Yep. You guessed it. The thing that lay across the river, blackening the water with its blood as it vomitted and bled from blisters across its body was the long-necked titan. But the humans that had been hunting him weren’t anywhere to be found. I prayed Savage Santa wasn’t dead. I really wanted to pay him back for the nasty scar on my side. The colossal beast laying before me was a miserable sack of flesh compared to his previous majesty. But, it was still Karavos, Ghindo’s Menace.

Though, I guess he wasn’t really very menacing right now.

He lay curled up, head against the mountain, and neck across the river, resting over a fallen tree that sat in the center. Suddenly convulsing, a hack followed by a loud splash hinted towards the disgusting sight that awaited me on the front side of his body.

I really didn’t want to look. Yet at the same time, I did.

I’ll spare you the gory details of what it looked like when I got there, but after I’d walked the straightaway towards the titan, I did see the soupy mess that rested at the bottom of the waterfall.

How did some random dung do...this?

Perhaps Karavos had gotten sick another way? I approached the massive dinosaur, poking him experimentally. A blister popped on his side, and red and green liquid splattered on the ground next to me.

Ew. Dude, really?

A groan rose from deep within him, the ground vibrating slightly at the sound.

I bet if Rexcelsis or Sailboat found him now he’d be dead within minutes… They’d kill him without hesitation. Hell, Rexcelsis might even eat him without caring about his current condition. But he’d also leave the head sitting here, and with my limited knowledge of disease, that probably wasn’t a good idea. He was weak. A far cry from the titan at the pond. But Rex and Sailboat would definitely kill him without a second thought.

That… actually wasn’t a bad idea. After all, a monster like this was sure to be worth a titanic amount of experience. Plus, I’d be putting him out of his misery, right? A small hill crested near the top of his head, and I hiked over to it, climbing it to hop on top of his face.

His eyes were closed, and his feathered beard was stained with blood. I walked up to the top of his head, avoiding the wet mouth next to me. Then I looked at him, pondering. I was probably barely worth being considered as a bug by this monstrosity.

How does a gnat kill a human?

Perhaps I could stab him in the eye? Yeah, if I cut deep enough, I might be able to fatally wound him. But I had to kill him fast. If it took me an hour to get here, Sailboat could make that journey within half the time, if he hadn’t already started on his way here. Plus, I’d leisurely walked.

At least we were safe from Rexcelsis. He seemed to be more inclined to staying on the plains, rather than the woods. So I wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with his judgemental gaze. He’d probably push me into this decision even faster than I was coming to it on my own.

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Karavos’ body trembled, and he hacked again. Another groan rumbled past his lips, and I looked towards his eye. There was a green goop around it, and it seemed crusted shut.

Experimentally, I slid the talons on my feet across his face, trying to draw any blood.

Nothing.

The only way to do this might be to go for his eye. I shrugged. If worse came to worst, I’d jump off the dinosaurs head, and sprint away. I doubted he was in the condition to follow me anyway. I hopped around to the other side of his eye, and dug my fingers under his eyelid, prying it open.

The crust around his eye shattered, and the massive eyelid blinked slowly, before his eye centered on me.

There was pain in his look.

I’d already learned the dinosaurs were more human than I would have ever expected. And they could feel grief.

But if this guy died, there was no doubt I could hit the next evolution immediately.

Tears ran down his cheek, and I could almost understand Karavos based simply off his eye.

Help me… please…

Damnit.

I should kill him. I should really kill him. Who knew what he’d do to me if I helped him? There was no way I possibly could, but theoretically, if I saved him, he was an entity I would never stand a chance against.

If I saved him, and he turned on me, which there was a great chance that he would, I’d be killed immediately. This guy was bigger than Sailboat, and that lizard had snapped a huge jungle cat’s leg with an offhanded slap.

No. I had to kill him. There were no other options.

[You are special, virtuous one.]

The Nature Spirit’s words echoed in my mind.

No. No I wasn’t. Not that special.

[No other Saurian would’ve saved her.]

Stay out of my head! Besides, if no other Saurian would’ve done like I did, then that was justification to kill him anyway! I raised my hand to strike. I was sure that if I dug down far enough, I could last hit this guy with critical damage, or something.

[Almost no other Saurian would’ve saved her.]

I froze. No way.

That’s right. She had said that. So… there were other dinosaurs that were good? And Karavos hadn’t necessarily done anything to me. He’d merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time… I sighed. It wasn’t easy to kill an innocent creature in cold-blood, even if it was as scary as Karavos. But it wasn’t like I could possibly save the guy.

Well, my conscience argued. There are a couple possibilities…

How risky did I want to be?

I looked to the crying dino laying before me, his expression pleading for me to help him. He was alone, just like I was for most of my life. And I’d been given a second chance...

Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!

Karavos groaned, hacking out more blood into the pool before him.

This guy was legitimately going to die by himself. All I was doing was farming the experience goldmine. Right?

Right?

But...

Damnit Jim! I’m a dino, not a doctor!

With a sigh, I let Karavos’ eyelid closed.

I’m going to regret this later...