Chapter 31: The King of the Lizards

All three of Miguel’s team watched from the boat as the vast pale-blue razor-lizard emerged from the area of forest far to their left.

It was even bigger than before, that was clear. It was now fully bipedal, too, and had developed six horns rather than the two that they had seen before, each at least a yard long and spiked towards the ends. It had sprouted a second pair of clawed arms, too, which writhed as it walked. Its feet were as wide as cars.

Even its face seemed longer, more toothy and gator-like with two huge nostrils on its snout, as well as being as hugely wide and bulbous as before. The creature looked massively strong – though there were several arrows protruding from its side, as well as a large, rotten-looking gash on its lower back, perhaps from a bite.

Having emerged from the trees, Razor-lizard Rex broke into a run and was soon charging along the sand. His body was almost as wide as the beach itself at that stretch, and it was clear that the six nearby players weren’t going to make an effort to stop him, instead fleeing for their lives.

Chloe’s group waded through the stream and reached the jetty, then ran along it, all three drawing bows as the reached its teminus. The other group split up and each one turned to face their attacker, two near the edge of the trees, and the third on the fringes of the lage. Rex paused, looking to one another, snorting, and then looking over at the other razor-lizard in the water.

It appeared to Miguel that Chloe’s group had only just noticed the smaller red razor-lizard that was in the water, too. And it had seen them. Perhaps perceiving that the three players were trapped between Rex and itself, it paused, turned away from the boat that Miguel and his companions were in, and made for the end of the jetty.

“Far shore,” said Sid, pointing to the area beyond the jetty. “Paddle hard, Aluna! If we get further on than those guys, we can get into the forest and run for base.”

“Don’t you think we should try to help bring that monster down before it gets a chance to heal up?” Aluna asked, though she did begin to paddle.

“I’m not sure they’ve done enough to make it vulnerable,” murmured Miguel, still clutching his crossbow. “Whoever it was, that caused that wound.”

“All the same, it might be the last lizard standing, before long,” said Sid. “Look!”

Chloe and her team were now all shooting at the smaller lizard, which was swiftly wading back towards the jetty, gradually emerging from the water as it went. It now took three, four, five hits from Chloe’s team as Miguel looked on. He raised his crossbow again, firing and hitting it himself. And whether due to this or the other team’s efforts, the smaller creature emitted one more groan and then slumped down, floating in the water in a pool of blood that was even more brightly scarlet than the creature’s scales.

Notification: You have gained 300XP

That was better, Miguel thought – and surely reflected the fact that three of the recent hits had come from him.

All attention was now back on the gigantic Rex. It snapped at one of the three brown-clad players near the trees, missing but taking out most of a tree trunk with its bite. The pair then retreated among the trees. The player on the shore then made a dash to join his team mates, but was too slow; Rex swung out with one clawed foot, impaling the hooded player, and then crushing them underfoot.

There was an anguished yell from the forest – clearly the other brown-clad players had witnessed the death.

The yell had no effect on Rex, however. The great lizard turned to look towards the jetty, sniffed once more, and then started to lumber in that direction.

Aluna was paddling harder now, and as Miguel and company came closer to the shore, the boat began to rock around. Miguel decided to put the weapon away for the moment.

Unequip crossbow

Rex had been moving slowly towards them at first, after killing the hooded player, but he soon sped up. Now, he was getting very close to the stream. The companions could only watch as he covered the last few yards in just a couple of strides, and then stopped again, once more looking around and sniffing.

With the brown-clad players now – unsurprisingly – remaining out of sight among the trees, it was just Miguel’s group and Chloe’s. Having finished off the red razor-lizard, Chloe and her team were clustered at the very end of the jetty, bows at the ready, but not yet firing. And Miguel and team were almost back to shore. Aluna had stopped paddling, but they were drifting.

“Wait...” murmured Sid, putting one hand on Miguel’s shoulder. And Miguel knew that leaping out of the boat and towards the beach might just focus Rex’s attention on them.

With luck, the beast would move back into the trees, and they could regroup. Or – perhaps more likely – fight Chloe’s band to the death.

Miguel became aware that Aluna was passing something to him, and he peered down at her outstretched hand. It contained a twist of plastic... and inside that were traces of a red liquid.

He looked up at her as he picked it up. “Blood?” he said softly.

She nodded. “I cut a few strips from the sacking in the cave,” she replied in a whisper. “Let’s hope the stuff still works.”

“Yeah,” said Sid, taking one too. “I’m running low.”

Miguel nodded, glancing around time and again at Rex who was still standing in the middle of the stream, head moving jerkily in one direction and then another as if struggling to decide. But, as Miguel poured the small amount of hot-tasting liquid into his mount, he saw that Rex had become fully focused upon the direction of the jetty, where Chloe’s team stood, with the floating carcass of the smaller red-scaled razor-lizard beyond.

You have gained six hit points; You now have 14 out of 19 hit points remaining.

Suddenly appearing to come to a decision, Razor-lizard Rex turned and began to thunder towards the jetty. Chloe and her companions, still crouched near the end of it, fired off arrows, but these fell harmlessly aside. Soon the massive beast had reached the end of the jetty, and the wood began to crunch and splinter under his enormous feet. It was utterly destroyed in just a few strides. Each of Chloe’s team fired off another arrow, but despite taking hits this time, Rex didn’t flinch, and the players had no option but to leap to the side at the last moment, all three of them splashing into the water as Rex reached them.

Rex, however, was focused not on the players but on the body of the other razor lizard. Using all four of his arms, he raised up the limp corpse and took a massive bite from the dead razor-lizard’s neck, shearing the dead creature’s head right off, and causing it to fall back into the water with a splash.

Rex chewed at the mouthful of flesh for a moment, threw back his head and roared, then continued to feast. And as he did so, Miguel saw that the great gash on his back was starting to heal.

“He is benefitting from the blood,” Miguel murmured, and then had to clutch the side of the boat; Sid and Aluna were already climbing out.

“I know,” said Aluna, as Sid sprinted away. “Now, time to get the hell out of here, and find some cover.”

Moments later Sid was already half way across the beach. Aluna was following, but more cautiously. And as the two progressed ahead of him, it was only Miguel that saw that Chloe and her team had surfaced and dragged themselves to the shore. And now, all three had bows pointing towards Sid.