Scramble.

Running up the hill, Will could already hear the sounds of a struggle. Quick steps made by human feet wearing shoes, short screeching like the sounds those veedromes from before made, and the the heavy stomps of holy fuck that’s a T-Rex!

Its back was black like coal and most of its underside was of a very dark red. It was huge, at least six or seven meters tall and about as much in length from the tip of its long, thick tail to its dangerous, toothy maw. And as if that wasn’t enough, Will could swear he saw fire coming out of the T-Rex’s nose when it breathed.

‘Is that a Fire-Rex? Oh come on…!’

Making over the hill, Will got a good look at the scene. The dinosaur Ishtar referred to as a Fire-Rex was chasing… Uh… Who WAS it chasing? There was a single veedrome running away from it, but there was also a person. A man.

Will narrowed his eyes. He was wearing the same clothes as the man he had been following. Denim overalls, a dirty red shirt and a matching cap. However, the man looked nothing like the one Will followed here. Dark skin, slender, long limbs… His face looked familiar. The man was running with surprising agility, sidestepping rocks and other obstacles and still keeping top speed.

‘It’s him, Will! He just changed his form into someone else’s!'

And he just happens to be under attack by deadly monsters, huh? Well… better than having lost him, but still far from ideal.

“Shit.”

Will’s hand tensed up and power began to crackle around it. He focused his aether there as he ran down the hill, following the scramble. What to do? What to aim for? The veedrome was farther away and was a smaller and quicker target. Will wasn’t sure he’d be able to hit it, but if it was running away from the bigger dinosaur, then it probably wasn’t as big a threat at the moment. As for the Fire-Rex, it was big enough that Will was confident he’d land his shot, but would it do anything? Those scales looked thick.

Agh! No time to question things! Will aimed his hand, and with a boom like a gunshot, he fired a blast for aether that pierced the Fire-Rex’s scales and dug a hole in its leg, making it stumble and trip forward. The fall was loud and lifted a huge cloud of dust on the dry ground.

That wasn’t good. Now he couldn’t see where the veedrome and the guy were. He kept running forward regardless. With the big guy down, even if it stood up and tried to run again, it wouldn’t be fast enough to catch up.

Will ran into the dust cloud and could see the huge body of the dinosaur beside him. He ignored it in favor of catching up to the man he was following and ran past it.

…

Wait… He was forgetting something, wasn’t he? It was the faint heat at his back that made him remember the explosion that led him here in the first place.

‘Will, jump!’

It was all he could do. He jumped with all the enhanced strength he could muster in that split second, and just a moment after a blast of fire hit the ground, blowing him away even higher up. His strengthening protected him, but his balance was lost. He would fall and crash on the hard floor.

…

No. Never submit to the worst outcome. Fight it.

Instead of flailing his limbs as he fell, Will tightened himself into something like a ball. The moment his shoulder touched the ground, he rolled to dampen the impact. It was awkward and clumsy, but thanks to that and his enhancement, he only came out of that with one or two light bruises.

‘Good job! If I remember correctly, those things can only breathe fire twice an hour.’

Good to know. Will got to his feet and quickly looked around. Much to his surprise, he found the man on top of the veedrome, holding it by the neck and giving it a hard twist, breaking it.

How that happened, Will didn’t see and had no time to wonder. The Fire-Rex behind them was standing up.

“What are you waiting for!? Kill it!” the man shouted, and his voice was also somewhat familiar. “If you don't, it'll just keep chasing us!”

Will clicked his tongue. It might be a huge dinosaur monster, but killing it still felt… disgusting. It would leave a very sour taste in his mouth, he knew, especially now that it was injured. They could easily outrun it now, anyway, so…

“Oh, fuck!” the man yelled.

‘WILL, I WAS WRONG! KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!’

The dust cloud had dissipated, the Fire-Rex was on its feet, if heavily favoring the good one. Its big maw was open and Will could see an orange glow in the back of its throat.

There was no time. Power crackled in both of Will’s hands. He barely aimed, just pointed them at the fire-breathing dinosaur about to kill them and fired his own blasts of aether.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Five shots, one after the other in quick succession. Two hit the chest, one hit the throat, the other two missed. Small holes pierced through the scales and made red blood gush out. The large creature fell forward, its maw closed, its fire put out.

Will found himself breathing hard. The adrenaline soon began to settle down and the sight of the huge corpse in front of him sobered him up. His heart still pumped quickly and his hands shook.

They were seconds away from possibly dying, or at least getting heavily injured, and all because Will hesitated to finish the job. It was… a wake up call, like a slap on the face. The safe training and general tranquility almost made him forget how truly dangerous this place was. How dangerous the supernatural underworld was. Better not make that mistake again.

But there was something more important to attend to at the moment.

“Hey, do you mind? I need to talk to yo-” As Will turned around to look at the man, he saw him running away quite a distance ahead. “Oh, you fucker.”

Will ran full throttle after him.