”Shit shit shit shittttt!!” Kenzo jaggedly muttered with a heavy breath. It was no surprise though, considering the predicament he found himself in that morning. Running at full speed through the dense Stellan jungle, the mercenary was being closely chased by a towering monster running at impossible speeds for its size. Now. Kenzo was no expert, but he sure as hell knew how to distinguish a heckin’ T-Rex if he’d ever seen one.

Unfortunately for him, his knowledge in the subject was proving to be as lacking as his ability to shake the monster off. While it truly was an abnormally large specimen for its kind, the dinosaur tailing behind him with sharp fangs ready to eat him was nothing more than an Allosaurus. Yet, considering T-Rexes and Allosauruses looked quite similar, the warrior could be forgiven for misidentifying it. Either way, the fact was that the warrior was barely extending the distance between the two of them and he was starting to get tired. On the other hand, the giant, 5-meter tall Allosaurus didn’t seem to be slowing down, roaring at him while he chased Kenzo down.

You may wonder, why was the swordsman even doing to catch its attention in the first place? Well, the answer was… eating. As stated before, his knowledge in modern paleontology was lacking, so he didn’t think it twice when he found a couple of large eggs in what appeared as a nest. The Allosaurus had caught Kenzo attempting to steal one from breakfast. Fast forward a bit and here they were…

However, that was not all. As the giant Allosaurus started chasing the mercenary, Kenzo decided to face it and teach it a lesson. Extending his hand mid-run, he tried to summon his inventory from his pocket dimension ring. However, he accidentally hit a branch on the way, somehow dislodging the ring from his finger and making it fly directly into the carnivore’s mouth. Truly his luck was cursed this morning. Regardless, Kenzo had no time to think about ways to recover his stuff, so he decided to escape from being eaten before. Jumping over logs, making sharp turns and displaying his best parkour skills seemed to be nothing before the Allosaurus’s sheer physical power.  Yet, soon there would be something else for Kenzo to worry about.

He could see it from the distance, thanks to his right eye’s sensorial abilities. A young red headed woman and a tiny humanoid cat were held hostage by a pack of Allosaurus. Considering the two of them had assumed a high guard stance it was obvious they had been cornered by the hunting pack. Kenzo clenched his teeth at the sight of the woman in distress. He was not usually one to get involved with strangers, but for some reason he felt like if they were eaten by the Allosaurus he wouldn’t be able to rest easy. He was leading the largest member of their pack towards them after all – he assumed.

”Ruuuuun!!!!!” His words echoed just as the chasing dino appeared behind him crushing a couple of trees to dust with its mighty jaws. It was starting to get angry, considering it had been unsuccessful at catching Kenzo, meaning its roars and occasional bites at the air became more fierce and came more often.

Lunging with all his might, the warrior closed the distance between him and the woman with her pet. Without thinking it twice, he lift both of them, each with one arm and blitzed out ”Hang on!!!” Kenzo would thunder away from the middle of the pack of Allosaurus trying to save them from their doom, completely unaware of the actual circumstances though. Whether the dinosaur that was following him was part of the woman’s pack, it was still to be seen.

Kenzo’s mind rushed so fast he didn’t even take a second to analyze the situation around him. As he blitzed out of the ambush the dinosaurs planned for the girl and her pet, he barely took a second to notice that the pack was holding down the large carnivore that had been unsuccessfully trying to eat him. However, his eyes widened as soon as he noticed that he was no longer being followed just by the single behemoth. Instead, the entire pack of monsters trailed behind, roaring and gnawing at the air as they protested at the mercenary for stealing their food. Clenching his teeth, the warrior proceeded to prepare himself mentally before dashing at full speed. Running while carrying the girl and the cat was harder than on his own, but he’d make sure they made it out alive. There was no way he was letting the dinosaurs catch up to them.

The noise coming from the chasing party, leaves and trees being crushed by the dinosaurs and the air swiftly racing against his face as he quickly ran through the dense Stellan jungle made it hard for him to hear the woman trying to protest. As he mentally assessed the best route to escape, a smile of confidence grew on his lips as he finally found a solution for their problem. He noticed a cavern with a series of high vantage points a couple hundred meters in front of them, with enough space for the warrior to jump on top and out of reach from their attackers. It was just a matter of being able to jump so high, but there was no doubt in the mercenary’s mind that he was able to pull it off.

Yet, the clear plan that materialized in his head instantly melted as a sharp, searing pain came from his arm. Out of a reflex, his body shrieked as he let go of the woman and the cat. Noticing the smell of burnt skin and arm hair, he deduced the girl had used a fire spell of sorts. Yet, he couldn’t think about anything other than the fact he now had to face the four dinosaurs coming at them. However, the situation de-escalated almost instantly as he noticed the party slowing down. The monsters looked at the girl exactly as tugs looked at their bosses. Almost like puppies.

The warrior tilted his head as he tried to process what was going on. Hearing her words, he slowly started figuring out the situation at last. ”Erm… It’s alright.” The male answered at her apology as he scratched the burnt mark left on his arm. ”Wait. Are you telling me these are your.. pets?” The warrior raised a brow in disbelief as he looked at the girl, noticing the pair of fox ears at the top of her head.

The situation was starting to get a bit more complicated than he first expected. It had been a long time since he’d met a demi-human, so he unconsciously put his guard up. The warrior had grown to distrust any non-human races, so his mind quickly rushed at the worst possible scenario. While her words tried to calm him down and put him at ease, he wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth. Maybe this had been the foxling’s plan all along? Some sort of complicated scenario to catch unsuspecting passerby’s unguarded before tying them up and chopping them up for dinner. The mercenary’s ignorance was evident by his lack of knowledge on whether someone like the girl even consumed human meat in the first place. However, that was exactly what he’d been thought his whole life regarding demi-humans. If humans couldn’t even be trusted, much less so other races – an old lady used to say back at the orphanage.

Deciding it was best to play along the girl’s plan for now, Kenzo decided to answer her questions while looking for any suspicious activity. If any of the dinosaurs or even her cat pet moved the slightest towards the man, he wouldn’t hesitate before fighting them all off.

”I was looking for something to eat and found a giant bird’s egg laying around. Mr. apex predator over there decided he wanted omelet for breakfast himself, so started chasing me trying to get the largest egg.” The male pointed his finger at the towering Allosaurus as he spoke. ”Before I could teach him a lesson, he accidentally swallowed my pocket dimension ring.”

Kenzo wondered if it was wise to reveal so much to a potential enemy, but he was confident in his ability to fight them all off if they attacked. ”Now… while I’m sure there is a logical explanation as to why someone like… you would be the head of their pack, I’d just like to retrieve my stuff and be on my way.” The man’s words were laced with a hint of sarcasm that came out as a scoff. His dislike of non-humans was honestly something ingrained into him more than a personal conviction, but it surfaced unconsciously in situations such as this. Truth be told, this was perhaps the first time he’d ever held a proper conversation with a demi-human in his life. Most of his experiences with them were simply in opposing sides of a battle to the death, so there was little room for chatter.