Agilisaurus were a smaller Hypsilophodont than Dryosaurus which meant hunting them were much easier. ¡°Looks like you ladies been busy!¡± Senko praised the girl¡¯s hunt of 6 Agilisaurus each only to get ignored as the 2 girls were concerned about my torn up gear and near non existent health. ¡°Holy shit what happened to you?¡± Hakura was surprised ¡°Did that thing cause it?¡± Amber was equally flabbergasted. ¡°Yes because Senko Couldn¡¯t aim for shit.¡± I complained while removing my destroyed gear. I¡¯ll have these salvaged and replaced later. ¡°Hehe! Alright let¡¯s get this guy to that wagon.¡± Senko laughed before getting to business. We each tied a rope on each of it¡¯s limb and got it on the wagon. ¡°Alright Senko let¡¯s get our bounty to town-¡± I suggested to assist only for both of the girls to push me onto the wagon and insisted that I let them do the work which took 12 minutes of bickering. ¡°So did you gals also gained levels?¡± Senko asked while he was pulling on one side and Hakura and amber pulled on the opposite. ¡°Yes we¡¯re now level 8!¡± Amber smugly joked. ¡°The agilisaurus yielded a decent amount of exp whenever they are killed.¡± Hakura happily gloated. Kana Kasumi: Game name: Amber Age: 16 Level: 08 Hp: 780 Atk: 280 Def: 270 Speed: 170 Sakura, Haruka: Game name: Hakura Age: 18 Level: 08 Hp: 810 Atk: 280 Def: 278 Speed: 160 It seems like hunting an allosaurus will take more than a week¡­ Chapter 3 ¡°It seemed like the sun was about to start going down soon¡± I pointed out to my team. ¡°Well we did took a while hunting our bounties.¡± Hakura followed up. ¡°Yeah and we really stalled fighting the dryosaurus¡­¡± Senko threw his 2 cents in the conversation. I was sitting in the wagon with the dryosaurus and agilisaurus corpse we hunted. Due to how much my health dropped during the encounter with the dryosaurus, I was essentially a sitting duck but fortunately my teammates didn¡¯t wanted to burden me further. ¡°Are you guys gonna be able to pull the cart all the way across the stone bridge all the way to town? My health is no longer low, it¡¯s about 60% replenished so i can help with tugging the wagon¡­¡± ¡°Sure, It¡¯s less work for me!¡± Amber enthusiastically cheered. ¡°Aight scooch over to Senko and let me pull that side.¡± ¡°Huh why?¡± Amber questioned my motives. ¡°Because Senko is the physically strongest and you¡¯re the physically weakest among us¡± Hakura joked! ¡°Wh-What!? NO FAIR! I¡¯m the strongest here! B-But I guess it can¡¯t be helped then¡­¡± Amber whined before moving to Senko¡¯s side and I dropped down from the side and helped Hakura¡¯s side. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I activated my User interface to check up on my armor¡¯s durability to show the team that my beginner armor was lower than 40% and that my heathpoints was just barely 64% of my max healthpoints. ¡°The dryosaurus really did a number on my healthpoints and armor durability¡­¡± ¡°So does this mean you will be having it be repaired or replaced back in town?¡± Amber curiously asked. ¡°I do plan to do that exactly, I¡¯ll have it be salvaged and use abot 15% of our bounty¡¯s profits for reinforced leather or something similar.¡± I sighed annoyed. ¡°Well then, how about We split in 2 groups once we get to town!¡± Hakura spoke up. ¡°Hm?¡± I was confused. ¡°Alright har me out, Senko and Amber will submit our bounty to the hunter¡¯s guild and then they will meet up with us at the armory and we shall all split the bounty¡¯s rewards 25% each!¡± ¡°Sounds good to me, but why split up when we can go for the bounty¡¯s rewards first?¡± ¡°Who knows~ It would just be more fun for us that way!¡± Hakura gave me a wink and smirk and which I just rolled my eyes on much to her annoyance. It took us around 25 minutes to go from the riverbank all the way to the town¡¯s gate and another 15 minutes to actually cross the bridge because our ¡°Bounty¡± was so heavy that it dragged us down so bad that we even had to start having Amber swat away the flies and mosquitos while the 3 of us kept dragging the wagon to the bridge and across it into the city¡¯s safezone. ¡°That should not have taken us nearly an hour!¡± We were extremely tired and parked the wagon outside the town walls and sat down completely down for the count. ¡°Does anyone have any drinks on you right now?¡± Senko whined. ¡°It¡¯s back in the apartment we stayed in! I didn¡¯t know this was gonna drain us completely, just bear with it a little more, or we can just buy some from the nearby shops inside the town!¡± Hakura followed up on Senko¡¯s request. ¡°That¡¯s alright let¡¯s just get our bounty submitted so we can get rewarded and lay down in the inn so we can safely log out of this tiresome game¡­¡± Senko quickly got up ¡°Right.¡± Amber followed and dragged both me and Hakura off the side. ¡°Log out that soon? You guys aren¡¯t staying for the event later, where the players declares the town¡¯s name!¡± Hakura questioned. ¡°It¡¯s fine, both of us are completely drained from this misadventure, so You guys enjoy the festivities.¡± Senko seemed completely out of it while Amber was just ready to sleep her heart out. ¡°Alright leave the festivities attendance to us!¡± I happily said Instead of going with Hakura¡¯s plan from earlier we instead submitted the bounty as a group to which we split the bounty¡¯s reward of ¡°180,000 worth Goru¡± which was this game¡¯s currency to 45,000 equally between us 4. ¡°I guess our total bounty reward wasn¡¯t as big as expected, but it¡¯s not like we can just complain since were rookies¡­¡± Senko melancholically sighed. ¡°It¡¯s fine once we get our allosaurus we will be rich!¡± I cheered. ¡°Right!¡± We then accompanied Senko and Amber back to the inn we were staying in to see them off, after that, Hakura and I will be alone, attending the name ceremony of the town later. Chapter 4 The 4 of us were at a Tavern/Inn called ¡°The Thick Panther,¡± We accompanied Senko and Amber to their room which was labeled 203 The room was very warm and cozy, the woodwork and craftsmanship of the furnitures was aesthetically pleasing in warm shades of red and brown. ¡°So this is where We¡¯ll See you off for now?¡± Hakura asked Amber and Senko. ¡°Yeah the hunting trip was really tiring for Me~~¡± Amber was down for the count on the bed. ¡°Yeah, the thought of Ryuki dying nearly gave me a heart attack and I felt like dying.¡± Senko whined, only to get smacked by both Hakura and Amber. ¡°Pffttt~¡± I nearly broke down laughing. ¡°Anyway enjoy the festival you 2, Let¡¯s meet up in game again tomorrow!¡± Senko broke his joker mood. ¡°Yeah we¡¯ll make sure to buy a souvenir!¡± I happily said back. ¡°Amber, don¡¯t let Senko overdrink his cheap booze.¡± Hakura Said jokingly. ¡°I make sure to hit him if he overdrinks!¡± We shared a laugh together before going to the front door and the siblings logged off the game, to which Me and Hakura closed the locked door so only they can open it from the inside. The 2 of us were alone for now. ¡°So~ shall we have your beginer attire salvaged and replaced?¡± Hakura sweetly asked. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Yep, Let¡¯s enjoy the ceremony together too, but let¡¯s also getb them both a souvenir!¡± I happily told Hakura as we both headed down the tavern¡¯s inn and headed to the town¡¯s market area. The town was quite crowded with both players and npcs so the two of us stuck together quite closely at the town¡¯s walls to which it had more wiggle room than the bussling streets infront of us. The town was designed like a european medieval town where the streets are made of stones, the houses were very homey and cozy and the street lamps were that distinct shade of orange. ¡°Looks like getting to the blacksmith and armory might take us quite some time if the crowd doesn¡¯t clear up anytime soon¡± I was very annoyed. ¡°Your right, we better wait this out a bit longer¡­¡± Hakura followed up on. The 2 of us were alone, Hakura volunteered to accompany me to the blacksmith and armory to replace my old armor but due to the crowded area we couldn¡¯t do much but wait together while watching the festivities. 45 minutes later while waiting it didn¡¯t seem like the player and npcs that were crowding the place was gonna let up any time soon. ¡°Hey¡­¡± I muttered. ¡°Yes?¡± Hakura responded ¡°Thanks for waiting this out with me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no big deal, Amber was too tired and Senko is a lazy piece of shit, and I dont trust your bargaining skills to not get scammed in there.¡± I cannot tell for the life of me if that was sarcasm or not. We continued to wait until something seemed to have caught Hakura¡¯s eye from roughly 15-40 feet away¡­ ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Ryuki, do you see those?¡± ¡°Yes I do¡­¡± We were seeing players that ranged from level 4 all the way to levl 12 outside of the town¡¯s safe zone with caged Coelophysis, gallimimus, neovenator, Riojasaurus, stegoceras, pachycepalosaurus, edmontonia, and Ornitholestes. They were setting up camp 25 meters away from the town¡¯s bridge and they were all dressed in shades of brown and green as if they were bandits. ¡°Are those poachers?¡± I wondered ¡°Those dinosaurs looked abused, harmed and starved. The game is less than a week old and there are already people playing around with the wildlife¡­¡± Hakura looked upset. Hakura suddenly attempted to jump down from the town¡¯s 25 feet tall wall down to the ground. ¡°Hey, what do you think you¡¯re doing!?¡± I yelled at her. ¡°I¡¯am going to save them! What else is there to do!? Ignore it and keep waiting for the crowd to lower?¡± She snapped back. ¡°If you¡¯re implying this was about My armor being salvaged it isn¡¯t, I¡¯m just concerned with your safety.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to stop me from saving them!¡± She was about to jump but I stopped her by holding on to her hand. ¡°If you¡¯re gonna do this then I¡¯m coming too!¡± I immediately equipped my ragged armor and prepared to jump too. ¡°No you are staying right here, your armor won''t last long against those players! I¡¯m level 8 their numbers are lower than mine and there are only 2 players that¡¯s level 9 and 12!¡± ¡°If that was the case then I¡¯ll just loot the armor off those same bandits that you are trying to stop.¡± ¡°Sigh¡­ Alright let¡¯s do this together then, let¡¯s cover each other''s backs!¡± Hakura pumped herself up while I just gave a confident smile as we both leaped down the wall and prepared to run across the town¡¯s bridge fully willing to miss out on the festival just to save the dinosaurs. Chapter 5 Our Stats were roughly equal, I had the higher base hp stat while Hakura had the higher base speed and def stats, but the due to the heavily damaged conditions of my armor meant that I wouldn¡¯t last that long against multiple players that were ranging on the level 08 to level 12. But that doesn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t at least be of help and support to Hakura during her self assigned mission. Rin Yuuki: Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 04 Hp: 820 Atk: 280 Def: 265 Speed: 155 Sakura, Haruka: Game name: Hakura Age: 18 Level: 08 Hp: 810 Atk: 280 Def: 278 Speed: 160 We began to focus our energy to our legs went to a position from the bridge. ¡°Are You ready for this?¡± Hakura asked with determination in her eyes. ¡°Yes I¡¯am!¡± I happily responded ¡°Try to keep up then!¡± Hakura smugly said before immediately sprinting which caught me off guard. In a split second She had started sprinting from the town¡¯s side of the long stone bridge towards the opposite wild area side of the bridge in order to stop the poachers that She wanted to bring to justice. ¡°Overconfident as ever!¡± I followed before sprinting too. The walk from one end of the bridge to the other earlier took us roughly 3 minutes but that was when we were only level 1, We were now both level 04 and level 08 respectively which meant Hakura sprinted across the bridge in less than half of 3 minutes while It took me a bit after her time. Hakura got to the end in a minute 10 seconds while it took me a minute 40 Why the sudden shift in ground covered? Due to our hunts from earlier our stats increased, but we also gotten skill points to manually buff up the stats we desired, I dumped up 12 of my skill points into speed while the remaining 3 to atk. Rin Ryuuki: Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 04 Hp: 820 Atk: 283 Def: 265 Speed: 167 ¡°Amber¡¯s overconfidence really starting to spread to you huh?¡± I sighed completely drained while Hakura was only a bit ruffled. ¡°I guess she is a good influence then, Well then let¡¯s ambush them and take them out one at a time unless you wanna go in guns blazing.¡± Hakura explained before loading up her revolver and preparing her rapier. ¡°Let¡¯s do the stealth way, My armor is just about dead at this point.¡± We started sneaking towards the camp, it was pitch black outside of town which meant we blended into the shadows. ¡°Put this on.¡± Hakura handed a kitsune mask before putting on her own kitsune mask ¡°Thank you.¡± We¡¯ve both concealed our identity with the kitsune mask and was now 18 meters away from the camp¡¯s edge. We both went to a prone position and hid under the long grass and slowly crawled to the camp¡¯s border, split up when we were 9 meters close and scouted around to see the dinosaurs they have hostage. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°How did players that ranged from level 8 to 12 captured these much dinosaurs, game is barely 2 weeks old.¡± I sent Hakura an in game text ¡°Well the game has released late for us by 2 weeks, it already released for the european and north american region by 3 weeks in advanced. So it¡¯s likely some groups of players are already mid to high level and started poaching groups.¡± She replied. What she said was true, Kyoryu online released late in asia region and was early in european and american regions. The game only had 1 large shared server, so it wasn¡¯t unlikely to see mid to high level players, the only real difference was the starting towns we spawned in. I then attached some leaves, grass and flowers all across my ¡°damaged¡± armor in order to blend in further and to have even a little more defense between me and whatever weapon they had. ¡°Ready when you are.¡± I sent another message. ¡°Look to your right, their should be a tree 12 meters away.¡± Hakura responded. I saw her at the tree doing the same thing I did and fahsioned up some light armor made of plants and vegetations. ¡°I¡¯ll snipe that level 8 player from this tree, you go pull his corpse deep in the long grass and get whatever armor or equipment you can get.¡± Hakura sent another message ¡°I¡¯ll take you up on that offer.¡± When a player dies in game, they lose 25% of any farmable resources they have, then their corpse drops dead on the ground, ¡°Obviously,¡± there is then a 5 to 25 second window for other players to try loot what they can out of the dead players inventory before it all teleports away when the player respawn. Naturally, We we¡¯re gonna abuse that mechanic in order to give me a fighting edge over these poachers. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± An arrow is suddenly flew past my direction and immediately went through a level 9 player¡¯s head whom was separated from the camp to organize his belongings. That was my chance I made a light run towards the downed player, while the darkness and the vegetation clothing I had covered me as I dragged them into the long grass before I started looting their equipment. He had a reinforced leather breastplate, knee pads, elbow pads hand guards that protected his arms, the material reminded me of crododile leather. ¡°I looted his armor¡± I sent another message to Hakura before unequipping my damaged armor and equipping the one I looted. ¡°Good work, Now let¡¯s get to business.¡± The camp had a large bonfire, and small lanterns as their only light sources meaning we can hide really well in the shade of darkness and flora. There was a total of 17 players in this camp left, there were large carts carrying cages of the dinosaurs they captured and the members of the group seem to not be on the most friendly terms together, as it¡¯s more like their just a group with common goals, like mercenaries. ¡°Ryuki, heres our options.¡± Hakura texted a few ways to do this. The first one was to find a way to Distract, while we release the captured dinosaurs letting them cause chaos and carnage to their captors, the 2nd was stealthily kill them off one by one, the 3rd was go in guns blazing, which was the option I don¡¯t want to do, the last one was stealthily kill off the poachers while also trying to release the captured dinosaurs. ¡°Option 4¡± I texted ¡°I¡¯ll try to kill them off, you release the dinosaurs, there should be a key near their luggage.¡± ¡°We¡¯re in this together, so dont carry the burden alone.¡± I responded I loaded my silenced pistol and shot one of the poachers whom were talking together which was intentionally to get their attention as I dove into the long grass before firing at another poacher whom were with 2 others. ¡°There¡¯s SOMEONE HERE!! SEARCH FOR THEM!!¡± Their head honcho shouted as he equipped a large claymore. There were only 15 left, but now is the real challenge! The poachers geared up and started exploring the area while other scanned the area. Due to our flora and vegetation disguise, We blended right in even if noises could give us away. There was about 4 men that came to the direction near me, however¡­ A fire cracker went off near the dinosaurs¡¯ cage, specifically, the ones containing edmontonia, stegoceras, Neovenator, agitating the captured dinosaurs which took away the hunter¡¯s attention away from me, that¡¯s right Hakura took advantage of the opening I gave her to get these hunters to panic and scramble. ¡°Pretty ballsy move Hakura.¡± I then shot off the locks from the neovenator, cages using my pistol causing them to break loose, Alerting the hunters as they broke free and were ready to feast. Neovenator was a relative of Allosaurus, Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosarus and Giganotosaurus, It is one of the best known theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Europe. It was about 7 to 8 meters long and around 10 meters tall or even higher. One of the neovenators roared as it pounced on 2 of the initially 4 hunters that were going toward me and chomped down on one their heads knocking away the other. While some of it¡¯s brethren charged towards the main group of the poachers. In a brief moment screams and bloodshed were heard as the Neovenators were now having a fight to the death with the hunters while I blew our cover by revealing myself and released the coelophysis and edmontonia which started causing even more commotion leading to a domino effect! 2 hunter¡¯s left. I then heard screams of bloody murder and fury as the poacher¡¯s head honcho then man handled his last remaining man towards a group of neovenators, As he then ruthlessly crushed them by slamming his large claymore down on their body while the rest of the captured dinosaurs had now fled. ¡°So you¡¯re the intruder, Did your parents not tell you to mind your business!?¡± the man shouted. He was 6 foot tall and was level 15, his armor was made of the fur of what looked like a sabertooth cat and scales of allosaurus. ¡°Yes they did, I just couldn¡¯t let bastards like you ran lose!¡± I snapped back before shooting 3 more rounds at him! He immediately protected himself with his large claymore and dashed to my direction while I tried to keep firing to no avail, he slammed the blunt side of his large claymore on my body, I felt that the impact was barely mitigated by the armor I stole. ¡°Ryuki! Get out of there now!¡± Hakura shot multiple arrows at his direction, 3 pierced his back but he just tanked them like it was nothing. ¡°Damn¡­ that was painful as hell¡­¡± I gasped for air as I shouted for Hakura to get out of here now. I felt my ribs shatter as I was flung towards a tree and Immediately got back up and fired 2 more rounds, one of which shot his ear off. ¡°Tenacious little shit huh!?¡± He yelled pissed before throwing his claymore right at me which only barely missed my head, I couldn¡¯t move and I had my back up against the wall. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what punk, I¡¯ll spare you, but you will work for me from now on, My men are all back at the base because of your stunt. ¡°I¡­. Re¡­. Refuse!!!!¡± I tried to tackle him but to no avail¡­ ¡°Time to die.¡± The bastard whispered to my ear as he just grabbed my shoulders and slammed me to the tree around 4 times, My health was now in the low red¡­ He was about to bash my head in but¡­. A hissing noise was suddenly around us. He turned his head only to see a neovenator he seemingly killed got up and was now behind him, the dinosaur got up because Hakura treated it¡¯s wound and gave it just enough time to got up and properly move. ¡°Look who¡¯s out of options now!¡± I shouted and shot 2 rounds on his knees and abdoment causing him to drop me while the neovenator chomped down on his head!!! The bastard then tried to push off the the reptile however, Hakura shot an arrow on his kneecaps which caused him to lose balance as the Large Theropod finished him off, by chomping down on his guts infront of me. ¡°Can you walk?¡± Hakura reached out her hand for me. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± I reached for it as We slowly walked back from this ruined campsite towards the town¡­ We arrived at dawn and saw a large sign at the stone bridge saying ¡°Welcome to Gunnhildr town.¡± ¡°We missed the town naming festival¡­¡± I muttered while we crossed the bridge. ¡°It¡¯s alright, what¡¯s important was we helped out those dinosaurs¡­¡± Hakura replied¡­ The walk on the stone bridge took 10 minutes and we sat at the side of the gate again. ¡°Sorry for burdening you Ryuki¡­¡± Hakura said with some sadness in her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s alright, just treat me to something delicious tomorrow.¡± I guess the ¡°Best¡± Day of my life was also the most traumatizing, but that didn¡¯t matter, I had my Friend by my side through it all. Chapter 5 interlude I was sitting in my room watching a U-Tube video from my laptop when suddenly¡­ ¡°Ring Ring¡± Senko, Kana and Haruka invited me to a video call. ¡°You 2 did WHAT!?!!?!?!?!?¡± Yelled by Kana from our video call. ¡°Let us explain¡­¡± Haruka tried to calm down the 2 through the screen. Shortly after logging off the game, I was invited to a video call with Haruka, Senko and Kana but when Senko and Kana found out about the incident that Haruka and I got involved in, We were scolded into oblivion for attempting a suicide mission against players that were several levels stronger than Us 2 combined. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°What is there to explain?¡± I asked and raised an eyebrow. ¡°You left Me out of that mission!!¡± Senko shouted before being smacked by Kana using a broom which was a funny sight. ¡°You 2 could¡¯¡¯ve gotten hurt!! Next time, If you 2 do anything reckless You shall taste the divine punishment!¡± Threatened Kana. ¡°We¡¯re sorry¡­¡± Haruka and I said in unison as when Kana says divine punishment she meant was forcing us to run a 500 meter sprint. The thing was, without the cover of darkness and the illumination of moonlight we never would have survived the encounter and our inventory would have been looted as well lose 15% of our stuff, so they did have a good point. ¡°You made your point, so here¡¯s the deal, before we attempt anything dangerous We¡¯ll report to you 2 so you guys can join us, fair?¡± I questioned Kana. ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± Kana said and Senko nodded. I haven¡¯t touched Kyoryu Online for a 2 days after our initial gaming session, I was exhausted from the experience while my friends were all busy for a while, Senko was out shopping wine and alcohol, Haruka was having an outing with her ¡°Girl friends,¡± while I got stuck babysitting Kana during her daily exercises because Haruka was not around for a bit. Chapter 6 After the exhaustive game session the 4 of us did when Kyoryu online released we barely touched the game for 2 days. I was currently ¡°Babysitting¡± Kana, because her brother Senko weaseled out of accompanying her during her morning runs so He could spend some time in a ¡°Cheap booze Exhibit¡± while Haruka was missing in action due to her outing and which I ended up as the extra body that Kana dragged along. I was at the park watching over Kana¡¯s morning jogging, it was 4:50 am and I felt so tired waking up so early. ¡°Sigh¡­ Why did I let Senko convince me to join you¡­¡± I thought to myself while sitting on a bench waiting for Kana to finish her jog. And before I knew it she was aiming her phone at me trying to take a selfie together. ¡°Say Cheeeeeese~!!¡± Kana urged me to smile so she can start taking 30 different selfies of us together. Kana had a fairly length light orange-blonde hair which were fashioned into side pony tails, she was wearing a pink tracksuit top which was given to her by Haruka during her birthday a while ago, and navy blue shorts that reached just above her knees, white socks and lastly a pair of red and white running shoes. ¡°Can you STOP THAT!?¡± I yelled. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Unfortunately for her, I don¡¯t enjoy taking selfies at all, let alone dozens upon dozens of them. ¡°Just smile!¡± She was aiming her phone at me from different angles. ¡°I refuse.¡± I covered my face with both my hands. ¡°Aww~ come on! Don¡¯t be such a stinker!¡± She angrily pouted while trying to shake my hands of my face. ¡°Do you not have anything else better to do? It¡¯s only 5:30 am!!!¡± I complained. ¡°Come on!! You wouldn¡¯t let a young lady go out this early all on her lonesome now would you?¡± She tried to at cutely. ¡°The same young lady We¡¯re talking about has also bench pressed 4 men twice her size during her martial arts lessons and also carried 3 people on her back while trekking through a steep hill!¡± I retorted back as Kana was very capable of defending herself due to her martial arts experience and the time she carried Me, Haruka and Senko on a steep hill. ¡°Hehe~ no need for flattery~¡± She pridefully snickered. ¡°Anyway what¡¯s the real reason we went out to the park this early, you clearly already finished your morning run 4x over already.¡± ¡°Well~~~ I don¡¯t really like running all alone in the dark!¡± She shyly responded. ¡°Why? Are you afraid that a carnotaurus would jump out and ambush you?¡± I asked. ¡°*Gasp* How did you know!? Are you a psychic!? Can you read minds?? Come on tell me!!!!!!¡± She yelled curiously. ¡°What? No I just took a shot in the dark!¡± ¡°Liar!! I dare you to guess what im thinking about right now!¡± She grabbed both my shoulders and shook me for roughly 5 minutes trying to get me to fess up. ¡°You¡¯re thinking about how I¡¯m guessing your every thought when your a very simple person to predict!¡± ¡°Wrong! I was thinking about those very delicious and long Chocolate Bananas in vanilla pudding!!!!¡± ¡°. . . . . .¡± I want to hit her so bad. The sun was rising slowly and it¡¯s no longer as dark out here in the park where I accompanied Kana. ¡°Hey, do you wanna grab breakfast together?¡± I suggested ¡°Oh sure! Let¡¯s go to a nearby convenience store and eat there!¡± Before I knew it she quickly grabbed my hand and started running as if I was barely weighing her down. For what felt like 3 minutes, Kana was holding on to my hand, running at full speed while dragging me along the streets as if She wasn¡¯t even carrying a second body along with her until we finally arrived at a convenience store called ¡°9-11.¡± Chapter 7 We arrived at the Convenience store and the sun has finally risen. ¡°Hey Kana¡± ¡°Yes, what is it Rin? ¡°How the hell are you able to drag me around the streets so quickly with little effort?¡± I said while panting and catching my breath. ¡°I just exercise daily in the morning and night.¡± ¡°There¡¯s gotta be a trick you¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°A trick? Why would you think that Rin?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because¡­ never mind let¡¯s just have breakfast.¡± I didn¡¯t have a proper basis on how strong Kana is So I just left it at that. ¡°Oh okay then¡­¡± ¡°Just so you know, you¡¯re paying for my breakfast since you dragged me along with you since I woke up!¡± I flaunted while opening the door. ¡°It¡¯s alright I don¡¯t mind treating you~¡± ¡°That was easier than I thought¡­ what¡¯s the catch?¡± ¡°Well~¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°You stole from Senko didn¡¯t you?¡± Kana only nodded in embarrassment. We entered the ¡°Konbini¡± or convenience store and started checking what food was available in the different aisles. ¡°I figured you¡¯d say that Kana¡­¡± ¡°Pretty please don¡¯t tell My older brother about this~¡± ¡°I see no reason to snitch on you, he did leave you alone today! So let us call it revenge hehe¡± ¡°**Gasp** Really!? Thank you! You¡¯re the best!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just get something to eat already¡­ I¡¯m dying over here~¡± ¡°Aye aye, captain!¡± Kana saluted. I was craving something that could fill me up for a while, it was now 6:15 am and I wasn¡¯t gonna have an early lunch especially after this inhuman girl dragged me all the way here. ¡°What¡¯cha looking at over there Yuuki?¡± Kana snuck up behind me. ¡°Donuts and coffee, But I¡¯m also considering buying some instant ramen¡­ how about you?¡± ¡°I bought Choco bananas!¡± She was holding a plastic bag of bananas dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles. ¡°You really love those huh?¡± ¡°Of course I do! Hehe~ Choco bananas are the best snack eve- Ouch!!!¡± I karate-chopped her on the head! ¡°We¡¯re here to eat breakfast! Not have a sugar rush you dumb ass!¡± ¡°Fine then! What do you suggest I buy!?¡± ¡°Get a sandwich or salad for all I care, I¡¯m not saying you can¡¯t buy the choco bananas! Just get something that isn¡¯t gonna kill you in 15 years!¡± ¡°Alright I¡¯m sorry~¡± Her Bunny ears went down as if they were part of her head¡­. ¡°Sigh¡­¡± I readjusted them back to normal. ¡°Um¡­ Why¡¯d you do that for?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t like seeing you sad¡­ It just doesn¡¯t suit a troublemaker like you¡­¡± ¡°Oh MY~ do you have a crush on me Rin~?¡± ¡°Not really, But I wouldn¡¯t mind going out together.¡± ¡°Hmmm! Does this not count as going out together?¡± ¡°You mean rushing in my house and dragging me out of bed to babysit you on your morning walk as a date? No, I don''t.¡± ¡°Hmph! What a meanie!¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯am a meanie now get something to eat.¡± ¡°Oh alright.¡± 5 minutes later we met up at the cashier. ¡°So what¡¯cha get Yuuki?¡± ¡°Took me a while but I decided to just buy a cup of coffee, a cup of miso soup, and some tamagoyaki, and you?¡± ¡°Aside from the choco bananas I bought some tempura and onigiri, and for a drink I just got some tea.¡± ¡°That is a pretty good spread we have. Do you wanna eat here or?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s eat here so the food won''t go bad okay?¡± ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do that.¡± We had breakfast together at the convenience store, Kana seemed to be really enjoying the idea of pairing ¡°Choco bananas¡± with different types of snacks, I applauded her ¡°creativity,¡± and well that''s the nicest way I could put it without making her cry. ¡°Why does it feel like we''re an old married couple?¡± I spoke out loud. ¡°Well~ Do you mind looking like an old married couple?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I supposed not but that was just the vibe I got from this.¡± After finishing our breakfast we headed back to the park, sat on a bench, and observed the birds flying by. Chapter 8 Spending my entire morning with Kana has honestly reminded me of the times when we were in middle school, back then Senko was always with other boys while Haruka was Studying like always which meant it was always just us, You could say she was the person I was closest to in the group, Which then explains why I¡¯m so tolerant of her and how she just drags me around all day. Before We parted ways on the street she asked to always accompany her when We¡¯re both free, I reluctantly agreed. ¡°Oh it¡¯s finally time to log back in Kyoryu Online. I better enjoy my summer break with it.¡± My 2nd year of highschool has just recently ended. The reason I mentioned this is that the devs of Kyoryu online specifically released the game during summer season which made it great for teens and gamers. I put on the VR headset, lied on my bed and activated the device and then¡­¡­ ¡°Welcome, To Kyoryu Online player Ryuki.¡± said the game¡¯s announcer as I logged in the starter town. Once again I couldn¡¯t help but appreciate the game¡¯s wonderful cell-shaded art style. ¡°I wonder If Kana and the others have logged in today¡­¡± I opened my friend¡¯s list to see if they logged on into the server and unsurprisingly I was alone, they were probably all busy, Kana was likely resting after her daily exercise, and I wasn¡¯t sure how long Haruka does shopping and knowing Senko he probably still drinking alcohol somewhere. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Look¡¯s like I¡¯m alone today¡­ Oh right I still haven¡¯t replaced my old gear¡­ I¡¯m only using the one I got from the invasion that Hakura and I did. I went to the town¡¯s markets, sorted out my inventory and sold all the battle gear I had including the one I robbed, I was really planning to replace everything. I quickly got the reinforced leather leggings and tunic, both of which had some silver plating on the shoulders, elbows and knees. I didn¡¯t bother getting a helmet but I did get iron boots from what I was able to salvage, I had 45,000 goru which increased to 46,800 due to selling the scraps but after I replaced everything I had 27,300 remaining, replacing gear from scratch really wasn¡¯t a good move but what choice did I have? I once again went out the town¡¯s gate and crossed the stone bridge this time in less than a minute. ¡°Record broken¡­¡± My previous was 1 minute 40 seconds, now it was 40 seconds, I was able to shave an entire minute due to a level up I didn¡¯t noticed during the attack on the camp Hakura and I did. I somehow went from level 4 with stats like these; Level: 04 Hp: 820 Atk: 280 Def: 265 Speed: 155 To level 12 with stats like these; Level; 12 Hp:1,150 Atk: 520 Def: 350 Speed:300 Frankly¡­ My stats were disgustingly bad, I didn¡¯t really have access to any ¡°Good¡± gear or weapons and I have yet to invest skill points, I need to be careful when I invest¡­ That made me wonder, what let¡¯s a player level up in this game is it simply killing mobs and other players? Doing quests? Getting new gear or something more vague¡­ ¡°I wonder if the game had some kind of IV and EV system similar to a certain game where you trap animals into tiny balls and force them to fight their brethren.¡± I thought to myself while scanning the fields around me for dinosaurs I could hunt alone for bounty. If there are any carnivorous dinosaurs that are decent for hunting at my level, then I would probably try to hunt as many as possible both for the Experience points, skill points and bounty rewards. I started scanning the fields and noticed that there were coelophysis nearby¡­ Coelophysis was one of the first known dinosaurs dating all the way back from 190 to 216 million years ago in North america and africa, their fossils are found all over the world, and they were one of the most successful predators in their time. Coelophysis was a slender theropod dinosaur, it¡¯s leg bones were hollow which let them travel at 25mph, it was a nimble predator. They stand at around 1.8 meters or 5¡¯10, however like most theropod it didn¡¯t stood upright so despite the scary 5¡¯10 height it would actually only reach half or slightly above my waist. ¡°I can definitely handle them¡­. Right? I mean it¡¯s just a predator the size of a pitbull¡­.¡± Chapter 9 ¡°I¡¯m not confident about this¡­.¡± I finished scanning the map of the location of the Coelophysis group, there were 6 of them in total, and they were around the levels of 9 to 16 meanwhile I¡¯m on level 12. ¡°Someone please convince me to not do this¡­¡± I thought while heading directly for the small group. I picked up several sticks and pebbles on the way so that I didn¡¯t have to aimlessly use my pistol and short sword. Why exactly did I pick pebbles and sticks? It¡¯s because coelophysis was very slender with hollow limbs meaning blunt force weapons that do blunt force damage would be the best course of action to use against them, the second reason was because my short sword is a ¡°slash¡± type weapon meanwhile my pistol or handgun is a ¡°piercing¡± type weapon. The other reason I picked up sticks is to craft a slingshot to fight at a ranged distance. ¡°There they are¡­ I¡¯m about to fucking die aren¡¯t I?¡± I tried to be optimistic about fighting a group of overgrown featherless chickens the size of pitbulls. I was finally far enough to them to where they couldn¡¯t detect me while simultaneously close enough to do a surprise attack. ¡°. . . . .Go!¡± I immediately used a sling shot that shot off 4 pebbles that got the attention of the Coelophysis group, there were 6 of them and ranged from levels 9 to 16 2 of my pebbles missed and 2 hit, one struck a coelophysis on the neck the other on a leg, that was a good enough for me as the slender lizard things are now somewhat crippled from the initial attack! ¡°Now that¡¯s what I¡¯m talkin- gagh!¡± I got hit from the side by a coelophsyis I wasn¡¯t able to detect, apparently there was a 7th I missed. ¡°Stubborn little shits!¡± I shot another pebble while I got knocked to my side but unfortunately It missed! Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Tch! Damn it!¡± I fell on my butt with my back against a log, the same compy lunged at me but fortunately that was predictable, I took my pistol and fired directly at it¡¯s head as I rolled out of the way and got back up immediately. ¡°Shit¡­.¡± I was already surrounded by 4 of the remaining 6 dinosaurs because the ones I struck on the initial attack was dead from the headshot while the other had it¡¯s leg incapacitated. There was no other option other than fighting all of the remaining 4 head on! ¡°. . . . . . Go!¡± I mustered my strength as one of the Coelophysis leaped at me, which got its neck slashed open by my short sword. ¡°3 More to g-¡± I got interrupted by the remaining 3 which knocked me down face first. ¡°Now¡¯s not the time for this!¡± I strengthened my body and used my arms as a shield to guard my face as the last 3 leaped on me and started pecking and gnawing at my arms and abdomen which my reinforced leather armor was barely blocking. ¡°No!¡± I tried to roll but the dinosaurs blocked the way and started trying to peck my eyes out. One of the dinosaurs suddenly started chirping loudly. ¡°Th-there calling for help!?¡± I quickly checked my health points and I was at 48%, the leather armor was barely doing jack squat against 3 coelphysis! I was In shock I couldn¡¯t let these guys start calling for help so I mustered any strength I had to knock them off and got back up. ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± I pulled my pisto and head shot one of the 3 coelophsyis which alerted the remaining 2. ¡°Damn¡­ These guys are a pain¡­¡± I prepared my short sword and pistol. ¡°No more games-¡± A Utahraptor suddenly leaped above me and killed one of the coelophysis and mauled the other¡¯s face off. Utahraptor is a genus of large dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period from around 135 to 130 million years ago in what is now the United States. The Dinosaur has long been recognized as the world''s largest dromeosaur. Utahraptor is the largest of all raptor dinosaurs. It is also the oldest of this family, living approximately 125 million years ago. It was a heavily built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore. It contains a single species, Utahraptor ostrommaysi, which is the largest-known member of the family Dromaeosauridae, measuring about 5¨C5.5 metres (16¨C18 ft) long and weighing around 250¨C350 kilograms (550¨C770 lb). ¡°What the hell is a Utahraptor doing in the fields of a starter town?¡± I spoke out loud. ¡°Because it¡¯s my personal tame!¡± Said someone from behind me. I quickly turned around to face who this was. ¡°And Who are you supposed to be.¡± I questioned while holding my pistol but unaimed. Behind me was a boy that stood about 5¡¯7, He had blonde hair, a crop top with brown overcoat, white pants, black shoes and a cowboy hat. Accompanying him were 3 more utahraptors and a girl with elf ears, she had dark tanned skin, silver hair, red eyes, large breasts and was dressed as a maid. ¡°. . . . .¡± I didn¡¯t know how to handle this group. ¡°Call Me, Diego¡­. I¡¯m from the Enrico Clan¡± His voice was very flamboyant and elegant like a desperate prince needing attention from mommy and daddy. ¡°My name is Ryuki, and whose that person next to you?¡± I Something in my gut told me that this man wasn¡¯t someone that I should be trusting¡­ ¡°Oh her~? Well she''s my secretary!¡± I noticed their personal levels were level 19 while the utahraptors they brought with them were in the level 20s, there was no way this guy wasn''t a normal player! [author] I don''t own the illustrations [/author] Chapter 10: Vengeance with ties that bind There was a sense of bloodlust coming off of this man, it¡¯s like he didn¡¯t save me from the Coelophysis out of the goodness of his heart, I can feel something sinister is coming from him. ¡°Low-level players like ourselves shouldn¡¯t have tames on the categories of Utahraptors. There¡¯s was definitely something off with you.¡± I called him out. His blue eyes had a glint of cold aloof, it didn¡¯t seem like my words even fazed him, could it be that he had heard these before? ¡°Answer Me. Most low-level players shouldn¡¯t even be capable of having ¡°Elite carnivores¡± for tames this early, the game is barely a few months or 2 old.¡± ¡°Big words coming from a low-life such as yourself~!¡± ¡°Low life? I see, you¡¯re one of those people with a superiority complex to match his own ego. ¡°You can say that filthy worm, but I¡¯ll have you know you¡¯re under no basis to start interrogating me like I owe you rent!¡± ¡°Tch¡­.¡± He was correct about that. To my surprise he just smirked, one of the only other ideas I have about him is he could be someone that has spent a lot of money on the game¡¯s in-app purchases, but that strictly didn¡¯t make sense, before I met up with my friends during the release I first checked out what in-app purchases this game had! Most of the many in-app purchases are just extra loot, such as materials that are easily farmable by grinding long enough, in-game currency, and building materials, nothing in the shop even hinted about! Not to mention that there are monthly limits to purchases, a player can only purchase around 10x a month and all material categories share that limitation. ¡°Ah! It seems like you have no more things to tell, I¡¯ll see you later filthy low-life!¡± ¡°The Hell did you call me!?¡± I prepared my short sword to fight. The last idea I have of this guy is he is simply part of a clan that already has good tames, or that he originated from a different server such as Usa region but moved over to this area¡¯s region. What I¡¯m trying to say is that the game released early in the USA and European servers but late in Asia region meaning those other regions had a headstart due to the game only having 1 server. ¡°How brave of you to raise a sword at the person who saved your life, well I can easily revoke that safety I brought upon ya! Come face your demise!¡± ¡°Uh- First off you look like a cowboy yet you¡¯re talking like royalty! Could it be that you¡¯re compensating for something you¡¯re highness?¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°How dare you speak to master like that!?¡± The elf chick snapped. ¡°What are you gonna do about it then? Kill me? Bring it on!¡± I responded. The tension has really started escalating, I¡¯am in no condition to even check my stats! The utahraptors had all started hissing at me as if they were preparing to gang up on me all at once! ¡°Ahahaha! What a jokester you are! I hate clowns!¡± He immediately pulled out 2 revolvers and started firing. I knew he had guns so I anticipated it and started rushing at his direction and slashing at the bullets he fired. ¡°Not bad for a low life!¡± He turned his back from me. ¡°Die!¡± I yelled. He let himself open, that was my shot! I bridged the distance between us, And as I was about to stab the back of his head. However, a sudden rush of paralyzing pain struck me. ¡°Hah!¡± The elf chick jumped in front of the bastard and kicked me right at the gut causing me to break my momentum, and fall backward head first on the ground. I quickly rolled to the side and got up but¡­ ¡°I¡¯m not done ye-¡± One of the Utahraptors leaped on top of me, dug its sharp hooked claw into my guts, and started mauling my head! ¡°Ugggghh¡­!!!¡± ¡°Take what you deserve you ant! That¡¯s what you deserved for releasing my test subjects!¡± Diego shouted while doing a flamboyant pose. It was extremely sudden, I was feeling an excruciating pain in my head and guts for what felt like an eternity! Its sharp teeth dug into my cranium until¡­¡­ My vision went dark and¡­ ¡°A You died screen¡± appeared in front of me and asked if I wanted to respawn. ¡°Yes.¡± I was back at the inn¡¯s room that Senko, Kana, and Haruka rented. I started breathing heavily, that mauling I got from that dinosaur was extremely painful, like 2 cement doors closing in on your ball sack¡­. My vision also felt blurry and all I remembered was that man¡¯s face. ¡°Wait! My Inventory!¡± I felt my mind spinning but I immediately went and clumsily opened up and checked my stuff. I somehow only lost half my food, and several farmable materials like wood, and water, and lastly my ¡°Reinforced leather¡± was 80% dead. ¡°Well, that sucked.¡± I sighed before I started talking to myself as I remembered what that man told me while I was dying. Diego said that this was my punishment for releasing his test subjects! ¡°Could it be¡­ He was allied with the group of poachers that Haruka and I sabotaged!?¡± ¡°What are you doing here talking to yourself?¡± Senko¡¯s voice was suddenly heard. ¡°Huh?¡± was all I could say because I felt very lightheaded from the experience. I turned around to see that Senko, Haruka, and Kana had all just logged in the game and appeared in the room with me. ¡°You¡¯re all here¡­ Good.¡± I muttered. ¡°Is something wrong Yuuki?¡± Kana went close to me and put her hands on my shoulders. She had concern in her eyes and was talking softly. ¡°It¡¯s nothing Kana, Hey Haruka.¡± ¡°Yes, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Those poachers we sabotaged¡­ I think I just met their ¡°true¡± boss. Her eyes widened and the look in her eyes turned to seriousness. ¡°What happened!? Tell me!¡± She started interrogating me. ¡°You see¡­ I was hunting coelophysis earlier, I ended up getting swarmed when that guy¡¯s utahraptor saved me.¡± ¡°A Utahraptor!?¡± all 3 of them shouted. ¡°Yeah, I confronted him about how he had multiple of them along with a personal dark elf chick bodyguard. ¡°Is she hot? Gagh!¡± Senko questioned before being smacked by Kana. ¡°Yes, She was very ho-¡± Haruka smacked my head. ¡°Back to the point¡± Haruka smiled with murder in her eyes. ¡°Y-yes ma¡¯m¡­ well Eventully¡­¡± I told them everything I knew and the look in their eyes got more concerned with each word I said. ¡°Yuuki¡­¡± Senko muttered while forming a fist. I couldn¡¯t help but be wary of the atmosphere in the room all 3 of them looked enraged and distressed. ¡°All of you go cool down, I started the confrontation first, and suffered for it.¡± I sternly told them. ¡°That¡¯s not what we¡¯re angry about!¡± Kana yelled. ¡°...¡± ¡°We¡¯re angry because that bastard went and killed you as if you were nothing but a bunch of worms inside dirt!¡± Haruka snapped with tears in her eyes.. ¡°I¡¯m fine okay. Just cool down for a while, then all of us are going out to explore okay?¡± I patted Haruka on the head. ¡°Yuuki look at me!¡± Senko voice broked. ¡°What is it brother?¡± ¡°All 4 of us. We¡¯re gonna pay that son of a bitch back tenfold! ¡°Heh, I¡¯ll take you up for that offer.¡± Knowing how much they cared for me is a confidence boost, the 4 of us always had each other¡¯s back ever since we were little, we always gave each other a hard time but we never abandoned each other and being reassured of that was relieving. Chapter 11: Team leadership 10 minutes later, It semed like the tension in the room has slowly started to cool down. Senko was on a bed sorting his inventory, Haruka was looking out the window and Kana was adjusting her Avatar¡¯s bunny ear colors and pattern trying to look cute. ¡°It seems they finally cooled down.¡± I thought to myself while sitting in the corner. The lost I had today was big, a lot of items from my inventory was looted after I died, I lost half of my goru, stacks of food I prepared in advance and raw materials I could¡¯ve used for upgrades. As much as I wanted to keep sulking in my defeat, that would just waste me and my friends¡¯ time. ¡°All of you get ready.¡± I commanded. ¡°Hm?¡± Kana looked up. ¡°Yes buddy?¡± Senko turned his ui off. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Yuuki?¡± Haruka questioned me. ¡°I¡¯m done sulking, let¡¯s head out of town, I need another armor repair and let¡¯s go explore the wilderness.¡± I got up, stretched and got out from the corner and started walking to the door. All 3 of them smiled, gave me a knowing nod as we checked out of the inn and went to town to repair my gear in town. ¡°It feels nostalgic¡­¡± I mentioned ¡°How come?¡± Haruka asked while Senko and Kana looked at me. ¡°You see, the last time us 3 all walked together aside from when the game came out, was during the mountain hiking trip We did last Christmas.¡± ¡°You mean the time, all 3 of you collapsed for being weak!? And I carried everyone up and down the mountain- Agghh!!!¡± Kana joked smugly before Senko hit the back of her head. ¡°Don¡¯t ruin the moment sis.¡± Senko smacked the back of Kana¡¯s head. ¡°Is there ever a moment where those 2 not fight?¡± Haruka asked. ¡°Nope, and I would like for it to stay that way.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I had my ¡°reinforded leather¡± gear repaired from the blacksmith, and We quickly crossed the town¡¯s stone bridge and headed into the wilderness. This time, Instead of heading to ¡°Gentle expanse¡± like the first time, We instead walked further down the trails and went to a nearby fields called ¡°Meadow Mosaic¡± Despite being directly next ¡°Gentle Expanse,¡± ¡°Meadow Mosaic¡± Is actually quite far from the expanse by around 2.5 Kilometers, Yes our group walked the whole distance. We entertained ourselves by taking pictures of the landscapes and dinosaurs on the trails, some included the sauropods; Apatosaurus, Massopondylus, and Barapasaurus which were grazing on trees and branches, other dinosaurs were Ceratopsians: that included the dinosaurs; Pachyrhinosaurus and Centrosaurus and lastly a flock of ostrich-like dinosaurs called Gallimimus that ran past us. We even started catching some fish and crabs on the nearby rivers, picked some fruits from the trees and started racing each other, It was almost like we were back in gradeschool. This was definitely a mini field trip. After a short while of travelling we finally arrived at Meadow Mosaic. ¡°Here we are, alright what¡¯s the game plan to hunt the ¡°Herrerasaurus¡± Yuuki?¡± Senko crossed his arms. ¡°The P-Plan¡­?¡± I stuttered. ¡°Yeah, you are the leader here right?¡± Haruka twirled her hair. ¡°. . . . .¡± What do I say to that? ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Kana asked while latching on to my back. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just got lost in thought.¡± I muttered. They were right, I was the one that initiated this new ¡°Mission¡± that we¡¯re taking part in. Meaning I had to take the calls to action starting this day onwards. ¡°Alright here¡¯s the plan, If you checked our commission description it said that there seems to be an infestation of a rather small carnivore, the ¡°Herrerasaurus.¡± I announced. ¡°This is definitely a step up from the dryosaurus and parkosaurus we hunted down a while ago.¡± Senko mentioned while reading the commission on his ui. ¡°I¡¯m kinda feeling nervous about this Yuuki, are you sure we¡¯re up for this?¡± Kana asked shyly. ¡°Yes, all of you are ready, We¡¯re not gonna split up like last time this time we¡¯re covering each other¡¯s backs because this dinosaur wasn¡¯t a joke whatsoever. Herrerasaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that originated from Late Triassic South America. One of the earliest dinosaurs that ever lived, it is discovered at the Ischigualasto formation. It stood at 3.6 feet, 14.8 feet in length and weighed 440.9lbs, This dinosaur was basically a large pitbull-sized turkey. It was some of the earliest and one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs in it¡¯s formation, dating back all the way to the Late Triassic period. Herrerasaurus is a relatively medium-sized, stocky, and powerfully built carnivore, measuring around 4.5 meters in length and 200kg in weight. This dinosaur had a flexible jaw that allowed it to grip onto its prey. Based on its size, with a light frame that allow it to run very quickly and large, jagged teeth that help it to latch onto prey, Herrerasaurus likely hunted small and medium herbivores. Fossil evidence suggests that this dinosaur was capable of digesting bone. Unlike the other species of small carnivores except for Compsognathus, Herrerasaurus locks its jaws on small prey and then uses its body momentum to wrestle it to the ground, essentially pinning and tiring them down. Herrerasaurus is a relatively social dinosaur, preferring social groups of between one and five individuals, as well as a population of up to twenty two other dinosaurs. ¡°Yuuki, you didn¡¯t purposely chose a hard bounty now did you?¡± Haruka asked. ¡°This bounty is rated as easy-medium, this difficulty should be decent for us since the Herrerasaurus levels were only around level 9-16 at the most.¡± I responded. ¡°I¡¯ll be counting on you then Yuuki.¡± Haruka winked. ¡°Right, I¡¯ll be sure to guide us to victory-¡± I responded until I saw Kana pouting at me with a red face. ¡°Hm¡­..¡± Kana seemed like she has something to say. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Kana?¡± Haruka asked. ¡°Nothing. I¡¯ll just be sure to hunt the most dinosaurs out of everyone here!¡± She announced proudly. ¡°How confident you are little sis.¡± Senko joked. ¡°What you say to me!?¡± Kana tried to hit Senko a few times to which everyone shared a laugh together. [news]I don''t own the art.[/news] Chapter 12: Herrerasaurus clean up! A quick recap: Today we took a commission regarding an infestation so we headed to a nearby farm at ¡°Meadow Mosaic,¡± We were clearing out an infestation of the theropod ¡°herrerasaurus¡± which was causing trouble for the Coloradisarus, Archaeopteryx, microraptors, and the synapsids Placerias in the area. Rin, Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level; 16 Hp:2,050 Atk: 560 Def: 450 Speed:350 Haruka, Sakura Game Name: Hakura Age: 18 Level; 15 Hp:1,520 Atk: 600 Def: 400 Speed: 380 Kasumi, Kana Game name: Amber Age: 16 Level; 12 Hp: 1350 Atk: 322 Def: 365 Speed:290 Kasumi, Senko Game name: X.V.X._.FlamePlayzAi._.X.V.X Age: 19 Level;10 Hp:1,190 Atk: 350 Def: 310 Speed:320 Regarding our stats you could tell we gained a substantial amount of levels and stat increases, thats because we were preparing to essentially do a 4 v 40 which is a 1 v 10 for us each. Yes, that number may be completely unrealistic and very likely to be impossible but you also have to remember that I had to be able to fend off an entire group of coleophysis that were relative to my level while alone and I just barely got my butt saved. So what we did was we hunted down some of the other nearby dinosaurs in the grassy fields such as gallimimus, ornitholestes, dryosaurus, and eoraptors during the walk to meadow mosaic in order to bump up our stats as much as we humanly could in the time it took us to get there, We had an entire wagon filled with what feels like a dozen or so of the dinosaurs mentioned just to prepare for the Herrerasaurus infestation. ¡°Yuuki what¡¯s the plan?¡± Hakura asked preparing her weapons ¡°Alright, all of you listen up, Hakura and I grab the herrerasaurus attention and try to mow them down in the center of the farm¡¯s fields so we can keep focusing, Meanwhile Senko and Kasumi take a prone or sniper position on those nearby trees, or hide in the crates, don¡¯t forget to put a silencer on your musket rifles and pistols we bought from the gunsmith at the town. Both of you are to cover our backs and blindspots,¡± I explained to the 3. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Seems fine with me, Just make sure to keep me safe okay?¡± Hakura expressed enthusiasm and winked. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind then.¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna stop you right there buddy, Why do I have to be stuck with the midget over there?¡± Senko smack-talked Kana. ¡°Hey! I should be the one that¡¯s complaining! I don¡¯t get to be part of the action because I¡¯ll be trapped with you while Hakura gets to have Yuuki all to herself!¡± ¡°Sigh¡­. These 2 are gonna be the death of me.¡± I facepalmed. ¡°Both of you be quiet and listen, We can¡¯t finish this commission if both of you keep bickering.¡± Hakura snapped at the 2. ¡°Fine¡­ We¡¯ll behave.¡± Senko reluctantly nodded. ¡°Now Kana do you-¡± ¡°No way! You already had him all to yourself when the game was released! It¡¯s my turn to play the big hero and save him!¡± ¡°Oh Brother¡­.¡± I facepalmed. ¡°Come on, Dont be mad It¡¯s Yuuki¡¯s call and he said you and Senko cover our backs!¡± Hakura Snapped ¡°mildly annoyed.¡± ¡°You two already had a mini adventure together! It¡¯s my turn now! You¡¯re gonna side with me right Yuuki?¡± Kana snapped back and started tugging on my arm. ¡°Sigh....¡± I was holding in my annoyance on both of them. Hakura didn¡¯t seem to have expected Kana¡¯s actions and grabbed my other arm to tug me back. ¡°He said, that You and your brother cover us! Now let go and give him back so we can start this commission already!¡± Hakura snapped back. ¡°Well Yuuki!?¡± Both girls glared at me angrily. ¡°You¡¯re gonna pick me to join you down there right!? ¡± Hakura tried to maintain her cool. ¡°No! I¡¯m way faster and stronger than her, I should join you there!¡± Kana fired back. ¡°Yuuki and I already have coordination when it comes to these kinds of mission!¡± Hakura fired back as well. ¡°I can carry him easily and run away with him if things get worrying!¡± ¡°I have the higher stats so I can help him better!¡± I feel like these 2 are wasting the whole group¡¯s time with these petty squabbles, I know I just got my butt whooped earlier but I¡¯m not that defenseless for these 2 to start pitying me! ¡°A little help Senko.¡± I annoyedly said ¡°I got you pal.¡± Senko tried to pull Kana away but to no avail she shook him off rather quickly. ¡°...That¡¯s It! I¡¯m bringing Senko down there with me, both of you cover go cover us.¡± I broke free from both of the girl¡¯s hands, grabbed Senko by his shoulder and dragged him down the path with me. ¡°Fine¡­..¡± The 2 girls went down the path opposite to us to cover our backs. While making our way back down the pathway, both of us started scanning the area for nearby herrerasaurus. ¡°Dude, what just happened back there?¡± Senko nudged my elbow. ¡°Beats me, I think they were just too concerned about my safety or something¡­ Even though I have the current highest stats and level.¡± ¡°Are you just flustered because they both started tugging you?¡± ¡°N-Not really¡­. I- I just didn¡¯t want to waste our time¡­ okay?¡± ¡°Whatever you say Ms lady¡¯s man!¡± ¡°........ I don¡¯t even like them though!¡± I annoyedly responded. ¡°Is that so? Then why are the sides of your ears turning red?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a natural phenomenon if 2 cute girls suddenly grab you pal!¡± ¡°Well, who do those 2 not fit your type or?¡± ¡°I have my own type okay!¡± ¡°Really like what? ¡°Oppai is truth¡± ¡°Flat is justice?¡± ¡°Medium is premium?¡± which one is it Senko stopped me from walking to continue this talk. ¡°What are you even talking about?¡± ¡°You know exactly what I¡¯m talking about!¡± ¡°Sigh¡­. I guess petite girls?¡± ¡°You seem unsure there!¡± ¡°Does it even matter?¡± ¡°I guess not.¡± ¡°Good, now keep walking.¡± We continued walking down the path and the notification suddenly warned us that there are several dinosaurs nearby, although it didn¡¯t tell us if they were carnivorous or not. ¡°Did we take the wrong turn or something? This place seems way too barren, and I¡¯m not seeing any dinosaurs here.¡± Senko asked. ¡°I don''t think so, the farm is in front of us but the herrerasaurus are nowhere to be seen and-¡± I responded before being stopped by Senko. ¡°Shush, the scanner detected them hiding in the woods, tell the girls we¡¯re ready to start via text.¡± I nodded and sent the message to Kana and Hakura that we¡¯re already in the position to start so they better stop fighting. As We slowly got nearer We brought out our swords and guns, Senko had a saber and a revolver this time, while I used my short sword and Pistol. I think we were at 18 meters when we saw the first 8 herrerasarus in the distance, they were feeding on a few of the protoceratops carcasses. ¡°Get ready.¡± I immediately shot 3 times and killed 2 of them via headshot. ¡°Where¡¯d you learn that?¡± ¡°When I hunted earlier, I practiced quick shooting, Now hurry up! They''re coming here!¡± ¡°Ah right!¡± Senko shot 2 incoming ones which made them collapse on the ground. ¡°Nice sho- Behind you!¡± I pulled him out of the way and slashed the theropod in the stomach. I suddenly noticed a bunch of them were getting picked off from somewhere meaning the 2 girls were covering our back. Senko and I stood back to back surrounded by the theropods We used each other as extra momentum to break free from the group and started slashing, and picking off at the lower level ones while avoiding the individuals with higher levels. This cycle of picking off the low-level dinosaurs and tag teaming the mid-level ones proved useful because Kana and Hakura were able to chip away at the others which gave us our openings. It lasted roughly 5 minutes of continuous fighting until it seemed like we had beaten all of them, the fields had several dead dinosaurs, Both Senko and I were at 45-59% hp as even though we coordinated together we weren¡¯t perfect so we also sustained dmg from occasionally getting ambushed or overwhelmed. ¡°So far¡­ th- this is too easy¡­¡± Senko panted as he decapitated the last herrerasaurus. ¡°You-You¡¯re r-right about t-that so stay on guard.¡± I was equally panting from the exhaustion. We saw Kana and Hakura waving at us from a distance as the 4 of us grouped up. ¡°So is that all of them?¡± Hakura questioned while reloading her rifle. ¡°That should be it, let¡¯s gather the corpses, and bring them back to town.¡± Both Senko and I were way too tired, while loading the carts with the bounties we had gotten we noticed that the sun was setting and it might start getting dark soon. ¡°Do you think it will be safe trying to bring back 2 wagons of these guys back to town,¡± Senko asked while exhausted ¡°That was what I was concerned about,¡± Kana answered. ¡°We don¡¯t know what dinosaurs are near this route, so we have to play extra careful on getting back to town. ¡°Yuuki, Senko are you guys recovering enough? We need to move before night falls or the corpses attract carnivores.¡± ¡°Yeah just give us a moment.¡± We made our way back to town while avoiding and fighting off dinosaurs that approached us, it took us what felt like 30 minutes to get back to town to turn in our bounties and gained a lot of ¡°Goru.¡± We headed back to the inn and entered our room. ¡°See you guys soon.¡± All of us logged off for the day, we were very tired and the fields were very dangerous at night which made it mandatory for us to log off due to the increased chance of dying and losing our things. Rin, Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level; 21 Hp:2,050 Atk: 560 Def: 450 Speed:350 Haruka, Sakura Game Name: Hakura Age: 18 Level; 20 Hp:1,950 Atk: 650 Def: 480 Speed:510 Kasumi, Kana Game name: Amber Age: 16 Level; 13 Hp: 1550 Atk: 350 Def: 400 Speed: 390 Kasumi, Senko Game name: X.V.X._.FlamePlayzAi._.X.V.X Age: 19 Level;13 Hp:1,590 Atk: 420 Def: 340 Speed:325 Chapter 12 Interlude Today was very tiring, not only did I had to hunt down coelophsyis, I got mauled to death by a group of utahraptors leading ass fart but I also had to do 2 vs 30 a group of Herrerasaurus. What made kyoryu online unique is you are ¡°unconcious¡± when you play the game, it essentially puts you to sleep when you play then your consciousness into the game, so even after playing you could be physically refreshed but mentally and emotional refresh is a different story. I took the vr goggles off my head and I looked up at the bunk above my bed. ¡°Is she back already?¡± I thought to myself before getting off my side which was the bottom part. ¡°Finish playing Yuuki?¡± The girl on the top bunk asked. ¡°Yes sis.¡± I rubbed my face and drank some water. This girl was Akane, You could call her my ¡°sister?¡± ¡°Adopted sister?¡± ¡°cousin?¡± or ¡°Step cousin.¡± She had Deep pink eyes, and long purple-black hair styled in a hime haircut, She is a very pretty girl. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Do you mind if I try kyoryu online for a bit Yuuki?¡± ¡°Fine, just make your own account.¡± I was still very tired¡­ ¡°Thanks buddy!¡± she got off the top bunk and took the goggles and console. Akane was one of my childhood friends when I was a little kid, but due to losing her parents my family took her in, She is a brilliant girl and was very popular in our school. We always got along. ¡°Yuuki have you heard of the independent vtuber ¡°Hikari Harmony?¡± She¡¯s getting traction lately!¡± Akane was putting the goggles on. ¡°I heard of the name but I¡¯m not really familiar with why?¡± ¡°She recently started her own gaming channel, and luckily enough, one of the games was kyoryu online!¡± ¡°So she streams both the game and her solo performances?¡± ¡°Correct! anyway see you later I¡¯m off to play¡± she layed down the bed to start the console. ¡°Alright.¡± I got on my desk, opened my laptop and looked up this ¡°Hikari Harmony.¡± It looks like her avatar was a brunette similar to Haruka, but unlike her she has Green eyes and a petite figure, her avatar was very cute. ¡°I wonder if it¡¯s even possible to meet a vtuber in real life?¡± It looked like she was currently live streaming, so obviously I had to click on the stream. The girl was very cheerful, outgoing and friendly like Kana, but she seems to be more into singing, dancing, drawing and cooking as opposed to Kana who loves to Run miles, play a lot of drums, take 50 different selfies 50x in 50 different angles. ¡°Thank you for joining the stream everyone!¡± Hikari announced while she performed a very cute and funny dance using her avatar. I continued watching the stream when¡­ ¡°Wah!¡± ¡°Did she just fell over and accidentally turn off the avatar!?¡± I think I briefly saw her face when she fell down, she seemed to have Cerulean blue eyes and Slate gray hair and that¡¯s all I could think off. The stream ended shortly after she fell down. ¡°...W-Why does she seem familiar?¡± I think I saw her before at my school, but that can¡¯t be it right? Epilogue I was sitting in the middle of a class lecture, looking back. It has already been three months since the release of Kyoryu Online and the time I encountered Diego I think that encounter left a sour taste to not just me but also my friends. I guess that was the reason barely any of us had touched the game or at least invited the other to play it with us. A few of us still hung out together but it felt less lively than usual, Haruka has gotten busier with the school¡¯s club lately and Kana has been active on sport activities, leaving it to just me and Senko to hang out with each other after school. It felt like both of them drifted apart. It really sucked because the game has recently released the patch update version 1.1 last month, which came with a slew of several new features and game modes and us not being able to play together really killed the enjoyment of playing the game! One of these new game modes are Paleon''line mode which lets players host public and private servers for completely FREE of charge by the developers themselves Ever since Patch 1.1 came out. The Paleo''nline mode has allowed people to host their own private adventures with their friends and families, you could set the server to allow, Friends and Friends of Friends, it also has a whitelist and black list features for better privacy and safety. The other way people had started using Paleo''nline I''d by hosting tournaments and mini games using the games Master mode which let''s the players create custom maps for others to play and try out! The other new big feature is the ability to store your trained / tamed dinosaur companions in capsules that lets them be place in a state of stasis, and immune to overworld hazards. Some quality of life changes was the expansion of player inventory. A player''s default inventory was 32 slots and most items can be stacked to 64 stacks. This could be expanded by another 64 slots that had a total of 96 slots Now the inventory allows 96 default slots that can be expanded by 128 slots and stackable items could now be stacked up to 120 times. Lastly the Player bio was updates. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. It was no longer: Game name: Age: Level: Hp: Atk: Def: Speed: It was now updated to Game name: Age: Level: Hp: Atk: Sp Atk: Def: Sp. Def: Speed: The game Also included extra stats that weren''t really important in the early game but were important for the mid and late games, these many stats had included: Crit Rate: Crit DMG: Crush DMG bonus: Crush Resist: Pierce DMG bonus: Pierce Resist: Slash DMG Bonus: Slash Resist: Luck: Dexterity: Evasion Rate: Accuracy: Lastly there were new stats that were now added with the new artifacts and relics within the game, these stats included CC resist: Healing bonus: Breaking Bonus: Overtime Bonus: Fire Bonus: Fire Res: Water Bonus: Water Res: Ice Bonus: Ice res: Wind Bonus: Wind res: Plant Bonus: Plant res: Earth Bonus: Earth res: I really wished we could all hangout together again but school and activities had really gotten so intrusive to a point it was usually now only Me and Senko. I had been thinking about whether I did anything wrong that day. Was it when I snapped at both Kana and Haruka when we were deciding on the dinosaur infestation commission? That can''t be it can it? They knew well that I was extremely tired so maybe it just left a bad taste to everyone. Within the four of us our ¡°hierarchy¡± was something like this: I''m a bit older than Kana but we were both freshmen since she entered school early due to not wanting to be left behind by me. Senko should be our senpai because He is two years older, but the guy had a bad performance twice, and now he is currently a freshman like me and Kana. Lastly Haruka is a sophomore and is a very popular girl at school, whenever she goes it was as if she was a magnet to all of the boys who were attending class. Haruka absolutely is a very beautiful and elegant girl, which made me wonder how She and I became acquaintances in middle school and later became friends before I entered highschool. She was also a top notcher in most of her classes and she even spent a lot of time in the library with her club back in those days so when She entered campus she was called ¡°The goddess of wisdom¡± much to her dismay, she never really liked titles regarding hobbies and interests and I adore that about her. Even though the four of us were close to each other, Haruka always had an aloof aura about her that somewhat puts distance between Us and her. It was so noticeable that Kana, Senko and even my sister, Akane had all pointed this out, which made me wonder if Haruka is just putting up a graceful and cordial front to those she doesn''t consider her ¡°best¡± friends, even I couldn''t answer if Haruka considers me a close friend¡­ If anything I should be grateful to her. When I finished middle school, Haruka was the one who convinced me to not give up and keep going, she even went so far as scolding me when I was being decisive on dropping out after middle school. Looking back once again to all these things she did for me, Maybe I''m slowly growing attracted to her, thinking about Haruka really did made my heart race. Well shit... Maybe I''am already In love with her.... And I''m just denying it. Vol. 2 Ch1 It was a fairly bright afternoon, Senko and I were at the cafeteria waiting in line to buy some lunch since we just finished our third class. ¡°Hey Yuuki, have you thought of who to ask out for the culture festival?¡± Senko asked slyly. ¡°I heard of it but I don''t really think anyone would willingly go with me. How about you? Have you thought of asking anyone out?¡± ¡°I''m thinking about asking Hana-Chan from Class 3A.¡± Senko confidently said. ¡°Hm¡­ Hana-San isn''t a bad choice since she''s very pretty, but she''s kinda out of your league buddy.¡± ¡°A man can dream, pal!¡± Senko smacked my shoulder lightly. ¡°However, Wouldn''t you have better luck asking Ruri-san of Class 1A or even Ava-chan from Class 2B? I heard from Kana that they kept looking at you during the Film Festival last week.¡± I suggested. ¡°You think so huh?¡± Senko suspiciously questioned ¡°It''s worth a try isn''t it?¡± ¡°You have a point there Yuuki, how about you? You really don''t have any plans to ask anyone out?¡± ¡°Not really no.¡± ¡°Bummer.¡± Now that I was thinking about it, the only person I''m even willing to ask to join me is Haruka. When we finally reached the lunch lady, Senko ordered a couple of shrimp tacos and a bowl of guacamole and a side of baked beans. Senko was the type to try different types of dishes internationally This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Meanwhile I got a bowl of rice with some Fish Fillet and Miso soup. Yes I do prefer to keep my palette more traditional and local. As for drinks We are the complete opposite. I went and got a small milk tea while Senko bought Matcha Tea. When it comes to drinks I prefer ones outside of Japan while Senko prefers local beverages. I guess our differences is a reason we''ve been best friends since nursery. While looking for a table to sit at, Senko and I walked past the table that Kana and Her classmates sat on, I don''t know if she noticed us to be honest. ¡°This place is way too crowded today.¡± I muttered while trying to look around. ¡°Tell me about it- over there!¡± Senko quickly signaled. Senko had found a table for two that both of us could occupy alone, that was a benefit of only having lunch with 1 person, while everyone else tried to have an entire party worth. ¡°Thanks for the meal.¡± Senko and I said in unison before starting our lunch break. After a moment or two Senko suddenly asked me a peculiar question. ¡°Yuuki can I copy your homework later?¡± Senko asked confidently. ¡°Again? Isn''t this the 3rd time this month?¡± I responded in an annoyed tone. ¡°Come on! I''ll treat you at the nearby StoreBucks for compensation.¡± ¡°Fine, what''s the budget?¡± I reluctantly said yes. ¡°Is 25,000£¤ good enough?¡± Senko questioned curiously. ¡°Make it 28,000 and we have a deal.¡± I bargained ¡°Deal!¡± Senko and I shook hands on our newly agreed bargain! We continued eating our lunch. ¡°Are you sure you don''t plan to ask anyone out?¡± Senko tapped the table and leaned closer to get my attention. ¡°Why are you being insistent today? You''re never like that.¡± I pushed his face away. ¡°It¡¯s because I want you to ask Kana out for the festival.¡± Senko finally answered. ¡°No thanks, and why do you even want me to specifically ask her out?¡± ¡°It''s because our parents told me to keep an eye on Kana during the culture festival, but I don''t wanna waste my youth on babysitting a brat!¡± Senko Pridefully answered. ¡°Um¡­ you might want to-¡± I quickly noticed Kana overheard what Senko said about her being a brat and was about to throw something at his head. ¡°I¡¯m not done yet! would rather spend it on a lovely young lady- OUCH!¡± Senko screamed as Kana threw a textbook at the back of his head. ¡°Pfft~ I tried to warn you.¡± I held back my laughter. "Stupid Big brother! I''m not a brat!" Kana shouted from across the room. "I MEANT WHAT I SAID YOU BRAT!" Senko threw the textbook back at Kana causing us to get the attention of a teacher. Needless to say Senko 100% deserved that attack from his own little sister. Some time passes and our classes have finally finished. Senko and I walked together heading towards the nearby StoreBucks to do our homework together and have a coffee break after nearly getting sent to detention for causing a ruckus at the Cafeteria. "Hey Yuuki, After this let''s go play Kyoryu online next Saturday, I really want to try the new patch." Senko suggested as he placed his shoulder on mine. "It''s the same for Me I really want to play it with everyone but schedules got murky." "What time should we start?" Questioned Senko. "2:00 pm should be good." I answered. "Fine by me, but you better not be late under any circumstances!" "Haha it''s a deal!" After a while we arrived at the StoreBucks Vol 2 Ch2 After arriving at StoreBucks, Senko found a table for us to share, where we both placed our bags under the tables. We decided, I will be the one to order while Senko watched over our belongings ¡°So what do I buy for you?¡± ¡°Let''s see¡­ I want the turkey, provolone & pesto on Ciabatta, if it''s not available buy me the tomato & mozzarella on Focaccia¡± ¡°Uh huh, what else?¡± I wrote his lunch order on a sticky note. ¡°For drinks, go buy me the Strawberry Cr¨¨me Cappuccino, or the Matcha Cr¨¨me Cappuccino.¡± ¡°Alright, I''ll be back in a moment.¡± After I finished writing down his order I headed to the counter and waited for a moment to buy our snacks, I bought Senko the Matcha Cr¨¨me and the turkey, provolone & pesto on Ciabatta. Meanwhile I ordered the Cheese & Fruit Protein Box, The crispy grilled cheese on sourdough and for a drink I just bought the Cinnamon Caramel Cream Cold Brew. It took me about 10 minutes to finish buying our order and bringing them back to our spot. Senko and I started doing our homework alongside enjoying the lunch we ordered. At least until: ¡°Yuuki, I have a question to ask you.¡± ¡°If you''re gonna ask me when I''ll ask Kana out for the culture festival, it''s a no so give it up.¡± ¡°That wasn''t the question.¡± ¡°Then what is it?¡± ¡°Why did you design your Kyoryu online Avatar to Look exactly like how you are in real life?¡± ¡°That''s a good question, I did it because I didn''t wanna play someone that wasn''t me or at least didn''t have a resemblance to me in any way.¡± ¡°That''s understandable I guess.¡± ¡°Kana''s Avatar Looks a bit similar to how Haruka does in real life with the brunette hair, but she kept it short, and kept the lavender eyes You''re father had, while you kept your avatar similar to your real life self too but you made your hair brighter shade of orange and the lavender eyes are more saturated.¡± ¡°You pay attention to that many details huh?¡± ¡°Of course I do, lastly Haruka''s avatar is completely different from her real self, She lengthened her hair, made the eyes a beautiful shade of purple, she made herself a bit taller and lastly-¡± I tried to explain until I got interrupted ¡°She made her Avatar''s breasts larger.¡± Senko butted in. ¡°That wasn''t my point.¡± ¡°It''s exactly your point Yuuki.¡± ¡°It wasn''t.¡± ¡°Whatever you say Mr I have a crush on the popular girl out of my league.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. I was gonna say she made her ears similar to that of an elves¡­ hold on did he just say ¡°Have a crush out of my league?¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°You thought I hadn''t noticed huh?¡± Senko rested his elbow on the table and His chin on his palm. ¡°How did you-¡± ¡°You kept glancing at photos you guys shared together in the cafeteria earlier.¡± Was I really that obvious? ¡°Don''t you dare tell anyone!¡± I whispered hurriedly. ¡°Relax, It''s not like Haruka is the type to notice.¡± ¡°Nah, she''s definitely the observant type.¡± ¡°Well it''s not like we''re even in the same grade as her anyway.¡± ¡°Apart from earlier, how else did you find out?¡± I started interrogating Senko. ¡°You subtly wrote ¡°Haruka + Yuuki inside a heart¡± in your notebook last week.¡± ¡°Don''t you tell her about this okay?¡± ¡°Relax there, it''s none of my business anyway.¡± I wonder if he actually means what he said. ¡°Well you did say she''s out of my league, so getting together with her is out of the question to begin with.¡± ¡°I wouldn''t be so sure about that.¡± Senko proudly whispered. ¡°And why is that the case?¡± ¡°You know how she''s part of the friend group that included some of the most popular girls on campus?¡± ¡°So you mean, Ichika, Kotoha, Mizuki, Nagisa, Mako, Ayaka, and Miku right?¡± I questioned. ¡°It''s exactly them!¡± ¡°Yes? What about them?¡± ¡°Well while I was walking past them a couple of days ago, I heard one of them mentioned they found their ¡°Kohai: Yuuki-Kun¡± pretty cute.¡± Senko mentioned while he copied my homework. ¡°You''re kidding right?¡± ¡°Do you lack self confidence that much?¡± ¡°I mean¡­ kinda, I never really had a girlfriend before, I only had a crush here and there and that''s it.¡± ¡°What a hopeless romantic.¡± ¡°Senko, we both know you''re not one to talk about self confidence when you struggled deciding To ask Chika-Chan out on a date last year.¡± ¡°Don''t you start with me.¡± ¡°Sigh¡­ Whatever.¡± ¡°Still though, You gotta believe me that you''re more popular than you think you are.¡± Senko crossed his arms at me. ¡°I''ll keep it in mind, thank you.¡± ¡°I''m more popular than I thought¡± I only hope that was true. If I get popular enough would that make Haruka see me as an equal and not as just a Kohai? Senko and I continued working on our homework while enjoying the lunch we got and after some time passed we left the StoreBucks ¡°Senko, did our club plan anything for the culture festival? Usually our clubs held a BBQ or mahjong tournament, but lately our senpais discussed trying out other new activities, so it was a fresh idea for me. ¡°I overheard Ayaka-Chan discussing a stage play with Kazuya-Senpai.¡± ¡°I didn''t know about that, when did you hear that?¡± ¡°Shortly before we met up outside of class.¡± ¡°No wonder.¡± Our club included Myself, Haruka, Senko, the aforementioned Kazuya and Ayaka, and several other students from our Grade and Haruka''s grade. Unfortunately Kana wasn''t part of our Club since she joined the volleyball club, the basketball club, kendo club, boxing club, and Karate club. I respect her diligence. ¡°Anyway, is it confirmed they want to do a stage play or?¡± I interrogated ¡°As far as I heard there will be a meeting after class regarding the plans for the culture festival so we might hear about it tomorrow.¡± I remained silent. This stage play might be a blessing disguised as a curse or is it the other way around? Because I don''t really mind doing stage plays, I''m quite fond of them since my older sister Akane and I did a lot of them back in middle school. ¡°Hey Yuuki.¡± I don''t mind doing main lead roles as long as the people who are also in the main leads are people I''m close to or comfortable with, and the only people I''m really close to on the club is Senko since I''m really not sure if Haruka would consider us close. We''re definitely friends and close but it always felt distant. ¡°Yuuki can you hear me?¡± So if they ever announced a romantic stage play, and if I randomly got chosen as main lead then the only person I preferred to play the main lead was Haruka. Not only because she would be the only one I''m comfortable with but it might be a way for us to actually get closer together. ¡°Yuuki?¡± But knowing how clubs work they would probably choose someone they consider her equal or at least higher than her in status. A man could dream right¡­?¡± ¡°YUUKI!¡± Senko grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me. ¡°GRAAAGH! WHAT!?¡± ¡°We walked past your house, already.¡± Senko laughed. ¡°Oh, right¡­ I''m sorry.¡± ¡°It''s cool, just don''t forget to log on to Kyoryu online later alright.¡± ¡°I won''t forget that.¡± ¡°Well take care then.¡± Senko gave me a pat on the back. While I was entering my house, my phone rang and it was a message from Senko saying: ¡°Don''t forget that you''re more popular than you think you are.¡± ¡°What a dummy.¡± I joked to myself. I entered my home where I spotted Akane who was studying in the living room. ¡°I''m back.¡± ¡°Welcome back, Aunty said our food is in the fridge, heat them up in the air fryer or microwave if I wanted.¡± Akane answered ¡°Thanks.¡± I sat across from her and placed my bag under my chair. ¡°How was school today?¡± ¡°You gotta hear this.¡± I told her what happened with Senko all day and how he found out about my thing for Haruka. ¡°Well Little brother, the best thing for you to do is just ask out Haruka-chan.¡± ¡°Does that even work?¡± ¡°Of course it does!¡± Akane nodded to herself. ¡°I''ll keep that in mind.¡± ¡°Also better make it quick, we both know how popular she is among the boys in your school.¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± Akane was completely right about that, Haruka usually did become the center of attention whenever she walked past boys. A lot of the guys in both the freshmen and sophomores did have interest in Haruka, it was like men simply became allured by her. ¡°Need help Yuuki?¡± ¡°I can manage, and besides Senko and I are playing Kyoryu online later, so I''ll probably have him help me.¡± ¡°Have some faith in Your Onee-chan.¡± ¡°I do have faith in you, I just don''t like relying on your help all the time, kinda feeling guilty about it.¡± ¡°Aww don''t be like that!¡± Akane sat on my lap and gave me several headpats like I was supposed to be a puppy. ¡°Are you teasing me?¡± ¡°Only a bit.¡± How funny. Vol 2. Ch3 After getting teased to oblivion by my sister throughout the afternoon it was finally time to head back into the virtual survivalist world of Kyoryu Online. It was 4:45 pm, and I headed upstairs to the bedroom Akane and I shared. I prepared the VR Headset and the console itself. I strapped the headset on, I lied down on the bottom side of our bunk bed, I selected the game, and then¡­ my consciousness left my body and into the game. Upon opening my eyes, I was inside the room that my friends and I bought as our ¡°guild room¡± in the inn. ¡°It has been a while¡­¡± I thought as I tried to get my bearings. I looked and walked around the room for a bit and practiced my basic movements refamiliarizing myself with the user interface to see if my muscle memory could still be relied on. I continued practicing for 8 minutes, so when I was finally ready, I could now confidently say that I still got it. ¡°Hm¡­¡± I still had 7 minutes until Senko arrived, I checked some patch notes and noticed that Version 1.2 will be released soon. Rumors said that patch 1.2 will be adding a new magic/elemental system and patch 1.3 will add mythological creatures like dragons. ¡°I guess the game sold really well that the new patches are getting ambitious.¡± I paced myself around the room for a while and looked at the mirror to look at my avatar who really did look exactly like how I was in real life. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re already here.¡± I heard Senko log in and appeared behind me. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to waste your time and be late.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, though I¡¯am curious about what we will be doing since it¡¯s just the two of us here.¡± ¡°The patch notes said something about ¡°better night cycles¡± and ¡°perfected atmosphere.¡± so we should try camping out of town,¡± I suggested while checking my inventory. ¡°I¡¯m down for it, let¡¯s prepare some supplies though.¡± ¡°Yeah, or else we''re doomed.¡± We shared a laugh and headed to town to buy several supplies that included, food, water, medicine, and extra gear and equipment. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Senko and I went past both ¡°Gentle Expanse¡± and ¡°Meadow Mosaic¡± and headed to ¡°Golden Lizard Covert,¡± This area was quite far from Meadow Mosaic being at least 3 to 4 kilometers from each other. Senko and I explored the vast plains from Meadow Mosaic up to the lush forests of Golden Lizard Covert. Despite planning to camp out around the forest area, we agreed to actually have our campsite be around 20 to 50 meters from the forest itself for safety reasons because we were unfamiliar with what dinosaurs or other fauna we might encounter in the forests. ¡°It¡¯s kinda fun being out in the wilderness together huh?¡± Senko exclaimed while setting up a large tent for the both of us. ¡°It really is, the windy plains between the forest and here are very soothing on the skin.¡± I agreed while preparing our campfire using a magnifying glass. Upon noticing the sun was closely setting, Senko hurriedly prepared a few chests, a med kit and emergency flares near our campfire and tent. The campsite we had was fairly close to the forest, there were tall grass in patches and tall trees spread out erratically. After a while It was finally dusk, and the sun was close to down. ¡°Hey.¡± ¡°Yes Yuuki?¡± ¡°Do you think we have enough firewood?¡± I asked while looking at the campfire that seemed to be going down slowly. ¡°Did they make campfires and torches slowly go out in the update? Or was this just for ambience effect¡± I focused my scan on the campfire. ¡°I didn''t check, but if they did then one of us might have to go get some firewood then.¡± ¡°I call dibs on not going out.¡± Senko immediately responded. ¡°What a coward.¡± ¡°I just have self-preservation.¡± ¡°Fine¡­ I''ll go get them myself, stay here and keep a keen eye on our belongings, and try not to lure any dinosaurs near here okay?¡± I slowly walked into the thick forests bringing a torch with me. ¡°What dinosaurs? We haven''t spotted much in this area.¡± Senko complained as he leaned back on a large rock. Now that he mentioned it we hadn''t encountered that many dinosaurs around this area, we only spotted a few species like Gallimimus, Pachycepalosaurus, and sauropods like Mamenchinosaurus and Brachiosaurus. Was this place just not populated for dinosaurs to thrive? That can''t be it! The area has a lot of old logs, tall coconut trees, fruit bearing bushes and a mix of oak and redwood trees! There''s absolutely no reason for this place to not have that many dinosaurs! Now that I was thinking about it, I started to walk a bit faster, gathering sticks and leaves for the campfire. ¡°Jeez it''s way too dark here¡­¡± I thought while scanning the place. The trees were completely blocking out the skies, meaning the moonlight couldn''t really shine for me. ¡°Okay okay, calm down.¡± I quickly started reassuring myself that this place was empty. I gathered several more wood logs and sticks and placed them in my inventory. ¡°This should be enough.¡± While preparing to go back I noticed that I couldn''t see much past 15 meters, and there seem to be a small hazy fog that''s engulfing the forest. Mind you, I was holding a torch in one of my hands, so the fact it wasn''t showing much light is what concerned me. ¡°Jeez, couldn''t have did this when there was still dayligh-¡± I suddenly got cut off when I heard something running behind me. I quickly turned around and placed a pair of torches beside me, and quickly pulled out my long sword. ¡°Who''s there?¡± I spoke loudly. I quickly heard a twig snap behind me to which I quickly pulled my handgun and shot behind me to make whatever was behind me back off. ¡°......¡± I gripped my long sword tightly. When I heard some kind of animal noise. The noise was very hasty and a bit loud. ¡°I''m not alone here, Senko if that''s you I won''t hesitate to shoot a bullet in your skull!¡± I threw 3 torches in front and behind me. The noise got creepier, it felt like I could die at any moment, I sent Senko message in the clan chat and told him to scan if I was near him, he responded ¡°no.¡± ¡°Shit¡­.¡± I could feel my entire body tremble from whatever was making that noise. When suddenly¡­ I saw glowing blue eyes around the distance. ¡°There you are.¡± I threw another torch and it what walked out was a theropod. The torch shined and there was a bipedal dinosaur with two crests on its head. It looked hunch until it raised it''s body to stand still. ¡°It''s one of those guys¡­¡± The creature stood for what seem like 5.9 to 6.3 feet tall. ¡°A dilophosaurus.¡± The creature walked closer making light chirping sounds. It was 7 meters away from me and I quickly kept my guard up, because this was a dinosaur I wanted nothing to do with due to how deadly th ey are! Rin, Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level; 21 Hp:2,050 Atk: 560 Sp. At: 120 Def: 450 Sp. Def: 310 Speed: 350 Vol 2. Ch4 I stood face-to-face with the dilophosaurus, the creature was a theropod, it was bipedal and had an S-shaped neck. It had a somewhat muscular but slim build. I immediately knew that the dilophosaurus was a girl due its coloration of the body being yellow with black spots similar to that of a cheetah or a leopard, and its dual head crests didn''t share the black spots but they were bright red. The boys didn''t have the girl¡¯s yellow cheetah pattern with brown spots and red crests. The boys have a lime green body, while their crests maintain the lime green but have black striped pattern. Why do I know this many details? I simply open up the official encyclopedia that comes with the game for players and read it for 2 hours a day during my free time. The other main sign this was a girl was height due to the boys being way smaller by at least half the size of the girl. Boys tended to be 4 to 5 feet tall while girls were usually 6 to 7 feet tall. And upon knowing all of these minor details, It was needless to say I was in for a world of serious trouble tonight. Dilophosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaurs that lived in what is now North America during the Early Jurassic, about 186 million years ago. Three skeletons were discovered in northern Arizona in 1940, and the two best preserved were collected in 1942. It was one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs of the Early Jurassic Period. Dilophosaurus gets its name from the two thin crests of bone on the top of its head. These were probably used as a display for courtship purposes. As a more primitive predatory dinosaur, Dilophosaurus didn''t have forward-facing eyes to give it stereo vision. It may have used scent as an integral part of its hunting technique. It had long and slender, rear-curving teeth in long jaws and strong front arms which would have been effective in grabbing prey. It was fast - probably with a top speed of about 30 mph. Footprints attributed to Dilophosaurus appear in groups, so it may have hunted in small packs. It shares the same overall body configuration as Coelophysis even though Dilophosaurus is currently classified as a member of a different group of theropods rather than Coelophysis and its relatives. Unlike the real-life dilophosaurus, the Kyoryu Online version has venom glands around the inner part of its mouth where it spits out venom that was said to afflict its target with blindness and a corrosive pain. The boy variant has frills that go down on the side of its neck similar to a grilled lizard. But unlike the frilled lizard that when aggressive only raises the frills on its neck, the dilophosaurus frills will rise up and rattle very loudly to intimidate and threaten its prey, an extra detail I forgot to mention was that the dinosaur doesn¡¯t need to raise and rattle its frills in order to spit venom at their prey. ¡°Easy there girl,¡± I spoke sternly while maintaining eye contact, and making sure the creature didn''t leave my line of sight. The dilophosaurus had curiosity in its eyes as it started approaching me. I held a torch on one hand and my longsword on the other. ¡°...¡± I maintained eye contact while slowly backing away, because the creature was also slowly approaching me and I wasn''t gonna be on the receiving end of a blinding venom spit. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The last time I stood face to face with a carnivore this large was the Neovenator that Haruka and I saved from the poachers that Diego had as lackeys, and when I got mauled to death by the Bastard''s pet Utahraptor. I could feel my hands trembling while backing away, the dinosaur was slowly picking up it''s pace¡­ I had no choice but to run! As if by instinct I quickly threw the torch I had in one of my hands towards the general direction of the dinosaur and I quickly did a dash away from it. I heard the creature¡¯s aggressive screech as I ran away into the thick forests. ¡°Senko, if you''re near my area please Get over here this instant!¡± I sent it to Senko through the chat system. I didn''t have enough time to chew him out for not coming with me, otherwise the materials I gathered would be wasted if I slowed down and let the dilophosaurus catch up! While I ran I started slowly seeing what looked like light outside the forest! That was our campsite! I quickly ran out of the first and saw the campsite was trashed. ¡°Senko¡­ where did you run off to?¡± I muttered in distress. Our tent was relatively okay but it had several scratch marks and was stained with some type of ooze, the bonfire was still high but our other equipment was trashed into pieces. I quickly heard a notification from the chat system and it was Senko, he told me he ran into the forest because several crested dinosaurs started approaching him. I responded by telling him head back to meadow mosaic, this wilderness area is too dangerous even as a team! That''s when I Realized this area was too dangerous for both of us! I suddenly heard a loud hiss from behind which made me immediately turn around and the dilophosaurus from earlier was behind me! The dinosaur immediately whipped its neck back and spat out a black grimy liquid, to which I instinctively ducked under. ¡°Jeez, can''t a boy talk to his best friend in peace¡­¡± I drew my hand gun and was about to shoot the dinosaur but¡­ The tent suddenly shuffled around from behind me and out came a duo of lime green colored dilophosaurus. Their frills started rising and created a menacing rattling noise. Just like this I was cornered by a trio of bloodlusted theropods. ¡°Yuuki this place is not safe, let''s get outta here!¡± I heard Senko shouting from the forest. I quickly shouted back that I was back at camp! That''s when the yellow dilophosaurus lunged at me and I slid to its left and shot 3 rounds from my handgun! The dinosaur was distressed but it didn''t back down. Both of the green dilophosaurus whipped their neck back and spat out venom, which I blocked with my arms to protect my face! ¡°Gggaaggghh!¡± I held back the urge to scream. The pain was excruciating! It was like I was melting to my bones. I really needed to escape this situation quickly! I heard rustling from the forest behind me and there, Senko ran out with another three green dilophosaurus behind him. ¡°Senko over here!¡± I shouted at him to which he ran towards my location. We stood back to back from each other as we were surrounded on all sides, we had to escape this as soon as we could. Unlike the herrerasaurus infestation from before, dilophosaurus is a different breed of danger, because they hunted in the dark and exploited the prey¡¯s low visibility! ¡°How do we get out of here¡­?¡± I questioned. ¡°On a count of three I need you to fuck down and run straight to the yellow one and slide under it!¡± Senko demanded ¡°Don''t start playing a hero here! We''re in this together!¡± I snapped back! One of the green dilophosaurus in my direction spat a venom towards us to which we both stood away from. ¡°I have a plan! So we need to cooperate! I have one of the firecrackers from town earlier! Let''s use them to escape.¡± Now that Senko mentioned it! Carnivores are very shy animals, the moment you fight back they tended to back off, but they had the numbers advantage in this situation so even if we do fight back we must run quickly. ¡°This better work out Senko!¡± ¡°It will!¡± Senko handed me a few firecrackers, the dilophosaurus inched closer to us and as we lit the firecrackers with our torches we threw them in their direction, causing a fairly loud cracking noises that also created a lot of smoke. ¡°Run now!¡± Senko grabbed my hand and we made a break for it as the dilophosaurus shattered away. We didn''t look back at all! We kept running and running away from that area until we were sure to be way past meadow mosaic and into gentle expanse! We mustered whatever stamina we had and ran up to the stone bridge of our main town. Even after running all the way back, we never felt safe, we both scanned the area and we didn''t detect any nearby carnivores, We didn''t want to risk it and headed into town and back to our inn¡¯s room. ¡°What happened back at camp?¡± I asked while catching my breath. ¡°While you headed for the firewood, I saw several glowing eyes, I got my bow ready but there were three of them, I didn''t risk it and ran for the forest to find you, that''s when I found out that forest was those dinosaurs'' home and we trespassed.¡± Senko replied back. ¡°Maybe next time we gotta bring Kana to support us.¡± I suggested while putting the fire wood I had in my inventory to the auction system. ¡°I agree haha !¡± ¡°Senko¡­.¡± ¡°Yes Yuuki?¡± ¡°Remind me to never go anywhere with you alone next time.¡± ¡°That''s my line!¡± Vol 2. Ch. 5 Rin, Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 21 Hp: 2,050 Atk: 560 Sp. Atk: 120 Def: 450 Sp. Def: 310 Speed: 350 Kasumi, Senko Game name: X.V.X._.FlamePlayzAi._.X.V.X Age: 19 Level: 13 Hp:1,590 Atk: 420 Sp. Atk: 134 Def: 340 Sp. Def: 270 Speed: 325 After that failure of a camping trip, Senko and I decided to wait for daylight outside of the town. We needed to return to our campsite because a lot of our belongings were left there and we didn''t want to risk another ambush from several dilophosaurus. ¡°Is he online yet?¡± I leaned back on the stone brick wall while asking Senko. ¡°I''m refreshing the friend list as we speak, it still says he is offline.¡± ¡°I thought you said Toda-Kun is usually online around this time?¡± i joked ¡°Usually does not equate to Always.¡± Senko joked back. ¡°How reliable.¡± The person we were talking about was a friend from our campus named Toda Seiichi, he wasn''t from the same course as us but we met him during the enrollment period. The three of us hit it off really well, and became close friends. When Haruka, Kana, Senko and ai first played kyoryu online together, we invited him to join since he gor the game earlier than us, unfortunately he rejected the idea because said something of the matter of him¡°being on a date.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. When he rejected the invite that day, Senko and I made a bet that if he blows the date, then I owed him a boba milk tea, but if the date was successful, Senko would have to treat me to the new cafe across town. I ended up buying Senko an extra large boba milk tea that day... Those were very sad times for my wallet to endure¡­ We continued waiting as dawn broke forth, and Senko suddenly announced that Toda-Kun was online. ¡°Hurry and invite him!¡± I demanded excitedly. ¡°I''m already on it!¡± Senko and I spammed invites to Toda-Kun because he knows he couldn¡¯t really resist an invite from a friend to play games together! After 3 minutes of invites spamming, we Toda-Kun teleported in front of us, yes this was part of the game, when you invite someone and they accept it, they will automatically teleport to your vicinity. His avatar had a high neck gray shirt with long sleeves, a black cloak with a deep green inner and brown pants, he had light skin, black hair with green ombre and jade green eyes. Seiichi, Toda Game name: PsychoKiller13 Age: 17 Level: 35 Hp: 6,350 Atk: 2,160 Sp. Atk: 450 Def: 950 Sp. Def: 590 Speed: 650 ¡°You two could''ve just sent a single invite right?¡± Toda-Kun spoke in an annoyed tone. ¡°Oh we''re well aware! We just know it''d be funnier this way.¡± Senko announced Prideful as We gave each other a high five. ¡°So, care to explain why you guys invitede here?¡± ¡°We wanted your help keeping us safe from dilophosaurus.¡± I explained. ¡°Dilophosaurus¡­ why what happened?¡± ¡°We were supposed to be camping as a duo, in one of the wild areas past gentle expanse and meadow mosaic, but while collecting firewood we got ambushed by a group of them, and we left a lot of stuff there that we really didn''t want to waste the money we spent to get.¡± Senko explained further. ¡°I can see where you two are coming from but whats in it for me?¡± ¡°Can''t you just help a buddy out You cheap bastar-¡± Senko was about to start throwing hands when I covered his mouth and stoppee him dead in his tracks. ¡°We''ll help you find a girlfriend! And we''ll also treat you to the family-restaurant !near school!¡± I quickly blurted. ¡°The italian one? The french one or the korean one?¡± Toda asked while raising an eyebrow. ¡°Whichever one you want!¡± I answered quickly. ¡°The Italian one and we have a deal!¡± ¡°Deal!¡± I finally uncovered Senko''s mouth to which he punched me on my sides. ¡°Did you seriously just tell him we''ll help him find a girlfriend? I wouldn''t have minded if it was just treating him out at the family restaurant but why that?¡± Senko whispered to my ear aggressively. ¡°Because the guy is lonely and I feel bad for him!¡± I whispered back. ¡°You know I can, hear both of you right?¡± ¡°I hope you do!¡± Senko announced. ¡°Well then shall we go to the campsite now?¡± I questioned the two in front of me. ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Senko replied. ¡°Mhm.¡± Toda nodded. And just like that we started the long walk on the stone bridge that ¡°bridged¡± the gap between the wilderness and our starting town. It was still dawn, I never expected this place to be very beautiful even without the beautiful lighting during the afternoon. We arrived at Gentle Expanse and continued our walk when Senko broke the silence among the three of us. ¡°Toda-San, has your class decided on what you guys are gonna do for the cultural festival?¡± ¡°Have you?¡± Toda-Kun snapped back in a sarcastic manner. ¡°Touch¨¦.¡± Senko responded. I remained silent so I could enjoy the duo bicker a little. ¡°But to be serious though, have you guys planned anything yet?¡± ¡°Well as of now, it was between a ¡°maid cafe¡± and food stalls.¡± Today-Kun answered. ¡°Didn''t your class already do one of those during last year¡¯s culture festival?¡± ¡°It''s not like I care about what my class does okay!?¡± ¡°Ugh, This is why no girl wants to date you!¡± Senko mumbled loudly. ¡°What did you just say!?¡± Toda-Kun grabbed Senko by the shoulders to which Senko was about to throw hands. Jeez¡­ talk about striking the poor kid right where it hurts, I better try to de-escalate this situation before it gets heated up here.¡­ but I won''t¡­. It''s too funny to watch! I could feel a sly grin forming in my face while the two continued bickering in front of me. Now that I realized it, I should be scanning the area for any aggressive dinosaur that was near our area, these two causing a scene here might attract unwanted attention both from players and dinosaurs in the vicinity. Damn it. I almost dropped my guard there! I should be more responsible and be alert in the wild area. While scanning the area every 30 seconds I got a broad and clear idea what dinosaurs should I be expecting in this wilderness area before we got to Meadow Mosaic. Rin, Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 21 Hp: 2,050 Atk: 560 Sp. Atk: 120 Def: 450 Sp. Def: 310 Speed: 350 Kasumi, Senko Game name: X.V.X._.FlamePlayzAi._.X.V.X Age: 19 Level: 13 Hp:1,590 Atk: 420 Sp. Atk: 134 Def: 340 Sp. Def: 270 Speed: 325 Seiichi, Toda Game name: PsychoKiller13 Age: 17 Level: 35 Hp: 6,350 Atk: 2,160 Sp. Atk: 450 Def: 950 Sp. Def: 590 Speed: 650 The duo continue to argue about being single and not having a date for the culture festival while I was scanning the map for dinosaurs. Vol 2 ch 6 It was getting close to the afternoon, and even though we had Toda-kun by our side, I couldn¡¯t help but feel like someone was secretly trailing us, I kept¡­ looking back and scanning the area just to stay safe. There is no way someone has already managed to create a type of equipment that can be hidden from environmental scanners right? It took us another 40 minutes to arrive between the lush forest of ¡°Golden Lizard Covert'''' and the vast plains of ¡°Meadow Mosaic.¡± ¡°Are we nearly there?¡± Toda-kun asked us as he prepared a pair of scythes. ¡°Yes, we¡¯re almost there, just be sure to have your weapons out in case the dilophosaurus packs are still there,¡± Senko replied as he prepared he took out his ¡°Bo Staff¡± and had his longbow on his back. I also prepared my pistols and short sword as we headed to the now-ruined campsite. Looking around our campsite was rather worrying, I didn¡¯t recall the place being more trashed, the tents were shredded, our medical supply container was cracked open, and the crate of our food was scratched and everything inside was crushed or missing. ¡°Someone¡¯s been here after we left.¡± I thought to myself as I started investigating the bonfire that was now put out, however, we spotted that it had several burnt scraps on it Senko started investigating the shredded tents, while Toda-kun checked the grassy area around the campsite. ¡°Hey Yuuki, have you found anything that we can still salvage?¡± Senko frustratedly asked as he kicked the torn down tent aside. ¡°Doesn''t seem like it, the containers are empty and the other furniture we brought along were destroyed, I doubt there''s anything salvageable here.¡± ¡°So you''re saying we wasted all that money just to lose all our stuff¡­¡± Senko took a deep breath. ¡°Seems like it¡­.¡± ¡°You two might want to come see this.¡± Looking at Toda-Kun¡¯s direction it looks like he was investigating something that was relatively far from us. Both of us had better join him before the Dilophosaurus pack came back. ¡°Found anything new¡­¡± Senko responded before getting silent. ¡°What are you two being quiet suddenly for¡­. Oh¡­. My¡­.¡± I got up and walked to their direction but was also brought to silence. There was a hole dug up and there laid several dilophosaurus carcasses. The corpses had several scratches, puncture wounds and were gutted open. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Are those the same ones that tried to hunt us down?¡± Senko put his first near his jaw as if he was contemplating what could''ve caused those injuries. ¡°Senko, Poke it with a stick just to see if they''re still alive.¡± Toda-Kun proposed to Senko. ¡°You do it! I''m not messing with the dead!¡± Senko shouted loudly at Toda-kun as he backed away slowly. There was definitely a bigger threat in our area if it managed to take down a dilophosaurus pack. ¡°You two, scan the area! I doubt that we''re alone here!¡± I demanded loudly. The duo did as I asked and we were now scanning this place to see if there was any dinosaur or person in our general vicinity. We continued scanning for 15 seconds and the scanners still didn''t reveal anything, I refuse to believe we were alone here! ¡°Hey¡­ was the grass here always this tall?¡± Senko suddenly asked while pointing out the grass was now almost as tall as we were. ¡°I don''t remember them being this tall, but we better slice the grass around us just to reveal whatever is in here. Now that Senko mentioned it, the grass in this area seemed overgrown, they were now reaching just above our chest area. Is there an in-game clock that dictates how fast grass grows? ¡°Well you see there hotshot I didn''t pick a bladed weapon!¡± Senko announced as he prepared his Bo-Staff again. ¡°And whose fault was that?¡± Toda-Kun butted in while he started to chop off several tall grass with his scythes. ¡°Touch¨¦.¡± Senko rolled his eyes. ¡°Now is not the time to joke around, let''s hurry and create a trail for us to leave.¡± I unsheathed my short sword and followed Toda-Kun in slicing tall grass. This continued for 2 minutes and it didn''t seem like we were progressing, we were only able to chop the tall grass around the camp¡­ ¡°Maybe the best choice was to make a break for it¡­¡± were the words that my brain was shouting to do! I kept looking around the area trying to see if there was anything around us, I really couldn''t shake the feeling of someone is here with us, the scanners say there isn''t any dinosaur in this area as of now but my intuition is yelling to keep your guard up! Looking at Senko and Toda-Kun, they didn''t seem as tense as I was, the atmosphere here was suffocating, the sun wasn''t even setting yet, it was just barely past afternoon, so why does it feel like we''re not safe here!? ¡°KSHIYAAAAHHH!!¡± ¡°Yuuki behind you!!!¡± Senko Yelled Out as he fired an arrow past my left shoulder. I instinctively titled my head to the right ***KKKRRRGGHHSSHH*** was what I heard as I ran towards the duo and turned my back quickly to face what Senko had shot. ¡°That''s¡­.!?¡± Toda-kun shouted as the sight of what Senko shot. Senko had shot a Utahraptor directly on his left eye! the creature was now rapidly shaking its head trying to dislodge the arrow. ¡°Hm¡­..¡± as if By instinct I quickly drew both pistols I had and immediately unloaded both their magazines into the Utahraptor¡¯s body and head. I quickly reloaded both pistols and kicked the Utahraptor¡¯s corpse. ¡°BEHIND YOU!¡± Toda-Kun shouted as a second Utahraptor leaped behind me! However¡­. Toda threw a sickle in my direction, to which¡­ I quickly grabbed it and parried the Utahraptor by slashing it from it''s bare stomach all the way to its bottom jaw causing it to die immediately. ¡°Geez! Where are these guys coming from!?¡± Shouted Senko. And they''re only targeting me¡­ these guys aren''t wild Utahraptors at all, they''re not too high level for this area! They''re from¡­ ¡°My oh my~! It seems you have properly dispatched my pets this time, I should sue you for animal abuse, hahaha!¡± A man with a long sleeved blue-green sweater, a red scarf, brown pants, a thigh garter and a black cowboy hat approached us. ¡°You¡­.¡± I was face to face with my archenemy¡­ ***Diego!!!*** Diego Smirked at us while clapping his hands. His red eyes glowed sharply as the wind brushed past his golden hair. ¡°Diego¡­ What are you doing here?¡± I snapped. ¡°That''s the bastard that attacked you!?¡± Senko stood beside me. I silently nodded as Senko made a break for him with his Bo-Staff! Unfortunately¡­. A girl dressed as a maid jumped in the way of Senko''s attack, she had tanned skin, elf ears, red eyes and long silver hair, and a massive bust to boot. ¡°Any enemy of Master is My enemy!¡± The girl coldly announced. ¡°Damn¡­ her breasts are massive!¡± I quickly turned my head and realized it was Toda-Kun who made the remark. ¡°Master, let me handle these mongrel lowlifes!¡± The elf girl demanded Diego run, however I wasn''t about to let that happen! I dashed to her direction and slid between her legs and got a glimpse of what''s under, causing the girl to stagger from embarrassment to which I kicked Diego on the abdomen knocking him on his ass and tackled her towards Senko and Toda-Kun! ¡°Yuuki you Bastard!¡± Diego got up and pulled out a pair of sharp daggers with serrated blades. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you fair a 3 v 1 then!¡± ¡°You can''t run! The girl shouted but¡­ I quickly shot her in the face causing her to respawn¡­ hopefully she wasn''t close¡± ¡°You! How dare you hurt her!¡± Diego¡¯s eyes was filled with rage and he ran towards us three! Vol. 2: Ch. 7 Diego Game name: ??? Age: ??? Level: ??? Hp: ??? Atk: ??? Sp. Atk: ??? Def: ??? Sp. Def: ??? Speed: ??? The moment Diego rushed towards us, both his forearms glowed a bright gold as they got coated in a metallic coating, the coatings immediately hardened forming golden gauntlets, where his fists protruded short spikes resembling brass knuckles. The bastard''s aiming to go and crush my face in! Gritting my teeth and focusing on Diego''s movement I couldn''t help but focus on my teammates first! ¡°Scatter!¡± I turned my back and shouted at Senko and Toda to scatter away! ¡°Focus on yourself first!¡± Senko shouted back and pointed behind me. I immediately did another quick turn to which Diego was now only a few feet away. ¡°DIE YOU INSUBORDINATE MOUND OF EXCREMENT!¡± The moment Diego''s golden forearm was about to collide with my face, he suddenly redirected his arm in a way to block his head. A sickle thrown by Toda-kun had managed to pierce the gold coating on his forearms and Diego took damage. ¡°Tch¡­¡± Diego''s eyes were filled with rage as the sickle has directly pierced through his supposed gold gauntlets as blood started pouring out of the wound. ¡°Don''t forget that I''m here too.¡± Toda-kun announced in a threatening tone while preparing a longer scythe. The moment Diego got distracted I realized it was my chance to strike back. ¡°Now''s my chance!¡± I immediately kicked his gut, causing him to grunt in pain and stagger where his hat fell to the ground while I quickly spun around and kicked his lower leg causing him to get knocked back! However Diego was a really tough nut to crack! He immediately regained his footing and positioned himself in a stance that didn''t have that many openings. ¡°Where''s all that Tough Bravado went huh Diego?¡± I quickly prepared my sword, followed by picking up his cowboy hat and threw it back at him to where he caught and put it back on. Diego stood there with bloodshot eyes and was preparing to fight all three of us at once. Any other person would find him stupid for still choosing to fight a 3 v 1, I for one find it quite respectful and noble. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Not so fast, pal!¡± Toda-kun quickly dashed behind him and was preparing to attack, while Senko had his bow locked on to Diego¡¯s head from the sidelines. ¡°Filthy¡­ swines¡­ I''ll have all your head''s mountes in pikes you hear me!?¡± Shouted Diego as a massive purplish-red sparks and jolts surrounded his Gauntlets. I never seen anyone in the game do that before, was that part of the new update or a new mechanic that wasn''t listed in the patch notes? Whatever it was He doesn''t scare me ¡°Answer me now! Why did you follow us here¡± I held my pistol in my hand and aimed it at his chest. Diego stood there confidently, took a deep breath and decided to answer my damn question on why he followed us here. ¡°It''s quite simple isn''t it? I was here for your scythe wielding friend, but it seems that simple communication is non-negotiable and that his loyalty is already placed somewhere else, such a shame his power Would''ve been unleashed in my clan hahaha!! His voice was filled with confident, it was like he had fully regained his cool demeanor and chilled out composure, I''m starting to wonder if his Royalty schtick is some sort of Act, it wasn''t that far off for players to roleplay on a video game so what makes this anything new to someone like Diego. More importantly why did he want to have Toda-kun''s loyalty? What sort of business does he have with him? Are they allies? ¡°Why him?¡± Senko asked loudly as he prepared his bo-staff.l ¡°My business with mr green reaper over there is none of your concern Ginger head.¡± Diego smoothly responded. Ginger head? Was that supposed to be an insult from the same dude who wore a crop top a while ago!? ¡°What did you call me?¡± Senko approached twirling his staff, preparing to bash Diego''s face in. ¡°Take it easy buddy, I''m not done asking him questions.¡± I spoke loudly at Senko to which he nodded in agreement and stopped approaching. ¡°You''re the boss of those poachers Hakura and I stoppes right? What were the poachers gonna do with the captured dinosaurs during the game''s launch?¡± I demanded he answer. ¡°Those poachers are all merely mercenaries I hired, I heard one of them nearly killed you if it wasn''t for your little girlfriend healing the Neovenator where it completely devoured Lil Tim.¡± Diego lowered his arms as his gauntlets disappeared. Lil Tim? That was the guy Haruka and I stopped during the game''s launch. Moreover, why did he assume Haruka was my girlfriend? Just how much does He know about what happened that night!? The atmosphere seems to have cooled down. Diego didn''t seem like he was serious about this 3 v 1. Maybe this was a chance to get more information out of this guy. ¡°What''s the goal of your clan?¡± I lowered my pistol but held my sword tightly. I signaled Senko and Toda-kun to lower their weapons in order to lower the chance of anyone lashing out. ¡°The goal of the Enrico Clan?¡± Diego raised His eyebrows in confidence. ¡°Yes.¡± I quickly answered. ¡°Well then, If you insist! I shall enlighten you filthy peasants and spread the goodwill of the Magnificent Enrico Clan!¡± Diego spread his arms as if he was about to catch a DizzKnee Princess. Oh boy, this was definitely a mistake asking him. I quickly looked at Senko and Toda-kun, they seem to be dreading what Diego was about to start yapping on about what the Enrico clan''s goal was. ¡°The Enrico clan''s goal is simply to take over the world of kyoryu online, our goal is to have absolute control over the entirety of the world!¡± Diego exclaimed pridefully as if he was an Idol talking to his fans. ¡°How exactly do you plan to do it then?¡± I raised and aimed my pistol towards Diego again. ¡°I''m glad you asked, my dear Peasant! i plan to mass produce an army of biologically enhanced Utahraptors, Make them faster, stronger and relentless! All in the name of Me, DIEGO!¡± The guy pointed a thumbs up at himself, his red eyes glowed sharply. Diego Stood very pridefully in a rather flamboyant and feminine way, as if this was a masquerade and he was the actor! ¡°I''ve had enough of this!¡± Senko spoke up and threw an arrow at Diego where he just tilted his head to avoid the impact, a gold gauntlet formed on his left forearm and he quickly drew a revolver and fired it at Senko. ¡°Lookout!¡± I shouted to warn Senko. ¡°Shit!¡± Senko crossed his forearms where the bullet immediately struck causing him to bleed profusely. That idiot! He shouldn''t have attacked first!! Now we''re all forced to engage! ¡°Move another muscle and you''re dead.¡± I fired a warning shot at the rock Diego. ¡°Oh~ I''m not the one who''s dead, for as you see~ you''re all already dead!¡± ¡°Us? Already dead!? Don''t make me laugh! You and what army!?¡± Toda-kun prepared his scythe again. ¡°Hahahah¡­!! Ahahaha! What army? What army!? This! Army!!!¡± Diego quickly snapped his fingers behind him as several Utahraptors leapt off the tall grass and stood by his side. ¡°Now Peasants we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way! Now I''ll let all three of you off the hook for now, but just so you know~ The next time there will be no mercy!¡± Diego confidently walked off as the Utahraptors focused their sights on each of us making sure we couldn''t engage before following their master. ¡°We were all wrapped around his damn finger!¡± shouted Senko. ¡°For now, Toda-kun should leave, he has no business getting involved in my fight with Diego.¡± ¡°But.¡± ¡°Thank you for the help, but this is our fight, I''ll be sure to land a Hit for you.¡± I explained further. We all agreed to not have any other innocent people get involved with Diego''s schematics, Toda-kun agreed to help supply Us with gears but not be directly involved, we returned to town, Waved goodbye to Senko and Toda-kun, and all of us logged off for the day. ¡ã¡ã¡ã I Took the VR headset off and looked around my room, and noticed Akane was studying, best not to intrude on her. I checked my phone, there was a text message from Haruka. Haruka-Senpai: ¡°Yuuki are you free for tomorrow? The club needs every member tomorrow to discuss what to do for the Cultural festival, please reply quickly when you can. Don''t forget to remind Senko-kun alright? Vol 2. Ch. 8 Sakura Haruka-Senpai: ¡°Hey Yuuki, are you free for tomorrow? The club needs every member tomorrow to discuss what to do for the Cultural festival, please reply quickly when you can. Don''t forget to remind Senko-kun alright?¡± Yuuki Rin: ¡°Yes, I''m not busy tomorrow, what time should Senko and I go to the club room for the meeting?¡± Sakura Haruka-Senpai: ¡°The meeting itself is Scheduled at 2:30 PM, so it''s best that Yuuki-Kun and Senko-San get there around 1:40 to 2:00 pm, is that a bad time for you two?¡± Yuuki Rin: ¡°Not at all, I''ll be sure to tell Senko about the meeting, and get there early for Senpai¡¯s sake. Sakura Haruka-Senpai: ¡°Glad to hear that Yuuki-Kun is still very reliable! Well I gotta go now, Schedules got strict lately, See you tomorrow.¡± I stopped responding after that and left it on read, these announcements are usually sent on our group chats, so If Haruka-Senpai is the one directly messaging me about this unexpected club meeting then the preparations for the cultural festival might be too strict to just be announced in the group chat. You''d wonder why I''m calling her Senpai instead of just her name, But before starting highschool we agreed to address each other with proper honorifics. Senko, Kana and I are all freshmen so that rule didn''t necessarily applied to the three of us but we had to address Haruka as ¡°Haruka-Senpai¡± as it might cause trouble for all four of us, it could make people believe we don''t show respect to our seniors and it might make her look bad to her peers to simply address her without honorifics, due to making it seem like she''s letting her Kohais disrespect her. I quickly grabbed my phone and texted Senko to tell him about what Haruka-Senpai asked for me to do. ¡°Senko, Haruka-Senpai has sent me a text message about the upcoming cultural festival¡± ¡°Did she ask you out on a date together at the cultural festival?¡± ¡°No!!! Of course not! ¡°Is it that both of you are gonna sneak off to go on a date while the club meeting is going on? ¡°As favorable as an outcome that is for me, Haruka-senpai of all people wouldn''t even consider me a potential love interest! ¡°And here we go with the self-loathing talk from this afternoon! We''re getting off topic! It''s about an emergency club meeting. It''s around 2:00 pm tomorrow so don''t be late. ¡°That''s it?¡± ¡°yeah why? ¡°Then let''s go there together after lunch time then?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I placed my phone down on my lap, took a deep breath, and tried to gather my thoughts. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Geez¡­ where does he get off teasing me about Haruka like that!? Even though Senko might come off as a rude jokester, he''s actually one of the most loyal friends I know. Back in middle school he always had my back, whenever one of us got into a scuffle with other students, we always jumped in to support each other no question asked. He was basically like my brother from another mother if that made any sense whatsoever. ¡ã¡ã¡ã The next day, Senko texted me that I shouldn''t wait for him at the cafeteria nor wait for him to get to the club room, because his recess got delayed due to excess work from his classes. I''d call him a flaker, but it''s not like I can really force the guy to tell his teacher that recess should be on time now can I? And it would just cause trouble for both of us. With that I just headed to the cafeteria and looked around the available dishes today. The available dishes today seem to be Shiza Salad, Tater tots, Onigiri, Sushi, pork BBQ, some pizza, Miso soup, chicken wings, hamburger, tempura, and bowl of ramen. For dessert there were Daifuku, some Yokan, Wagashi Choco-Bananas, Some Dango. And lastly for drinks there was Black tea, green tea, some oolong, iced tea, coffee jelly and latte. Talk about being sugary¡­ ¡°Maybe I should just find Kana and have lunch with her instead? Though I doubt her classes are over yet.¡± I ended up settling for a bowl of rice, some chicken wings with tempura and Oolong Tea. I''m not sure how obvious this is, but I''m not exactly a ¡°people person¡± which was how my sister describe me when I first entered middle school, she''s not wrong in that regard I tend to prefer my own company than other people, but I always hated not having any of my actual friend''s around me whenever I eat lunch, feels too lonely, especially with how many people are in the cafeteria enjoying food with their friends. ¡°Maybe I should just quickly eat these and head straight to the Club room,¡± I kept looking around for an open table before settling on one near the corner. Hopefully nobody''s gonna judge me for eating in a corner alone right? ¡°Thank you for the meal.¡± ¡ã¡ã¡ã I quietly ate my lunch and headed to the clubroom. Our club wasn''t necessarily only focused on a singular topic if anything ohr club was made from remnants of three different clubs that weren''t exactly popular, those were the History club which Haruka-Senpai and her friends are part of, Filmography which I was part of and lastly¡­ The anime club that Senko and Toda-kun were part of. Yes people kept asking if were gonna animate the ¡°Feith Grund Ourder Series.¡± We kept saying no because we''re just students and not a full time studio. Arriving at the entrance of the clubroom I checked the time on my phone, it was 1:30 pm. I was an hour early for the club meeting. I opened the door and lo and behold It was empty. I entered the clubroom, it was fairly spacious, there were around 6 large tables that were surrounded by at least 10 chairs if we went through all the sides. There were also different decorations all over the wall that were befitting comics and other creativity oriented topics. After entering and closing the door behind me, I sat on a chair and then placed my bag on an adjacent chair. In situations like this most people would be bored, however, I tend to save E-books on my smartphone so I can read any manga, light novel or web novel I have on my phone as long as they were saved there. I scrolled through my phone for a bit and decided to read a web novel written by Herena Kacavasha. It was called Snow Night, a story about a young boy who planned out a massive stage for his self-destruction, however this play of his was undercut because it was stopped by his beloved fiance. I really enjoyed this story and was itching to give it a re-read in my free time. ¡°I should have enough time to read three chapters right?¡± I started reading the E-book. ¡ã¡ã¡ã After a while of reading I heard the clubroom¡¯s door sliding open. I didn''t pay any attention to it because I was guessing it was probably a club member I wasn''t that close to at least until I heard their voice. ¡°Good afternoon, You''re here early as usual Yuuki-Kun.¡± it was a familiar voice. Looking up from my phone It was Haruka-Senpai. Her voice was soft but lively, she placed her belongings on a chair across the table from mine and sat on the chair next to it. Looking into each other''s eyes, really just reinforced to me that she really is the prettiest girl on campus. We were now sitting across from each other¡­ Gee Destiny way to make it look like a date. ¡°Good afternoon Haruka-Senpai, have you had lunch yet?¡± I placed my phone down on the table. Haruka-Senpai simply gave a relaxed laugh. ¡°I actually haven''t had lunch yet, because I was planning on having it here in the clubroom. How about Yuuki-Kun, have you eaten lunch yet? ¡°Yes, I did have lunch already, in fact I had it before calming here.¡± ¡°Now that you mentioned it, have you been here for a while?¡± Haruka-Senpai gave me a curious side-eye while she played with her hair for a moment. ¡°Not at all I just got here, I just started reading E-books while waiting for everyone to arrive so that the meeting could start.¡± I scratched the back of my head for a moment. ¡°Well then, Thank you for being early as usual.¡± Haruka-Senpai took out a bento box which had a Ham and cheese sandwich, some omu-rice and some fried lotus root. ¡°Oh right, Haruka-Senpai, Senko told me he might be coming late since his classes aren''t dismissed yet.¡± ¡°That''s fine, As long as he gets here soon it shouldn''t be an issue.¡± ¡°I guess you''re right.¡± ¡°Mhm, Thanks for the Meal.¡± Haruka Senpai Clasped her hands together and whispered softly. Haruka-Senpai started eating her lunch. I couldn''t help but feel like I was Intruding on her business. Maybe it''s better that I continue reading the E-book to avoid any bad events from happening. I started reading the E-book again but I really couldn''t help but have glances on Haruka-Senpai. I know we aren''t dating at all... but just hanging out together like this... I wouldn''t mind staying like this all the time. I couldn''t help myself but smile softly. Vol. 2 ch. 9 20 minutes later, Haruka-Senpai finished her lunch and both of us ended up just being on our phones. Sharing moments like these alone with Haruka-Senpai is something I wouldn''t mind doing all the time. When You''re able to have fun just doing nothing with someone you like, might that be an indication of love? ¡°Yuuki-kun are you alright?¡± Haruka-Senpai looked at me curiously. ¡°Yes I''am, what''s wrong?¡± ¡°Well~ I was just curious if anything good has happened?¡± ¡°Anything good? Why ask that?¡± I gave a slight cough to maintain a calm demeanor. ¡°Yes, you''ve been grinning a lot for the past 20 minutes, It does imply a good thing happened right?¡± Haruka-Senpai gave me a warm smile as if she was happy for me. ¡°Well not exactly.¡± I seriously can''t tell her it was because we were alone together like a couple. ¡°I see.¡± Haruka-senpai nodded before looking back down on her phone. ¡°Haruka-Senpai.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°May I ask you something?¡± ¡°Of course you can.¡± ¡°Well¡­ is there a reason you stopped playing kyoryu online? I was just curious, is it because of the person that attacked me because we stopped his men from poaching?¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Umm¡­ You see¡­¡± Haruka-Senpai¡¯s expression went pale¡­ she even avoided making eye contact. That''s all I needed to see to know I definitely was because of our attack on The poachers. ¡°I understand¡­ so please don''t feel bad about it.¡± When the game first launched, Haruka-Senpai and I stopped a group of poachers together, but that led to someone (Diego) personally hunting me down when I was alone and not in a group. Hell, Back at the campsite Diego said He was there for Toda-Kun, however all of my bells started blaring! It was telling me it was all a lie to ambush me¡­ why else did the Utahraptors attack me first!? ¡°I''m¡­ I''m sorry for getting you targeted due to my own ideals¡¯ consequences!¡± Haruka-senpai stood up and bowed profusely. I can only imagine how guilty she must''ve been feeling over what happened that day. ¡°Haruka-Senpai, it''s not your fault-¡± ¡°Yes it is, I dragged you along to fight a group of people that were way above your level!¡± Haruka-senpai raised her voice. ¡°That''s not the point! I was the one that volunteered to join and help you save those dinosaurs! What was I supposed to do? Let you go on a suicide mission alone? So please don''t feel guilty anymore okay?¡± I tried to maintain my cool but I ended up raising my voice back at her. ¡°But Yuuki-Kun¡­¡± ¡°Please trust me¡­ I don''t blame you for anything¡­ if anything I should be the one apologizing to you¡­ I snapped at you and Kana when we tried to stop the herrerasaurus infestation back at that farm.¡± ¡°Yuuki-Kun¡­ the reason I was adamant in joining you in fighting those dinosaurs and not have Kana do it was because I wanted to take responsibility for that man''s attack happening to you, I wanted to ensure it wouldn''t happen again.¡± Haruka-Senpai seemed to have a slight tear in her eyes. ¡°Please don''t feel bad anymore, I don''t hold any grudges against you, the reason I snapped that day was a consequence of my own actions, I told you guys when I respawned that I was hunting coleophysis but I got over confident and lost my ground, but then that guy appeared, so it''s not fault okay?¡± ¡°I see¡­ but please promise me that you''re gonna be careful next time okay?¡± ¡°I will, now please don''t cry anymore.¡± ¡°I''m¡­ not crying¡­ dummy.¡± Haruka-Senpai pouted and turned away. Haruka-Senpai really was the type to take responsibility over sins she has done, but I don''t get why she''s blaming herself completely over my own misjudgement of a situation. ¡ã¡ã¡ã The Atmosphere seems to have calmed down, Haruka-senpai and I didn''t say another word to each other, I checked my phone. It was almost time for the meeting and yet Nobody has arrived yet? We''re they all late? Haruka-Senpai was reading a book about psychology. Meanwhile I was reading an E-book but I couldn''t help but want to break the silence between the two of us. ¡°Haruka-Senpai, May I ask you something, it''s about the upcoming cultural festival.¡± ¡°Oh, is it regarding the club''s activity? You don''t have to worry about- ¡°That''s not it, I was wondering if anyone asked you out on joining them yet?¡± Haruka-Senpai had a somewhat dumbfounded expression on her face, I guess she didn''t expect that question from me or all people. ¡°I had been asked several times to go to the festival together, but you know, I just turned all of them down like usual.¡± Haruka-Senpai¡¯s expression was seemingly tensed up, was she expecting me to ask her out too? ¡°Well then, would you like to go with me?¡± I think my voice cracked a bit. ¡°T-together?¡± ¡°Yes.* There was an eerie atmosphere between us, was she thinking of a way to Turn me down as well? Haruka-Senpai seemed troubled by my question, I should''ve expected her to turn me down. ¡°Yuuki-Kun¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I''ll gladly go with you for the cultural Festival.¡± Haruka-senpai seems to have a soft grin on her face. Vol. 2 ch. 10 ¡°You mean it?¡± I was in disbelief ¡°Yes, I''ll gladly go with Yuuki-kun at the cultural Festival,¡± Haruka-Senpai answered in a soft tone, her left hand on her chin as if she was maintaining her composure. I couldn''t help but notice that she had a small grin on her face. Was she expecting me to ask her out and that''s why she looks pleased? That can''t be it, right? Was this my chance to ask her out? I was contemplating whether I should ask her out right here and now if she would like to go out together¡­ it''s worth a shot right? ¡°Haruka-Senpai, Would y-¡± The club room¡¯s doors suddenly swung open, causing both Haruka-senpai and I to notice that it was Senko barging in so suddenly. Geez, talk about being a mood killer, I felt my entire existence cringing at the predicament. ¡°You''re both always early, well Lucky for you guys, I brought snacks!¡± Senko waved at me as he pulled out a bag of chips and sweets. ¡°Yuuki-kun you were about to say something?¡± Haruka-Senpai interrogated. ¡°Eh? I-it''s nothing, don''t worry about it.¡± ¡°Why the long face? You''ve already eaten lunch already, right? If not, let''s have snacks!¡± Senko placed the bag on the table right in front of me and Haruka-Senpai. Ugh¡­ Could he not read the room!? He was telling me since yesterday to go ask her out and he really came and ruined the chance I had! Ugh!!! I want to hit Senko so badly¡­ clenching my fists on the side I couldn''t help but maintain my composure and pretend to be calm and cool. ¡°What snacks have you brought today Senko-kun?¡± Haruka-Senpai''s tone had a strain. Could she have been disappointed too? ¡°Let¡¯s see, for deserts I brought some Pokey sticks, some KatKits, dango, and Taiyaki, as for chips I have some Rays, CoiCeya Don Tako Tortillas, Kalbi Thin Potato Chips, and Fringles¡± ¡°Isn''t that haul too simple Senko-kun?¡± Haruka-Senpai scratched her cheek awkwardly. ¡°Haruka-Senpai, I would blame Kana for this, she completely forgot the grocery list, because she rushed to the grocery store before I finished writing the list so she went and bought a dozen choco-bananas and basic chips and sweets,¡± Senko explained in a very annoyed tone. ¡°That''s very typical for Kana-chan right? Always in a rush.¡± Haruka-Senpai laughed softly. Somehow¡­ despite the fact Senko ruined the mood between the two of us, I couldn¡¯t help but feel very happy inside, it''s like we''re all hanging out together again, it was a shame Kana wasn''t in the same club as us¡­ but I''ll gladly cherish the time I spent with these two even if it''s only for a moment. Senko, I¡¯ll hold off on torturing you for ruining my chance with Haruka-senpai for today¡­ Haruka-Senpai, I¡¯ll be sure to ask you out on my own terms someday, so be ready for it! Stolen story; please report. ¡ã¡ã¡ã It was now 2:00 pm, Senko sat next to me in the clubroom, while Haruka-Senpai was across from me. There were 30 minutes left before the club meeting started and somehow it''s only the three of us. It was expected though because I came at 1:30 and Haruka-Senpai came only a bit after me, Senko on the other hand came just before 2:00 struck. The three of us just spent the time we were waiting eating the snacks Senko had brought so it''s not like we had nothing to do. After a while the atmosphere got quiet again, Haruka-senpai was reading a book, Senko was on his phone reading a manga while I was feeling awkwardly waiting for someone to break the silence. I suddenly heard my phone ring, it was a message notification from¡­ Senko of all people, but he''s sitting here next to me. What was so important was that he had to send me a DM. I reluctantly checked the message he sent. ¡°Anything changed between you and Haruka-Senpai?¡± Does he know what happened before he came here? I turned my eyes to see the Jerk smirking like a madman. ¡°Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Come on, don''t be so stingy, spill the beans already!¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Come on, just tell me! It will be our secret!¡± ¡°That is none of your business buddy!¡± ¡°Did you at least try asking her out?¡± ¡°No comment.¡± ¡°She said no didn''t she!?¡± ¡°No comment!!¡± ¡°I was just trying to give you advice on asking her out but you won''t tell me anything so I can''t help you in exchange for a small favor! ¡°I already told you that I''m not gonna babysit Kana at the Cultural Festival while you''re off being balls deep in a random girl!¡± ¡°Jerk.¡± I looked to my side and Senko still had that cunning smirk on his face. He really gets pushy when he is curious. ¡°What are you two doing glaring at each other like that?¡± Haruka-Senpai asked as if she was a detective interrogating criminals. ¡°Don''t worry about it! Yuuki and I were just planning on playing Kyoryu online later tonight! Right, Yuuki!?¡± Senko hurriedly explained unconvincingly. I simply nodded and took a sip from my water flask. Hopefully, that is convincing enough to throw her off right? ¡°Ah, speaking of the game, would it be alright if I joined you guys? I''m a bit rusty but I''m sure I can still play well!¡± Haruka-senpai shyly asked to join. ¡°Well, you see¡­¡± Senko tried to ¡°deny¡± The request. ¡°Please! It would be a great way for me to catch up to Yuuki-Kun since the last time I played he got ahead of me in both stats and levels, I''d feel a bit embarrassed if he had to keep protecting me in the game and not the other way around you know!¡± Haruka-senpai Bowed, Clasped her hands together, and asked profusely to join. She was pleading to ¡°join us¡± in this made-up play session of Kyoryu online. Hold on! This could be my chance!!! I quickly sent Senko a message. Senko''s phone suddenly received a message notification. ¡°When we''re about to play with Haruka-Senpai, I need you to pretend that Kana is making you come with her somewhere, So I can have a chance to be alone with her.¡± ¡°:Thumbs_up:¡± ¡°Of course, you can join, just try not to get into too much trouble alright senpai?¡± Senko pretended to be cautious of Senpai¡¯s safety. ¡°I will do my best! I¡¯m gonna get stronger than both Senko-kun and Yuuki-kun!¡± Haruka-senpai had excitement in her eyes, and knowing her she was dead serious. However, I wasn''t simply using this as a chance to get some alone time with Senpai, but I was also gonna use this time to make sure she doesn''t surpass me in the game! What she said was true! The last time she played was when the four of us stopped an infestation. I had a slightly higher level, but that was before we stopped the Herrerasaurus infestation as a group! So it was a given that after we cleared the infestation from that farm, she had probably raised stats and levels after the commission was done. That''s why I''ll be using this chance to get stronger on my own! Kana, Haruka, and Senko all voted for me to lead our group. I''m guessing it was due to me being the most knowledgeable about dinosaurs and the game itself, but all of them were definitely better than me in actually playing the game. That''s why, I have to get stronger not just for myself but for them as well! After all, I still have a score to settle with Diego. This is killing three birds with one stone! I get alone time with Senpai, I get stronger in the game for myself and my team and lastly, with Senko pretending to be absent, Senpai and I can have fun alone! ¡°Good afternoon, are the three of you the first ones that arrived here?¡± A voice spoke out from the clubroom¡¯s entrance, We looked in the direction of the voice and it was our club¡¯s president, Takeda-senpai. Takeda-senpai is a very academic student at our school, he is our senior since he is older than Haruka-senpai. He is very favored by the teachers of the campus and is admired greatly by the students, particularly the female students. Takeda-senpai is 6¡¯0 tall and has a rather fit build, his hair is in a beautiful shade of dandelion-blonde, and he has bright blue eyes, but rumors circulate among his classmates that due to his disdain for his blue eyes, he chooses to wear bright red contact lenses, I wouldn¡¯t know since I¡¯m not that close to him to figure it out. Takeda-senpai is also known to be very talented, as it was said that had won several awards for acting when it came to talent shows and student films, some even said he was amazing at singing and dancing. He was a very admirable person to those who were in his circle of friends. ¡°Takeda-senpai, we were just discussing some plans later to go play Kyoryu online, hahaha¡­¡± Haruka-senpai awkwardly laughed. ¡°Kyoryu online? I didn''t know Haruka-san to be the type to enjoy the game ~¡± Takeda-senpai seemed rather surprised that Haruka-senpai ¡°Well you see, Yuuki-kun is the one who convinced me to try out the game for myself, and it just so happened that my family owned the console that is able to run the game, And against my wishes, Yuuki-kun pre-ordered the game on my behalf¡± Haruka-senpai explained the story quite fondly. Though she gave me a slight side-eye after that last remark. I just returned her side-eye with a smile. ¡°Well then, I shall be preparing for the meeting to start, keep doing what you three are doing.¡± Takeda-senpai walked towards a separate desk, preparing a projector and its screen. Vol. 2 Ch 11 While Takeda-Senpai was preparing the projector, we heard several people talking outside and entered the clubroom. The students that entered included Kotoha, and Mizuki-senpai who are Haruka-Senpai¡¯s classmates, Miku, and Ayaka-Chan who are both part of the ¡°popular girl friend group¡± that Senko mentioned the other day, leading to them also Becoming close friends with Haruka-Senpai. After them were Nagisa and Mako who are in the same year as Takeda-Senpai, and lastly were several students I wasn''t familiar with at all. Our club really had a fairly decent range of people that joined, I guess that was the result of the mergers. Haruka-senpai got up from our table and went to greet her friends. ¡°I guess that''s that, she''s gonna sit with her friends.¡± I whispered to Senko disappointedly. ¡°On the plus side, the Girl who called you Cute is here too!¡± Senko enthusiastically whispered back ¡°I''m not gonna ask who it is, nor do I plan to ask them out so stop mentioning it.¡± Senko simply let out a chuckle, and after a bit, Haruka-senpai returned back to our table which surprised me a bit. In the corner of my eye It looked like Mizuki, Kotoha, and Ayaka all sat together, while Miku, Mako, and Nagisa sat at a parallel table to them, which was expected because they''re part of the same friend group. What I wasn''t expecting was Haruka-Senpai choosing to remain in the Seats with Senko and Me. Well no use overthinking it since it''s preferable for me! ¡°Senpai How come you chose to sit with Senko and Myself instead of the others.¡± Senko asked as she returned. I pretended to be focusing on the projector screen that Takeda-Senpai was busy preparing for the meeting. ¡°Well, I wanted to also discuss with Senko and Yuuki-Kun about the plans for the game later so I decided why not stay here for the time being, I want to hear from Senko and Yuuki-kun what We can do together as a trio in the game!¡± Haruka-senpai excitedly explained her choice. ¡°Hahaha that''s understandable, however I¡¯m not exactly familiar with some of the newer things to do in game.¡± Senko awkwardly spoke out. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Thats a shame¡­ how about Yuuki-kun what do you think we can do for the game?¡± ¡°Well we could go check out some of the ruins that were being-¡± I tried to say before getting cut off by a rather proud voice spoken from the Club room¡¯s entrance. ¡°Yo, Sakura-chan! Let''s go to the Cultural Festival together~¡± The boy who asked has walked up to Haruka-Senpai and was blatantly making himself known to the entire club room. This guy is Satoru Tarou, a popular guy in the campus, But everyone knows him as Toru. He stood at 6 ''2 tall, his hair was a dark pinkish purple and his eyes were sharp, and his voice had an ¡°authoritative¡± flair to put it lightly. It was like he wasn''t asking Haruka-Senpai to go with her but commanding her to. Unlike Takeda-Senpai who was popular through his own effort and talent, it was like Toru was given his popularity strictly by how ¡°tall, handsome, and sporty¡± he behaves. ¡°Eh? the culture festival?¡± Haruka-senpai answered awkwardly as a sweat seemed to have dripped from her cheek. ¡°That''s right, I heard the festival is gonna be grand this year and I want you, Haruka-chan, to be my lovely date for it.¡± Toru pridefully voiced his intentions as he offered Haruka-senpai his hand and caused some of the other students to look in our direction. What is he!? Mr prince charming? If it wasn''t obvious enough, I never liked this guy at all, not because he was popular but because he acts as if he owns the place and waltzes around like everybody else is beneath him. He''s like one of those ¡°Alpha Male Bros¡± you would see on UTube with how he presents himself to other people. There were several rumors that this guy always have sidechicks behind the back of woman he was dating, and with how self absorbed he is behaving I would absolutely believe them. I suddenly received a text from Senko: ¡°Don''t lose your cool, this guy isn''t worth wasting your oxygen on.¡± I looked to my side and he was on his phone giving me a side-eye. It was very nice to know my friend cares a lot. I wasn''t planning to lose my cool over a playboy. I took a sip from my aqua flask which had Iced Coffee. ¡°Ehhh~?? but I was already asked out to go there with Yuuki-kun.¡± Haruka-senpai awkwardly responded while poking her pointer fingers together. ¡°Huh~?¡± Toru looked like he was holding back how flabbergasted he was by raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms. ¡°PFFFFTTTTT~!!!!!¡± I choked and spat out the Iced coffee I was drinking back in my aqua flask. Jeez, Spilling the beans would have definitely caused more of the other students to look in our direction. ¡°Oi, Oi, Don''t tell me, Haruka-chan would rather go to the culture festival with him than Me right?¡± Toru''s voice seems to have cracked from the utter shock of this news. I''m sitting right here you damn bastard! I placed my aqua flask back in my bag. ¡°Um¡­ I¡­ I already agreed to go there with Yuuki-kun,¡± Haruka-senpai, voiced in a casual tone. If the bombshell of Her revealing I already asked her out in front of Toru caused the others to look at us, then her dropping the ¡°already agreed¡± would surely cause everyone to start gawking at us. ¡°HAHAHA! stop kidding around Haruka-chan, you wouldn''t wanna make the girl who secretly has a crush on Rin-san jealous now would you?¡± Toru chuckled as he glanced towards my direction with a condescending smile. Is he mad I asked out Haruka-Senpai before him? I simply rolled my eyes by how absurd that idea was when I suddenly received a text from Senko: ¡°Told you!!.¡± Looking to my side it looks like Senko was pretending to not pay attention but he is actively showing concern with how this jerk was acting. ***Clap*** Takeda-Senpai clapped his hands loudly to gather everyone''s attention Everybody looked towards Takeda-Senpai¡¯s direction as it was now time for the meeting to begin. ¡°That''s enough Toru, go sit down near Nozomi-san and the others and stop bothering Haruka-San and Yuuki-San.¡± Takeda-Senpai¡¯s voice was firm. I heard that those two tend to hangout a lot, which begs the question, how come Takeda-Senpai is such a well mannered individual compared to Toru. Vol. 2 Ch12 ¡°Seriously Takeda? Sakura-chan here was just about to say yes to joining me at the culture festival!¡± Toru arrogantly complained as if he was being victimized. Jeez, talk about being a narcissist. Looking at Haruka-senpai¡¯s direction told me all I need to know. She doesn''t enjoy how pushy Toru is, it''s obvious this guy Isn''t gonna budge until he gets what he wants. ¡°I meant what I said Toru, go sit down, the club''s meeting is about to start.¡± Takeda-senpai raised his voice. ¡°Just give me a minute, then I''ll go sit at Nozomi-chan''s table.¡± Toru complained even further. ¡°Orders are Orders, Sit. Down.¡± Takeda-senpai''s voice was getting higher. ¡°Seriously!? Ugh, hey Rin, Go swap seats with me, You sit at Nozomi-chan''s table!¡± Toru looked at me as if he had any authority over me. ¡°...¡± I didn''t bother responding, I''m not letting this guy make me losenmy cool. ¡°Come on now, I''ll even treat you to something good later, Just switch seats with me and call it off with Sakura-chan.¡± Toru''s voice was starting to annoy me. Talk about a drama king, does this guy not see that he''s bringing unwanted attention to not just Himself but also Haruka-senpai. ¡°I''m staying right where I am, and Haruka-senpai has already accepted my proposal.¡± were the only words he was gonna get out of me. ¡°Hahahaha! That''s a good one, Well then Sakura-chan did you.¡± Toru was definitely pretending to not be bothered. My guess is this guy is so used to having his way that he cannot fathom rejection. Takeda-senpai might be popular but he''s humble and respectful, not how I would be caught describing Toru over here. ¡°Eh? I¡­¡± Haruka-senpai looked unsure on how to answer Toru. ¡°I said that''s enough, Move it Toru.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Takeda-senpai placed his hand on Toru and forced him to go to his seat near that Nozomi girl. ¡°Move it Toru!¡± It''s hard to believe those guys are friends, especially after knowing those rumors that Toru has circulating about him. ¡°Now that''s that settled, everyone please pay attention right here.¡± Takeda-senpai started explaining the club''s plan for the culture festival. He explained how our club was gonna set up a few food stalls near each other in order to build profit for donating towards charity. Isn''t just running a food stall too clich¨¦ for our group? ¡°Takeda-senpai, Don''t you think it would be unfitting for our club to just be selling food instead of maybe a theatrical performance?¡± Haruka-senpai raised her hand and asked Takeda-senpai¡¯s decision. ¡°That''s a good question Haruka-chan, the reason we''re gonna setting up food stalls and not something like a play or film is due to the budgetary costs of it.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Budget constraints?¡± ¡°Yes, when the student council discussed with club leaders the plans for the culture festival, they said that due to our club being the result of three mergers, it would be too costly for the school if we took up too many space, so a large scale performance would skyrocket the cost for the school to funs us.¡± Throughout the discussion it felt like someone kept looking at me¡­ I was trying to remain subtle by only barely moving my eyes around my field of vision while slightly tilting my head left and right. I grabbed my phone and sent Senko a message. ¡°I feel like someone is observing me directly, I need you to quickly look around if someone is doing just that.¡± ¡°Gotcha¡± Now hopefully that should be enough to figure it out right? My phone vibrated! Did Senko spot anyone!? ¡°Someone is looking at Yuuki¡± ¡°And that is¡­ ? ¡° ¡°well~ according to my 360¡ã no-scope quick shot eyesight¡± Oh brother, not this again!th ¡°The girl looking at Yuuki is the Nozomi girl at Toru-senpai''s table.¡± ¡°You''re joking right?¡± ¡°Nah, my 360¡ã no-scope quick shot eyesight is never wrong! To this, I can conclude that Nozomi-chan has a crush on Yuuki! ¡°I''m guessing this is the same girl you Said found me cute?¡± ¡°Wrong! I told you that one of our Senpai finds you cute, that doesn''t mean they have a crush on you! However I''am very confident that Nozomi-chan does like Yuuki!¡± ¡°Are you joking? because if you are I''m not even gonna bother with her!¡± ¡°You sure? The girl is very cute you know, she''s short and also petite, much like your favorite girl from the manga we read! ¡°Hold up, are you implying I''m some kind of lolicon!? ¡°Aren''t you?¡° ¡°No!¡± Reading his message made me wonder how reliable his words are. It''s like he is implying that I have some sort of love triangle. Even if anyone else does like Me I would just turn them down immediately and not elaborate at all. Much like how Haruka-senpai doesn''t owe me a relationship, that same logic also applies to me, I don''t owe anyone anything! The meeting continued and Takeda decided that our 3 food stalls would be split into three categories, ¡°Lunches, Refreshments, and Desserts¡± I''m assuming by refreshments he meant drinks. I''m gonna be honest, I love the idea of cooking for my club''s food stalls! It might help me show off my own cooking skills hehe! The club meeting continued and after a while, Takeda-senpai started a Q&A before the meeting ended. I quickly raised my hand. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°For the food stalls are we gonna be cooking on the spot? Or will the food be prepared beforehand?¡± I''m hoping we get to cook on the spot! ¡°On the contrary, we''re gonna have to be able to cook on the spot and food prepared beforehand. It''s gonna help convince the student Council our club is very valuable, so if anyone is willing to cook Please raise your hand.¡± I quickly raised my hand while I was still standing up. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Let me handle the cooking.¡± ¡°Hahaha, I like your attitude, you see this everyone? I expect each of you to show the same optimism and enthusiasm as Yuuki-san over here.¡¯ Getting Praised like that in front of Haruka-senpai and that jerk Toru was the ultimate ego boost! ¡°Takeda-senpai, I promise I''ll do my best!¡± I clenched my fist to reassure my value! ¡°Hold on, I remember that Yuuki here is a really great cook?¡± I heard Senko''s voice shouting while his head was ducking under the table! Is this guy trying to hype me up? Or mess with me!? I suddenly had several other students come up to my spot on the table asking if I could cook their favorite food, much to Takeda-senpai¡¯s dismay and Senko and Haruka-senpai¡¯s amusement. Time passed and the meeting has concluded and it was time for us to go home as well. Senko, Haruka-senpai and I ended up all walking together. The sun was just about to start setting. ¡°Ugh, I can''t believe Senko suddenly announced to the entire club how I''m supposed to be this ¡°master chef!¡± as a joke!¡± ¡°Come on, we''re trying to boost your popularity among the girls, remember?¡± Senko winked. ¡°Popular?¡± Haruka-senpai raised an eyebrow. Jeez, can''t he be even less subtle? ¡°That''s right, Yuuki-san and I are planning to help him get popular among the other girls.¡± Senko placed his arm around my neck as if We already ¡°agreed¡± To his false hoaxes! ¡°Eh?? Is Yuuki-kun interested in anyone?¡± Haruka-senpai broke a sweat from Senko''s ways of explaining. ¡°Haruka-senpai please don''t believe any of his lies, If i wanted to be popular I would have challenged Toru to a cook off by now.¡± I threw my head back and headbutted Senko. ¡°Gahh! Why''d you do that!?¡± ¡°Personal space!¡± We suddenly heard Haruka-senpai giggling in amusement. ¡°Stop fighting you two, if Senko-kun plans to support Yuuki-kun to be popular among the girls, He has to allow Yuuki-kun to talk for himself.¡± ¡°See?¡± I bluntly glared at Senko. ¡°And if Yuuki plans to reach a girl''s heart he must at least be capable of showing his more likable traits.¡± Haruka-senpai had a slight smile. ¡°What do you mean by my likable traits?¡± ¡°Not telling~ well I''ll be heading this way now, Let''s all meet up in kyoryu online okay?¡± Haruka-senpai stood around the next turn, her smile really was adorable and the sunlight really emphasized her outer beauty, fortunately though, only I knew of her inner beauty! Haruka-senpai split off while Senko and I continued walking together. ¡°That went well didn''t it?¡± Senko spoke up. ¡°It did¡­ thank you for having my back, it feels like I keep ending up relying on you for support especially after Haruka-senpai got ahead of us in education.¡± ¡°Don''t mention it, I should Be thanking Yuuki for being like a brother from a different mother. Simply having each other''s back is the best payment you can give me in return, that''s what brothers are like right.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± A while Later, Senko and I arrived at my house first, and we waves Our goodbyes. ¡°I''m back home.¡± ¡°Welcome back- Did something happen at school?¡± Akane greeted me home. ¡°You co uld say that.¡± ¡°Eh~~? Care to tell Onee-san then?¡± ¡°Maybe, but only if you buy me ice cream.¡± ¡°Hahaha! Deal.¡± I quickly changed to comfortable clothing before Akane and I went to have ice cream together while I explained what happened. It was now after dinner, I put the vr headset back on and then¡­ Welcome to Kyoryu Online Vol. 2 Ch12 Interlude I was back in the game. Looking around the inn¡¯s room we rented, it was quite obvious that I had logged in earlier than both Senko and Haruka-Senpai. I quickly stretched my wrists, feet, arms, and legs, I was making sure I could move as efficiently as I could. Rin Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 21 Hp: 2,050 Atk: 560 Sp. Atk: 120 Def: 450 Sp. Def: 310 Speed: 350 ¡°Are they online yet?¡± I quickly checked my friend list and it showed that Haruka-senpai and Senko have yet to log in to the game. ¡°Figured¡­¡± I looked at a nearby mirror, up till now I was still using the very damaged reinforced leather armor that I bought after Haruka-senpai and I stopped the poachers on day 1. ¡°It¡¯s time for a change.¡± I left a note on the door in case Senko and Haruka-senpai logged on while I was gone. I started looking around the town in search of a tailor shop until I arrived at a rather pricey one named ¡°Fuuri Nuuvy.¡± ¡°What a creative name.¡± Upon entering the shop, I was greeted by a pink-haired girl. ¡°Good evening Sir, what can I do for you?¡± She looked like a player that specializes on aesthetics aspect of the game and not the adventure and action side of the game. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Um¡­ Do you have anything that can just be used as aesthetic difference, something to layer on top of pre-existing armor?¡± ¡°Why yes, all clothing here is a secondary layer that can be used as aesthetic on top of armor to look fabulous while being safe!¡± She was very enthusiastic in how she was selling me her shop¡¯s products. With how professional she¡¯s talking I would think she was an NPC she¡¯s definitely into her job. ¡°Hmm¡­ in that case may I would like to have something that''s Gray, blue, and white.¡± I definitely can¡¯t tell her I have no idea what good fashion is. ¡°A fine choice sir, you may enter the changing room while I deliver the clothes!¡± Before entering the changing room, I was given a long gray overcoat, fingerless gloves, a white shirt with a chest window, and blue pants. ¡°Hm¡­. not bad! There¡¯s even some gilded gold on the collar and sleeves. I wonder if the chest window is really necessary though.¡± I finished changing and stepped out. ¡°Well sir, are the clothing I gave to your liking?¡± ¡°Yes, and I would like to take these to go Ms.¡± ¡°Thank you for your patronage.¡± I finished paying for my change of clothes and started walking back to the Inn. While walking I couldn¡¯t help but think if Senko or Haruka-senpai would think I¡¯m trying to be flashy. ¡°Haruka-senpai, Yuuki¡¯s over there!¡± ¡°Hm?¡± I guess Senko and Harula-senpai decided to wait for me outside the inn, I better not keep them waiting, so I ran towards them. When I was close to reaching them I noticed that Haruka-senpai didn¡¯t look like how she did the first two times we played the game together, She now resembled how she did in real life, with the long brunette hair and only a bit taller than I''am. I should probably slow down before they noticed my reaction. ¡°Did you guys wait long?¡± I asked upon arriving near the two. ¡°Nah, don¡¯t worry about it,¡± answered Senko as he scratched his head. ¡°Ehh~? Yuuki-kun¡­ that attire¡­¡± Haruka-senpai glanced away and turned away. ¡°Is something wrong Senpai?¡± ¡°Eh¡­ it¡¯s nothing don''t worry, I was just caught off guard.¡± Was it that bad? Hold on¡­ I could see a hint of red around her cheeks. ¡°Well, then are you two ready to do some missions today?¡± ¡°Mhm, I been looking forward to it!¡± Haruka-senpai clasped her hands with a determined face. She¡¯s definitely still flustered. ¡°AHH!! Guys, Kana is messaging me, she¡¯s demanding I come with her to watch the new Teddy Bear Friends movie.¡± ¡°Wait but she¡¯s not in the game.¡± Haruka-senpai acted suspicious of Senko. ¡°Well you see, in the recent update it says that people that aren¡¯t in the game can send a direct message to you while in-game using the main console¡¯s text feature.¡± Senko acted angry that Kana was making him log out of the game. ¡°You could do that?¡± Senpai asked further. Senko and I simply nodded. ¡°You can reply via a telepathic message, anyway, I¡¯m sorry for bailing out! I¡¯ll be sure to scold Kana.¡± Senko bowed and kept pretending to be sad. ¡°It¡¯s fine go enjoy the film,¡± Haruka-senpai reassured Senko while I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to treat you two to something good tomorrow, see ya!¡± Senko waved goodbye before he logged off. I gotta thank Senko for doing so much for me these past few days, ¡°Then I guess this is a duo mission between us¡­¡± ¡°I guess it is.¡± ¡°Yuuki-kun, I will make sure I come out as the strongest one in our group when this day ends!¡± Haruka-senpai confidently looked at me. ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯ll be counting on it!¡± Seeing her have a ¡°cool but childish side¡± was definitely a treat only I found adorable, most people tend to be disappointed when their mature idol acts immature, but not me though, I see it as a way to understand someone¡¯s true feelings. I can only guess the pressure she feels having to act mature and calm and rarely gets to be herself. Sakura, Haruka Game Name: Hakura Age: 18 Level: 20 Hp:1,950 Atk: 650 Sp. Atk: 90 Def: 480 Sp. Def 139 Speed:510 Rin Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 21 Hp: 2,050 Atk: 560 Sp. Atk: 120 Def: 450 Sp. Def: 310 Speed: 350 Vol. 2 Ch 13 Albertosaurus and Triceratops After Senko pretended to go to the movies with Kana, Haruka-Senpai and I headed to the town¡¯s guild hall where players went to accept missions in order to get paid with Goru, the game''s currency. During the first few times we played the game, We just accepted the low level bounty missions where we were allowed to hunt whatever low level creatures. The low level bounties included the Dryosaurus and Parkosaurus hunt we did at the start of the game, the coelophysis hunt I failed due to Diego¡¯s sudden appearance, with the only exception being the Herrerasaurus infestation we stopped at the farm in Meadow Mosaic. ¡°This place is bigger than I expected.¡± Haruka-senpai was in awe. The interior of the guild hall gave the vibe of a medieval tavern, it was dimly lit with torches and candles and there were players all over that were preparing for missions, eating together and sharing drinks. ¡°I heard that a lot of players just spent time here for fun, especially after a long mission.¡± ¡°If that''s the case¡­ after the mission shall we spend some time here just having fun together?¡± ¡°I don''t mind, well then shall we look for a mission at the bulletin board?¡± ¡°Mhm!¡± We were planning to do a mission that wasn''t too dangerous, but challenging enough so both of us could gain levels and increase our stats. Upon reaching the bulletin board, we started looking through the many flyers and scrolls, trying to find a mission that both of us could benefit from. ¡°Yuuki-kun, look at this.¡± ¡°Hm? What¡¯s up Senpai?¡± ¡°This mission is rates 3 stars, thats moderately difficult right?¡± ¡°Over here, it says clear out Dilophosaurus from attacking the Protoceratops livestock.¡± Haruka-Senpai pointed at the flyer. ¡°.... I think I would rather take my chances with Diego''s Utahraptors.¡± ¡°Why? Is there something wrong with this mission?¡± Haruka-Senpai looked a bit surprised and tilted her head. ¡°Let''s just say, you are gonna want nothing to do with Dilophosaurus.¡± ¡°They''re that bad huh? Alright let''s keep looking then.¡± Senpai giggled and continued looking at the fliers. I don''t think Haruka-Senpai knew about the terror a Dilophosaurus could cause to you due to its venom spit and the excruciating pain it can inflict upon you¡­ but I wasn''t about to let her experience that pain whatsoever. We continued looking at the quests bulletin board until I noticed a mission that''s labeled 3.5 Stars. ¡°Senpai, this might be a good commission.¡± ¡°Let''s see¡­ help fend off a rogue juvenile albertosaurus that''s been attacking Triceratops grazing fields.¡± Senpai analyzed the flier ¡°This might be good enough for both of us to handle!¡± I pumped myself up! ¡°But aren''t albertosaurs a species of tyrannosaur? Wouldn''t this be too dangerous?¡± Haruka-senpai was right about the Albertosaurus, it was a large carnivorous dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period around 99.6 million to 65.5 million years ago, it''s found as fossils in North America and eastern Asia. Albertosaurs are an early subgroup of tyrannosaurs, which appear to have evolved from them. In structure and presumed habits, Albertosaurus was very similar to Tyrannosaurus Rex in many respects; both had reduced forelimbs and a large skull and jaws, although Albertosaurus was somewhat smaller due to Albertosaurus being about 9 metres (30 feet) long, and the head was held 3.5 meters off the ground. Meanwhile Tyrannosaurus Rex was up to 40 feet in length and 12 feet in height. The hands were similar to those of other tyrannosaurs in being reduced to the first two fingers and a mere rudiment of the third. The jaws of Albertosaurus possessed numerous large, sharp teeth, which were recurved and serrated. As in tyrannosaurs, the teeth were larger and fewer than in other carnivorous dinosaurs, and, rather than being flattened and bladelike in cross-section, the teeth were nearly round¡ªan efficient shape for puncturing flesh and bone. Like nearly all large carnivores, it is possible that Albertosaurus was at least in part a scavenger, feeding upon dead or dying carcasses of other reptiles or scaring other predators away from their kills ¡°Well~ in most case you would be right, however they said this albertosaurus is just a juvenile, and unlike an adult which wasn''t as large as an adult Allosaurus this one should be way smaller, not to mention the recommended level is 18-24, were both 20 and 21 in terms of levels so we should be fine, we just need to Upgrade some of our weapons!¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Well then, I''ll put my trust in Yuuki-kun''s hands!¡± Haruka-senpai also showed her optimism! And Just like that we accepted the mission to fend off an Albertosaurus! After exiting the guild hall, we headed straight to the nearby blacksmith, and had our gear reinforced. I had my new attire¡¯s durability and flexibility reinforced in order to be able to shrug off heats from stegosaurs and Ankylosaurs, I then sold my pistol short sword for a silver katana and a revolver. Meanwhile Haruka-Senpai had her beginner armor be reinforced with ¡°reinforced¡± leather, and replaced her short sword with a rapier and her bow with a musket with an attached machete which was one of the coolest things I saw! We then headed to the nearby market area and bought some peaches, apples, cherries and mangoes in order to maintain our hunger bars, and since water wasn''t that difficult to come across in the wilderness, we prepared A pair of hydro flasks for both of us in case we got thirsty. We''re now ready to fight the albertosaurus! Sakura, Haruka Game Name: Hakura Age: 18 Level: 20 Hp: 1,950 Atk: 650 Sp. Atk: 90 Def: 480 Sp. Def 139 Speed: 510 Rin, Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 21 Hp: 2,050 Atk: 560 Sp. Atk: 120 Def: 450 Sp. Def: 310 Speed: 350 After we left town and crossed the stone bridge we realized the commission¡¯s location was quite far from the beginning town of Gunhildr. However that problem was easily solved since the time we spent away from the game, Players have invented ways of transportation to make everyone¡¯s lives easier! Something I really loved about this game¡¯s player base is how they integrated modern and ancient technology into the game. We had many options to get to our location, we could travel via horse drawn wagons, travel by foot or even by boat but we decided to travel by train. It was the cheapest option without spending too much of our currency and we could get there in less than 2 hours. When boarding the train we didn''t bother renting a private room. We just sat around the railings between train cars since we didn''t have any luggage and we much prefer being able to appreciate the scenery of the game''s open world! I sat and rested my back at the wall of one of the train cars while Haruka-senpai decided to rest herself on the guard rails. 3 minutes into the train ride I decided to break the silence and start a conversation. ¡°Haruka-Senpai, May I ask you something?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°How come Toru kept pestering you back in the clubroom?¡± ¡°I think it''s because every time he asks me out on dates, I just refuse them.¡± Haruka-senpai scratched her cheek awkwardly. ¡°Haruka-senpai really is a tough nut to crack¡­ I noticed you were uncomfortable earlier.¡± ¡°Well, Toru does have a reputation of being popular among the girls at school. I do agree that he is quite handsome and ¡°manly,¡± but I already agreed to go there with Yuuki-Kun and I''m not easily swayed like that.¡± Haruka-Senpai gave a slight smile. I couldn''t help but smile in return. We continued passing the time by telling each other stories from when we were still kids, Like the time Kana domesticated an Ussuri Brown Bear when we were camping last year, and the time we caught Senko half buried under a thick pile of snow from the time we were snowboarding out in the mountains. During the train ride we went pass a creek which had Giraffatitans and Brachiosaurus swimming in, we also spotted a flock of Gallimimus running across an open valley, lastly we even watched a family of protoceratops taking care of their children, it really reminds you just how beautiful the world is! After a while, we arrived at ¡°Little Paws Acres¡± which was an extremely massive plains biome that was sandwiched by a large valley and a very dense forest. ¡°We''re finally here!¡± I rejoiced while stretching my arms and legs. ¡°You seem to be having fun.¡± ¡°Well of course, I got to see protoceratops, a Gallimimus flock and Giraffatitans and Brachiosaurus swimming in a creek all in one day!¡± Sharing a laugh together we admired the wide fields of Little Paws Acres. The map says it¡¯s a very popular area for beginners due to the beautiful scenery, the wide plain fields, the flowery meadows, and the fact it connects several beginner to moderate towns and has a few farms that specializes in raising livestock, fruits & vegetables, while the free areas are used by wild dinosaurs to graze and feed on, with the occasional huntings that occurs. My guess is that the place being so open and tranquil is what led to the albertosaurus raiding, meaning there might be more theropods we didn''t account for. ¡°Well then let''s head to the farm now.¡± I suggested to which Haruka-Senpai agreed. After we left the train station, we headed towards the farmhouse that was marked on our map when we accepted the commission at the guild hall. While walking I couldn''t help but hear some sort of low gurgling noises, like some sort of heron bellowing. ¡°Yuuki-Kun you heard that too?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Instinctively both of us quickly scanned the area and saw that there was something inside the dense forests to our right and it was large. ¡°You see it too senpai?¡± I broke a sweat ¡°Yes I do, that looks too big for an albertosaurus, let alone a juvenile one¡­¡± Haruka-Senpai¡¯s voice almost cracked there. If that really was the albertosaurus then we might be doomed. The mission said it was just a juvenile, but the scan shows it''s a full grown adult and way larger than what a grown adult should be, either way I have a bad feeling about this. ¡°Let''s just hope it was just a deinocheirus or a Mamenchinosaurus then.¡± I reassured before we continued heading to the farm. We continued walking to the farm, the sun was shining fairly brightly giving us a calming atmosphere, however the noises from earlier weren''t convincing to me at all. ¡°Ah, are you two the people who accepted our commission?¡± We were greeted by a farmer, she had soft ginger hair and green eyes and was wearing a plaid shirt and overalls. ¡°Yes we are!¡± Haruka-Senpai responded. ¡°Well then welcome to our humble farm.¡± ¡°Thanks but the pleasure is all ours.¡± I answered. We exchanged pleasantries with the farmer, and was invited in the house for some tea and biscuits which we gladly enjoyed. After a cup of tea, She led us to the barn which was next to the farmlands that had dozens of Triceratops grazing in the field. Before she returned to the house, She told us that we were allowed to use the tools in the barn if it helped us keep her triceratops herd safe. She also told us that the Albertosaurus tended to attack around late noon, so we had to spend some of our time relaxing and observing the triceratops herds grazing and playing with each other. ¡°Yuuki-kun, shall we check the barn for tools?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Upon entering the barn there was a rub down carriage, a pile of hay bales and many tools hanging around which included some rakes, a scythe, a watering can and, water hose. ¡°Doesn''t seem like much, let''s just go to the field and prepare for the Albertosaurus to attack the triceratops.¡± Haruka-Senpai spoke in a dissatisfied way before going to the fields first. ¡°Sure-¡± I noticed there were 2 dozen throwing daggers behind the door. I quickly picked them up and placed them inside my coat in case I could use them as a ranged weapon substitute for my revolver. Catching up to Haruka-Senpai who was now behind the fence watching the triceratops, I told her about the throwing daggers I spotted and I gave her one of the 2 dozen I picked up. ¡°Are you nervous Senpai?¡± *Hmmm¡­ only a little, after all this is the first time we''re facing large theropods, haha!¡± ¡°I wouldn''t be so nervous there, a full grown Albertosaurus is a bit smaller than an allosaurus and the one we''re hunting is a juvenile so it''s likely to be even smaller.¡± ¡°Well then, let''s watch each other''s backs!¡± Haruka-Senpai prepared herself to which I nodded. Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in North America during the very end of the Cretaceous period. It had a huge frilled head with horns over each eye that could reach over 3 feet long. Triceratops had a third, smaller horn on its nose. These would be fearsome weapons against a predator Triceratops is one of the most common dinosaur fossils found as there were more than 50 skulls found. Within the genus, at least 7 species have been identified. The ceratopsian family is one of the most successful and varied of the Late Cretaceous as Triceratops is also the largest member of this family, reaching the size of a school bus. Some people say that Triceratops was a herd animal; it is believed that large groups numbering into the hundreds roamed North America. Their large, horny beaks and long rows of teeth were well designed for chewing the tough, low-growing plants of the Late Cretaceous. It was likely the main predator of these animals was Tyrannosaurus rex. A number of skeletons show bite and chew marks that match the teeth of T. rex. Horns and frills seemed to vary among individuals within the species. Some frills were very broad, others narrow. The nasal horn shows the most variance among individual specimens, no two being the same. The material that covered its horns in life would have added significantly to the length of the fossilized bone Despite knowing all that, What did concerned me was why a herd of triceratops needed to be protected from a juvenile albertosaurus. The only reasons I could think of are that the adults are getting too weak or sick to fight, and that the juveniles aren''t that good at defending themselves yet. We then entered the fence that kept the triceratops from escaping sat at a large rock preparing our weapons. Vol. 2 ch 14 Haruka-senpai was sitting on a large stone making sure her musket rifle was fully loaded and had extra shells to load in whilst I sat behind a downed Tree trunk across the rock reloading my revolver and doing the same. Behind the vast fields was a dense forest, we started by observing both the adults and juveniles trying to spot any disturbances amongst the trees and bushes behind them. The juveniles that were play-fighting with each other reminded me of kids in the playground, and as nice as it was to see, I couldn¡¯t help but feel tense¡­ I was gonna be making sure that We didn''t accidentally aggravate any of them. ¡°Haruka-senpai, before we continue with this mission, I need you to promise me something,¡± I spoke up sternly. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I need you to promise me, that under any circumstances you are to stay away from the juveniles.¡± I pointed specifically at the ones play-fighting with each other. ¡°I see, hahaha I never expected Yuuki-kun to be that concerned for my safety, don''t worry, I''ll stay away from them,¡± Haruka-senpai gave a warm smile when she reassured me. The reason I asked her to steer clear from the juveniles is despite their docile or even yet passive appearance like rhinos or even elephants, these are herbivores, they fight with each other for dominance and to mate, those horns aren¡¯t just for self-defense for Carnivores that hunted them, they''re there to ram at each other. And unlike the dilophosaurus that Senko and I faced back at the ruined campsite they could be avoided and distracted, I wasn''t gonna let either of us be on the receiving end of an angry bull lizard around the size of an elephant with 2 spears, a pair of scissors, and a knife attached to its shield-shaped face! I would go as far as to mention that Triceratops or better yet the Ceratopsian species as a whole are the only dinosaur that the Tyrant Lizard king: Tyrannosaurus Rex fears to clash with! Because with carnivores you can convince them that you''re not worth the effort, but with herbivores, self-defense is practically engrained in their minds since birth. ¡°Yuuki-kun!¡± Haruka-senpai pinched my cheeks. ¡°Gagh! Yes?¡± I screamed while she pinched my cheeks. ¡°Geez, I¡¯ve been calling you for a few seconds now but you seem to be lost in thought.¡± Haruka-senpai pouted at me which was cute. ¡°Was I? I''m sorry, what was it you wanted to say?¡± I couldn''t help but scratch my head for losing focus. ¡°I was asking if you already claimed the free ice-pickaxe, grappling hook, and grappling gun from the game mail?¡± ¡°Wait, since when did they give away free mountaineering gear?¡± ¡°It was in a dev-notification given upon logging in the game.¡± ¡°The dev-notification¡­ dang I guess, I didn''t pay attention to it earlier.¡± I quickly opened the game menu and checked the mail system and it really did have the gear Senpai told me about, I pressed claim and they spawned in the air in front of me to catch. The grappling gun was the size of a revolver and had a firm grip on the handle making it easy to use, the grappling hook was 30 to 40 ft in length and the ice-pickaxe was made of durable and sturdy metal perfect for digging into Ice caps. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Thanks for reminding me of this senpai.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± A few minutes later Haruka returned to the rock she sat on and we continued observing the herded triceratops until something caught my eye. ¡°Senpai, do you see that?¡± I pointed at the younger triceratops circling something as if they were playing with someone. ¡°Huh? I thought we were the only ones here?¡± ¡°I guess not anymore, do you have any binoculars or a telescope with you?¡± ¡°Yes I do¡± Haruka-Senpai took out a pair of binoculars and handed me the second one. ¡°Thank you.¡± Using the binoculars we zoomed in on whatever was going on with the juveniles circling something, it looked like they were playing with a girl, she had chestnut-brown hair, and blue eyes, and was dressed in an adventurer outfit. She was sitting on the grass playing and feeding the smaller and younger triceratops as if they were just very large puppies. ¡°Senpai, does it look like she''s doing anything that could cause trouble.¡± ¡°Well¡­ she''s just playing with them, I don''t see any harm in that, however let''s tell her about why we''re here encase she might think that we''re a threat.¡± Senpai is correct about that. She may just be playing over there but if she spotted us she might accidentally cause trouble for the three of us and aggravate the triceratops hers before we could even subdue the Albertosaurus that could attack at any moment. ¡°Before we go, does she look familiar to you?¡± I questioned. ¡°Hmm not at all, why do you ask? ¡°I feel like I know that girl, I think she''s Hikari Harmony.¡± ¡°Hikari Harmony?¡± ¡°She''s the rising vtuber that my sister told me about a while ago.¡± I explained. ¡°Ah, I didn''t expect Akane-san to still enjoy Otaku and idol culture.¡± ¡°Yeah she''s still got it.¡± We shared a laugh together before heading towards Hikari. The herds seem like they were less compressed than before and we''re now spreading out away from each other, so as long as we didn''t annoy or trigger any of them, then we will be able to safely warn her about the albertosaurus and the potential threat the triceratops might bring. ¡°Hahaha! Chat I now see why you keep recommending playing with the lil triceratops! They''re so cuddly!¡± As we got closer we heard her talking to her Livestream¡¯s chat, it really looked like she was just minding her business. The group of juveniles were snuggling up to her as if she was their best friend. As nice as that looked, I don''t trust leaving her alone with triceratops whatsoever. ¡°Excuse me, You''re Hikari Harmony right?¡± I spoke up since we were close enough to where she''d hear my voice. ¡°Why yes I Am~ look chat! We have company! Are you guys a pair of my fans that came just to see me?¡± She was sitting on the grass with a few of the juveniles snuggling up to her. Her voice had an innocent and soothing soft tone. ¡°Well not exactly? My sister is definitely a fan, but me and my friend here came to help protect the triceratops hers from an albertosaurus.¡± I corrected her before explaining our situation. ¡°An albertosaurus?¡± ¡°Yes, you see we picked up a mission that said an albertosaurus was around this farm¡±s area and actively hunting the triceratops, we were standing by waiting for it to attack then we saw you here and my ¡°Kohai¡± here wanted to tell you about the potential danger of it and the triceratops your playing with just in case you didn''t know¡± Haruka-senpai explained further. ¡°I see, I see, wait Kohai!?¡± Hikari voiced her surprise. ¡°She totally ignored the Albertosaurus and Triceratops warning.¡± I muttered. ¡°I thought you two were a couple coming to see my Livestream live!¡± ¡°Eh? A couple?¡± Haruka-enpai and I awkwardly turned to each other before turning back at Hikari. ¡°Yes! You two look like a charming fella and his beginner girlfriend!¡± She''s not that far off, I was wearing new attire while Haruka-Senpai was wearing reinforced leather above her beginning armor, though sadly we are not a couple. ¡°I''m sorry but did you not hear of the albertosaurus?¡± Haruka-Senpai tried to bring the conversation back to topic. ¡°Oh I do, but if anything bad happens I know my friends here will protect me!¡± Hikari cuddled more of the juveniles. ¡°She''s too innocent for her own good.¡± Haruka-Senpai chuckled. ¡°Miss Hikari, If you need our help just call out to us from over there.¡± I pointed at the downed log and large rock nearby. ¡°Kay Kay! Kya~¡± Hikari agreed before being smothered by the juveniles snuggling. I wasn''t sure if she knew how to defend herself, but it''s not too late to check her stats. Game Name: Hikari Harmony Age 17 Level: 30 HP: 5,200 Atk: 700 Def: 390 Speed: 1050 Sp. Atk: 3,200 Sp. Def: 400 How was her stats so low for her level? Does she just rely on her teammates to carry her when hunting? Or maybe she just didn''t have any good gear on her. I had too many questions. ¡°I don''t think she actually knows how to fight back, how is her stats so low for level 30?¡± I turned to Haruka-Senpai. ¡°Well she seems to be doing alright, so let''s just let her be and head back to our spot.¡± Haruka-senpai had a sigh. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± As we were about to head back, I heard a thudding sound, and shuffling around the trees and bushes. I quickly nudged Haruka-senpai and we exchanged a serious look knowing Our Albertosaurus friend was here! Haruka-Senpai quickly hid behind a small log and prepared her musket rifle while I took out my revolver and Katana. The shuffling around the trees contin ued and then. A loud roar was heard as the Albertosaurus came charging towards one of the triceratops! It was 22 ft in length and stood at 15 ft tall! Several of the older triceratops ran away due to their age but one of them stood its ground and prepared to fight. Vol. 2 chapter 15 ¡°Ehh? What''s happening!?¡± Hikari asked as the The juveniles surrounding her had all immediately scrambled away. ¡°Please take these and stay by each other''s side!¡± I quickly helped Hikari up and gave her and Haruka-Senpai a revolver as a sidearm. ¡°Yuuki-kun, please promise me you won''t do anything reckless.¡± Haruka-senpai demanded. ¡°Don''t worry, I''ll be sure to stay at a reasonable distance.¡± ¡°Alright then, Hikari-chan let''s go.¡± After accepting the revolvers, Haruka-Senpai quickly grabbed Hikari, then ran and hid behind a medium sized log and prepared her musket rifle while I took out my revolver headed to the side of the Triceratops. I quickly ran towards the direction of the two dinosaurs that were about to fight. The reason I gave them a pair Is I actually bought 4 extra revolvers earlier, so I could dual wield them while the other pair were for Haruka-senpai encase she couldn''t use her musket due to lack of proper distance, but now that Hikari is in the equation she can use the other one. Haruka''s Pov ¡°...Um¡­ Haruka-san, is he gonna be okay?¡± Asked Hikari. ¡°I wouldn''t worry about Yuuki-kun too much, Yuuki-kun and I have each other''s back.¡± ¡°Eh~ I see you''re a lucky woman Haruka-san!¡± ¡°Hm? Lucky how?¡± What was she talking about. ¡°Your boyfriend is showing bravery and determination unlike most of the other boys I have seen in the game! I wish to marry someone like him.¡± Hikari acted like a fangirl. ¡°Eh¡­ Wait wait! Yuuki-kun and I aren''t together like that!¡± I quickly explained.¡± ¡°Your face is red though¡­¡± ¡°It''s the weather! Let''s focus on the danger please!!!¡± Yuuki¡¯s Pov Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. As I ran towards the side of the triceratops I immediately prepared my own pair of revolvers! Seeing the Albertosaurus face to face with the Triceratops was a sight to behold, the tyrannosaur was towering over the horned quadruped, but knowing the Triceratops it should be able to put up a fight, however our mission was to have as little casualties for the herd as possible. Back at the train Senpai and I discussed strategies, I would keep it distracted while she whittle awaybat it because even though Our job was to get rid of the albertosaurus, our weapons would do jack squat meaning our only option is to keep it distracted and whittling away at it''s health so the Triceratops goes for the killing blow or at least have it scramming for the hills. Arriving at the triceratops¡¯ side, it was clear the theropod and ceratopsian were still assessing and snapping at each other in order to intimidate the other into backing out so the one who wins can strike first. Looking around it seemed like the vast majority of the younger Triceratops and especially the older ones had fled apart from this specific bull Triceratops leaving him all alone to defend his herd but that''s where I came into the equation. The Albertosaurus snapped and charged at the Triceratops, which it returned the favor by also charging at the theropod. The distance between the two immediately closed as the Albertosaurus bit down on the Triceratops top left horn attempting to break it, it was a ballsy move as the moment the horn broke, the Triceratops could impale the theropod with its right horn. I quickly fired a round at the Albertosaurus lower body, however it was clear the damage was non existent. ¡°Stupid beginner gear!¡± I quickly pulled out and threw 3 daggers from my coat and all 3 got jammed at the theropod''s body. Even though it looked like a direct shot I doubt the theropod was actually harmed by it, it was probably comparable to a dog bite at best. The Albertosaurus bit down harder and pushed forward to the east causing the ceratopsian to not only face down and away from the theropod it also gave the Albertosaurus an opening to bite down on its frills. I quickly received a message from Haruka-senpai. ¡°Yuuki-kun, the theropod''s moving too much, I can''t aim a proper shot! As I might accidentally shoot the Triceratops!¡± She was right, despite the dinosaurs large size, hitting a moving target while trying to not shoot a different target will be too difficult, I need to impede it''s movement and focus on me instead! ¡°Shootin¡¯ time.¡± I started firing both my revolvers at the theropod''s body. The Albertosaurus, clearly getting irritated, pushed down the Triceratops and laid its focus on me. ¡°Hehehe, I''m in danger.¡± As the theropod charged at me I immediately ran towards the direction of the forest, and due to it''s relatively slender build, impeding it''s mobility by potentially ensnaring it between tree branches would do wonders because Haruka-senpai would be able to whittle its health down long enough for the Triceratops to recover. But knowing the size difference I''d be killed in a single bite, so despite this great plan I couldn''t be reckless at all. I couldn''t slow down at all, the moment I even try to do that I''d be trapped in the dinosaur¡¯s jaws and leave my friend vulnerable, however what I can do is This! ¡°Down here!¡± I did a U-Turn and slid between the Albertosaurus, threw another second set of three daggers and unloaded an entire mag at its lower body ans causing the theropod to agonize in pain, judging by the way it got staggered, this should give Haruka-senpai the opening she needs. ***BANG!!!*** The Albertosaurus got shot on its upper torso twice and its under its belly thrice. You see, the reason Senpai was able to land those shots quickly is despite large theropods being relatively light-weights compared to their herbivorous counterparts they still struggle doing a quick turn. ¡°That should be good enough to get in melee range right?¡± I dashed at the theropod and used a large rock to leap towards it and pulled out my katana in order to land a slit on its throat. And as I was about to land the killing blow¡­ ***CRACK*** the Albertosaurus used its tail and landed a blow on my lower body. ¡°Geez, How resilient are you?¡± I was barely able to land on my feet before collapsing to my knees. I felt like I broke my knees, upon looking up the Albertosaurus had recovered and rushed towards me, I tried to do the same but the Dinosaur landed a headbutt, sending me flying, losing my katana in the process, and breaking several ribs. I struggled to get up, I was facing death in the face again. Vol. 2 chapter 16 Being face to face with death a second time was something I didn''t expect to be happening to me so soon. ¡°Don¡¯t let yourself burden Senpai any further¡­¡± I muttered as I kept struggling to get up until I forced myself to get back on my knees and looked up at the albertosaurus. Seeing that Haruka-senpai had stopped shooting at the theropod, it definitely meant she ran out of bullets and needed to reload. If I could just stall out a bit longer she could injure it enough for the ceratopsian to get back on its feet. Ugh¡­ What''s taking the triceratops so long to get back up!? It should''ve recovered by now¡­ unless the bite that the albertosaurus inflicted had weakened it enough to be critically injured, I better keep fighting, but knowing that I lost my katana when I got knocked around, I can only run and keep shooting. As the albertosaurus snarled as it slowly walked towards me, I prepared my revolver and fired a bullet which didn''t seem to have injured it at all, however it just ended up more annoyed, as The albertosaurus started charging at me all I could do was face the full brunt head on¡­ ***THUD!!!*** Someone pushed me out of the way and we both fell to the grass away from the albertosaurus¡¯ attack. Upon looking up it was Hikari that saved me from it''s strike. ¡°You¡­ I told you to stay with Haruka-Senpai.¡± ¡°Yes you did, but feeling this helpless while letting you fight alone, I couldn''t bare it, So we''re doing this together!¡± Hikari stood and pulled me back up. The albertosaurus turned to face us yet again and as it was preparing to charge¡­ We heard a loud noise from the side. The Triceratops was back in action! But due to the distance between us, We better bring the party to it. ¡°Hikari-san hold on to me now.¡± ¡°R-right!¡± Hikari clung onto me and as the albertosaurus prepared to charge towards us for another time I pressed the grappling gun¡¯s trigger and fired it at a nearby tree zipping us far away as I quickly grabbed my katana while zipping past the triceratops that has just gotten back up. ¡°Okay here it comes!¡± I prepared to cushion Hikari from the impact to not let her get hurt. As we were getting close to colliding with the rock, I deactivated and released the grappling gun and held Hikari tightly, embracing her and placing my hand on her head as We rolled on the grass and my back hitting the tree¡¯s trunk. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Yuu-san are you alright?¡± Hikari shook me up. ¡°Yeah I''m fine, everything just hurts, hahaha, but on the bright side¡­¡± I pointed at the Albertosaurus and the triceratops preparing to engage once again. ¡°Yuuki-Kun, you''re being too reckless again!¡± Haruka-senpai rushed towards us, as I slowly got up. ¡°I apologize¡­ I wanted to give the triceratops enough time to recover¡­¡± I picked up my grappling gun and held my hip trying to maintain balance. ¡°Yuu-san you need to sit this down, Haruka-san and I will assist the triceratops in taking down the albertosaurus.¡± Hikari tried to make me sit which I stubbornly forced myself up. ¡°I''m¡­ I''m not gonna¡­ be a burden senpai anymore.¡± I realigned my shoulder and drew my Katana and one of my Revolvers. ¡°Yuuki-Kun truly is stubborn like that, alright but this time let''s stick by each other''s side.¡± Haruka-senpai offered her hand, which I gladly accepted. ¡°Are you two done flirting?¡± Hikari chimed. ¡°We''re not.¡± Haruka and I glanced away from each other. Before Heading to back to the battlefield, the three of us discussed a plan to properly take down the albertosaurus and that was to drive it out into the forest! Arriving at the fight, the triceratops and Albertosaurus were circling each other and as the two charged towards each other¡­ the albertosaurus chomped down on the horn forcing both of them in another bitter struggle. ¡°Haruka-senpai and I will whittle it down, Hikari-san. I need you to wrangle it down for an opening!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Hikari prepared a lasso ans headed out of the Theropod''s sight. Meanwhile Haruka-senpai and I started shooting at the theropodteam¡¯s upper and lower body. The two of us stood by each other, covering each other''s back making sure We do this as a team. As we continued firing the albertosaurus managed to push the triceratops away and have its attention back to us. ¡°It worked!¡± I grabbed Senpai''s hand and made a run for it towards the forest. ¡°Hikari-chan should be supporting the triceratops, so all Yuuki-kun and I need to do is keep it busy!¡± ¡°That''s right, now we just need to stick by one another.¡± The two of us were now being chased deep into the forest until¡­ we reached a large river that was heading for a waterfall essentially cornering us. Despite the Looming threat approaching us, it was quite clear that this waterfall might actually work to our advantage. We heard a loud roar behind us, the albertosaurus has caught up! It was preparing to charge however¡­ a long lasso was thrown around its neck as the moment it charged causing it to stagger around fighting the pull. ¡°Hikari chan did it!¡± Haruka-senpai started firing at the underbelly of the albertosaurus. Our plan was have Hikari strangle out the theropod by using a lasso on one hand and using her grappling gun to zip away forcing the albertosaurus to choke out while forcing it to bleed. Reloading my revolvers I started firing at the legs and underbelly of the albertosaurus forcing it to choke and bleed further. ¡°Yuuki-kun, dont let up!¡± ¡°Gotcha!¡± We kept unloading several mags of bullets, however the albertosaurus had somehow break through the lasso and was about to charge towards us, causing the ground to tremble. ¡°This guy won''t let up!¡± I prepared to push Haruka-senpai out of the way. The albertosaurus charged in our direction, the ground trembled forcing the two of us to hold on each other, When The triceratops rushed it down, impaling its top horns unto its chest and pushing it near the river, Haruka and I moved out of the way when the moment the triceratops knocked the albertosaurus off the edge, its tail managed to whip Haruka-senpai off the waterfall as well. ¡°Yuuki-kun!¡± ¡°Senpai!¡± I leapt off the cliff as well trying to save Senpai. As both of us fell, our hands were inching closer when we managed to hold on to each other. ¡°I got you!¡± I prepared my grappling gun with my other hand and fired it upward just to barely miss the edge but Hikari jumped off and grabbed the hook of the grappling gun and fired her own somewhere and stopping out fall. ¡°Haruka-senpai, are you alright?¡± ¡°All thanks to Yuuki-kun, thank you.¡± Hikari and The triceratops helped us back up as we headed back to the farm to finish the mission, I could tell that this experience brought us closer. After telling the farmer about our accomplishment, The three of us prepared the train trip back to Gunhildr town with Hikari Joining us. Vol. 2 chapter 16 interlude Haruka''s pov The sun was setting, We were inside a fairly empty train car, Yuuki-kun was sitting in the center while Hikari-chan were on the sides, the two of them were telling each other stories about their encounters in the game so far, after the mission the three of us added each other in our friend list. While in the train ride it was soothing enough that all of us dozed off into a nap. Before I fell asleep I was reminiscing about the moment when I had fallen off the edge earlier¡­I didn''t expect Yuuki-kun to immediately leap off to try saving me, He always was selfless when it came to his friends. Which did not make me feel better about how I failed to keep him safe when he was in danger but he didnt fail to keep me safe, thinking about it he was special to me. It also reminded me on how when we were still in middle school, He always shared lunch with me when we were alone in return I tended to help him out with homework, when I was visiting during the closing party before Senko-kun, Kana-chan and Yuuki-kun was about to enter highschool, I was already about to be a sophomore. Yuuki-kun kept repeating to himself he didn''t wanna go to school anymore, During that time I heard from him that his and Akane-chan''s Aunt had fallen very ill and he wanted to stay by her side until she recovered even if it meant no longer studying. I scolded him for that mindset and how that wasn''t how his aunt would like his faith to be. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I guess my words stuck with him because he kept studying, his aunt had a miraculous recovery and He was now my Kohai in high school. He didn''t started treating me like some Master he had to appease, We were still friends that just happened to have a Senpai-kohai relationship, and he didn''t feel the need to act like I should be treated in any Special way, the other students kept treating me in a high regard almost a queen-like manner but Yuuki-kun always understood the struggle of being ¡°on top¡± i, can''t help but admire him in return¡­ ¡°Hmm¡­¡± rubbing my eyes, I snapped back awake. Looking to my right, Hikari-chan and Yuuki-kun were asleep, slumping over each other''s shoulders like a couple does. Yuuki-kun worked so hard today, It''s best to let him have a shoulder to rest on. I slowly moved his head on to my shoulder and gave him a pat on the head. A while later we arrived at the train station, Hikari-chan and Yuuki-kun were the first to get up since I was pretending to be asleep to avoid awkwardness. Exiting the train, Yuuki-kun logged off first and Hikari followed before I followed soon. You are now leaving Kyoryu Online. Taking off the Headset I opened my phone, I had a notification from my friend Akari. A: ¡°Haruka, Let''s go buy some milktea tomorrow¡± H: ¡°Sure I don''t mind!¡± A: ¡°Oh right were you busy today, I was trying to call earlier.¡± H: it''s no big deal, I was just playing a video game with Yuuki-kun. A: ¡°Hahaha, I see your Kohai is getting closer with you. H: ¡°Well its not like we weren''t close since childhood. A: ¡°Hahaha I see, We I guess you found someone that deeply cares for you, might be a good chance to for you to move towards the future, unless you''re still hung up on that guy you know. I left the message on read. Why does she Feel the need to remind me of that guy. Vol. 2 chapter 17 A month has passed since the mission that Haruka-senpai and I went through. The culture festival is inching quite close. ¡ã¡ã¡ã I was at a cafe with Haruka-Senpai. We just finished this week¡¯s classes and I asked her out if we could go study and have lunch together at the nearby StoreBucks before the weekends. The moment we arrived, I couldn''t help but immediately find a table and immediately collapse my head. ¡°Yuuki-Kun, are you okay?¡± asked Haruka-senpai who was likely standing up next to me. ¡°Yeah I''m alright¡­ let me rest for a few minutes then let''s order and study¡­¡± I explained in a muffled tone. ¡°I see, But did something happen that got you that tired?¡± Senpai tried to raise my head to see if I had a fever. ¡°It''s fine, don''t worry, it''s just that During Gym class earlier, I unfortunately got the misfortune of being chosen as Kana''s gym partner and it did not go well for me at all.¡± I vividly remember everytime Kana and I got partnered up, it ended with absolute exhaustion. I didn''t even have the energy to be shy or embarrassed about showing this side of myself to Senpai due to the fact that Kana has also dragged both Senko and Haruka-Senpai along on her exhausting training regime from time to time. And it''s not like we could even say no and reject her invitation because before we can even start thinking about answering, Kana is somehow fast enough and strong enough to immediately get us, along with all of her dozens upon dozens of heavy training equipment, and change our clothes without even noticing it and bring us all to the spot we will be exercising at in less time it took to blink, it''s like she transcends the concept of speed or something. ¡°It was that bad huh? Well Kana-chan does have a tendency to over exert herself until she''s physically immobilized.¡± Haruka-Senpai patted my head. ¡°Yeah, everytime my class and her class join the gym, I usually get chosen to partner up with Kana, I think it''s because I was probably the only one who could keep up with her routine.¡± ¡°Yuuki-kun doesn''t seem to see the bright side of becoming Kana-chan¡¯s gym dummy¡± ¡°In what regard could there even be a bright side?¡± I raised my head a bit. ¡°Well due to Kana-chan''s training regime making her extra strong and fit, That same results could also apply to Yuuki-Kun¡¯s appearance, who knows if you two train enough times, Yuuki-Kun might become muscular enough to attract the girl he likes before Yuuki-Kun even makes a move himself.¡± Senpai crossed her arms and explained it like she has never been on the receiving end of Kana''s routine. If you really thought about it, Kana being so strong made no sense at all, By throwing a temper tantrum not only has she caused the sidewalk to crack, but she also shook the entire city from each of her individual stomping, she was strong enough to carry Senko, Haruka and Myself along with all our belongings during a hiking trip as if she was only carrying a few leaves on her, and Her scariest performance was her winning again her entire martial arts class in one go, she was the only girl in that class and she effortlessly immobilized and overpowered all the other students there and she just came out of it rather sweaty¡­ and stinky. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. And Knowing how rough she gets when exercising, I''m sure if I even landed a punch on her she would just say that my punches only tickled like a tiny feather. Ugh, just thinking about being part of her routine makes my everything sore¡­ ¡°Don''t count on it.¡± I groaned before resting my head back down. Hold on¡­ now that she mentioned it, I wonder how she would react if I actually started training enough times with Kana to be fit and muscular, would she be attracted? Nah, Senpai''s not the shallow type. ¡°Well that''s Yuuki-Kun''s decision, Shall I go order the usual for Yuuki-Kun then?¡± I just nodded and gave a thumbs up, not bothering to look up, I was that tired. ¡°Alright I''ll be right back with our order.¡± ¡ã¡ã¡ã ¡°Thanks for waiting,¡± Haruka-Senpai placed a couple of drinks and food on the table. I rubbed my eyes before Finally looking up at the drinks She ordered. It was a dark Caramel Macchiato for me, and a matcha latte for herself, as for lunch, she got a Tuna Melt for herself and a patty melt for myself . ¡°Thanks for the meal, How much do I owe you?¡± I took my wallet out of my bag. ¡°Ah, There''s no need for that, today''s lunch is on me.¡± Senpai rejected my proposition. ¡°Senpai.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°We both know, I''m not letting you treat me to a free lunch.¡± I replied before taking a sip from my macchiato. ¡°Come On, Yuuki-Kun is already too tired today, What''s a free lunch gonna hurt?¡± Insisted Haruka-Senpai. ¡°Your wallet.¡± I retorted ¡°Nonsense, My allowance is this weekend, don''t worry, today''s lunch is on me.¡± Haruka-Senpai sat across from my seat. Arguing with Haruka-Senpai would probably take hours, I really didn''t have the energy to have an argument, I might as well accept it right. ¡°Alright, I''ll just treat you next time then.¡± ¡°That''s fine by me!¡± Senpai winked. After we finished our lunches, we began studying together for the upcoming exam for what seemed like 2-3 hours. ¡°Haruka-Senpai, are you available to play Kyoryu online later?¡± I asked while packing up my belongings. ¡°Well, I''d love to join you, however Mizuki-chan and Ayaka-san invited me to join them in buying a new dress for the culture festival.¡± Haruka-senpai had finished packing up. ¡°That''s understandable, Maybe I''ll ask Hikari-san to join.¡± I also finished packing up. ¡°Understandable, tell her I said hi!¡± ¡°Mhm¡± We left the Cafe and I walked Haruka-Senpai to the train station before heading home by myself. ¡ã¡ã¡ã Opening the front door, I noticed that Akane¡¯s shoes were not present. ¡°Is she not home?¡± Entering the living room I saw a note:. ¡°Dear My beloved little Brother, Auntie said she will be out on a business trip to Okinawa for a week, I myself will be spending a week at a friend''s house. Please keep the house clean while we''re away hehe, and the kitchen is stocked with groceries. -Your BELOVED GOATED Onee-chan, Akane ¡°Where did she learn these types of vocabulary?¡± Scratching my head. Deciding to freshen up, I left my bag inside my room and took a shower, then changed to comfortable clothes. ¡°I guess I''m alone for a week.¡± I brought my VR headset and console to the living room and connected it to the television. ¡°What if I call someone over? Nah, that would be too messy to plan out.¡± Scrolling through my phone''s contacts I decided to give Hikari a phone call, during the month after we finished our mission, Hikari exchanged contacts with Haruka-Senpai and I, eventually planning to introduce her to Kana and Senko ¡°Moshi Moshi Yuu-san?¡± Hikari¡¯s voice was pleasantly cheerful ¡°Yeah it''s mee, are you available to play Kyoryu online today?¡± ¡°Ah, I''m currently streaming the game right now hehe!¡± ¡°Wait, so how are you on a phone call right now?¡± ¡°The latest update allowed you to link your line account and have phone calls in the game.¡± ¡°Ah that''s fair, well do you mind if I Join you later? I want to introduce you to a friend.¡± ¡°Ooo~ a friend of Yuu-san eh? Hehe~ I humbly accept your proposal, so what time do we play together?¡± ¡°Maybe after your stream, in a few hours maybe?¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine by me!¡± After hanging up I decided to give Kana a phone call. ¡°Yuuki!¡± Kana screamed through the Phone. ¡°Yes it''s me, are you and Senko available to play Kyoryu online today?¡± ¡°YES I AM!! It''s been ages since we started playing!¡± Shouted Kana in an extremely happy tone. ¡°How about your brother?¡± ¡°No! He isn''t allowed! I refuse to play with him!¡± I guess I better introduce Hikari to Senko another time. ¡°Well call me in a few hours, then let''s play.¡± ¡°Okie dokie!¡± Finishing the phone call I prepared myself for a lengthy play session. Vol. 2 chapter 17 interlude Now that I finished studying early, I can now tend to more fun matters. I opened the official Twaiter Account and looked at the new patch update¡¯s patch notes. It included linking social media accounts as well as streaming accounts for content creators. It really looked like Kyoryu online was growing big! ¡°No wonder Hikari-san has gotten busier with her Vtuber side job.¡± Up till now, even a month in I''m still surprised that I''m now friends with a popular Vtuber. During the past month, Hikari-san and I played a lot more of Kyoryu online during the weekends, We didn''t even really do any hunting missions, it''s more of we just explored around the games vast world not mention that during those sessions she kept asking me to meet up irl, I didn''t really know how to politely respond so I had to keep pushing away the question. And the last few patch notes says, Underground biomes, Alphas, ¡°Mini Bosses, Bosses and Raid Bosses Added to Special End Game¡± These implications tell me this game might have a meta game for the hardcore players. I received a notification from Hikari-san telling me she ended her stream early, The reasoning was ¡°Sorry for Ending Stream early, I want to Hang out with Yuu-San as soon as possible!¡± She even sent where we would meet up, a the forest at the south-west of Gunhildr town, I texted Kana, telling her that I will be logging in and waiting for her. I set up the console, put my headset on and lied down on the sofa.l ¡ã¡ã¡ã Welcome to Kyoryu online! Upon logging in I was back at the inn my group reserved. Rin Yuuki Game name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 25 Hp: 2,450 Atk: 960 Stolen novel; please report. Sp. Atk: 150 Def: 470 Sp. Def: 340 Speed: 450 Looking at my updated stats, I have gotten much stronger since the Utahraptor and Albertosaurus encoutners. Right now I''m confident I might finally be able to defeat Diego alone now. A bright pillar of light appeared when I saw who logged in next to me. It was Kana! ¡°Yuuki!!!¡± Kana Immediately leaped, and hugged me causing us to crash through the window into the city streets. The moment she hugged me I felt the strength of 600 elephants cracking my ribs. ¡°Yes it''s me, it''s been a while since You and I played together.¡± I gave her a head pat. ¡°Hehe~ Kana misses playing with Yuuki!¡± she cheerfully addressed herself in the third person before asking a new question. I wonder where she got that from, looking at her stats something was surprising. Kasumi, Kana Game name: Amber Age: 16 Level: 32 Hp: 2,000 Atk: 4,000 Sp. Atk: 10 Def: 970 Sp. Def: 80 Speed: 5000 How the heck did she get this much higher than me? Was she playing whenever I wasn''t looking, but knowing Kana she probably a walk anomaly to this game. ¡°Yes I miss playing together too~!!¡± I could feel several ribs cracking. ¡°Oh by the way where did you get those new clothes?¡± Kana kept hugging tightly ¡°I got them last month¡­¡± I played with her hair for a bit. ¡°Hehe, shall we start exploring together then?¡± Kana helped me up. ¡°About that, I''m actually gonna introduce you to a friend that Haruka-senpai and I met while playing Kyoryu online together last month.¡± ***GASP*** ¡°YUUKI AND HARUKA-SAN WERE PLAYING WITHOUT KANA AGAIN!?¡± Kana gave me a disappointed look, like a younger sister would give to her brother after he recently got a new girlfriend. ¡°Well you see¡­ remember how Senko asked you to watch a movie?¡± ¡°Yes, why?¡± ¡°We kinda intentionally planned that so Haruka-senpai and I could play alone hehe.¡± I slowly backed away and closed my eyes, I could sense the Looming danger I was in just by being in Kana''s presence. Slightly opening my eyes, I could see Kana pouting at me angrily with some tears in her eyes and rosy cheeks. Haven''t I seen this before? Wait!! ¡°UWAHHHH!!! YUUKI CHEATED ON ME FOR A SECOND TIME!!!! HE KEEPS LEAVING KANA OUT OF FUN TIMES AND KEPT PLAYING WITH HARUKA!!!!!¡± KANA screamed louder than the eruption of Krakatoa and started stomping angrily at the ground causing it to start cracking severely as the entirety of Gunnhildr Town starts trembling. This girl''s temper tantrum is gonna kill me and the other players present, also¡­ WHAT DOES SHE MEAN I''M CHEATING ON HER WITH HARUKA-SENPAI!? WE''RE NOT EVEN DATING! IF ANYTHING KANA AND I JUST ARE JUST VERY CLOSE FRIENDS! DOES SHE SEES HARUKA-SENPAI AS A RIVAL TO BEING MY CLOSEST FRIEND!? Trying to maintain balance, I noticed the different buildings have also started shaking and cracking as some debris also started falling causing the npcs and players to find safety. I think the only way to stop this madness is to try and knock Kana out of it. ¡°Sorry Kana, but this is for everyone''s safety!¡± I grabbed a nearby shovel and as I was about to smack her in the head with it¡­ Her hand suddenly struck me first causing me to get knocked away, crash through the city''s castle walls and across the stone bridge and into the nearby forest. ¡°Jeez, How strong is she!? Trying to get back up I noticed her tantrums are causing the city walls to also crack and it started affecting the stone bridge. I grabbed my grappling gun and aimed it through the Hole i crashed through and hoped to god it wrapped around her so I can drag her here instead of the city. Firing the Gun I felt it wrapped around something violent. I caught her! I reeled back the gun as Kana gets flown through the wall I crashed in, Unlocking the gun I leaped and caught Kana in my hands, hugging her tightly and protecting her head hoping she wouldn''t get hurt. Upon landing on the ground Kana kept throwing a tantrum. ¡°Kana thats enough!¡± ¡°Ehh!? Did I go too far again?¡± Kana snapped back to reality and sas Gunnhildr down in shambles and falling apart. ¡°Hahaha yes you did, don''t worry I''m not mad.¡± ¡°oh okie! Shall we go meet the new friend then?¡± Kana got up and helped me up as well. ¡°Yep!¡± I should ask Hikari-san later if she could help me pay for Kana''s damages. Vol. 2 ch18 New Allies, New Trouble While we were walking down the road away from the ¡°mess¡± that kana made, it made me wonder if she''s been grinding in the game behind everyone''s back. The last time I saw her in the game, she was only around level 13, but right now Kana''s is 32, she had somehow gained 19 levels since the Herrerasaurus mission. I knew Kana was a skilled girl, but I never expected her to be smart enough to be able to hide this from Senko, Haruka and myself, or I''m overthinking this and she just plays a lot. ¡°Yuuki carry me on your shoulders!¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I ordered it!¡± Kana placed her arms on her waist smiling pridefully. ¡°Sigh, Fine.¡± ¡°Yayyyyy!!!¡± I lowered my back by kneeling down and helped Kana climb up my shoulders before standing back up and continued my walk towards the coordinates Hikari-san sent. ¡°I''m not heavy am I?¡± Kana muttered. ¡°You''re extremely heavy, I''m just putting up with it because you''re You.¡± ¡°Aww~ Yuuki is a better Onii-chan than my actual Onii-chan.¡± Kana toyed with my hair. ¡°Is there a reason your playing with my hair?¡± I can feel my legs about to start giving out. ¡°Ehh~!? What''s wrong with Kana playing with Yuuki''s hair? Is Yuuki no longer happy that Kana is playing with Yuuki''s hair?¡± Kana tone got high. ¡°There''s nothing wrong with it, if anything It''s relaxing.¡± I reassured her. ¡°Then why is Yuuki complaining now?¡± ¡°Because people are gonna assume we are a couple.¡± And that would be bad because it might give people the wrong idea. ¡°A couple? Can''t the readers just see us as close friends without shipping us?¡± Kana put on some nerdy glasses and did the ¡°Umm actually¡± pose. ¡°The wha?¡± ¡°Nothing~¡± ¡ã¡ã¡ã I continued walking with Kana on my shoulders until I suddenly received a voice call notification from Hikari-san. ¡°Kana I need you to be quiet for a bit, I need to take this call.¡± ¡°Okie!¡± I pressed the accept call icon. ¡°Yuu-san! Are you near the forest?¡± ¡°Yep, I also brought a friend along to introduce to you, I can tell you two would get along well.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Haha, well if Yuu-San Insists so then I''ll put my fate in it, ahh I can see Yuu-san from here, hurry look at the branches!¡± The phone call suddenly ended and I looked around the tree branches above us. ¡°Yuu-san Over here!¡± Hikari shouted from the top of a tree before climbing down and heading to us. ¡°Hikari-san, This girl that''s using my shoulders as a pony ride is Kana, we grew up together along with her brother and Haruka-senpai, I was gonna introduce him to you as well but Kana refused to invite him as well,¡± I lowered myself and helped Kana down. ¡°It¡¯s great to meet you Hikari-chan!!! I''m Kana!¡± Kana, as enthusiastic as ever, playfully winked and did a bunny pose. I wonder if Hikari is gonna think I''m friends with a weirdo, ¡°Uwah~ she¡¯s adorable! Nice to meet you as well Kana-chan, I met Yuu-san and Haruka-san last month when they were on a mission!¡± Hikari-san¡¯s eyes glowed brightly like stars. I guess she doesn''t mind Kana. ¡°Yuuki keeps LEAVING KANA OUT OF missions even though I''ve been playing this game just as long as he does!¡± ¡°Haha¡­ sorry about that¡­ I just had a different agenda.¡± I scratched my head awkwardly. ¡°Yuu-san! You shouldn''t be leaving your friends outside of the fun stuff ever!¡± Hikari-san pointed at my chin as if she was some chief of justice. ¡°Hikari-san gets me!!!!¡± Kana pretended to cry and hugged Hikari-san trying to get empathy. ¡°There, there Kana-chan~¡± Hikari-san gave Kana a lot of headpats. I guess I was right, these two really just bounce off each other¡­ ¡°A-anyway Kana, Hikari-san, Do you guys want to do a guild mission? Or do you guys think we should just explore the world for fun?¡± I opened the Guild''s UI and started scrolling through the Guild''s commission list. Previously, Haruka-Senpai and I went to the guild itself to choose the albertosaurus mission, but due to the hurry and the destruction Kana caused, It was likely better we just used the UI function and accept a mission from there. Looking back at the two, I noticed that Kana and Hikari-san had completely ignored what I was saying and just started playing with the nearby juvenile parasaurolophus. Sigh¡­ Whatever, I''ll just wait for them to finish playing. After all, I''m pretty sure people just enjoy cute girls doing cute things¡­ right? Leaning back on a tree trunk, I just watched the two playing with dinosaurs, it was a very cute sight. I guess Kana really just befriends everyone she meets, except her own brother Senko who she sees as a pure evil being incarnated as a blight on mankind and all of its greatness. ¡ã¡ã¡ã While waiting for them to finish, I suddenly received a message from Toda-kun. ¡°I didn''t expect him to be online.¡± Opening the messages tab, I opened his message. ¡°Yuuki-san, I found something you might enjoy.¡± ¡°Yeah? What is it?¡± Toda-kun sent me an attachment, opening it, it shows a family of Gigantopithecus around the forest. ¡°What''s the coordinates? I have 2 friends with me right now, I''m sure they would love to see that.¡± I asked. ¡°It''s a few kilometers away from Gunhildr town, I can just send you a quick invite to teleport here immediately.¡± Toda-kun responded. ¡°Thanks, I''ll tell you when to send it.¡± Finishing the message, I immediately went to Hikari-san and Kana who were now laying on the grass cuddling the singular parasaurolophus like it was an oversized reptilian teddy bear. ¡°Kana, Hikari-san, a friend is inviting us to see a family of Gigantopithecus, do you guys want to join him and watch them?¡± ¡°Gigantopee te cas? what?¡± Kana raised an eyebrow. ¡°The largest ape to ever exist.¡± ¡°Oh I wanna see!¡± Hikari-san''s eyes shined. Me too!¡± Kana joined in. ¡°Alright hold on to me.¡± I reached out. Hikari-san held on my left arm while Kana, Clung tightly to the right. I then started a voice call with Toda-kun. ¡°Toda-kun we''re ready, send me the invite.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± An invitation to teleport to Toda-kun appeared on my UI to which I immediately accepted, causing us to teleport inside what looks like a dimension between space and time and travel beyond the concept of speed. Landing at what seems like outside a different jungle, I couldn''t help but observe the lushness of it all. ¡°Yuuki-san what''s up?¡± Toda-kun waved. ¡°It''s been a while since Senko and I asked for your help, thank you for that.¡± ¡°No problem, and uh¡­ who are these¡­ girls with you?¡± ¡°Oh right, the girl on my left is Hikari-san, a friend that Haruka-senpai and I met last month.¡± I explained. ¡°Nice to meet you!¡± Hikari-san waved. ¡°While the girl on my right is Senko''s little sister.¡± I introduced Kana and Hikari-san to Toda-kun. ¡°Wait, he has a sister?¡± Toda-kun had a confused look. ¡°Mhm!¡± Kana pridefully smiled. ¡°Cough, Yuuki-san, can you come with me over there for a moment?¡± Toda-kun pointed near a bush. Heading behind the pushes Toda-kun suddenly pulled me down to crouch. ¡°What''s the meaning of this?¡± I asked. ¡°I thought you were gonna bring over Senko and another dude over here! Why did you bring two cute girls!?¡± ¡°Is there a problem with that?¡± ¡°You- i-¡± Toda-kun stuttered. ¡°You''re planning to ask one of them out on a date aren''t you?¡± I facepalmed. ¡°No I''m not! I''m just expecting an adventure with ¡°Ma Bros!¡± Not a bunch of ho¡¯s!¡± Toda annoyingly crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the grass. ¡°Uh¡­huh¡­¡± I rolled my eyes. ¡°And as for you! How did you pull two super cute girls to cling so tightly around you!¡± Toda-kun pointed at me. ¡°Tsk.¡± I looked back at Kana and Hikari-san who were waiting for us to come back. ¡°Don''t click your tongue at me! Answer the question!¡± Toda-kun kept pointing at me accusingly. This behavior was nothing new to me whatsoever, Toda-kun has always been shy and extremely awkward around girls, back in middle school and early highschool he had bad dating experiences with girls he met. I wonder if he had developed Gynophobia. ¡°First off, Kana and I had been friends since childhood! And Second of all, Hikari-san and I are just friends!¡± I tried my best to explain it calmly. ¡°You''re lying you harem-having bastard! First it''s Haruka-Senpai, then it''s your best friend''s imouto-chan, and now you have pulled another girl you met a month ago!¡± ¡°I''m going back, come join us if you''re done being butt hurt.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Toda-kun glared. I left the bushes and headed back to Kana and Hikari-san who were chasing each other around the grass. ¡°Sorry for the wait, Toda-kun is very expressive.¡± ¡°Oh don''t worry about that, Kana-chan and I just enjoy being around each other!¡± Hikari-san beamed a happy smile. ¡°Yep!¡± Kana pridefully nodded and crossed her arms. I suddenly received another message from Toda-san. ¡°You traitor.¡± -Toda Why does this guy make a big deal about being friends with girls? ¡°Just get out of the bushes and tell us the location of the Gigantopithecus!¡± I responded. ¡°Sigh¡­. Alright.¡± Vol. 2 Ch 19 the largest ape and different lizard Toda-kun had finally come out of the bushes and without saying a single word he pointed towards a nearby forest where we were heading to see the Gigantopithecus family. Was he still salty that I brought two girls here and not Senko? The area Toda-kun had helped teleport us in was near a subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest that resembles those in South China, except in Hainan which featured a tropical rainforest. This forest had Carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of Early Pleistocene enamel which suggests Gigantopithecus inhabited dense, humid, closed-canopy forest. It was a perfect habitat for Gigantopithecus. The sun shined brightly as we walked on the path towards the forest, during this time I did what I had been doing since the start of the game and scanned the area whenever I could. Upon the initial scan I already detected Multiple small life forms in the area, it''s possible that they were just small reptiles like Microraptor, bambiraptor, ornitholestes and maybe even procompsognathus though I could not confirm any of these guesses. None of the species I named were ¡°particularly¡± dangerous, and at worst we could probably just jump any individual dinosaur that attacked us, but I can''t shake the feeling someone was following us. Did the scanner only detect animals and not other players? I quickly stopped walking and scanned the general area again, and a few new creatures showed up which were eudimorphodon and archaeopteryx. I looked around quickly trying to see any disturbances in the vicinity. ¡°If someone is following us then why don''t they just show themselves¡­ unless¡­¡± I already knew who it was¡­ that person was Diego! Was he following me around in order to mark out when I was with Toda-kun in order to persuade him to his side again? That can''t be it!? If he wanted to get Toda-kun on his side He would have went to him directly, He already met him when Senko and I invited him to investigate our campsite that was invaded by Dilophosaurus, he has no reason to keep stalking me around in order to get Toda-kun to side with him! He is definitely here for revenge on me specifically because I took down his lovely maid! I was about to start leaving the three behind when¡­ ¡°Yuu-san? Are you okay?¡± Hikari-san tugged at my sleeve. ¡°Did something happen Yuuki?¡± Kana followed up. I looked back at everyone, Toda-kun had his arms crossed, Kana looked confused and Hikari had a worried look on her face. ¡°N-no it''s nothing don''t worry¡­ You guys go on without me, I think I have something to do¡­¡± I responded hastily. ¡°Don''t be stupid, It''s better to stay in a group than go alone, by going alone you''re just asking to be mauled out there.¡± Toda-kun spoke up. I hate to admit it but he was right, I was the lowest level player here, and leaving the group to investigate whatever was bothering me is a death sentence. ¡°You''re right, I''m sorry for the inconvenience, let''s keep going.¡± I regained my composure and we finally entered the dense forest. Was I just paranoid over the last two encounters I had with Diego? That can''t be it right? The creature we were looking for was Gigantopithecus Blacki. Gigantopithecus is an extinct genus of ape that lived in southern China from 2 million to approximately 300,000-200,000 years ago during the Early to Middle Pleistocene, represented by one species, Gigantopithecus blacki. Potential identifications have also been made in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Gigantopithecus is the largest known ape in the world, Being so large, Gigantopithecus possibly had few or no enemies when fully grown. However, younger, weak, or injured individuals may have been vulnerable to predation by tigers, pythons, crocodiles, machairodonts, hyenas, bears, and Homo erectus. Yet despite it''s fearsome appearance, Gigantopithecus is considered to have been a herbivore. Carbon-13 isotope analysis suggests consumption of C3 plants, such as fruits, leaves, and other forest plants. The robust mandible of Gigantopithecus indicates it was capable of resisting high strains while chewing through tough or hard foods. Gigantopithecus appears to have been a generalist herbivore of C3 forest plants, with the jaw adapted to grinding, crushing, and cutting through tough, fibrous plants, and the thick enamel functioning to resist foods with abrasive particles such as stems, roots, and tubers with dirt. Finding the biggest apes on the planet might seem like a fun trip, but with my little stalker chasing me around, If he captured one or more of them it would only empower his Clan! Upon stepping foot in the forest, it was clear how dense it was and how easy it was to get lost in here. It was like the sun can barely penetrate through the trees and shine into thr woodland. I better keep my guard up and keep pressing that scan button. I checked my in game map and we were far from our starting town, I zoomed out from where we were and swiped around and I could not find our beginner town whatsoever. We might have to set up camp after this. While walking through the dense forest I kept scanning the area every 15 seconds and Kept focusing on the noises around us trying to discern any nearby creatures or stalkers. As we continued walking We suddenly heard a loud ¡°Cawww~!!¡± noise, it soudned like a large turkey. ¡°All of you get Your Weapons out, Hikari-san stay close.¡± I placed my left hand on her shoulder and prepared to unsheathe my katana. ¡°R-right!¡± Hikari-san prepared what looked like a rapier sword similar to the one Haruka-senpai used. ¡°What the heck was that noise?¡± Kana did a defensive martial arts stancestance while holding a dagger on her right hand. ¡°It sounded like a bird, Maybe its a Deinocheirus.¡± Toda-kun took out his long scythe. ¡°I doubt a deinocheirus would be out hear hindering its mobility with its large size, Maybe it was a citipati or a struthiomimus¡­ or better yet.¡± I grabbed 3 daggers from my jacket and threw it at where the noise came from. Upon impact a large bipedal bird came out and ran away. It sported black at the back and yellow feathers on its underbelly to neck. ¡°Eh~?? What was that?¡± Kana lowered her guard and relaxed herself. ¡°I believe That thing is a A beipiaosaurus, a small to mid sized theropod from China, Beipiaosaurus is a genus of therizinosauroid theropod dinosaurs that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous in the Yixian Formation. The first remains were found in 1996 and formally described in 1999.¡± I explained before heading towards the bush trying to pick up the three daggers I threw. ¡°Ehhh!? That''s disappointing, here I was thinking it was a large dino!!!¡± Kana sighed letting her entire body fall on the floor. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. This girl was hoping to fight something large, I gotta commend her bravery though. After putting my daggers back in my coat I scanned the area again, and there was something nearby. I immediately looked around but I couldn''t see it anywhere. ¡°Nobody let your guard down!¡± I unsheathe my Katana when the ground suddenly trembles. ¡°Yuu-san behind you!¡± Hikari shouted desperately. Upon turning around a large fist suddenly struck me in the gut and got backhanded my flank to the side and knocked me away and crashed through several trees making them collapse, it was a Gigantopithecus! ¡°Gahhh!!!¡± I couldn''t control my momentum as the sneak attacks completely disoriented me, causing me and several tree trunks that I crashed through to all fall off a cliff as I crash on a large stone with the trunks barely missing me way below the cliff. The impact on my gut and flank stung so badly! It felt stronger than Kana''s strike that launched Me through Gunhildr town''s brick wall. ¡°Geez¡­ so that''s how strong a monke''s are bare hands are¡­¡± while trying to get up, I could that I started losing consciousness and notice my health bar was critical. While losing consciousness I saw my private chat was being spammed by both Kana and Hikari-san, unfortunately I could not move my hand to open the chat''s UI¡­ does this mean they managed to escape? If they are then that''s all I needed to know, I don''t want Kana or Hikari-san getting hurt in my consciousness. I could not move my arms and legs at all¡­ was I paralyzed? That can''t be it, I didn''t felt an impact on my spine¡­ was it because I crashed on this rock? The best I could do is force myself to sit up and open the ui trying to use any healing items I could use, I only had 5 small healing potions, but healing back up to 20% is no big deal right? I pressed the use button and I was able to move my arms and legs again, I was barely able to stand up and get my bearings. ¡°Getting hit like that is the worst!¡± I maintained a steady breathing when a shadow loomed above me. Upon looking up¡­ there was a large creature standing above me, It rivaled a giraffe in height and it had a massive beak. ¡°Shit¡­¡± I was face to face with Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest Azhdarchid Pterosaurs, I think fatigue had set in as all I could do was collapse looking into the eye of Death. It looked like I was just gonna be an easy prey¡­ as the Azhdarchid lowered it¡¯s head and prepared to grab me with its beak¡­ ***Screaaa!!!*** a velociraptor leaped from above me an attack the Azhdarchid by its neck, causing it to stagger and shake off the Velociraptor. I felt a gentle hand grab the back of my jacket, Pulled me up and ran away with the Velociraptor following after the Quetzalcoatlus flew off. I was still blacking out but before I did¡­ I caught a glimpse of whoever saved me¡­ it was a tall girl with short black hair and red eyes, after she grabbed me she hid inside a small cave with me as her Velociraptor tame followed after. ¡°Ara~ Ara~ are you alright dear? I was trying to tame that bird when I saw you fall off that cliff and noticed it immediately went for you so I had to protect you.¡± She had a gentle tone I really couldn''t muster another word, fatigue fully sat in and just blacked out completely. ¡ã¡ã¡ã Opening my eyes slowly, I was still inside the cave and I felt like I was lying down on my side¡­ upon turning to lie on my back however¡­ I felt a hand on my hair. ¡°Ara~ Ara~ are you finally awake~?¡± The girl gave me a gentle smile as she was toying with my hair with her hands. ¡°...hm¡­. Eh- Eh!??¡± It took me a second to process and realize that I was lying down on her lap. Instinctively, I sat up immediately and stood back up, I checked my stats and inventory and it looked like nothing was altered. ¡°Ara~ did you have a good nap?¡± the girl spoke with a motherly tone. How do I respond to that? I vividly recall passing out and getting saved by someone but I have no clue who she is, and to top it all off she just let me use her lap as a pillow until I woke up. How much more embarassment must I experience? ¡°How long was I out for?¡± I asked desperately. ¡°Ara~ you were only out for 15 minutes.¡± The girl answered tenderly. ¡°I see¡­ I owe you one then.¡± I used a stick to scribble ¡°Ryuki¡± on the dirt near her feet ¡°Ara~ no need for that, I was just helping an early game player.¡± How was she being this humble with me, I should be the one apologizing! ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being a bother to you, I¡¯ll be taking my leave now, My friends must be in trouble.¡± I bowed before taking off outside the cave. ¡°Wait, what¡¯s your name?¡± The girl asked. ¡°It¡¯s Yuuki.¡± I left then went to the rock I crashed on along with all the tree trunks that fell with me. ¡°I see, call me Black Luna.¡± While running, I knew it was rude that I left her behind so quickly, but I can¡¯t just let Hikari-san and Kana get hurt! Toda-kun you better keep them safe! Looking up at the cliff I fired my grappling hook and zipped back up the top. Upon landing, it was apparent that the Gigantopithecus caused a mayhem! There were a trail of collapsed trees and there were several Rhamporynchus, Eudimorphodon flying away as beipiaosaurus, camptosaurus, dryosaurus, Struthiomimus and Ornithomimus were all running away in fear. ¡°This was the first time I¡¯ve seen so many animals running away from a common threat! Kana¡­ Hikari-san please stay alive long enough for me to get there!¡± I unsheathe my katana and started dashing in the direction of all the commotion, noises and ravaged forest in my way. I kept running at the direction of the ravaged forest, when a sharpened tree trunk was thrown in my face to which I just barely avoided getting my face skewered! ¡°Just what the hell is going on in there!?¡± Several more debris were thrown in my direction, I jumped on top of another sharpened tree trunk, ran on it leaped above a large rock and used my momentum to squeeze between another pair of large tree trunks, using my katana to propel off a tree stump and threw pair of 3 draggers at an incoming tree branches allowing me to pass through unscathed and landing as I sheathe my katana back in its place. ¡°It looked like things cleared up.¡± I heard the roar of the gigantopithecus nearby, I continued running in its direction when I suddenly got tackled at my side knocking me on the forest floor. I immediately got back up and looked at the direction of the attacker. What I saw absolutely terrified me, I was face to face with a large theropod from the morrison formation, it was the ¡°Different Lizard,¡± Allosaurus. Allosaurus is an extinct genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period. The name "Allosaurus" means "different lizard", alluding to its unique (at the time of its discovery) concave vertebrae. It is derived from the Greek words ?¦Ë¦Ë¦Ï? (allos) ("different", "strange", or "other") and ¦Ò¦Á?¦Ñ¦Ï? (sauros) ("lizard" or "reptile"). The first fossil remains that could definitely be ascribed to this genus were described in 1877 by famed paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. The genus has a very complicated taxonomy and includes at least three valid species, the best known of which is A. fragilis. The bulk of Allosaurus remains have come from North America''s Morrison Formation, with material also known from the Lourinh? Formation in Portugal. It was known for over half of the 20th century as Antrodemus, but a study of the abundant remains from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry returned the name "Allosaurus" to prominence. As one of the first well-known theropod dinosaurs, it has long attracted attention outside of paleontological circles. Allosaurus was a large bipedal predator for its time. Its skull was light, robust, and equipped with dozens of sharp, serrated teeth. It averaged 8.5 metres (28 ft) in length for A. fragilis, with the largest specimens estimated as being 9.7 metres (32 ft) long. Relative to the large and powerful legs, its three-fingered hands were small and the body was balanced by a long, muscular tail. It is classified as an allosaurid, a type of carnosaurian theropod dinosaur. As the most abundant large predator of the Morrison Formation, Allosaurus was at the top of the food chain and probably preyed on contemporaneous large herbivorous dinosaurs, with the possibility of hunting other predators. Potential prey included ornithopods, stegosaurids, and sauropods. Some paleontologists interpret Allosaurus as having had cooperative social behavior and hunting in packs, while others believe individuals may have been aggressive toward each other and that congregations of this genus are the result of lone individuals feeding on the same carcasses. Allosaurus is one of the most fearsome dinosaurs ever to have roamed the earth, Allosaurus is a large, ferocious theropod dinosaur, that which weighed up to 3.7 tons and measuring around 39.7 feet in length and 12.5 feet tall, but unlike the real life counterpart, this Allosaurus was 42 feet in length and 19 feet tall. ¡°How the hell are you so large compared to the real life counterpart!?¡± I immediately threw 3 daggers in its direction, however the theropod just charged through the attack and knocked me down on my ass. I got back up and took my katana out. ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time I had to face a large theropod, but now I need to deal with you before I could even save my friends!¡± I could hear its bellowing all the while it was staring at me with piercing eyes. I heard more bellowing and turned to my side and my eyes widened, there were another pair of allosaurus as large as this guy! ¡°Shit¡­¡± Vol. 2 Ch 20 We are a team! I was already familiar with being face to face with death¡­ I nearly experienced it when I hunted a group of coelophysis alone, saw what could happen to me when that Neovenator that Haruka-senpai and I saved was capable of, I felt nearly every bone in my body crack when I fought the Albertosaurus, I survived an infestation of Herrerasaurus with Senko by my side, and got my face mauled by a utahraptor and died once already, now I was surrounded in three angles by an angry trio of jurassic Lions, the morrison formation''s honey badger, the different lizard¡­ Allosaurus Fragilis. What made this specific predator so dangerous was the fact it thrived in the Morrison formation and hunted the diamond plated stegosaurus, as well as the giant long necked sauropods such as the Apatosaurus, Barosaurus, Camarasaurus, and Diplodocus, and even competed with Torvosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and the lord of the lizard eaters itself¡­ the largest theropod of the Jurassic period, Saurophaganax Maximus. Every single one of those animals had bite marks from Allosaurus. I mentioned earlier that the Morrison Formation is such a competitive place but that''s because it''s practically hell on earth! It was a warm, seasonal, semi-arid climate throughout, changing from dry semi-arid to humid semi-arid from the Kimmeridgian to the Tithonian parts of the formation. Meaning not only was Allosaurus had to compete with at least Five major Apex predators such as Torvosaurus and Saurophaganax but also do it in extreme dry seasons! It wasn''t that hard to say that Allosaurus Fragilis during it''s time in the morrison formation would wake up daily and choose violence to everyone and everything with a pulse! It had a bone to pick with just about every single creature that lived alongside them! Or to use words that my sister Akane would say¡­ Allosaurus simply had that dawg in him! The reason I knew all of this is because a new paper revealed that allosaurus was the terror of the Jurassic with bite and claw marks on just about any animal it lived with. This has given it a new reputation of the fuck around and find out dinosaur. ¡°I can¡¯t waste any more time screwballing with these guys, I better escape fast and find them!¡± I knew they were still alive because the chat function automatically alerts all nearby friends when you die in game, I survived falling off that cliff so they wouldn¡¯t have received that notification, but now that notification might as well be sent in advance for me. I doubt I can even outrun one of these guys but knowing how allosaurus is one of the most successful predators of all time, I have no choice but to try fighting back because if I brought them to Hikari-san and the others where the gigantopithecus was in it could create carnage beyond comprehension¡­ unless¡­ We help out the gigantopithecus take these guys down! ¡°Alright bring it on!¡± I shouted, causing all three of them to charge directly at me as I leaped past them, causing them to all hit each other as I threw three sets of daggers each in their direction. Landing on my feet, I immediately fired my revolver three times trying to aggravate them further into chasing me as I made a mad dash among the ravaged isotope forest. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As expected all three gave chase and they were catching up fast, luckily for me debris started flying in my direction again¡­ just what the hell is happening over there!? I sheathed my katana and activated a voice call to Hikari-san. ¡°Hikari-san are you guys okay?¡± I shouted while dodging several charges and bites from the Allosaurus. ¡°Yuu-san!? You''re alive? Yes we''re doing fine, just in a lot of trouble!¡± ¡°Don''t worry I''m on my way there bringing a party over!¡± I shot my grappling hook to temporarily ride on an Allosaurus¡¯ back, and baited the other two to attack it, temporarily slowing them down. ¡°Wait what party!?¡± ¡°Don''t worry about¡­ that!!¡± I narrowly dodged a slash from a nearby Allosaurus then turned the call off. I immediately slid under a large rock tjrown at my direction and used my momentum to jump over a log and wall run the side of a thrown tree trunk, jumping and swinging across vines and finally firing my grappling hook far enough that I zipped and weaved in between several sticks, rocks, branches and using my katana to propel myself farther. I saw Kana-san and Toda-kun standing fiercely trying to keep the Gigantopithecus distracted while Hikari-san was supporting them with her slingshot pebbles. I was almost there, Now I just need to get their attention! As I fell gracefully in the air I fired my revolver in the sky getting everyone''s attention as I landed and placed my revolver back in its holster, as the Roars of the three Allosaurus that chased me arrived shortly after. I finally had a good look at the giant monke that knocked me through several trees and off a cliff. He was slightly shorter than the allosaurus in height but it was obvious he was bulkier and much more agile than them. I was 15 feet between both the Gigantopithecus and Allosaurus, and 20 feet away from Hikari-san, Kana, and Toda-kun, this fight might just become a free for all! However¡­ I dashed and stood in between my friends and the Gigantopithecus who had just started beating its chest at the sight of the Allosaurus that just arrived. What better way to settle differences than Fighting side by side with one another! I looked at Hikari-san, Kana and Toda-kun and signaled them to support the Gigantopithecus in taking on the Morrison formation''s Honey Badger! I unsheathe my Katana and Prepared my Revolver, Toda-kun prepared his dual scythes, Hikari-san prepared her rapier and with a slingshot, lastly Kana put on some brass knuckles while her desert eagles were on her holsters! There were four of us, plus the gigantopithecus up against the trio of allosaurus about to clash with each other, and even though we had a slightly bigger numbers advantage, fighting against one of the most successful jurassic predator and three of them at that, was an uphill battle, we had to strategize this quickly! Though that task may seem daunting, the game''s mind read chat system allowed me to do a quick send to all four of them at once. A sudden ring played as all three of them checked their messages: ¡°The Gigantopithecus should be able to handle at least three Allosaurus at once, Kana go support the gigantopithecus, your raw strength should be able to handle a 2 v 3 while Toda-kun, Hikari and I are gonna whittle them-¡­¡± A loud noise roared from behind as six more Allosaurus had arrived behind us! There were now 9 Allosaurus in total! ¡°Change of Plans, Kana has to support the Gigantopithecus in a 2 v 5! Toda-kun keep at least two of the Allosaurus focused on yourself and try your best to whittle them down as much as possible and make sure to maintain a mid to long range distance between yourself and the pair just for your safety¡­¡± ¡°and lastly¡­¡± As the group of Allosaurus that surrounded us inched closer, I immediately grabbed Hikari-san by her jacket and leaped out of the way! ¡°Hikari-san''s with me, We''ll distract the last pair of Allosaurus while trying to whittle them down ourselves! None of you are allowed to die on me or I will personally go to hell and kill you there myself! I know it looks like I''m throwing all of you to the woods, I''m sorry for doing that, But last I knew for a fact was that I had been in death¡¯s door with theropods on multiple occasions now, I know what it''s like being on the receiving end, that''s why I''m not letting any of you down, We are a team and we''re gonna win!¡± I quickly sent my final message and shot four bullets taking the aggro from a pair of Allosaurus as I ran away carrying Hikari-san and distancing ourselves as a pair of Allosaurus targeted me specifically. Kana got her desert eagle out, took aggro from a pair of Allosaurus and hopped on top of the Gigantopithecus whom charged at the initial three I brought with me. "Let''s go Monke boy!" Kana shouted excitedly while holding on the Gigantopithecus'' arm. Lastly, Toda-kun took the aggro of the last pair by throwing his sickled scythes which ricochet back to him like a boomerang! "Come at me bitches!" Toda-kun did a pose and dashed towards the last pair. There were 9 in total, Kana and the Gigantopithecus had to deal with at least 5 of them on their own, Toda-kun had to also try and manage a pair while Hikari-san and I repeat what Toda-kun does with a different pair! Vol. 2 Ch21 part 1 Yuuki''s P.O.V. As the pair of allosaurus chased after Hikari and Myself, I maintained a far distance from Kana and the gigantopithecus, and a medium distance between The Allosaurus, Hikari and Myself. ¡°Hikari-san, I''ll be relying on you from here on!¡± I asked after we landed and avoided the initial charge from the allosaurus pair I aggravated. ¡°Right! I''ll be sure to support Yuu-san as much as I can!¡± Hikari-san pumped herself up and prepared what looked like mini cannonballs the size of marbles and used her slingshot at the direction of the allosaurus pair which created a smoke bomb and a miniature explosion! ¡°Woah Where''d that come from?¡± I never expected Hikari-san to be carrying explosives, maybe I was the one that should be supporting her in this fight! After the mini explosions caused a smoke screen, the pair of allosaurus simply rushed Through the smoke with light burns and chars on their skin indicating they tanked through the explosions Hikari-san blasted at them, and not just that, they were also bridging our distance advantage fast! ¡°Okay okay! We need to go!¡± I panicked as Hikari-san grabbed my arm as We ran away in a diagonal direction every 12 feet in order to try to slow down the allosaurus duo by having them run in a snake-like manner. As we maintained our distance advantage, I couldn''t help but recall the last time I was in a group of four, We weren''t able to properly plan out our attack. I vividly remember that herrerasaurus infestation we raided. It happened just after my first encounter with Diego. That incident impacted My relationship with both Kana and Haruka-senpai negatively Because I simply refused to acknowledge the fact that my two close friends were simply trying to help me! But this time, I''m not letting anyone down! They voted me as the leader then I''ll take the reins and guide them to victory, screw being lower levels, screw having the worst gear out of the four players present here and having the worst stats in the group! I''m here to guide my friends to victory if it''s the last thing I do! Unlike last time where I snapped at my friends and dragged Senko into a battlefield with me, now I''m coordinating our assault plan in order to win! Looking back I noticed that Kana and the gigantopithecus were doing exactly what I planned! She was using his shoulder as leverage while she whittle down the 5 allosaurus they were fighting! She was shooting them with bullets, throwing shurikens at them and even using the gigantopithecus¡¯ momentum in order to latch on the allosaurus back and Damage it herself, while aggravating a few of them to target her and give the Large Monke an opening to attack first! Kana truly is an incredible person, her strength completely matched her willpower! Maybe someday I can be just as strong. We kept running until We saw a fairly large rock near the distance. Once Hikari-san and I were a good Distance away from the pair of allosaurus it was time for Us to set our own counterattack. ¡°Hikari-san¡­¡± ¡°Yes, I know.¡± I nodded as we ran opposite of each other and circled the rock, knowing the allosaurus were chasing us individually¡­ the moment we did our U-Turn, we slide between both allosaurus legs causing them to crash into each other knocking them down! ¡°The plan worked! Now''s our chance!¡± I started whittling them down with both my revolvers, constantly firing bullets at their knees and lower abdomen. ¡°Right!¡± Hikari-san used her slingshot to bombard the allosaurus pair with more of her explosive mini cannonball causing a large smoke screen to engulf the nearby area. As the smoke cloud thickened I started multiple sets of three knives into the smoke screen knowing for a fact at least a dozen or more of them would skewer both theropods hindering them further! Even though we managed to completely engulf both of them with the explosions and from Hikari-san''s mini cannonball explosives as well as my rapid knife throw, I knew for a fact that the allosaurus wasn''t going down just like that! ¡°Hikari-san, that''s not close to being enough. Let''s do our best and try to take them down one at a time.¡± As much as I wanted to boast about them weakening, the Game¡¯s beastiary says that Allosaurus has the highest amount of HP and Defense out of every theropod! Surpassing the likes of Albertosaurus, deinocheirus, sinraptor, pycnonemosaurus, Sinraptor, neovenator, megalosaurus, daspletosaurus, and ichthyovenator, with the only other theropods being able to even try taking them down in a few hits includes Sauroniops, Rugops Primus, Maip macrothorax, Mapusaurus, Meraxes Gigas, Dynamo Terror, Giganotosaurus, saurophaganax, Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex, and the murder Turkey itself, Therizinosaurus! Allosaurus was the Lion and Honey badger of the Morrison formation and Kyoryu online did them justice by making them a bigger menace! ¡°I know! Let''s separate them from each other and handle them separately! Let''s each go into a different side of the forest to at least hinder their mobility, while doing that lets make sure the other isn''t that far so we can aid each other easily!¡± Hikari-san voiced her enthusiasm for her plan! Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Hikari-san may not look like it but she''s very intelligent when it comes to strategy. A great leader must listen to his teammates and Work together for a greater achievement and that''s exactly what I''m about to do! ¡°Right, activate your voice call and let''s make sure to come back in one piece!¡± Hikari-san and I jumped away from each other as both of the allosaurus rushed out of the smoke cloud, skewered by knives on each side and completely burned skin. Hikari-san and I ran for the forest but made sure to be within 30 meters of each other. ¡°Yuu-san sure you stay safe!¡± Hikari-san voiced the call as she disappeared from sight. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, I''ll be sure to lead us to victory.¡± With Hikari-san on her own, I was left to myself to stay alive and win this, hopefully Kana and Toda are doing well on their own. I ran a fair distance, prepared my revolvers and fired at the Allosaurus underbelly which shrugged them off as it effortlessly crashed through several trees, knocking them down. I fired my grappling gun to a tree branch just In front of the allosaurus and immediately retracted it, zipping me extremely fast towards the allosaurus. ¡°This is it!¡± I immediately kicked its jaw open and threw a set of three daggers down its throat along with unloading an entire magazine in its mouth just to make sure internal bleeding set in before I got zipped behind it. I was able to land on a tree branch where I then unsheathed my katana and leaped on its back, stabbing it right on the spine. The impact however caused the allosaurus to go berserk! It started running through several trees, where we both took impacts from its branches, trunks and other falling debris ¡°Jeez! How durable are you!!?¡± I grunted as several branches struck my gut, face and arms. ¡°Yuu-san, are you okay over there!?¡± Hikari shouted through voice call. ¡°Hikari-san? you''re still there!?¡± I held on to my Katana forcing it deeper down the allosaurus back while making sure to not fall off. ¡°Yes I Am! The voice call told me, You''re getting too far to co-¡± the voice call got cut off! Damn it! I forced myself to stand up and dodge all the incoming branches while tanking all the trunks that the allosaurus kept rushing through! ¡°I''ve had it¡­ I''VE HAD ENOUGH!!¡± I held tightly on the katana and ejected myself In Front of the allosaurus with the katana in hand. I rushed towards the allosaurus, Sliding beneath it and sliced its gut open before sheathing it back. Looking at my health bar I was only in 60% health ¡°Did my body adjust to all the damage I accumulated all this time?¡± I panted as I looked back at the Allosaurus I killed, its gut splattered on the forest floor. Noticing that my hands were completely covered in blood made me realize how terrifying the game can be¡­ but that didn''t matter, I have to get back Hikari-san and the others. ¡°That''s enough resting¡­¡± I tried standing up. ¡°My~ My~ you sure look like you are in a pickle.¡± a familiar voice called out to me. ¡°Show yourself¡± As if snapping back to reality I got up and prepared my katana and revolver. ¡°Oh come on now, that''s no way to talk to a friend.¡± A familiar boy with a cowboy hat walked out from behind a tree along with a pair of Utahraptors by his side¡­ ¡°Diego¡­ were you following me in order to get a chance to have Toda-kun join your stupid Clan?¡± Diego simply grinned, his arms were in his pockets, he was completely relaxed¡­ as if no malice to be sensed. Even if he wasn''t here intending to pick a fight, this situation is extremely unfavorable for me. I just finished fighting an allosaurus that I had to weaken severely with Hikari-san¡¯s help before I could even try to kill it alone. Now I''m surrounded by Diego and his two pets!? ¡°I''m asking you a question, What do you want?¡± I remained on guard. ¡°Oh~ nothing much~! Oh my you dropped your balls!¡± ¡°I beg your pardo-¡± ¡°Take this!¡± Diego Immediately threw what looked like a grenade at my feet which immediately released a thick pink smoke. Gasping for air I held my breath trying to back away¡­ however I didn''t feel any harm coming, but instead I got healed back to full health and full strength¡­ wait no, It''s like I''ve gotten way stronger overall! ¡°Now we''re even, Yuuki Rin,¡± Diego smirked. Hearing him call out my name like that, was something that shook me to my very core! How did this guy know my name!? ¡°How did you¡­¡± ¡°Simple, You''re Sakura-san¡¯s close friend.¡± ¡°Sakura-san? You mean Haruka-Senpai? How did you know our names!?¡± I sheathed my katana back. ¡°Is it not obvious yet~? you may call me Takeda-senpai~ I found out when Sakura-san mentioned the game back at the clubroom¡± Diego said as he stepped on the allosaurus¡¯ corpse while putting his hand on his hip. This guy''s my Senior¡­ well he did have the same hair and eyes but¡­ why did he make himself shorter? Nevermind that I can''t show any weaknesses. ¡°What''s the catch?¡± I sternly asked. ¡°The catch?¡± Diego raised an eyebrow I simply nodded trying to process why he just healed me. ¡°It''s quite simple Rin-san, I''m a double agent within the Enrico Clan, My goal is to take them down.¡± Diego Stepped away from the allosaurus corpse. ¡°A double agent? You personally went after me when I was alone!¡± I snapped at him. ¡°My apologies, You see, I had to do that as a red herring in order to fool the Clan¡¯s higher-ups just so they wouldn''t suspect a thing from my team,¡± Diego explained. ¡°And why is that?¡± I asked while crossing my arms together. ¡°You see that caravan you foiled, was planned to fail from the moment they were transferred back to one of the clan¡¯s base camps, we rigged the cages to open up when the People transferring them reaches at least 20 meters away and let the Neovenators clean up the camp, after which My team and I would destroy the camp''s evidences. But the little stunt you two pulled got me demoted causing me to lose several privileges to use to take them down myself.¡± ¡°And why are you turning to me then?¡± ¡°It''s quite simple, I''m here to recruit you and your friends to take them down either from within or guns blazing whichever suits your fancy.¡± ¡°What makes you think I would just agree to join you?¡± I finally relaxed. ¡°Well if you must know, the Enrico Clan''s plan is to slowly mutate and weaponize the many dinosaurs and other creatures in the game, it would just ruin the fun for everyone else, Is that a good enough reason for you~?¡± ¡°It is¡­ and before I accept anything from you, I have one last question.¡± I looked him dead in the eye. ¡°What is that supposed to be?¡± ¡°The question is¡­ Where''s your maid?¡± ¡°My maid? Hahaha¡­ that''s truly unexpected from you, well you must know~ she''s currently working part time at BurGirl Shack! Now then Do we have a deal?¡± Diego reached out his hand. ¡°We do.¡± I shook his hand. ¡°Well that''s all the time I can give~ Let us meet later Rin-san¡± Diego walked back to his Utahraptors. ¡°Right¡­¡± ¡°Oh, and one more thing, please try to hide your feelings from Sakura-san a bit better next time, your envy towards Toru was very obvious~ Bye bye~¡± Diego and His pair of Utahraptors walked off. Could I really trust him despite him personally hunting me down even if it''s all a ploy to throw suspicion away from his team''s failure? Well right now it didn''t matter whatsoever, I need to get back to the others. With my newly healed and powered up body, I tried sensing where everyone was¡­ I immediately knew Hikari-san was near the direction of the mess The Allosaurus made. ¡°Its like whatever Diego did Made my power skyrocket.¡± I dashed through the torn apart forest and Immediately spotted Hikari-san rapidly jumping between tree branches pelting the allosaurus she was fighting with explosive mini cannonballs. The allosaurus looked like it was completely charged and injured and at the brink of collapse! ¡°She''s really doing well alone¡­ wait!¡± I spotted that she was about to leap on a loose branch and could fall down towards the allosaurus. ¡°I''m not letting her die!¡± I dashed, quickly bridging the gap between me and the allosa when¡­ Hikari-san fell as expected, plummeting to the ground and the allosaurus was about to eat her alive when¡­ the allosaurus got knocked on its ass and the girl with short black hair and red eyes saved Hikari-san, carrying her like a princess, It was Black Luna. ¡°Now''s your chance, Ryuki-kun.¡± Black Luna landed on her feet and placed Hikari-san on the smooth rock. ¡°Right!¡± channeling all my strength I dashed through the remaining trees and as I was about to collide with the allosaurus that was struggling to get up¡­ I unsheathed my katana when a massive slash was heard, I landed on my feet and sheathed it back as the allosaurus head fell to the ground. ¡°Ara~ I didn''t know Ryuki-kun was that strong on his own~¡± Black Luna placed her hand on her hips. ¡°It''s a long story¡­¡± I explained what happened before she saved me and after I left the cave. ¡°I see~ Allosaurus are no good to fight 4 to 9, But don''t worry, I''ll be there to help?¡± Black Luna nodded In a motherly way. ¡°Thank you for saving me!¡± Hikari-san happily bowed. ¡°Ara~ aren''t you just a precious one, Well then shall we go?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Hikari-san and I enthusiastically accepted. Vol 2 Ch 21 part 2 ¡°Umm, before we continue, can I ask you something Black Luna-san?¡± I asked while cleaning my blood stained katana. ¡°Ara~ what is it Ryuki-kun?¡± She crossed her arms under her chest. ¡°How come you followed me all the way from the bottom of the cliff from earlier?¡± ¡°Hmm~~ well you could say I got worried for your safety, after all I did found you nearly dead you know~¡± Black-Luna responded quite motherly. ¡°Wait, nearly dead!? Yuu-san nearly died!?¡± Hikari-san tugged on my coat expectantly. ¡°She did¡­¡± I nodded and explained how she found me on the bottom of the cliff, about to become bird food. ¡°That''s amazing. But wait, where''s your Velociraptor?¡± Hikari-san curiously asked Black-Luna. ¡°You see, I had her scout around us to make sure we''re safe, otherwise we might have gotten attacked again.¡± She explained. ¡°Well then, I''ll trust you to go back up Toda-kun? I''ll go back and back up Kana, I''m not letting her get hurt from fighting them!¡± ¡°Ara~ Ryuki-kun seems to care deeply for this Kana, does Ryuki-kun have admiration and fondness for her~?¡± Black-Luna teased. ¡°You''re-¡± I was about to reply but then ¡°Yuu-san has a crush on Haruka-San!¡± Hikari-san cut me off and yapped. ¡°Hold on! You knew!? How?! Since When!?¡± I snapped and lost my temper. ¡°It was kind of Obvious when we first met. You weren''t hiding it well Yuu-san.¡± ¡°Not that¡­ you¡­ How did you figure it out? What gave it away?¡± Jeez¡­ how in the heck did Hikari-san read me like an open book!? ¡°Oh that? It was a girl''s intuition hehe~ anyway you should go help Kana-chan out, leave Toda-san''s situation to us!¡± Hikari-san pridefully explained. She reminded me so much of Akane¡­ I dont know if that''s a good thing or not. ¡°Alright I''ll back up Kana, Stay safe okay?¡± I looked Hikari-san in the eye. ¡°Of course I will!¡± Hikari-san gave me a hug that I reciprocated openly. I headed off and scanned the area for Kana''s direction and realized she was moving sporadically around the open field and forest! ¡°How close are you two?¡± Black-luna questioned Hikari-san ¡°Hehehe, we have been playing this game together for a month now! We''re the best of friends!¡± Hikari-san placed her hands on her hips pridefully. ¡ã¡ã¡ã Kana¡¯s side, just after Yuuki, Toda and Hikari, left to deal with their respective allosauruses. ¡°We got this Mr. Monke! With you and Kana here we will take these toothy bois out!¡± She shouted excitedly, while clinging to the ape¡¯s shoulder she started firing her desert eagle at the three allosaurus in front of them, aggravating the trio enough so all three charged immediately along with the remaining two behind Kana and the Gigantopithecus. It was like Kana spoke the same language that the Gigantopithecus spoke because the ape beat its chest aggressively and charged to battle, roaring as it punches one allosaurus, kicking another behind it only for an allosaurus pack to corner it immediately biting at its shoulder, arm, hand and leg, at any normal situation this would be a death sentence but this monke got Kana on his side!If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t!¡± Kana leaped off the ape¡¯s shoulder, threw shurikens at the eyes of the two allosaurus that were biting the ape from behind and then drop-kicked the allosaurus that bit on the ape¡¯s leg, knocking it 12 feet in the air and fall down on its ass. ¡°Hehehe! That''s what you call a- whoa!¡± almost got bit by a nearby allosaurus, unfortunately she ducked beneath and punched its stomach repeatedly and kicked its lower leg, causing the theropod to collapse and gave the gigantopithecus an opening to grab its tail, swing it around and knock the other three allosaurus away. ¡°That was a close one!¡± Kana got back on the ape¡¯s shoulder, patting its head as they stared down the four allosauruses they knocked down. The four allosaurus got up, they snarled and grunted aggressively, it was clear they were sick of the two. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Angry hehe- uwahhh~~!!!¡± Kana laughed as the allosaurus she drop kicked bit and grappled the gigantopithecus¡¯ back followed by the other three in front of them. ¡°Mr. Monke!!!¡± Kana dropped behind the allosaurus, tugged on its tail, pulled it off the ape¡¯s shoulder and threw it at the forest and got back on the ape¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Mr. Monke, we¡¯re sitting ducks over here, let¡¯s separate them- woah!¡± Kana talked pridefully as the ape grabbed her arm, placed her on his back and dashed into the thick isotope forest! ¡°Heheh~ this is fun! Now to deal with the toothie lizards!¡± Kana turned around and fired her desert eagle, and threw shurikens at the allosaurus, trying to stall them from bridging the distance between her and Mr. Monke! Several of the Allosaurus got struck but they relentlessly chased after the duo. ¡°Uwah!? They''re that tanky!? Mr. Monke, let''s use the trees for leverage!¡± ¡ã¡ã¡ã Around 5 minutes later, I arrived at the field. I immediately saw a knocked down Allosaurus, and several collapsed trees onto the entrance of the forest. ¡°Of course she''s Far away¡­¡± I ran into the forest, and kept scanning the area trying to find Kana and her Monkey friend. I started a voice call with Kana, trying to find a way to communicate with her. ¡°Yuuki!? What''s up? Where''s Hikari-chan?¡± For some reason her voice was still cheerful as ever, that''s all I needed to know she truly is strong enough to handle herself! ¡°I Sent her to back up Toda-kun,I''m heading in your direction, how far into the forest are you and how many allosaurus are left there?¡± I responded before using my grappling hook to swing between branches and into vines. ¡°Umm- hahaha not that far- woah!!! Yeah there''s only three left¡± ¡°What the heck is happening over there?¡± ¡°Haha, Mr monke. Just snapped one of their heads in half.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ aren''t you a sadistic little snow-bunny.¡± I responded as I landed on the trail following the path of damaged and collapsed trees. ¡°Rude- wait I see you!¡± Kana retorted. I immediately scanned the area and realized I had several allosaurus all around me. Before I could even turn around and unsheathe my katana, an allosaurus swung its hand at me and knocked me through a large rock. ¡°Yuuki are you alright?¡± ¡°Yes I''am, I''m just pissed¡­!!¡± Forcing myself to get up, I unsheathed my katana and prepared to face the three in front of me. I forced myself to take an offensive stance, the claw swipe of an allosaurus applied a nasty D.O.T. or damage over time known as withering, those afflicted would rapidly drain 4% of their health points every second for 12 seconds, that would drain 52% of my health just from that one swipe! ¡°Don''t fight them alone, you''ll get hurt!¡± ¡°You got a better idea!?¡± I responded very hoarsely. ¡°Yep! Look behind them!¡± ¡°What are you?¡± As one of the allosaurus charged the gigantopithecus landed on its back and practically paralyzed it, it immediately grabbed one of the other two allosaurus, and threw it at the other, causing them to crash into a large tree. What happened next shocked me, several dozen throwing stars rained on them followed by Kana carrying a large log hitting them repeatedly until all that remained were mush! ¡°Hehehe! You impressed Yuuki?¡± Kana pridefully smirked. ¡°Yeah, but I''m dying right now.¡± ¡°Oh right, let''s get that treated hehe!¡± While Kana treated my Withering affliction, The gigantopithecus seem to have taken a loyalty towards her, is this what the Bonding mechanic does on Kyoryu online? ¡°Kana how did you manage to whittle them down without much trouble?¡± I asked while adjusting the bondage she wrapped around my chest and abdomen. ¡°Well it was very easy, You see~¡± Kana explained how she and the gigantopithecus practically used the surroundings to outmuscle and practically bully the allosaurus that chased them, not only that they even encountered several more allosaurus on the way, she and the gigantopithecus were ripping and tearing them while covering each other''s back! What I really wonder is how many allosaurus has they killed together on the time it took for me to catch up back here, it''s like she just transcends speed itself to be able to do such dangerous actions. ¡°Anyway¡­ let''s go find Hikari-san and Toda-kun.¡± ¡°Right! Thanks for the help Mr Monke!!¡± Kana helped me up as we walked back to the field trying to recover stamina and health. ¡°This place He brought us to is way too dangerous for my low level¡­¡± I sighed under my breath. ¡°Aww don''t feel bad, at least we''re all having fun as a team right?¡± Kana nuzzled her head under my chin. ¡°You''re right about that haha¡­ we really should save him.¡± As we got out of the forest we spotted Hikari-san patching Toda-kun''s arms, legs, abdomen and face. It looked like he got scratched up through all the fighting. ¡°Yo! What happened to him?¡± I shouted at Hikari-san and Toda-kun¡¯s direction as Kana and I arrived at their spot. ¡°Oh, hahaha well you see, he got distracted by Black-luna¡¯s massive badonkers causing him to get mauled by 4 Allosaurus¡± ¡°Wait, how did he end up encountering an extra two?¡± Kana asked suspiciously. ¡°Don''t make me relive it please¡­.¡± Toda-Kun had a traumatized look on his face. I''ll let him be¡­ gotta make sure he recovers from this. ¡°So where''s Ms Black Luna?¡± I questioned. ¡°She said she''s heading off, her partner brought her some dinner apparently.¡± ¡°She must be dating one lucky guy.¡± I thought of the times Kana, Senko and Haruka-senpai and I went out together and had lunch and dinner at the nearby shopping district. Those were times I really wanted to relive again. ¡°Well then shall we head back to Gunhildr town?¡± Hikari-san asked just after finishing Toda-kun¡¯s stitches and bondages. ¡°Yuuki, you''re friend here Does not know how to properly treat wounds!¡± Toda-kun complained. ¡°Oh man up will you, it''s time to head back anyway and besides I just treated the bleeding, who knows if you still have an infection.¡± There was a brief moment of silence from everyone before Toda-kun just sighed with trauma in his tone. ¡°Yeah, let''s just go home now¡­¡± Toda-kun complained. ¡°Ah right before I forget, Kana are you free for the next week?¡± I asked. ¡°Hmmm¡­ not really why?¡± ¡°Akane and my Aunt aren''t home for a week, Wanna stay over for a while, I don''t feel like staying an entire week all alone haha.¡± ¡°Hehe of course Kana will keep Yuuki Company!¡± She gave me a hug that I reciprocated. ¡°You harem having basta-¡± Hikari-san cuts off Toda-kun by smacking the back of his head. Vol 2. Ch22 part 1 Four days have passed since Kana, Toda-kun and Hikari-san encountered the gigantopithecus and the allosaurus pack. It finally seems like my relationship with all four of my friends are going back on track¡­ unlike the time My own anger nearly tore a rift between the group. Now it looks like everyone is getting along again, the day after We finished the encounter with the Allosaurus, Kana immediately rushed over to my house to stay the week, and what surprised me the most was that she brought Senko along for the duration! Have the two of them finally learned to put their differences aside? At least that''s what I thought¡­ because not even one day later and the two of them kept fighting over who gets to use the remote, so much that I had to make a schedule on who gets access to TV privileges during the day and night¡­ ugh what have I gotten myself into!? Something I have also learned during my 4 day stay with the two is that they''re awful at cleaning dishes and cooking! Kana forgot to cook chicken wings with oil! And Senko''s used mayonnaise while cooking egg fried rice! Which meant that I had to deal with most of the cooking and cleaning around the house while the Siblings fought each other! ¡ã¡ã¡ã We didn''t have school today, classes got suspended for a supposed gas leak, so Kana, Senko and I just decided to head back to my house and maybe binge-watch anime and movies but something wasn''t clicking¡­ maybe we''re just not in the mood for it. Due to the sudden class suspension we really didn''t have time to put on our school uniforms so we just kept the clothes we wore the previous day. It was now 10 am, I was sitting on the floor, Senko was lying down on the sofa on his phone, while Kana also sat on the floor with me but she was using the sofa to lean on. ¡°Hey, Do you guys want to go to WakuWaku Life and spend the rest of the afternoon there? I proposed while stretching my arms. ¡°Ooo! I wanna go! Kana shall call up Hikari-chan to come along with us!¡± Kana excitedly agreed while texting Hikari-san. ¡°Alright then, that''s three of us¡­ how about you bro?¡± I turned to Senko. ¡°Nah¡­ I''m not in the mood to waste an afternoon walking around a boring mall!¡± Senko turned around. ¡°Are you just holding a grudge on Fumiko-san for accidentally getting your Gravure Magazine confiscated?¡± I said annoyedly ¡°Nah, I made sure he pay up for the damages, I put that sin he committed behind me, I''m just not in the mood to go to a mall okay?¡± Senko shrugged tiredly Fumiko-san is a schoolmate of Me and Senko, he goes to a different class as us but we''re friends since middle school, he works a part time job at the WakuWaku Life Department Store''s Food court, specifically at our friend''s family restaurant called Hasegawa-Rodriguez Cocina. It''s a restaurant that serves food from both Japan and Mexico, an interesting combination if I do say so myself. ¡°Ugh, Forget Him, lets just call Hikari-chan and go there already, we''re gonna lose daylight!¡± Kana tugged on my shirt ¡°My sisters¡¯ right, just get me a Takeaway once you get back, I feel like spending the day sleeping today.¡± Senko agreed. ¡°I guess it''s settled then, Kana I''ll leave calling Hikari-san to you, other than that I guess we''re letting Senko hold down the fort, let''s meet up outside the house in 5 minutes so we can dress up.¡± ¡°Right!!¡± Kana agreed happily while Senko agreed before going back to bed on the sofa. I wore a light gray jacke, dark gray pants and black jacket while Kana wore a lavender Hoodien with a matching plaid-skirt. ¡ã¡ã¡ã Arriving at the WakuWaku Department store''s food court area, Kana and I stood at the entrance together. ¡°Have you asked Hikari-san if She would be joining us?¡± ¡°Mhm! She said she should be here just after noon.¡± ¡°I guess that was expected, girls usually take a while dressing up.¡± ¡°But I only took a few moments to dress up!¡± Kana tugged on my jacket. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Yeah, but you''re faster than the very concept of speed itself, so you''re an outlier.¡± I replied and readjusted my jacket. ¡°That''s true haha!¡± Kana affirmed the sentiment before leaning on my arm. We waited together for around 15 minutes before we heard a familiar voice. ¡°Sorry for the wait!!!¡± Hikari-san arrived, walking towards our direction waving. Hikari-san really was a pretty girl, she was around Kana''s height, her slate-gray hair reached her lower back, it was styled with a slight curl, and her eyes were a beautiful shade of blue. Her outfit matched her appearance, she had a sleeveless dark-blue shirt, a pink knit hat and a matching pink skirt. ¡°Hikari-chan over here!!¡± Kana immediately rushed to meet with Hikari-san as the two shared a hug. I followed Kana and walked towards the two as well and seeing the two back in the game being great friends and getting along was astonishing but just seeing it outside of it felt very surreal. ¡°So what''s the plan for this mall visit?¡± Hikari-san looked at my direction while headpatting Kana. ¡°As for now, we haven''t really planned things out, we we''re gonna go invite and introduce Kana¡¯s brother, Senko to you, but He didn''t feel like going out for some reason so we let him hold down the fort.¡± I explained as I reached the two girls. ¡°Aww that''s a bummer¡± Hikari-san seemed bummed out. ¡°But hey, the three of us can have as much fun we want to have for the rest of the day!* Kana reassured her. ¡®You''re right!!¡± Hikari-san''s face lit up with excitement. The two of them really matched each other''s aura, it was very terrifying. ¡°So what''s the plan!?¡± Kana and Hikari-san said in unison as their eyes shined so bright that it was brighter than the sun, I had to put on sunglasses and cover them with my hands. These two are gonna be the death of me aren''t they? ¡°Ahem¡­ anyway the ideas I have include window-shopping, watching a movie, seeing the pet store, eating at the food court, maybe even go to the arcade or photo booth, andthen trying out desserts, and lastly clothes shopping¡­ I''m not sure if those are good ideas though¡­¡± I explained awkwardly and scratched my head. ¡°Are you kidding!?¡± Kana and Hikari-san eyes glowed brightly again. ¡°No I''m not kiddi-¡± ¡°That''s a great idea!!¡± The two said in unison, grabbed each of my arms and rushed inside the mall ragdolling me in the process. How the heck are they so strong!? ¡ã¡ã¡ã ¡°What do you guys want to do first?¡± I questioned as the three of us walked around the mall. ¡°Ooo! Let''s go to the arcade first, wait no, let''s get ice cream!¡± Kana excitedly pleaded¡± ¡°Kana, we just ate before coming here.¡± ¡°Hehe~ I''m just craving ice cream haha!¡± Kana placed her hands behind her head. ¡°Hmm¡­ What if we go clothes shopping? Oooh I know! Let''s make Yuu-san wear girl clothes!¡± Hikari-san smugly placed a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. ¡°I beg your pardo-¡± ¡°That''s a great Idea!!!! Let''s do it!¡± ¡°Wait wha-¡± I was about to ask when Kana and Hikari-san grabbed my arms again and went to the women''s clothing shop. ¡ã¡ã¡ã ¡°This is just unfair, you know!¡± I complained before the two girls threw me in the fitting room alongside a pile of girl clothes. ¡°Tell us when you''re ready Yuu-san!¡± Hikari-san shouted from outside. ¡°Yeah! Make sure to look pretty!¡± Kana shouted after Hikari-san. ¡°Also after you finish Your wardrobe, I''ll be putting make-up on Yuu-san!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ I might as well play along with the two of them¡­ now what can I even wear here?¡± I thought while Rummaging through the pile Of clothes the two girls threw with me. There was a girl''s school uniform, a ballet dress, fishnet stockings, nylon pantyhose, high heels, baby-doll shoes? A wedding dress? There was even an office lady outfit here¡­ What kind of outfit are they planning to have me wear? And I''m pretty sure half of these clothes are too small for me¡­ otherwise I''d just look like a femboy. I looked through the other outfits there were a track outfit, a kendo outfit, a yukata, the infamous Virgin-killer sweater¡­ and even several wigs. None of the clothes on the pile looked bad, I guess I can make something work out of this¡­ ¡°Yuuki, after you''re done we''re gonna take a dozen photos okay?¡± Kana mumbled from outside. ¡°Yeah, make sure to make me pretty.¡± I replied nonchalantly. I finally decided which of the outfits that I was gonna be wearing! Now all I had to do was wear it and survive Kana¡¯s photoshoot! ¡ã¡ã¡ã ¡°So how does this look?¡± I finally opened the curtain wearing the School uniform which resembled a long sleeved sailor suit, a long blue skirt and a pair of thigh high stockings I found under the pile. ¡°Kya~!!! Yuuki looks like a doll!¡± Kana started taking about 30 dozen photos. ¡°Eh~ it''s perfect on Yuu-san! He really looks like a princess now!¡± Hikari-san complimented pridefully. ¡°Thanks I guess¡­ I feel like the outfit is too small though.¡± I awkwardly tried to tone down the situation Why do I feel like the entire Shopping mall was gazing at the three of us? Oh I know it''s because a random boy is cross-dressing while two lady friends endlessly compliment him. Welp it''s better to join them than be against them! ¡°How''s this?¡± I struck a cool pose, ¡°And this!¡± Then a flirty pose, ¡°How about this!¡± I did a girlie pose. ¡°It''s so perfect on him!!!!!¡± Kana squealed across the shopping mall. I definitely fed into this too hard. ¡°So are you gonna try the other outfits then?¡± Hikari-san suggested. ¡°The others?¡± I responded nervously. ¡ã¡ã¡ã ¡°How does this one look?¡± I opened the curtain wearing a plaid shirt, denim shorts, a blonde wig and a cowboy hat. ¡°uwah! Yuuki looks like the cowgirl from that anime!¡± Kana shouted excitedly. ¡°Now try this one!¡± Hikari-san gave me a different outfit to try ¡ã¡ã¡ã ¡°I think this outfit is too small¡­¡± I came out wearing what looks like an Arabic belly dancer outfit¡­ midriff and all and even that transparent thing that covers half your face. ¡°Yuu-san should definitely try modeling!¡± Hikari-san pointed with excitement. ¡°Don''t you dare!¡± I shouted. ¡°Now this one!¡± Kana shouted and threw me a new outfit. ¡ã¡ã¡ã ¡°This is getting out of hand.¡± I came out of the changing room wearing a wedding dress of all things. ¡°Yuuki is definitely bride material! He always cooks and cleans around the house hehe!¡± Kana pridefully nodded. ¡°You''re getting way too ahead of yourselves.¡± I facepalmed. ¡°I feel like something''s missing about the outfit.¡± Hikari-san seemed unsure about my appearance. ¡°What can possibly be missing there-¡± I tried to walk and check a nearby mirror only to bump into a guy with red streaked black hair, wearing a black sweater underneath a brown jacket. ¡°I''m sorry, I should''ve been paying attention to where I was going.¡± ¡°Jeez! Get lost will you.¡± The guy shoved me aside and past Kana and Hikari-san. ¡°What a weirdo!¡± The guy scoffed. ¡°What''s his problem?¡± Kana asked, annoyed. ¡°He''s jealous of how pretty Yuu-san is!¡± ¡°Haha that''s right! Yuuki is too pretty!¡± I guess it''s nice having people back you up when someone is behaving rude. ¡°Did that guy look familiar to you two?¡± I questioned while entering the changing room and changed back to my clothes. ¡°Hmm~ not that I know of.¡± Kana nonchalantly replied ¡°You sure? I think he''s from the lower classes.¡± Hikari-san shrugged. Whoever that guy was, he definitely comes to our school. ¡°So what outfit is Yuuki gonna try next?¡± Kana pumped herself. ¡°I believe it''s time we go do a new activity while we still have daytime.¡± Hikari-san patted Kana on the back. She was right it''s not worth dressing over a random stranger being rude. ¡°Do you guys want to go get some ice cream? My treat.¡± ¡°We''d love to!¡± The two responded happily. "Oh before we do that, let''s take a look at the pictures!" Kana excitedly showed she took over 500+ photos! Vol 2 ch22 part 2 Before the three of us decided to go get some ice cream, I was about to swap back into my clothes from earlier however both girls made me buy every clothes they made me try on! They said and I quote: ¡°Yuu-kun would make such a very pretty girl! Kyaaaa~!!!!¡± just what kind of magic white powder were they snorting!? But I guess the plus side is I now have a bunch of extra clothes to plop inside my wardrobe! We arrived at Powder-Snow, a well known Ice cream store, and now it''s time to fulfill my promise of treating both Kana and Hikari-san to ice cream¡­ ¡°Alright what do you guys want to order?¡± I took my wallet out, dreading what the dynamic duo of chaos would demand I buy¡­ ¡°Ooo~ I want an extra large cone of charcoal dusted french vanilla with extra cherries!¡± Hikari-san confidently asked. ¡°Uh huh¡­ and you?¡± I looked at Kana. ¡°Hm¡­ lemme see~~~~ I want the uhhh~~~~!!!¡± Kana acted like a child who had no clue what she wanted to get at the store. ¡°Let me guess, it''s the Banana split sundae with extra chocolate drizzle and banana slices?¡± ¡°What the- AM I THAT PREDICTABLE!?¡± Kana started hitting my arm rapidly. ¡°Yes you are, now hurry up or I won''t buy you anything.¡± I stood there taking all her hits which stung more than any Utahraptor claw swipe, albertosaurus headbutt or allosaurus bites I felt in Kyoryu Online! ¡°Fine then! I''ll get the extra extra extra large mint-chocolate with extra strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, along with chocolate coated bananas with extra nuts on top!!!¡± Kana angrily shook my collar. ¡°Alright fine, as for myself, I guess I''ll go get a medium sized bubblegum and cotton candy flavored ice cream sandwich but the bread is replaced with chicken fillet, drizzled with honey and coated in matcha powder-¡± as I thought about the flavor I want, I noticed that Kana and Hikari-san are looking at me like I was about to go commit a massive war crime against all ice cream in the history of ice cream existence! ¡°Don''t you two judge me.¡± I said before heading to order our stuff. I headed to the counter to get our orders and I was right! The price for the individual orders were insane! Hikari-san¡¯s order was £¤3,082, Kana''s was £¤6,140 yen, while mine was 3,390 yen totaling to a ridiculous: £¤12,612! Sigh¡­. Goodbye allowance¡­ sob¡­ sob¡­This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. After getting our orders, I returned looking for Kana and Hikari-san who were outside the store sitting at a bench. ¡°I''m back.¡± I grunted while handing over their orders. ¡°No way you actually ordered that war crime!¡± Kana shouted. ¡°Will you cut me some slack!? Your order took up half of my allowance!¡± I retorted before taking a bite of my ice cream chicken sandwich. ¡°Both of you stop fighting! We''re here to have fun!¡± Hikari-san demanded just before she started eating her order. ¡°She''s right¡­ I''m sorry for getting mad.¡± I ruffled Kana''s hair. ¡°Hehehe~ it''s alright, I''m sorry for calling out your awful taste in ice cream.¡± Kana and I just silently smiled at each other before we also started enjoying our own orders. What was a sight to see was just how adorable it was seeing Kana and Hikari-san enjoying their ice cream together, and sharing it with each other. Maybe it''s moments like this that should show you who''re the people that are truly your friends¡­ when you just enjoy food with them even after a small argument or the little things of just having fun with each other''s company¡­ that''s how I know I''m lucky to have great friends like Senko, Kana Hikari-san and Haruka-senpai. After finishing our ice cream snacks we headed around the mall, and started walking around almost aimlessly just enjoying the stalls and stores. A particular store that seems to have caught their gaze is a costume store, which they dragged me inside where the two started picking out Halloween costumes even though Halloween was a few months away, Kana bought herself a bumblebee costume with a prominent antennae and wings, meanwhile Hikari-san bought a magician costume complete with a magic wand, a top hat and deck of cards! The next stop we went to was back at the clothing store this time for Hikari-san and Kana''s outfits for the Culture festival, a yukata was definitely important for the festival, which I ended up paying for half of their orders¡­ my poor wallet¡­ I will never take you for granted again. The third stop we headed to was an arcade where the two of them just started playing the dancing game and won over 180,000 tickets¡­ that Kana exchanged for a large teddy bear that''s twice my height, while Hikari-san used her share to buy¡­ a pair of dakimakuras of a hot anime guy with red hair and abs and a different dakimakura of an obvious Gyaru-oh. Hikari-san is definitely a fujoshi¡­ as for my share of the tickets I just exchanged half of it for a plush panda bear I plan to give my sister and the other half to a magical girl figurine for Senko as his souvenir. The next agenda we did was play a shooting game where we took turns shooting at the zombies and enemy militia, the first round was Hikari-san and Myself then Kana and Hikari then Kana and myself. It was a blast as Whenever Kana was playing the other person had to carry her through the game! The last stop we did was A photo booth where the three of us took a lot of photos together to remember this special trip. It was like the day ended too soon, we headed back to where we first met up at the start of the day and we waited for Hikari-san to get a cab before walking back to my place. ¡°Kana, do you believe no matter what happens in life if you got your friends along the way, everything would turn out fine?¡± I asked as we walked the streets, the sun was about to set. ¡°Well, I don''t necessarily feel that''s the case¡­¡± ¡°Is that so? Is it intrusive for me to ask?¡± ¡°Not at all, Yuuki is Kana''s beat friend, so Yuuki has the privilege of knowing.¡± ¡°I see¡­ thank you.¡± ¡°You see¡­ Yuuki¡­¡± When Kana explained her answer to me, it made sense, it opened my eyes to see a side of her I didn''t necessarily seen a lot¡­ is that why she carries a happy-go-lucky attitude all the time? Maybe that was a question I wouldn''t want answered. Arriving back at my home I opened the door and greeted Senko who was still asleep on the sofa. ¡°We''re back¡­¡± I placed a small box at the coffee table in front of Senko, it was his souvenir, and dinner. Before Splitting ways with Hikari-san, We ended up buying our dinner at the Hasegawa-Rodriguez Cocina, it was a place around the food court area of the department store, and a friend of ours works there so I pulled some favors in order to get a discount on our dinner. ¡°Yuuki~~~ Kana is gonna go take her bath first¡­¡± Kana tiredly slumped over the recliner. ¡°Don''t worry, you can go first¡­ I don''t plan to leave any time soon.¡± I sat next to her and patted her head. Vol. 2 ch23 ¡°This year I will definitely lose my virginity to a beautiful, big busty lady!¡± a boy with shaggy oak-brown hair spoke out loud enthusiastically before downing an entire mug of beer. ¡°Uh huh¡­ make sure you don''t accidentally give her aids.¡± Toda-kun remarked while tussling his amber brown hair before taking a sip of his whiskey sour cocktail. The guy that Toda-kun is picking a fight with is a friend of Senko, Toda-kun and myself at our campus, His name is Fumiko Yamamoto, he''s a nice guy however he dresses like a playboy which is probably why he repels every woman that goes within a 30 feet radius of him. ¡°You son of a bitch, I never even have sex in my life to be spreading that shit!¡± Fumiko angrily shouted at Toda-kun which was very entertaining. ¡°Oh yeah!? Last I recall with the amount of nuts you busted all over your figurines, you probably gave Inanimate objects aids!¡± Toda-kun headlocked Fumiko-san with his left arm and readjusted his glasses with his right. ¡°Haha, now that Fumiko-san mentioned it, I plan to lose my virginity this summer as well, after all I¡¯ve started getting close to a Ruri-chan at school. I¡¯ll make sure to do it by the end of the summer!¡± Senko pridefully boasted before drinking his shot of ginger ale. As cool as it was for Senko to get close to a girl, He is 100% lying. I overheard Ruri-san mentioning she feels awkward around him and I plan to keep that secret to my grave, unless he finds out himself without me telling him. *Zip it Senko!¡± Toda-kun and Fumiko-san started grappling with each other, clearly very drunk. ¡°Alright both of you stop with the fighting, or else my parents will take back the discount you begged me for.¡± A boy with tanned skin and dark hair separated the two retards from fighting. ¡°Quit interfering Johnmy!¡± Both Toda-kun and Fumiko-san backed off knowing Johnny would kick their assessin less than a second. This guy is Johnny Hasegawa, he''s a friend of ours who recently moved to Japan with his dad roughly 5 years ago, and lastly he is son of the owner of the restaurant we''re at, which is the Hasegawa Rodriguez Cocina, that''s right his parents runs a restaurant around the food court area of Waku Waku department store! Which of course led to us bargaining for discounts, the restaurant is mostly open at night and serves Mexican and Japanese food and a whole lot alcoholic beverages and cocktails, it''s nice to have a friend with connections. ¡°Come on man, did you seriously have to stop them? It was getting to the good part!¡± Senko, who was sitting beside me, commented on Johnny stopping Fumiko and Toda-kun''s drunken quarrel. ¡°Yes I do, these morons need to stop fighting all the time!¡± Johnny smacked the back of Fumiko and Toda-kun''s heads then sitting between Fumiko and Senko. It''s nice to know that I''m not the only responsible person in this friend group! Since classes were still suspended, me and my boys decided to have a night out together and Drink some alcohol. Well they drink a lot of alcohol, I much prefer tea than anything¡­ Someone''s gotta be the sober friend that keeps everyone from getting into too much trouble¡­ then again I end up drinking a lot myself after peer pressure sets in. These drinking parties we hold is a bit of a mini event whenever everyone is free, we do it maybe once or twice every season. During these gatherings we discuss our classes, what we have been up to whenever the others weren''t around and whenever someone invites the other to play video games together¡­ then again half the discussion is relegated to Fumiko-san, Toda-kun and Senko all complaining about being virgins, not having a date for festivals, parties and occasions, and Johhny-san stopping a fight between the three from engaging at all! ¡°Is this really all you two are gonna be talking about all night?¡± Toda broke his silence a second time after sipping some Whiskey Sour. ¡°You don''t get it Toda,¡± Fumiko-san complained while pointing his empty mug of beer at my face. ¡°In highschool you''re supposed to lose your virginity and become a real man!¡± Fumiko-san complained while refilling his mug and downing a quarter of the entire mug.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. And Here I''m wondering who made it law to lose your virginity in highschool¡­¡± I just rolled my eyes, noticing Senko was enjoying the food he ordered. ¡°Toda doesn''t get it at all! Many of my other friends already have girlfriends in elementary school. Almost all bad kids have girlfriends. Some even live together.¡± ¡°And those people peak in highschool and go on a downward spiral of being sad and lonely.¡± Toda interrupted Fumiko. ¡°As I was saying! Even if there¡¯s no rushing it, it makes me think whenever I see people who do have girlfriends and makes me think ¡®how can he?¡¯ have a girlfriend, it does make me a little curious.¡± Fumiko slammed the mug annoyedly at the table. ¡°You make a fair point there.¡± Senko joined in before taking a bite out of his Taco. ¡°Of course I do!¡± Fumiko-san beamed with confidence. ¡°Alright man calm down, We believe you, you''re gonna lose your virginity this year.¡± Johnny smacked Fumiko¡¯s arm trying to calm him down. ¡°Oh now you''re making fun of my Johnmy!? Fine! You see that chick over there!?¡± Fumiko-san pointed at the girl near the counter inside the restaurant. She was roughly around my height, had short brown hair with a reddish ombre at the end, and she was wearing a black skirt and what seem like a light pink tank top. ¡°I''m gonna go ask her out!¡± Fumiko got up and walked up to her¡­ and immediately walked back to his sit defeated. ¡°She immediately rejected me!? HOW COULD SHE REJECT ¡°ME¡± DAMN IT!!! ALL WOMEN ARE THE SAME!¡± Fumiko shouted his lungs out, as the girl he asked out seems to have started paying attention to what we''re talking about. And to my surprise the girl looked exactly like Haruka-senpai, the major difference was her hair is significantly shorter with a red ombre, her chest was a bit smaller and she seems more blunt that Senpai, judging by how defeated Fumiko-san is behaving. ¡°Come on¡­ stop crying.¡± Toda gave Fumiko a headpat that immediately got swatted away! ¡°I''m not crying!¡± Fumiko angrily responded. Was that girl really Haruka senpai? No that can''t be it right? Is it the alcohol that''s making me lose my judgement?¡± ¡°Yuuki!¡± Johnny snapped me out of my deep thoughts ¡°How about Yuuki, You''re awfully quiet all night?¡± Johnny asked, causing Senko and the other two to look at me expectantly. ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Yes you''re the only Yuuki in the room with us, any girl plans?¡± Fumiko spoked. ¡°Nothing, It''s nothing, I don''t have much plans for the summer.¡± I tried to avoid the question however they kept being pushy about the topic. ¡°Nothing serious, He Who eats lunch with Sakura, Haruka-Senpai more than three times a week at the cafeteria, and HANGS OUT WITH HER AFTER SCHOOL!¡± Fumiko-san pointed a fork at my face. ¡°Explain yourself you filthy criminal! How come you, among all the other boys, are hanging out with the campus queen!¡± ¡°Why are we talking about girls again?¡± ¡°Because it''s summer, probably.¡± Johnny laughed while taking a shot of CHEAP-BOOZE?? ¡°How envious, how can you be so close with such beautiful girls one by one? Teach me the secret!¡± Toda bowed drunkenly. If you''d think this was an ego boost you''d be wrong, it''s a flat out annoyance since their breaching privacy between myself and Haruka-senpai. ¡°If there really is a secret like that, I would rather you tell me.¡± Fumiko-san finally backed away and drank more beer. ¡°Damn it, what¡¯s the difference between me and Yuuki!!¡± Toda angrily berated himself. With a snap of a taco bite, Senko broke his silence. ¡°Come on, leave the guy alone, he only wants to enjoy his own happiness!¡± Senko calmly answered on my behalf, he knew that my relationship with Haruka-Senpai barely progressed since he stalled for me! ¡°Although, They''re right, Yuuki, Yuuki''s been getting quite popular at the campus lately.¡± Senko continued his little speech. ¡°Since when did you switched to their side!¡± I kicked his foot. ¡°Am I wrong? For the past two months, Yuuki and Haruka-senpai tends to meet up before the school open up, they walk to their classes together and share lunch during recess and walks home together.¡± ¡°That barely says anything about my popularity though!¡± I responded to Senko. ¡°You''re wrong, because whenever Yuuki, is busy with studying, being friend zoned by Haruka-Senpai, or minding his business, I tend to hear a lot good gossip from the other girls at the school saying things like ¡°Rin-Kun¡¯s hair looks so cute lately!¡± ¡°Yuuki from that class has been hanging out with Haruka-Senpai a lot¡­ I wish I was in her place!¡± ¡°How come Rin-san only pays attention to Haruka-Senpai? Is her chest that hypnotic!?¡± And ¡°I wish Yuuki-san would also cook me a warm meal!¡± Any retorts, my friend!¡± Senko kicked my foot as payback. ¡°First off¡­ you made that last one up, second, I don''t focus on Haruka-senpai¡¯s chest, and third of all I plead the fifth.¡± I avoided eye contact trying to be as invisible as I could. Senko you bastard, you''re lucky I''m not drunk! Otherwise I''m throwing you off this Porch! ¡°DAMN IT ALL!! Why does Yuuki get all the attention!¡± Fumiko-san grumbled to himself. ¡°Or maybe, Yuuki wasn''t popular at all, But starting around summer vacation of last year, his popularity started to increase, and by fall of last year, he was already quite popular among the girls in the class or even school, While not the most popular, he probably had a good standing with the girls thanks to his kindness and friendliness, I¡¯m sure.¡± Johnny spoke up trying to process the chaos that just ensued. ¡°That might be the case, Johnmy.¡± Senko responded. ¡°Can we please move on from discussing my love life?¡± I pleaded. ¡°No! Not until you spit out your magic on how you''re seducing The campus queen, Sakura, Haruka-Senpai!¡± Fumiko angrily whined. ¡°Seducing¡­?¡± Was all I could respond to him. What do you mean seducing my cousin?¡± The girl who Fumiko-san asked out approached me directly at our table. ¡°Spill it out.¡± Seeing her up close she is the splitting image of Haruka-Senpai. ¡°It''s nothing don''t mind us-¡± I tried to respond before getting cut off. ¡°Answer me! What right do you five have to talk about my cousin! ¡°C-cousin?¡± Senko and I said in unison. ¡°Yes, I''m her cousin, Michi Sakura.¡± Michi-san placed her hand on her hip. So she''s the cousin Haruka-Senpai¡¯s been talking about since we were kids? I looked at Johnny, Fumiko and Toda all whom seemed to have suddenly gone quiet. These bastards can''t even defend me!? ¡°W-well you see¡­¡± I tried to answer her. ¡°You see, Yuuki here is Madly in love with your cousin, they hang out all the time before, during and after school classes!¡± Senko yapped. ¡°Well you see¡­. I uh.. he''s right¡­¡± I admitted it out loud. ¡°I see¡­ you''re the Yuuki that Haruka Onee-san told me about.¡± Senpai told her about me!? Let''s just hope they were nice word. ¡°Umm.. please don''t take this the wrong way Michi-san, I don''t intend to hurt Haruka-senpai so please don''t tell her anything.¡± I got up my seat and bowed hoping to appease her. ¡°Fine, I''ll stay quiet on one condition.¡± She sighed before scratching her head. ¡°And that is??¡± Senko asked. ¡°You¡¯re gonna be tested to see if you''re truly worthy of my cousin, by taking me out on a few dates.¡± Michi-san gave me a headpat. ¡°I- um¡­ ¡± ¡°HE''S GONNA WHAT!?¡± Toda and Fumiko asked in a surprised tone, then Fumiko collapsed on the table as his soul seemed to have left his body through his mouth¡­ I looked back at Michi-san, her face had no semblance of lies, she was dead serious. ¡°Alright¡­. I accept.¡± Vol. 2 ch 24 What the heck came over me! Why did you go and accepted Michi-san¡¯s challenge to go prove your ¡°love¡± towards Haruka-Senpai! Ugh¡­ how would you even explain this to her if she somehow finds out about this arrangement of taking her cousin out on a few dates just to prove your love to her! What nonsense have I gotten my butt into! There''s definitely no getting out of this situation but hope everything works out. ¡°Well then shall we exchange Line Numbers?¡± Michi-san stood Infront of us and took her phone out preparing to exchange line Numbers. ¡°Umm¡­ sure¡­ let''s do that¡­¡± I opened my phone and scanned her code, as our line accounts were now mutuals. ¡°Well then, Contact me in a few days, so I can properly test your ¡°love¡± for Haruka Onee-san.¡± Michi-san bluntly said as she walked back inside the Cocina. Jeez¡­ Yuuki Rin what the hell have you gotten yourself into!? Taking your crush¡¯s younger cousin out on a date!? I planted my face on the table completely defeated. After a few minutes I lifted my head up, trying to process what sick arrangement have I gotten myself into. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Senko asked while Patting the back of my head. ¡°I''m fine¡­¡± I wasn''t fine at all. ¡°You''re not fine.¡± Johnny Crossed his arms. ¡°I just gotta survive like 3 to 5 dates, I doubt it would be that hard.¡± ¡°DAMN IT! YUUKI SCORED BOTH THE CAMPUS QUEEN AND HER PRINCESS COUSIN!!!¡± Fumiko angrily whined. ¡°Just¡­ JUST WHAT DOES THIS HAREM HAVING BASTARD HAS THAT I DON''T.¡± ¡°You know¡­ I said something to him back when we played Kyoryu online a few days ago¡­¡± Toda just laughed sadly at Fumiko''s outburst of drama. ¡°Why am I friends with you two!? You keep throwing those baseless claims at me for the last hour and while playing the game!?¡± I tried to scold both Fumiko and Toda but Senko pulled me back from picking a fight. ¡°So what''s your plan now? Surviving the dates I mean.¡± Johnny calmly asked and offered be a mug of beer, that I just accepted. ¡°I should just drink my sorrows away¡­¡± I took a small sip from the beer. ¡°How does one even prove their love to someone when their trying to prove it to their younger cousin?¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°SHE¡¯S TRYING TO SCORE FREE MEALS OUT OF OUR POOR YUUKI!¡± Fumiko made another outburst before drinking more beer. I doubt Haruka-Senpai¡¯s cousin would be trying to score free meals out of me considering their family is quite wealthy compared to others. ¡°Okay can someone shut him up-¡± Senko asked before Johnny smacked the back of Fumiko''s head knocking him out cold. ¡°So are you ready to plan out these ¡°dates¡± or you''re gonna try asking her to take it back?¡± Johnny asked as she took a sip from his cheap booze. ¡°I have a vague idea how to treat it but it''s hard¡­ she looks exactly like Haruka-senpai¡­¡± ¡°And you''re afraid you might end up falling for her?¡± Senko kicked my foot. ¡°No, That''s not it, Nobody is gonna shake my resolve, I have feelings for Haruka-Senpai, and I''m not gonna betray those feelings over some stupid challenge.¡± ¡°Good, keep following your guts¡­ unlike that snake that said she loved me!¡± ¡°Well what''s your plan now?¡± Toda asked curiously while petting the knocked out Fumiko''s head. ¡°I think Im¡­ I''m gonna make a phone call when I get home.¡± ¡°Is it Hikari-san?¡± Toda snapped his fingers. ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°Yuuki, who''s this Hikari-san?¡± Senko crossed his arms. Toda and I brought Senko up to speed with what happened when Kana, Hikari-san, Toda and I played Kyoryu online together. ¡°I see¡­ you''re already betraying Haruka-Senpai with another woma- agghh! What¡¯d you do that for!?¡± Senko tried to joke but Johnny elbowed his gut. ¡°At least be helpful to your friend''s dilemma that you started.¡± Johnny sipped a glass of Cheap booze. Thank you Johnny-san! Please keep beating them up when they step out of line! ¡°Anyway, do you guys have any date ideas? I just want to get this over with¡­¡± I poked my fingers together, I truly didn''t knew what to do after getting myself involved with. ¡°You could try window-shopping with Michi-san.¡± Toda suggested. ¡°I don''t think that will do?¡± ¡°Why''s that?¡± ¡°Simple its because I just went on one wi- ignore what I just said.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Johnny And Toda sharply responded. ¡°He meant to say he went on an outing with my Sister and the ¡°Hikari-san "the other day.¡± Senko joked while crossing his arms pridefully. Sigh¡­ I should start bringing a zipper with me to make sure Senko does not bring up my personal life whatsoever¡­ then again that might be illegal. ¡°Anyway¡­ Do you guys even have any clue on how I can survive this whole ordeal?¡± I scratched the back of my head while asking for help. ¡°Look buddy, the Best advice I can give you is to just try and survive the ¡°Few Dates¡± You agreed to and treat this ordeal that Senko-san got you into as a trial run before you can try to date your actual crush, Haruka-san.¡± Johnny snapped his finger sharply to explain his point. ¡°Your point being?¡± ¡°Alright think about it like this, You have feelings for Haruka-san right? Right. And this Michi girl just so happens to look exactly like this Haruka-san and just so happens to be her cousin you follow?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°So think of it like this, go treat Michi exactly how you would treat Haruka-san, pretend you''re with Haruka-san during these ¡°dates¡± so during the dates not only are you proving to Micho that your love for her cousin is real, you''re also buttering her her up so much that it should make her opinion of you dating Haruka-san not a bad idea, because if Yuuki-san is willing to treat Haruka-san¡¯s cousin with grace and care, then there''s likely he would just treat his actual beloved with even more love and grave!¡± Johnny explained. ¡°I can see what you''re trying to tell me, this circumstance Senko got me into could be used to build up my confidence so when I eventually do try to ask Haruka-senpai out, I wouldn''t chicken out like Senko did with Ruri-san last year. But at the same time, Treating Michi-san as just a practice try on Haruka-senpai doesn''t feel right to me...¡± I responded. ¡°You''re overthinking this, everyone is benefiting in this situation, You get to be prepared for Haruka-san, Michi is getting treated like a princess and if she gossips to Haruka-san, then Haruka-san''s opinon of Yuuki-san will increase more than tenfold! The other advice I have is to just try not to make Michi fall in love with you, otherwise you''re setting yourself up for failure.¡± Johnny adviced. ¡°I doubt I''m her type anyway, plus she blatantly knows that I have feelings for her cousin she would just be on a losing battle.¡± I explained. ¡°Correct, but the biggest hurdle here is if YOU suddenly fall for Michi which would cause trouble not only for yourself, but also for Haruka-san and also Our friend here.¡± Johnny poked the knocked out Fumiko with a fork. ¡°I''m not gonna fall for Michi-san, Haruka-san is simply too special to just be thrown aside like that¡­ I promise you after the dates are over¡­ I¡­ I''ll¡­ Ill ask Haruka-senpai out!¡± I stood up at the table. ¡°Well then, your friends will support you along the way.¡± Johnny clapped followed by Senko and Toda. ¡°Zzz¡­ Yuuki you harem having bastard¡­ Zzz¡­¡± Fumiko snored. Vol 2 ch24 interlude After that drinking fiasco, Senko and I waved goodbye to Johnny who''s still helping cleaning up the cocina, and Toda who''s escorting the knocked out Fumiko back home. Senko and I continued walking until We reached my House. ¡°Is it okay if I go take a shower first?¡± I looked at Senko. ¡°I don''t mind, and I''m sorry for getting you in trouble.¡± Senko responded as we entered the house. ¡°Don''t mention it, I''ll just power through them.¡± I responded. ¡°Welcome back! How was the drinking party?¡± Kana jumped to hug me, which I reciprocated. ¡°Let''s just say your brother got me in trouble.¡± ¡°Eh? Oni-chan did something awful to Yuuki!? Well I oughta!¡± Kana rolled up her sleeves and pulled her pants up as she leaped and started to beat up Senko. ¡°I guess she''s gonna be busy for a while.¡± I walked up the stairs and entered the bathroom and took a shower and reflected all of what happened over the months. It''s odd¡­ just a few months ago, Kyoryu-Online Just released here in Japan¡­ Me and my group of friends started it with a lot of fun and adventure but when I encountered Diego not long after that day, it almost tore the group apart, I snapped at Kana and Haruka-senpai because they felt bad I got attacked and put down like a wild dog.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Of courses I was able to mend those wounds between each other, and I even ended up meeting with Hikari-san and Kyouka Onee-san all while getting stronger in the game, its like this game is challenging my resolve over my life¡­ and when things are going well, I ended up encountering Diego a third time and He''s suddenly recruiting me to take down his Enrico Clan¡­ is he truly a sleeper agent or is he masterfully baiting me into a trap! On top of that, Finally meeting Hikari-san back at the Department store with Kana has probably been one of the most fun I had in a while¡­ it was fun to be able to casually have fun with my own friends again¡­ but somehow back at the bar, I ended up getting into trouble due to someone''s misunderstanding again! ¡°Why can''t I catch a break?¡± Was all I can ask myself. Everything was going well now I ended up having to take My own Crush''s little cousin out on at least 5 dates just to prove to her that I love her cousin truly¡­ Johnny told me that I can use it for a learning experience and It can but due to Fumiko and Senko not shutting up caused the situation to spiral into me proving myself worthy of Haruka-senpai. ¡°I just gotta treat her with respect right?¡± Finishing my shower, I dressed up in a fresh pair of shorts and a black shirt. Coming down the stairs I noticed Kana has finished beating up Senko who''s covered in band-aids, I''m assuming he told her everything. ¡°Hey I''m back.¡± I sat next to Kana on the sofa. ¡°Yuuki! Next time my Oni-san does anything stupid, you have to Tell me! I''ll put him in his place!¡± Kana pridefully pouted. ¡°Alright sure.¡± I responded. ¡°Yuu don''t you dare!¡± Senko begged. ¡°Don''t push your Luck.¡± I turned the television on and Switched to a telenovela that Kana likes to watch. A while later, Senko fell asleep on the recliner, and Kana fell asleep on my lap while the show went on. ¡°I bet it''s safe to make a phone call now¡­¡± I turned the television off and Scrolled through my phone and Contacted Kyouka Onee-san and Hikari-san through a group chat Hikari-san made without telling me. ¡°Hey¡­ I need help for a date¡­ Kyouka Haruomi is Typing¡­ Hikari Fujiwara is Typing¡­ Vol 2 ch 25 I stared at my phone screen waiting for the two girls¡¯ responses to my request. Kana was lying on my lap fast asleep while Senko was asleep on the recliner. Come on¡­ come on! Please Respond! Someone, Please respond! I really need someone to guide me in this predicament! That shouldn''t be a problem, Kyouka Onee-san should be able to help me. Well fuck. How do I solve this problem now!? My Sister isn''t gonna be back for a few more days, and I need to plan out these ¡°fake dates¡± Within a month¡­ I wonder what date ideas I could even do with a girl I just met¡­ I can''t really take her window shopping because it''s too boring and she might assume I''ll bore her cousin to Death¡­ wait what if I split the 5 dates across real life and Kyoryu-Online? Could that work? Wait no I don''t even know if she plays the game unless¡­ I texted Haruka-senpai which she responded quite quickly. I cannot let Haruka-senpai know that I met Her cousin at a freaking "drinking night event" with my friends and then end up agreeing to like five fake dates with her in order to prove my feelings for her Cousin! Even though I was bluffing on the spot, making an official group guild would be a great idea since I get to form an actual base for me and my friends to use as our territory in order to grow stronger and better at the game, So even though I was likely to low level to actually start it I know for a fact being ready for it would help me and my friends overtime! Haruka-senpai and I exchanged our goodbye messages as our texting ended. ¡°If only it was that easy to ask you out Senpai¡­¡± Putting my phone back in my pocket I gave Kana''s head a gentle rub as I slowly left the spot to properly let her lie down on the sofa, where I placed a blanket on her. ¡ã¡ã¡ã The next day, classes were still suspended and I woke up early to Join Kana at her morning jogging routine. This time I joined in jogging and not just standing around waiting for her to finish. ¡°Kana, Do you have any ¡°Date¡± ideas, I really need ideas to fix the problem your brother pushed me onto.¡± I stretched my arms and legs as we just finished our jog. ¡°Hmm, You could go do paintball, or maybe bowling together¡± Of course, she was gonna ask me to do something taxing, well at least she''s helping. ¡°I see, thank you for helping.¡± Kana and I headed back to my house, then we had breakfast with Senko. After breakfast, Kana decided to take a long nap while Senko and I decided to play Kyoryu-Online, SinceFumiko texted in our group ¡°Bro¡¯s group chat¡± about a new feature in the game that we were gonna love to try out. ¡°So Fumiko invited everyone to this meeting?¡± I asked before putting on the game Headset. ¡°Yep, He already told everyone to be in the game early.¡± Senko responded as he put on his game¡¯s headset. ¡°I see¡­¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡ã¡ã¡ã Welcome to Kyoryu-Online! Name: Yuuki, Rin Game Name: Ryuki Age: 17 Name: Senko, Kasumi Game Name: X.V.X._.FlameplayzAi._.X.V.X. Age: 19 Senko and I spawned in the center of gunhildr town. ¡°So where¡¯s the spot we¡¯re gonna be meeting up?¡± Senko brought up. ¡°Let¡¯s do it around the field area where the dinosaurs are low levels.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Senko and I quickly crossed gunhildr town¡¯s stone bridge and arrived at Gentle Expanse where we immediately sent Fumiko, Toda, and Johnny the game invites as for a brief moment we waited when¡­ 3 players have teleported to your location Fumiko, Johnny, and Toda all teleported to our location! ¡°It¡¯s been a while since we last played together huh?¡± Toda arrived first, His avatar¡¯s long sleeved, high-neck gray shirt under a black cloak was instantly recognizable along with his brown pants, his short black hair with a deep green ombre and jade green eyes. He is A schoolmate and close friend of ours, he has zero experiences with women and is a complete otaku! He may be a badass in the game but outside of the it and when it comes to socializing, Toda has a tendency to be an awkward boy especially around girls but very open and whiny towards his ¡°bros¡± which included Senko, Johnny, Fumiko and Myself. Toda is one of the most resourceful people I ever had as whenever someone in our group has trouble, he tends to be the first to try helping out the others in need. Seiichi, Toda Game Name: PsychoKiller13 Age: 17 ¡°Yo, it¡¯s been a while since I asserted dominance over you clowns haha!¡± The second person to arrive was Fumiko, who had a different look from his real life appearance. His avatar was adorned with a jagged silver knight-armor above a jet-black bodysuit, his avatar had below-elbow length, magenta-red hair with crimson eyes. Fumiko is one of our closest friends, he is a total Jackass who loves to play video games, watch anime, and reads manga. He has bad tendencies where he lusts¡­ er¡­ asks out every pretty, cute, or busty woman that he sees¡­ especially if they¡¯re older than him¡­ although All of them immediately reject Fumiko the moment they make split eye contact with him which was a bit sad. Fumiko, like Toda is one of our schoolmates and has zero experience with women and is a total otaku and weeb. Now despite his¡­ obnoxious personality he always has everyone¡¯s backs¡­ especially since most of the time he is the one igniting conflict and the four of us are the ones defending him. Fumiko, Yamamoto Game Name: MeatGobbler69 Age: 18 ¡°We haven¡¯t even started playing the game and you¡¯re already beefing with each other? Typical Fumiko.¡± The last person to arrive was Johnny, His avatar had a sleeveless black shirt and blue pants alongside a red-orange, blue scarf-cape hybrid, lastly he had a black face mask and gloves. Overall his outfit was reminiscent of a rogue bandit. His Avatar¡¯s hair and eyes didn¡¯t change from his real appearance since they both dark-brown hair and tanned skin. Johnny, like the other two, is our schoolmate and close friend, though in his case we only met him a few years ago, as opposed to Fumiko and Toda who we knew since middle school. His family owns the Rodriguez-Hasegawa Kochina at the Waku-Waku life department store¡¯s food court. Like myself, He is very skilled at housework, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and organizing, and unlike Fumiko and Toda, He is very friendly, supportive and intelligent but has a serious side that he shows when somebody gets on his nerves. Johnny and I got along well since we¡¯re both skilled with house duties, we both have a ¡°sister,¡± and we tend to be the ones suffering from the shenanigans that Senko, Fumiko, and Toda started. Johnny, Rodriguez Game Name: BaNaNa._.Blade Age: 18 ¡°So what¡¯s the purpose of this invite Fumiko?¡± Toda scratched his butt and crossed his arms. ¡°Alright, so you guys heard about the game¡¯s new patch update right?¡± ¡°We do, now get to the point.¡± Johnny rolled his eyes at Fumiko. ¡°I¡¯m getting to it, open the game¡¯s User interface and open the mail system.¡± Fumiko demonstrated by opening his interface and opening his mailbox where he received what looked like a ring with a pale orb at the center. ¡°Y¡¯all see what I¡¯m holding in my hand here?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Toda responded as everyone else also received the same ring. The ring the game sent us was called a Mana Ring, the item description said it draws out the wearer¡¯s potential and unleashes their magical capabilities. ¡°So the game finally introduced magic¡­ this would definitely make combat and exploration much more interesting.¡± Senko grinned as he put the ring on. ¡°So is there something that¡¯s supposed to happen?¡± I asked while sliding the ring on my finger. ¡°The description said chant this sentence¡­ ¡°Thou art I and I am Thou¡­ emerge from the sea of the universe and grant thy strength.¡± or something like th- what the!?¡± Fumiko read as everyone¡¯s rings all started glowing brightly as several colored shards circled us and the sky turned dark. ¡°Fumiko what did you do!?¡± Toda shouted. ¡°I read the damn description!¡± Retorted Fumiko. ¡°Thou is I and I¡¯am Thou, Thou must Choose your path for Thou will be granted the strength of the god J?rmungandr!¡± An otherworldly voice spoke to everyone. The rocks that hovered around shined brightly each with labels saying: Kinetic, Eruption, Tsunami, Thunder, Cyclone, Quake, Thorn, Blizzard, However three were darkened out¡­ these were Illumination, Spectral, and Corruption, it¡¯s as if choosing them may not be a good idea. ¡°Thou First choice is free for Thou has explore to receive a second or third¡­ Kinetic is the element of Self¡¯s own strength a neutral element¡­ Eruption is the element of controlling heat and the fury that comes with it¡­ Tsunami is the element of Water and its pure volume! Thunder is the element of lightning and electricity, energizing one self with unmatched energy! Cyclone¡­ the element of air and wind, from a gentle breeze to a hurricane that anihilates everything in its path¡­ Thorn the element of life itself and the ability to be one with mother gaia! Blizzard the power to control the sheer coldness of life itself! Illumination, the art of light and it¡¯s shining power, Spectral the power of spirits and souls¡­ Corruption, the element of trickery, mischief and cruelty¡­ Choose wisely as thou may only pick one!¡± As the stones circled us, we all glanced at each other and all chose a shard which shined brightly as it attached itself to the ring each of us wore. Fumiko chose an orange shard, signifying he chose Eruption crystal shard¡­ Toda Chose a deep green one showing he picked the Thorn crystal shard. Senko picked deep blue shard showing he chose water crystal shard, Johnny held a deep yellow shard signifying he chose Thunder crystal shard, lastly I was holding a pale green crystal¡­ I chose the Cyclone Crystal shard. As the shards we chose attached and molded themselves into the ring we wore the sky lit back up to it¡¯s normal lighting. It seemed like everything was back to normal, but after choosing our shards, it was like we were never gonna be the same again. Vol. 2 ch 26 Looking around the area¡­ it seemed¡­ brighter¡­ and a fluctuating energy could be felt from all over my body. ¡°Hey, is everyone alright-¡± Turning to my side I noticed a bright crimson and orange energy or aura surrounding Fumiko and his eyes glowed the same Vibrant energy. ¡°Is something wrong Yuuki- what the?¡± Fumiko tilted his head and Noticed Senko glowing a bright blue. I quickly turned around and noticed everyone had this¡­ mana aura surrounding their body and looking down on myself I had an aura surrounding myself as well. ¡°Is this mana flowing through us?¡± Johnny looked at his arms which were sparkling shiny-gold. ¡°this just made things a whole lot more interesting!¡± Toda flexed his arm and what looked like several Sharp vines sprouted out his palms and wrapped around a large rock and for a split second crushed and shattered the rock. ¡°Th- that came out of you.¡± I spoke up. ¡°I wonder what else we can do.¡± Johnny curiously placed a finger under his chin before dashing with lightning speed in a straight line as if making faint images of himself in the process. ¡°Let''s try this then!¡± Senko flicked both his forearms and created a pair of large shuriken made of raw water and threw both at tall and thick trees, bisecting it in half and causing each side to collapse. ¡°Not bad, but let me show y''all how it''s done!¡± Both of Fumiko¡¯s forearms and hands suddenly ignited in balls of fire! ¡°Oh my god that''s hot! That is way, way too hot!¡± Fumiko frantically shook both his hands trying to put the embers out while running and jumping around in a circle. ¡°You know what this reminds me of? The Dance Competition that Haruka-Senpai and I participated in before we Started highschool.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah I remember that! Yuuki was the main dancer in the hip-hop song while Haruka-senpai would join in as a partner or back-up dancer during the main chorus!¡± Senko enthusiastically joined. ¡°I remember that Yuuki and Haruka-Senpai were very in sync during the main dance, both of them were extremely agile and fluidly moving with each other like a perfect duo.¡± Senko followed up on. ¡°Were we that in sync with each other''s movements tho- Ouch!¡± I asked before Toda elbowed my stomach. ¡°Of course the two of you were perfectly synchronized!¡± Toda bluntly responded. ¡°When you two joined that dance contest, I remember that almost half of the school were talking about how your outfits and movesets matched each other''s style! You were doing cartwheels which immediately transitioned to dancing with Haruka-Senpai on the spot!¡± Toda explained ¡°Yeah¡­ now that I remember it¡­ it''s a bit embarassing¡­ I guess I was just too focused on trying to win that contest.¡± I scratched my head. ¡°Yeah, Yuuki¡¯s the type to ignore publicity when it comes to contests.¡± Johnny laughed as dashed back into the scene. ¡°HOT! HOT! HOT!¡± Fumiko Continued running around trying to put out the flames. ¡°Okay someone put him out of his misery.¡± Johnny crossed his arms. ¡°Ooo! Let me!¡± Senko created a water ball the size of a basketball and threw it only to completely miss his target. ¡°Uhh¡­. Let¡¯s try this instead!¡± Senko¡¯s eyes glowed blue as he sprayed Fumiko with water, putting out his burning arms.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Ah, Much better!¡± Fumiko stretched. ¡°Hey guys,,, look at the top right corner of our User Interface. The bar on my UI is 75% empty¡± Toda curiously said. There was now a second bar underneath our health, it was a blue bar with a label of MP, I''m guessing that MP stood for mana points. ¡°What gives? Looks like mine is nearly depleted.¡± Senko sighed. ¡°Mine is halfway empty.¡± Johnny followed up. Could it be any action done related to using magic would drain the MP bar depending on how mana intensive it was? That would make sense so the players dont just waste all their MP on combat and to properly balance out the game when fighting dinosaurs¡­ unless dinosaurs were now able to use magic as well¡­ but I doubt that was also implemented. ¡°Hm¡­. I barely used mana but it looks like 30% of mine is depleted¡­ what if I¡­¡± Fumiko ignited a finger on fire and blasted it in a straight line setting fire on a used up torch then checked his User interface. ¡°It drained a bit.¡± That definitely proved my theory of mp draining dependent on your actions right! ¡°Yuuki''s being quiet again.¡± Fumiko snarkily said. ¡°He''s right, is he even taking This seriously?¡± Johnny asked and cracked his knuckles before stretching his legs. ¡°That''s a bit uncalled for isn''t it?¡± ¡°Ehh¡­ not really you do have a habit of being lost in thought.¡± Senko laughed. They were right though, I was the only one who hasn''t tested using their magic yet. Well better late than never right? ¡°I guess it''s finally my turn to Test the Cyclone magic I chose.¡± I walked a few feet away from the group and tried channeling my Cyclone Mana. I closed my eyes and tried channeling my mana¡­ Upon raising my arm and Aiming my hand in the opposite direction, I tried focusing everything into using my mana. I didn''t really know how all four of them were able to easily use magic, while I''m here struggling to even channel my mana. ¡°I can''t¡­¡± opening my eyes, I knew I was struggling. ¡°Is something supposed to happen?¡± Toda walked up beside me. ¡°I don''t know¡­ you guys were able to effortlessly use magic¡­ while I can''t seem to even channel my mana.¡± ¡°He''s got a point there. We were able to Use magic quite easily¡­ is the game assuming we would just know how magic is used.¡± Fumiko walked to my Other side and placed a hand on my shoulder. ¡°Don''t worry Pal, We''ll make sure you get the hang of it.¡± ¡°Right, thank you.¡± ¡ã¡ã¡ã Name: Yuuki, Rin Game Name: Ryuki Age: 17 Level: 35 Hp: 3,450 Atk: 1560 Sp. Atk: 250 Def: 670 Sp. Def: 540 Speed: 590 Mana: Cyclone Name: Senko, Kasumi Game Name: X.V.X._.FlameplayzAi._.X.V.X. Age: 19 Level: 29 Hp:2,290 Atk: 820 Sp. Atk: 434 Def: 640 Sp. Def: 370 Speed: 525 Mana: Tsunami Seiichi, Toda Game Name: PsychoKiller13 Age: 17 Level: 40 Hp: 7,400 Atk: 3000 Sp. Atk: 500 Def: 1050 Sp. Def: 600 Speed: 700 Mana: Thorn Fumiko, Yamamoto Game Name: MeatGobbler69 Age: 18 Level: 46 Hp: 5,400 Atk: 900 Sp. Atk: 3500 Def: 650 Sp. Def: 1600 Speed: 900 Mana: Eruption Johnny, Rodriguez Game Name: BaNaNa._.Blade Age: 18 Level: 44 Hp: 120 Atk: 950 Sp. Atk: 100 Def: 150 Sp. Def: 100 Speed: 9000 Mana: Thunder Everyone decided to train their magic abilities through combat. To achieve this We went ahead to Meadow Mosaic, to keep the low level dinosaurs in gentle expanse off thr crossfire and where the mid level dinosaurs and other creatures would spawn more frequently, Everyone was able to arrive in around 5 to 10 minutes of each other, though I had to hitch a ride on Johnny''s Back due to my inability to use my own Cyclone Magic. ¡°Looks like everyone''s already here, now what dinosaur should we Try hunting down?¡± I got off of Johnny''s back and used the game''s area scan. Scanning the area, there weren''t that many dinosaurs around¡­ well ones that were around our level range to properly hunt down¡­ ¡°I got nothing but Iguanodon and Corythosaurus.¡± Toda Finished his area Scan. ¡°My scan only found amargasaurus and Shunosaurus¡­ but they''re too high level for us.¡± Johnny closed his scanner. ¡°I found borealosuchus, mourasuchus and Euthecodon, but they''re deep in that large lake.¡± Senko refreshed his scan. ¡°And I doubt any of us can swim that far.¡± He''s got a point there¡­ crocodilians being water dwelling reptiles would be too troublesome to bait them into land. ¡°So what do we do now? Go further into a higher level area to find higher level dinosaurs to hunt?¡± Senko twirled a dagger around his hand. ¡°I have an idea.¡± Johnny cracked his knuckles. ¡°lets train against each other!¡± Everyone agreed to the idea of training against each other we decided to flip coins, those who got tails will fight each other, same with those who got heads then they will swap who they train against. I volunteered to be the referee since I didn''t have access to my Cyclone Magic yet. The Match-ups that were agreed upon were: The first was Johnny Vs Fumiko and Toda vs Senko. Next it was Toda Vs Fumiko, And Senko Vs Johnny. And then it was Toda Vs Johnny, and Fumiko vs Senko. And lastly¡­ despite everyone else''s wishes is that I would try to fight All four of them at the same time just to see how long I would last! We waited for 2 minutes before the first Match up, to let everyone''s mana, stamina and health fully recover. After that¡­ It was time for the first round. We all set our spawn point to a log we will be using as our bleachers so if we die at any point in the training, we will be sent back to the bleachers immediately. I however Stood rather closely to the combat area to properly study everyone''s fighting styles¡­ after all I insisted all four of them to do everything they can to beat the piss out of me in the 4 V 1! i even promised to Treat the person who would land the killing blow during the training, but if I were to be able to Kill them in training, they will each give me some money instead, everyone knew it was a suicide to fight 4 magic users at once when you yourself didnt have magic, so everyone just agreed to it! Vol. 2 Ch27 part 1 The first round is ready, Toda and Senko sat at a nearby log, I stood around the ¡°Edge¡± of the poorly lined up arena that we¡¯re gonna use for combat, Fumiko and Johnny stood at opposite sides of the area and were getting ready to fight. Fumiko¡¯s avatar wore a jagged, silver knight armor above a black bodysuit, which I¡¯am guessing is made up of some kind of dinosaur¡¯s leather, Maybe it was megalosaurus skin or even masopondylus leather. Fumiko¡¯s avatar¡¯s long magenta-crimson hair also reached his back, I¡¯m assuming Johnny might take advantage of that to win. Fumiko Yamamoto Game name: MeatGobbler69 Age:18 Level: 46 Hp: 5,400 Atk: 900 Sp. Atk: 3500 Def: 650 Sp. Def: 1600 Spd: 900 ¡°Hey, Johnny make sure you don¡¯t cry If I beat you, I know for a fact your avatar¡¯s build is quite fragile.¡± As Fumiko stood his ground, he equipped what looked like a large claymore that seemingly reached 3 meters! He confidently held it up with one hand, it looked like his claymore had jagged indentations or cracks around it, I can¡¯t make guesses but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised at all if the claymore shatters mid-battle. ¡°That¡¯s if you can even lay a finger on me little shit.¡± Meanwhile, Johnny¡¯s avatar had a rogueish ¡°bandit aesthetic,¡± His outfit was a sleeveless black shirt with a blue and red scarf or cape wrapped around him, he wore a baggy blue pants and leather gloves, and lastly a mask that covered the lower half of his face. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I noticed Johnny had a long sword earlier but he left it at the bleachers with Senko and instead, Johnny equipped a pair of 8-inch daggers on each hand, I¡¯m assuming he knows the long sword is not gonna help much defending against a very heavy claymore. Johnny, Rodriguez Game Name: BaNaNa._.Blade Age: 18 Level: 44 Hp: 120 Atk: 950 Sp. Atk: 100 Def: 150 Sp. Def: 100 Spd: 9000 ¡°He¡¯s¡­ planning to whittle down Fumiko with his sheer speed.¡± Toda mentioned from the bleachers. ¡°Yeah, but He would need to get pass Fumiko¡¯s defenses and large reach to even start damaging, but that claymore would immediately obliterate him into the shadow realm if fumiko even lands a clear strike on him.¡± Senko responded, just as focused as Toda I guess it was clear that I wasn¡¯t gonna be the only one to observe the fight directly, after all they are gonna clash with each other anyway, so they all needed to get used to each other¡¯s fighting style to coordinate and counter them. ¡°Ready when you are Yuuki.¡± Fumiko and Johnny spoke loudly from each side. Well, there¡¯s no use getting cold feet now. ¡°Alright Begin!¡± As if by sheer instinct, lighting has engulfed Johnny¡¯s legs and he immediately zoomed past the center of the arena charging at Fumiko with speed that could only be described as Faster than Sound! ¡°I knew you would do that!¡± Fumiko Ignited his claymore with flame and struck the ground with it igniting the grass in fire just as Johnny dashed causing an explosion that knocked him back to his initial spot. ¡°Damn, I never knew you were smart enough to-¡± As johnny was about to compliment Fumiko, Fumiko leaped past his firewall and was about to slam his blazing claymore directly on Johnny¡¯s head. ¡°You little-¡± Johnny zooms under him and narrowly avoided the strike that created a 6-foot crater on the ground. ¡°Is all you can do run?¡± Fumiko Taunted before throwing his blazing claymore at johnny¡¯s direction. ¡°Of course not, You¡¯re just too slow!! Johnny dodged the thrown claymore, however due to the sheer power of his throw, the claymore ricocheted off the ground, creating 4 feet deep craters before bouncing off the ground following Johnny¡¯s every move.¡± ¡°How in the world is he controlling that!? Just moments ago he set his own ass on fire!¡± Toda questioned in disbelief. ¡°It¡¯s quite simple, I¡¯m just a prodig-yyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!¡± As Fumiko was about to boast about his talents, Johnny rushed to his direction and kicked Fumiko in the nutsack, sending him flying 500 meters off the ground as he flew into the sky. ¡°So do you guys wanna bet, how long it will take for him to land?¡± Senko joked. ¡°I bet 3000 yen.¡± ¡°I doubt he will take that long to be honest.¡± I joked back. ¡° is that a win or?¡± Johnny asked curiously just as Fumiko landed on a lake in a ball of fire. Vol. 2 Ch 27 part 2 ¡°Johnny you sick son of A¡­ that was a cheap shot and you know it!¡± Fumiko scowled as he walked out on the shore of the lake, clearly freezing cold, his breastplate had a fairly large crack in the center, indicating the impact from the crash. ¡°Jeez, that lake is cold!¡± Fumiko Ignited his arms on fire to warm up. ¡°How the hell does getting distracted make that a cheap shot!? Not my fault you wanted to wank yourself off mid-fight. Johnny stretched his arms as he arrived at the bleachers. ¡°Hey! I¡¯m not done! I want a rematch!¡± Fumiko Insisted. ¡°Sit your ass down, you lost, accept it.¡± Johnny crossed his arms and sat next to Toda. ¡°Tch, I¡¯ll make sure to pay you back next time.¡± Fumiko walked up to Toda and Senko, signaling their turn to face off against each other. Senko stood on one side of the arena, the stance he had seem to be an offensive one, as if his plan is to try and take down Toda very quickly in a short amount of time since the two have a fairly decent level gap that he shouldn¡¯t play around. Kasumi, Senko Game Name: X.V.X._.FlameplayzAI._.X.V.X Age: 19 Seiichi, Toda Game Name: PsychoKiller13 Age: 17 ¡°Toda-san make sure you don¡¯t take it easy on me just because of our levels! I¡¯ll make sure you regret it!¡± Senko formed a pair of katanas made of water. ¡°Don¡¯t count on that! I¡¯ll make sure To win this little tournament!¡± Toda held a 12-inch Sickles in each of his hands, I¡¯m guessing that Toda had no intentions of letting Senko get anywhere near him, especially with his water daggers. Seiichi, Toda Game Name: PsychoKiller13 Age: 17 Level: 40 HP: 7400 Atk: 3000 Sp. Atk: 500 Def: 1050 Sp. Def: 600 Spd: 700 Mana: Thorn The difference between the two¡¯s level gap isn¡¯t that big, Senko could definitely defeat Toda if he plays his cards right and striking him when needed, but would Toda¡¯s raw stats edge him the win? If I have to fight all four of them at once later on, then I would definitely need to lock in myself! I guess it¡¯s a good thing I manually went back for all the daggers I threw when Haruka-senpai and I fought the albertosaurus and the time Kana, Hikari, Toda and I fought the Allosaurus pack with the Gigantopithecus. Of course, I couldn¡¯t salvage all of them but I did manage to recover around three dozen daggers.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Looking back at the bleachers, Both Fumiko and Johnny weren¡¯t that damaged in their scuffle, I¡¯d go as far as to say they barely lost any stamina or strength, meaning if I go through with fighting everyone at once, then They would be close to their max potential. ¡°Alright begin!¡± I announced by snapping my finger. The two nodded in my direction before staring each other down. ¡°Ha¨CAH!¡± Toda uprooted several thorny roots and vines off the ground and lunged them at Senko¡¯s direction however Senko Immediately sliced the roots to pieces as they fell into the grass. ¡°You gotta try better than to defeat me Toda! Take this!¡± Toda blasted a torrent of water bullets off his pointer finger which Toda immediately dodged but each bullet pierced through a very large rock. ¡°You¡¯re too slow!¡± Toda uprooted more thorny vines as they wrapped and entwined around Senko¡¯s left arm. ¡°Damn, It¡¯s like the vines are draining my energy!¡± Senko grunted as his water daggers started slowly disappearing. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t break free he might have to drop out of the fight!¡± Fumiko spoke up. ¡°He better put his game on if he wants to continue.¡± Johnny responded. To think Toda had that up his sleeve, He¡¯s definitely the most tactical one here. ¡°Now I win!¡± Toda threw both his sickles, aiming to take Senko out immediately! ¡°Damn it! No!!!¡± Using his right hand, Senko blasted a torrent of water at the sickles which knocked them aside and shoved Toda away. ¡°Shit!¡± Toda barely balanced himself just as the water torrent blasted him right at the edge of the arena¡¯s line. ¡°That¡¯s my chance!¡± Slashing the vines off with a water blade, Senko dashed toward Toda, I could see water spheres forming at the tips of his fingers when they formed into a massive boulder-sized bubble and knocked off Toda through a nearby tree. ¡°Dang it¡­ hahahah! That was too fun!¡± Toda laughed as he got up. ¡°Well, good game!¡± Toda reached his hand out. ¡°Of course!¡± Senko happily accepted. Looks like those two could at least play fair with each other. ¡°Alright, so who¡¯s turn is it next?¡± Johnny asked and cracked his knuckles. ¡°All of you are fighting me now, but this time the whole expanse of meadow mosaic is our arena, Whoever lands the killing blow on me will be rewarded in snacks later.¡± ¡°Hol¡¯up didn¡¯t we agree to have more rounds?¡± Fumiko stood up. ¡°We did, But from what I see all four of you guys have synchronicity with each other already, So I doubt you guys want to continue tiring each other out before you fight me!¡± ¡°Yuuki, you should take it easy, fighting four magic users is-¡± Senko spoke up before I cut him off. ¡°That¡¯s the point. Now all of you get ready.¡± ¡°Lil bro has a death wish.¡± Toda sighed. I stood at the center of the initial area, on my left were Toda and Fumiko. while on my right were Johnny and Senko. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m ready now.¡± I announced. ¡°Yuuki, you should think this more thoroughly.¡± Senko chimed. ¡°Forget it, He is too focused on this, so let¡¯s not allow ourselves to lose focus!¡± Toda responded. The area was silent, and you could only hear the breeze of the wind, Toda is right this was a death wish, however. I plan to win this! ¡°Take this!¡± I threw six daggers, three of them were aimed at Fumiko, the other were aimed at Senko. As expected, the tow simply batted them away with their water and thorn constructs. ¡°Nice try but you¡¯re not gonna get off that easily!¡± Johnny dashed at my direction with lightning speed. ¡°Darn it!¡± I dashed towards him and used my momentum to trip him by sliding on the grass before kicking his head forcing him away from me. Just as I was about to get up, I felt several vines constrict around my wrists and tugged them back! ¡°You¡¯re too predictable Yuuki!¡± Toda announced. ¡°Now burn!¡± Fumiko blasted several fireballs in my direction. If those blasts hit me I would be scorched alive, luckily¡­ I leaped back in the direction of the vines wrapping them around my body just as I Narrowly dodged all of the fireballs. ¡°Now he¡¯s trapped get him while he can¡¯t move!¡± Fumiko shouted while charging up a large ball of fire while Johnny ran back to my direction with lightning bolts in hand. I equipped a pair of throwing knives, and sliced my way out of the vines and threw a second pair at Fumiko and Johnny staggering both from aiming properly and causing the large fireball and lighting bolts to clash with each other causing an explosion. ¡°Jeez, that was a close- gagghh!¡± I felt a sharp pain at my back, turning around to see Senko. ¡°He¡¯s holding his own decently.¡± Senko formed a second water shuriken. ¡°This was definitely a terrible idea.¡± ¡°You asked for this yourself!¡± Johnny threw a pair of knife-sized lightning bolts just as I dodged and barely avoided one, and felt the other jam into my left shoulder. ¡°Dang¡­ hahaha! You guys are good.¡± I muttered barely balancing myself. ¡°I tried to warn you Yuuki, I didn¡¯t want to do this, but you kept insisting! So you better not lose this easily¡± Senko blasted me with a torrent of water causing Johnny¡¯s lighting knife to intensify further. The pain was excruciating, But I kept reminding myself I was going to win this! They were right I asked for them to not hold back that¡¯s why I refuse to lose! Which is why I need to show my own resolve! ¡°Let¡¯s just finish this already!¡± Fumiko was approaching with his blazing claymore charging at me with his full strength. Standing back up, I knew for a fact I was gonna win! Just as the claymore was about to make it¡¯s impact on my body¡­ ¡°Wh- what the!?¡± Fumiko¡¯s voice tensed up as I pushed his claymore out of the way¡­ I felt a surge of energy coursing through myself, I have awakened my cyclone magic! And before I knew it¡­ ¡°Take this!¡± I held a sphere made of wind and rammed it into Fumiko¡¯s chest just as a tornado formed and blew him away, knocking him on his ass between Toda, Johnny and Senko. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Toda asked in a concerned tone. ¡°He¡¯s using Cyclone Magic.¡± Senko confirmed just as I felt the power of the skies coursing all around me. It was time to win this.