Tyrannosaurus Rex, now that's one damn large lizard!
Measuring 12 meters from head to tail, with a height close to 5.2 meters, this big guy was once one of the strongest predators on Earth, and now, millions of years after it's extinction, it appeared once again in the face of a complete different planet.
"Damn, those guys are crazy! Maybe the only lucky point is that they didn't revamp it like they did with the boars."
Remembering the elephant sized boars from the first planet, March's blood ran cold when imagining if those crazy scientist had applied the same gigantification to this guy. At least those boars were herbivore, so they didn't attack unless commanded or someone invaded their territory, as for the lizard in front of him, March imagined it will actively hunt Players right and left all the time while searching for food...
"Okay. Let's land over there and see how tough skinned it is!"
Taking over manual command of the fighter, March choose a position far away from the target and landed his vehicle.
"So, in the back of the module...do you mean seat?"
Obviously nobody answered him. Now that he was inside the planet, because of all the interference created by the nanomachines in the air, it was impossible to contact the space stations for the next few days.
"Well, it's not like I will have to wait. All I need to do is grab the dino steak and get the hell out of here."
Opening the window-like hatch, March stepped out of the fighter and took a look around.
"This place seems pretty normal... Who would have guessed that this was a desert not long ago?"
All trees and grass spread around made him feel like he had found himself in someone's ranch or farm, except that there was not even a single hint of human interaction with this place.
Turning around and pulling the seat forward, March found the container storing all weapons assigned to him.
"Let's see... standard military pulse laser rifle, pistol and knife. Sigh... thankfully they didn't prank me sending something like a sword or lance, but I would be happy if they had sent at least one grenade launcher or rocket launcher since my target is bigger than a tank!"
After taking everything out, March noticed the container had a false bottom, so he pulled it out, revealing a long sword.
"Ugh...Easter Egg??"
The sword's blade was unusual. It was unusually thick, making it appear like two blades pressed together, and the edge of the blade was not a single sharp edge, but two sharp edges one on top of another. This looked like a game item, appeared cool but it was completely dysfunctional.
"Monster Hunter? Heh... nice joke guys... nice joke..."
Just as March was going to put it aside, he notice a bottom in the sword's hilt.
"Curiosity killed the cat...but I'm not a cat!"
Without thinking twice, he clicked on hit, turning on whatever mechanism was hidden inside the sword.
March heard the sound of something spinning and he watched as the blade slowly started to turn red.
"Those lab otakus...they are wasting too much of the budget on toys like this..."
But the transformation didn't stop with the change of color, as the rotation sound grew louder and louder, a sudden flash illuminated March and everything around him.
"What the -!?"
As March opened his eyes, he noticed that the sword had changed, adding a layers of some shinny matter, creating a new edge while closing the gap between edges that there was before.
"What the hell is this?"
Seeing this for the first time, March curiously touched the new edge with the tip of his finger, trying to understand what kind of material it was, but on doing so, the shinny edge effortlessly bypassed his armor, like a heated knife cutting through butter, cutting the tip of March's finger.
"Ouch!"
The armor's glove quickly sealed it's cut, recovering it's ideal shape, but March's finger inside the glove was already wounded and hurting because of that.
"F***! This toy is dangerous! Those guys really have too much time! Well, but if it's this sharp, it will surely be useful when cutting the meat and bones, so maybe I should also take it with me as well."
After turning off the sword, March tied it to his back belt and proceeded equipping his other weapons.
"All right, all set, let's finish this before dinner time!"
The lack of answer made him feel a little bit lonely but he ignored it and proceeded anyway, stealthily walking through the grass to where his target had been sighted.
--//--
Back in the first planet, Apollo's team had finally reached the cave.
Ivy and Apollo got off Bacon and waited her finish transforming into human form before heading in.
"Master, I will lead the way. Please watch your steps."
Apollo nodded to Ivy's comment and the three of them entered the cave.
It didn't take long for them to reach the battle location. Seeing the first dead body of the pointed ear girl, Apollo frowned his eyebrows but didn't look away.
(She was running away when she was stabbed from behind...)
The group proceeded but it didn't take more than a few steps for them to stop again.
"...Hayate..."
With a missing arm and a deep wound on his back, Hayate's corpse laid lifelessly over a wooden legged pointed ears girl.
"...Tabita..."
Closing his eyes for a second, Apollo didn't run away from the guilt feeling that started to be born in his chest. He held his fist strong and didn't say another word, only gesturing Ivy to continue their proceeding deeper into the cave.
(If only I had finished her at that time...)
Another several steps and more corpses appeared on his view. A small camp site, plenty of venomous herbs, mixing tools... yeah, everything was here.
"Any sigh of survivors?"
"No. It seems like Hayate did a splendid job ensuring nobody could run away."
(I would be happier if he survived instead... Sigh... such a fool. How are you going to find Negi now? You damn idiot!)
"I see...Well, just to be sure, take these herbs and poison to the medical camp. Run some tests to ensure we got the right thing and try to prepare an antidote as well. If these girls were able to make this, then it's possible for someone else to do the same."
"Understood!"
"Anything else deeper inside?"
"There are some iron veins, maybe some other ores if we are lucky, but no sighs of life."
"Good. Then we will reactivate this mine later, Iron is quite useful for us. Clean up the bodies. Burry Hayate on Negi's base's graveyard."
"What about these girls?"
(Feed them to the wolves...is something I can't say...)
"What happen to their sisters who died before them? Did they make a graveyard as well in Jaylee's base?"
"There are no sighs of such a thing... Maybe they were recycled as meat, or -"
"STOP! I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!"
"As you wish."
"Make a small graveyard in the ruins of Jaylee's base. DON'T, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, RECYCLE THEIR BODIES AS MEAT!"
At this moment, Bacon, who was quiet until now, voiced out her objection for the first time.
"Master! That's discrimination!"
"Shut up Bacon!"
"Ugh..."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scream. But this order is final. Please understand."
"...Okay, if Master says so..."
"Haaa~~~~ This place is making me go crazy..."