Solomon studied the crocodile through the magical scope on his rifle. Alligator. Whatever it was. This one was about a quarter of the way across the lake, with a bit more of its body out of the water than the others. From this distance he could make out individual scales through his scope. He took the slack out of the trigger and paused.

He sighed. They needed more information before they made a serious effort to kill these things. Everybody else had retreated to safety. He was by far the best person to play scout and provocateur. Relatively speaking, it was less dangerous than what he'd been doing since the system showed up.

He could run through all the logic in the world, but a part of him hesitated when it came time to commit to putting his life on the line. He'd probably get used to it, eventually. He wasn't sure how much he should be looking forward to the day when he was completely numb to physical danger. That seemed like a good way to wind up dead.

He took a breath and forced down the fear. This was a calculated risk. Barely a risk at all. He wasn't diving in blind. He had every reason to expect to walk away from this fight, just as he'd walked away from the others so far.

He took another breath. Held it. Made sure he was aiming for what looked like a vulnerable point. He squeezed the trigger.

Thanks to the magnification of the scope, he could see the sparks fly as the bullet pinged off the monster's scales an instant before his view was obscured by the cloud of smoke that followed the bullet out of the barrel. The idea that the bullet would do anything had always been something of a forlorn hope. It would have made his life easier, which didn't really seem to be the system's style.

He didn't need to be able to see through the smoke to know that trouble was headed his way. He stood and made sure the rifle was securely slung over his back. As he scrambled up the slope he tried to pick out the relatively solid bits of rubble to use as stepping stones. He reached the top without incident and broke into a jog.

Using Powder Charge would have increased his physical abilities, but Solomon didn't trust his own judgment enough to risk it. A berserker charge might scare off a human opponent, but aggressively throwing himself at these monsters would just get him eaten.

He could hear the splash of water behind him as the monster reached land. As the first monster reached land, rather. The first splash was followed by another, and another. Not unexpected, but not exactly welcome, either. Solomon picked up the pace.

He wasn't running flat out. He had to take a little care in crossing the cracked and broken concrete to make sure he didn't fall flat on his face. Judging from the footfalls he could hear behind him, the monsters were having an easier time of it.

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As they drew closer, he could hear their breathing. It sounded like he was being chased by a herd of angry steam locomotives. Solomon had just about used up his margin of error. It was time to take a chance.

He readied himself to activate his dash ability. The MP cost was negligible, now. He only hesitated because of the terrain. Accelerating into a pratfall wouldn't do him any favors. The system did usually provide a little assist to make sure its abilities didn't turn into poisoned gifts. The breathing behind him drew closer. Solomon grit his teeth and activated the ability.

The system came through for him. The wind on his face from the sudden acceleration was a glorious feeling as he smoothly put an extra twenty feet or so between him and his pursuers. He did stumble as the dash wore off, but a few quick steps later he was still securely upright.

The exit to the alley was right ahead. A loop of rope dangled at head height a few inches from the right-hand wall, right at the corner. Solomon grabbed it and braced himself as he was yanked to the side and skidded to a stop with a grunt.

He heard an answering grunt as the people up above absorbed their share of the force from the sudden change in direction. A moment later, they began to haul the rope upward. Solomon did his best to help out by walking up the wall along with the motion. He had taken a few steps before the first crocodile shot out of the footpath.

A monster that big couldn't turn on a dime. By the time it had realized that it had lost track of him and lumbered to a halt, Solomon was far out of its reach.

The key to their plan lay in the sight before Solomon once his head passed the top of the wall. The system had blocked off the ground level paths, guiding them from place to place within the dungeon. The walls doing the blocking were all part of a series of ruins that had once been warehouses. The roofs were long gone.

While the system hadn't been kind enough to hide some kind of superweapon in the warehouses for them to find, the buildings themselves were a gift. Worst come to worst, they could all jump inside and hide themselves from the crocodile's view. With no prey in sight, the monsters ought to give up eventually.

Of course, it would be better if they could figure out a way to kill the monsters, but it eased Solomon's mind to know that he had a path of retreat. For now, he took a seat on the wall and watched the action below.

The first crocodile had been followed by four more. That couldn't possibly be all of them, which was good. The best way to take out a strong enemy was one little piece at a time.

The question was whether they could even manage to take out this small group. Now that he could get a good look at them on dry land he could see that each monster was, well, monstrously sized. They stood roughly waist high at the shoulder, and from nose to tail they looked about twice as long as the picnic tables as they moved past them.

They weren't quite the size of the boss monster he'd fought at the last dungeon. Then again, he'd only killed that one with a lucky toss of a bomb. If he had to make a bomb for each croc they needed to kill, they might be stuck in the dungeon for a while.