Use it and you'll end up rolling on the ground...
You—you—you... how do you still rember that?!
Under normal circumstances, Carlo would have wallowed in the embarrassnt of his past antics, but there was no ti for that now. He turned to Kafka with an urgent roar.
"Roar?" Why?
"Roar—" When I saw you like that before, I felt my blood boiling. My mind was a ss, but everything felt crystal clear.
(Note: In the original ARK, a sedated Giganotosaurus can still enter an Enraged state; whether a Prival version can remains to be seen.)
Blood boiling? That certainly matched how he had felt, but...
Carlo rembered how he had literally torn the Indominus rex's arm off back then. He had been barely half his current size. If he entered that state now, the entire basent would likely pay the price.
He watched the toxic gas seeping into his cage, then looked at his parents, who were directly in its path. He made his choice.
Let's try it. Back then, I entered that state because... I took a lot of damage? Let's see if this works.
Carlo lowered his head close to the floor and took a sharp, deep breath of the toxic mist. As the foreign chemicals hit his lungs, his head snapped back involuntarily, smoke-like vapor snorting from his nostrils.
[Health: 264,903.6 / 280,960]
[Health: 263,308.3 / 280,960]
[Health: 262,680 / 280,960]
His health bar dropped, only a fraction, but the toxic erosion was constant.
Not enough.
Feeling his heartbeat begin to quicken, Carlo curled his body as much as the space allowed. He brought his tail around in front of his jaws, steeled his nerves, and bit down hard!
CRUNCH...
Teeth sank into flesh. His health bar dipped slightly, then began to plumt!
Bleeding! Carlo had inflicted a Gnashed status on himself!
His heart suddenly surged with blood. Carlo bolted upright, completely ignoring the fact that his skull slamd into the stone ceiling.
BOOM!
"ROOOAR—!"
His tail hamred the ground! Spiderweb cracks spread across the rock floor as he tilted his head back and unleashed a deafening, sky-rending roar!
"Dinosaur threat detected. Initiating ergency defense protocols."
In the specialized containnt cell Mills had prepared for Carlo, a disembodied female voice suddenly spoke. Half-ter-thick alloy walls instantly slamd down from all four sides of the cage!
With a massive thud, Carlo was sealed into a completely enclosed space. But it didn't matter, because...
Every other Giganotosaurus opened their eyes at the exact sa mont.
"Aunnngg—" (Terrified cries of herbivores)
"ROOOAR—" x4
Giga Dad was the first to mirror Carlo's actions. With a roar to the ceiling, he began ramming the iron bars with his skull.
Giga Mom, unable to roar like the others, stood up and shook her head violently to clear the sedative haze. She began lashing out at her surroundings with indiscriminate fury.
Katyusha was even more volatile than her mother. Before her roar had even finished, she charged the bars. Her tail slamd into the masonry wall, nearly scaring the life out of the herbivorous neighbors in the next cell.
Kafka, though similarly consud by the madness, had been prepared. She managed to retain a sliver of logic, intentionally slamming her head against the stone wall in an attempt to beat her body back into submission.
Karl was the outlier. After his roar, he didn't imdiately attack the walls. Instead, he began to inspect his own body. He had always craved power, and now, he had finally obtained a strength that surpassed his very self.
THOOM!
The sound of tal being hamred echoed through the basent. The alloy walls began to deform, and the entire Lockwood Manor began to shudder.
Carlo raised his right foot, preparing to unleash a Ground Stomp.
Hiss…
Suddenly, dozens of small apertures opened in the alloy walls. Massive airbags, resembling those in a car, erupted into the cage, filling the limited space.
The imnse pressure squeezed Carlo's body, hindering his movents and stalling his destruction of the room.
Pop!
One airbag burst, but another was instantly deployed from the wall to take its place. The entire system was designed for one purpose: to stall. His Enrage was already nearing its end; how much ti did he have left?
The toxic gas continued to spread, covering the floor like rainwater during a storm. No matter how powerful the dinosaurs were, they struggled to break the cages humanity had built for them.
BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—
Red alarm lights suddenly flared to life, accompanied by a piercing siren. One by one, the dinosaur cages began to unlock.
Inside the control room, Dr. Wu was frantically typing codes. As a green light flashed, another cage was successfully released.
Herbivores and carnivores alike stepped out of their cells, crowding into the narrow main corridor. Bellows and roars rged into a single wall of sound.
Wu hit the button to open the main gates repeatedly, but nothing happened.
"Dammit!"
He slamd his fist onto the console. The explosion in the secret lab had crippled the electrical grid. Power to the gates must have been cut. To open them, the entire power system would need to be rerouted, but there wasn't enough…
THOOM!
The sound of a heavy impact echoed through the basent again. The Lockwood villa let out a structural groan.
Why isn't his cage opening? Damn that ergency defense system!
Through the reflection in the glass, Dr. Wu spotted sothing useful. He spun around.
…
The sudden tremor caused Blue, who was climbing across the slate roof, to shiver. She nearly lost her footing.
Raptors were hunters of the shadows. To defeat an enemy whose strength surpassed their own, and even that of their entire pack, they had to rely on cunning.
They fought a retreating battle, climbing higher and higher toward the manor's peak.
Lightning tore across the sky. The light drizzle transford instantly into a howling, wind-swept torrential rain.
Crash—
A third-floor window, originally belonging to Maisie's room, shattered. Echo flew backward out of the opening. At the last second, she hooked her claws into the balcony railing, narrowly avoiding the sa fate as Simon Masrani.
The Indoraptor lunged from the building, charging toward Echo as she regained her balance.
"Aok!"
Delta, who had already reached a higher vantage point, leaped from the roof and slamd into the Indoraptor's flank. But the monster had learned from its encounter with Charlie. It braced against the impact and shook its body violently, throwing Delta off the balcony.
Crack…
Delta crashed onto a second-floor terrace.
Why is it always who breaks a bone?!
The Indoraptor ignored Delta. It turned back, found that Echo had already vanished, and entered a state of high alert.
"Aok-roar!"
Blue stood atop the slate roof, letting out a heart-wrenching howl. Blood from the gashes on her sides mingled with the rainwater, washing down the tiles.
It was as Owen had once told Hoskins: These animals will face a natural disaster for their family. What do you think happens if you kill one of them?
The Indoraptor moved like a streak of black lightning, scaling the roof in an instant to face Blue on the opposite side of the peak.
"Hey!"
A human voice rang out from a nearby roof, snapping the attention of every dinosaur present.
Hiss…
Lightning flashed, and with it, a brilliant red glow flared to life.
Amidst the downpour, Owen stood tall on the roof, the crimson light illuminating his iron-willed expression.
"Look at ."
———————
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