Chaos Regain: The Pursuit of Dino Eggs!

I suddenly heard a voice in the sky, or perhaps it was just the system making an announcement. A screen appeared in front of me, displaying a riddle:

[In liquid depths, I make my home,]

[Reflecting the sky, where fish may roam.]

[A mirror below, serene and wide,]

[Where lilies bloom with water's pride.]

[Where am I?]

"Huh, that was easy. It must be a lake, a river, or an ocean, right?" Matthias, sitting in the tree with his feet dangling, nonchalantly commented.

It pissed me off.

"Stop moving," I snapped. "And don't call it easy. Last time I thought this game was a walk in the park, I ended up on an island full of dinosaurs." With that, I jumped down from the tree and started walking.

"Oh, you're moving already? Wait for me," Matthias said, following my lead.

"Don't follow me. Go somewhere else," I advised. I didn't want The Prince of Chaos affecting him, as he was prone to doing something reckless.

And I was right, when I didn't hear his steps anymore, Matthias was in the middle of collecting some giant eggs.

"What? If you help me, I will get you one." He said without worrying about anything.

I just sighed, but since the eggs were purple, I nodded and took an egg with me. It was a massive egg and I didn't even know if it could fit in my basket.

It was so heavy! Like what the hell! The eggs probably were half of my height. What kind of dinosaur with this kind of egg?

When I placed one in my basket, it miraculously shrank to a manageable size. I decided to take another with me.

Well, since the mother was gone anyway. I called it a safe hunt for today.

Not until I could feel the ground trembling, with a giant shadow appearing, and as I looked above, it was that herbivore dinosaur with a long neck and massive body. Like hell, it was so big.

And not just one, but a bunch of it!

"Oh, they're Brachiosauruses, one of the biggest dinosaurs ever to have lived. Most of them are peaceful though," Matthias chimed in with his sudden fun fact.

Calling them peaceful was an understatement. The last time I encountered them in the city, two of them tried to kill each other. Now, seeing their eggs in the nest, it was evident that I'd stumbled into their territory.

The Brachiosaurus roared and attempted to stampede me. Luckily, I could evade it, as the creature was massive but quite slow. Still, not as slow as when it ran – its sheer size made it a considerable danger.

"Shit! Run, Matthias!" I shouted, leaving him behind.

I'm sorry, but in this life-and-death scenario, there were no friends or enemies – everyone was just another stranger trying to survive.

Damn! I hated it when I ran and the worst of all was my flying skill couldn't be used at all!

I ran until I reached a clearing filled with Brachiosauruses. They all turned to look at me, then began running in my direction.

The massive creatures collided in a spectacular and tumultuous display. It wasn't just the impact of their clash; they grappled and tried to attack each other, occasionally stumbling due to their sheer size.

As they fought, some even lost their balance, sending tremors through the ground. Navigating this chaos was no easy feat, but their bulk created occasional blind spots and was safe to stop or dash.

It didn't stop me from sprinting through the midst of their chaos, dodging their colossal feet as they stampede. At times, I had to leap and roll to avoid being flattened, but giving up wasn't an option. It was a harrowing experience, to say the least.

At one point, my vision was obscured, and all I could see was a dull gray. It was clear that the massive dinosaur's feet were blocking my path. In a state of panic, I fired my gun at its feet - although they probably won't feel anything -, but luckily, it lifted them, creating a narrow gap.

I quickly slid through the gap, knowing that it could close at any moment. I was beyond frustrated with these dinosaurs – even the ones that were supposed to be peaceful were driving me insane.

As I continued to run, I spotted a dense forest ahead, with large trees closely packed together. I hoped that the dinosaur wouldn't be able to follow us through such thick foliage.

However, it persisted, and, despite occasionally getting stuck on branches, its sheer strength allowed it to continue pursuing us.

Then some notification appeared on my screen.

[The Prince of Chaos activated]

[Your damage increased by 80% and the chaos will spread throughout the island]

What the hell!? Again!? Why does it keep activated like that!? What did I do? I just tried to survive? Was it because of those brachiosauruses that tried to kill each other? But that was not my fault!

"Why is that dinosaur still chasing us!?" Matthias yelled as he ran alongside me, making me realize our situation.

I was surprised to see him alive and well. But damn Matthias! It was all your fault!

"Ck! I can't just keep running like this!" He materialized his staff and attacked it with wind magic, but it didn't have any effect at all.

Damn! Mage Class was almost useless in this mini-game. His attack did little to deter the dinosaur, but with The Prince of Chaos title still active, I decided to give it a shot.

I pulled out my double-barrel shotgun and aimed at its foot because that was the only thing I could see. The shots made the dinosaur halt its advance, but it wouldn't last for long.

"Let's keep running," I told Matthias, and he agreed.

We kept running until we reached a river, and the dinosaur finally gave up its chase, probably because it was far away from its territory and the forest making it move slowly.

Was this all I would be doing for the next four hours? Running from one perilous situation to the next? This game was starting to get on my nerves.

We decided to walk around the river, the water was crystal clear and tranquil, but the current was swift, making it extremely dangerous for swimming.

"Hey, this must be the place," Matthias said as he observed the current.

"Wait, Matthias, let's take a short break," I suggested, gasping for breath. "Are you really sure this is the place?"

Matthias sighed, "The riddle wasn't very specific about which river it referred to. So, why not start with this one?" He nodded and kept moving forward.

The river wasn't particularly deep, and we suspected a waterfall was nearby due to the strong current. After a short walk, we reached a waterfall.

Matthias spotted something glimmering in the deep water, and I noticed it too. The object had a round and somewhat blurred appearance due to the waterfall.

"What's that shining golden thing in the deep water?" he asked, inching closer to the edge, perhaps considering jumping in.

"Would you like me to throw you into that waterfall?" I asked, half-joking. Because I saw how close he was to falling and was really curious about that shiny thing.

"Do we have a choice?" Matthias replied, his tone strangely serious.

Was this due to The Prince of Chaos? Or maybe he was just dumb? Matthias had already been on the brink of getting himself killed a few minutes ago, and it seemed he had the same idea now.

Well, I wouldn't mind throwing him in, if it could end this situation faster.

With a sigh, I decided to take action. Without warning, I gave Matthias a push, sending him splashing into the water.

I thought this would be a good idea since the shiny object was close by, and this place seemed to match the riddle's description. Finding another way below the waterfall would be a real hassle.

In the movies, many characters survive waterfall falls, right? Matthias and I were both at level 10, and our HP was decent. Perhaps he could make it. I didn't want to risk my own life, so Matthias was the best way to test if this was the right spot.

And it seemed like he didn't mind going to the bottom of the waterfall either.

However, to my annoyance, Matthias grabbed me and pulled me in with him. Oh shit! I hated this guy for sure. We were caught in the strong current and heading towards the waterfall.

"I swear to God, Matthias, I'm going to kill you after this!" I grumbled as I tried not to drown because of how strong the current was.

Then, we tumbled over the waterfall.

The landing was painful. like hell, how do people survive this? My HP was down to half because of the fall! but the system notified us:

[Congratulations, you've reached first place.]

[Retrieve the eggs in the water to receive your reward.]

[Each person can only claim one, and three eggs are remaining.]

As I was in deep water, I could see golden eggs in the depths of the rivers. This part of the river was really deep as I dived into the water.

I reached one of the eggs, yes that egg was also huge. Not as huge as the brachiosaurus one of course.

Although it was sizable, it was clear that the system had reduced the size of all the eggs on the island for the convenience of players. The true dinosaur eggs must have been much larger.

After I took the egg, I swam toward the surface. Just to find my basket with the eggs still in intake. It seemed like there was also some kind of magic to that basket.

Because there was no way that thing and the eggs still survived after that fall.

As I swam towards the riverbank, I noticed Matthias at the edge of the river. But it appeared that we weren't alone. Someone had aimed a gun at Matthias and was forcibly taking his eggs.

Hell no, not this again. I forgot about that plundering was a thing! So in the end we need to be careful of humans too while being chased by the dinosaurs?

Damn it!