The shaking ground caused Sam and all the Dinobirds to start to lose their balance as other explosions were still able to be heard so near as if they were falling over the cavern. It felt as if they were in the middle of a big war like world wars that had taken place on Earth, Sam's original world, where jet aircrafts used to drop countless cluster bombs; currently, it was so much the same.
Well, such sudden horrible incidence made Sam utterly forget about why the symbol had appeared out of the blue shining on the right side of the adult Dinobird's chest; the same shape and place as Sam's birthmark, and how its thoughts had become able to be heard all of a sudden only in Sam's mind as they were somehow clear for him to understand what it was saying either.
-"We are under attack!" The adult Dinobird cried out, panicked, where its voice was heard inside Sam's mind only.
Hearing that sent a surge of shudder down his spine. Before it said that, Sam had guessed the situation might be caused by a rain of rather ginormous thunderbolts or anything unbelievable else as he was starting to see Monestopia like any other fantasy world having the possibility for the impossible to occur truly, except for him not seeing it as a game anymore. Instead, he now was considering it far more extremely real and serious than that with Earth.
But now he knew something was attacking on purpose, and what was more to Sam's worry, was the attack being in such scale.
Now the question is, what possibly had the capability to perform such a big attack? Looking for answers, Sam was trying to recall what he had learned about Monestopia generally and Dinobirds specifically as he assumed the attack was aiming for the Dinobirds who had been in the same cavern as him.
Based on what Sam had learned so far, the Dinobirds were peaceful in nature, hated to kill other creatures in general unless their lives were threatened, or in grave danger either. But there was an exception to this rule.
Yes, it was the Tigowls.
Tigowls had been considered Dinobirds' archenemy for a long, long time. Still, Sam rolled them out without any second thoughts. The reason why, their power rank was D beginner "D III" which was in the bottom under all the other ranks.
Yet, Sam, although rummaging through his thoughts, was still unable to reach out a convincing explanation for the matter, and owing to that, Sam was starting to doubt whether what he had heard from the Dinobird was really true. He hoped he had heard wrong though.
So to make sure, Sam turned towards the adult Dinobird and asked, "W-what have you just said?"
*Qua QUA!
-"I said, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" The Dinobird repeated.
Hearing this from the Dinobird and witnessing its deathly pale complexion threw a surge of horror into Sam, finding the situation being deadly serious than he thought. What could possibly scare such a strong bird-type monster to such a point like this? This question was trapped inside his head, not finding an answer for it in order to get rid of it.
That meant this was no kidding; this showed how dangerous the situation was. Not only Sam, they all, including the adult and little Dinobirds, would absolutely die here if they stayed still without figuring out any life-saving solution or doing anything, yet right then, something snapped in his head.
"O-oh, the kids," Sam said, worried for the baby Dinobirds.
He then turned to see them. They were greatly terrified while screaming and crying as they were hugging each other.
The sudden thunderous and successive explosions had freaked the thing out of Sam and the mother Dinobird as well. So, of course, the effect on the little ones would be far much greater than on them both.
*Qaqaa!
'Ooh, no. I have to protect them from the falling and flying stones and debris,' Sam thought, clenching his hands.
Yet, the rough shakes made it pretty hard for them to keep their balance. Therefore, in order to regain his body's balance in some way or another to be able to approach the far, little Dinobirds, Sam had bent his body slightly and stretched his legs rather widely, increasing by such stance the weight center of his body gaining some balance.
Not delaying any second, Sam then started to walk towards the little Dinobirds staggering, realizing it was still hard to keep his balance well though, still better than before. It was hard for him to progress with his steps forward as he almost fell many times. However, with his persistence and determination being unshaken, he eventually made it over to them before he took them all and embraced them in his arms to shelter and protect them with his own body.
'I need to take them somewhere safe, but where?!' Sam thought.
While looking around him to find a safe place for the little Dinobirds, finally, the deafening explosions, as well as the non-stop shaking, stopped at the same time. Yet, Sam was still staggering a little as his sight hadn't settled yet from the shakes. But once he became okay, his ability to think became straight and clear, and soon after, something clicked in his head.
'It's my chance to go and look out the hole entrance of the cavern to know what on the world was causing such non-ending explosions over us,' Sam thought, frowning.
For that reason, Sam jogged up to the hole and looked out to the sky while the little ones were still in his arms. But as soon as he spotted the things in the sky, his eyes widened and his mouth was left open; what Sam had seen stunned him completely.
'...What THE HELL is happening?!' Sam wondered, staring out in disbelief. 'Is this even possible?!'
What stunned Sam wasn't the identity of what had done all the mess, but how the ear-bleeding explosions had been being caused.
For your knowledge, what Sam had spotted had been a lot of white-furred flying beast-type monsters having the size and body of a big clawed tiger and a bigger head of an owl, fitting the body's size, with beautiful big feathered wings stretching out from the back.
Yes, they were, as expected, the archenemy of the Dinobirds; Tigowls.
The stunning thing which had been totally unexpected was that they were raiding over the cavern by using black ball-like bombs. Now the question is, how could such bombs, resembling the old ones which had existed on Earth, exist in this magic-dependent world as well? Was it really possible for them both to be exactly the same? Or was it just the same shape but with different work mechanisms?
'Is this really possible?' Sam thought, contemplating the matter deeply while biting his thumb's nail. 'I don't think a world totally dependent on magic would try to invent a non-magical bomb that doesn't use mana at all...' he paused shortly before he continued, 'unless the magicians were monopolizing them, or there were another forces or groups who are unable to use magic.... perhaps? Errr, I can't think any more about things I have zero knowledge of,' he thought, pulling his hair out of nervousness.
Although Sam couldn't convince himself of his reasoning, the matter was still bugging him in the head. Why were they exactly like the bombs used on Earth? Was there a possibility for information to reach Monestopia, or was there another one aside from Sam that had come from Earth either before him?
Shaking his head, Sam snapped out of his headache-causing thoughts as he had yet to get himself and the Dinobirds out of the situation they were in and survive intact.
"I guess I'll add it to my list called 'what I should look into in Monestopia Realm'..... that's if I survive this," Sam sighed, tired of all the crap he had been going through since the day when he found the rune stone.
At the same time when Sam said so, a second similar wave of heavy explosions fell over. Reacting to that, Sam covered the baby Dinobirds and then immediately ran off the hole so that to avoid being in the range of an explosion if a bomb got into the cavern in a way. Soon then, the sequential explosions started their noisy symphony.
While running, Sam took a look at the little Dinobirds. Once again, the horror conquered their hearts making their bodies quiver ceaselessly, and lots and lots of tears took over their glistening eyes as most fell down their cheeks.
Seeing how terrified they were, Sam gritted his teeth. He felt like he got to do anything he could in some shape or another to ensure their safety.
'I must protect and find a safe place for them... I must!' Sam thought.
Back where the old Dinobird was, it had been in its place protecting itself from the flying stones after it confirmed and got assured that Sam had got its children already, protecting them. It knew from the beginning that the attacks were thrown by the Tigowls.
<'Those damn weak kittens suddenly got far much stronger than how they used to be. This sudden power increase, without us knowing how, got the better of us one hundred percent. I guess it is the end for us all. I am so sorry, I am a useless mother.'> The mother Dinobird thought, helpless while looking at its children.
Not finding any proper and safe place for the little ones, Sam curled up his body, sheltering them as they were under his cover totally. The flying and falling stones and small debris were hitting him or falling on him, filling his body with bruises and spots of blood all over his body. Yes, it was terribly painful, but Sam had to endure the pain.
Even a big stone had struck on his head's frontal bone, and blood started to leak out, covering over half of his face while the pain got even greater. Well, he still somehow carried on holding on and enduring though.
"I will protect them no matter what," Sam cried out, determined, his frowning eyes blazing as he never backed away. "Keep yourselves under my shelter," he told the little Dinobirds.
As soon as that happened, all of a sudden, the palm of Sam's right hand started to shine with light unbelievably, throwing into him great confusion.
'W-w-what's this?!' Sam wondered, bewildered. 'W-w-what's happening to my hand?!'
Out of the blue, a very small area of space in front of Sam's glowing palm started to crack and seemed like it was breaking like glass, just to reveal what looked like a swirling black hole that sucked the little Dinobirds one by one into it right after. The huge shock of witnessing such utterly unexpected development of events made Sam forget the pain altogether, and panic of their sudden disappearing.
Not too long after, the explosions stopped again and Sam stood up stunned by what had unbelievably happened! Right now, two questions began to bug Sam in the back of his head. What had caused such a thing to occur, and where possibly could the Dinobird kids be taken to? Sam wondered, sweating buckets nervously.
As a result, Sam started to call for them out with progressively louder and panicked voices, "....H-hey... hEY! Where have you gone?! Don't play around with me to scare the thing out of me. Come back!"
When the mother Dinobird heard Sam's loud shouts, it turned its face towards him, just to see him crazily panicked. Right then, something clicked in its head, its eyes started to move in all directions, looking for its kids around him and noticed they were nowhere there. For that reason, panic started to circulate in its mind, and sweats started to pop out covering its head as it was gazing at Sam.
Yet soon then, another unexpected thing had happened.
As soon as Sam had called out "come back!" loudly, the adult Dinobird noticed his hand started to shine and light was being emitted.
<'What the hell is happening?!'> the Dinobird wondered, confusion and panic complexion were clear and seeable on its face.
Yet, what happened right then left it completely dumbfounded as never had it seen any magic or power or anything else that could do what it was witnessing with its very eyes, its children started to come out of a weird distortion in the air in front of the human's palm one by one.
Even though it had encountered humans using enormous different and variable kinds of magic and powers, still, it had never witnessed someone who could break the space and suck other creatures into it.
As much as it shocked the adult Dinobird or even more, Sam also got shocked and dumbfounded by the occurrence. He then turned his palm towards himself and kept examining it with his eyes thoroughly and silently. He had never thought that he had the ability to do something like so. Then he shifted his sight back to the little Dinobirds, staring at them dumbfoundedly, as they also were like so.
'Is something like this even possible....?!' Sam wondered, shocked by the incidence as his mouth was wide open.
While his hand was still directed towards them, Sam said "come back inside" and soon, his hand started to shine again before sucking them one by one, but something stole his attention utterly, and that was, a light was glowing on their chests simultaneously. It appeared to be that the little Dinobirds as well had got the same symbol.
When Sam had sheltered them before, never had he noticed that they too had got the same symbol on the same site like himself and their mother. For that reason, it was a great surprise for him when he found out. Was it because it had appeared on their mother, or was it another reason? Unfortunately, Sam hadn't yet figured out why it had appeared on the adult one so far in the first place, so how could he know about the little ones? Sam thought as he was starting to feel a headache.
'When did they get the symbol?!' Sam wondered. 'I can't remember seeing them getting theirs.'
Once again, the mother Dinobird's jaw dropped to the ground from the shock as its doubts got confirmed by seeing the thing happen once more. This was something quite unbelievable even among monsters either.
Then Sam said again with the same dumbfounded expression "come back out" and at the same time, they were spat out of the black hole like distortion one by one.
Like a child who got a new toy, Sam repeated the process quite several times as it confirmed he wasn't imagining or dreaming either. While that, Sam took a note that the little Dinobirds looked so tired that snapped him out of his daze and made him hold back his excitement as he didn't want to overstrain them nor did he even intend to.
Changing targets, Sam then turned his head towards the mother Dinobird at high speed, putting a creepy smirk on his face, and giving a sinister snicker to the adult Dinobird as well. Feeling the creepy atmosphere around him, the Dinobird felt iffy as a surge of shiver crossed up and down its spine before it nervously swallowed its saliva.
Once Sam started walking slowly over to the adult Dinobird with a dark face, it jerked and flinched and sweated even more before beginning to retreat with every step he would advance with.
"Fufu, I'm going to play with you a little," Sam mumbled out, snickering. Yet, the Dinobird could hear all and clear.
*Q-qua qua!
-"D-don't get close to me," it said, and was heard in his mind.
Increasingly, Sam's speed was just a walk, but then it turned into jogging before starting to run towards the adult Dinobird. Simultaneously, it had undergone the same steps until it started to run away from him.
"Hehe, where are you running from me?" Sam shouted, laughing like a crazy villain.
*Q-QUA QUAA!
-"I-I told you to not get close to me, STAY AWAY!!" The Dinobird shouted back.
"COME INSIDE!" Sam shouted, and his glowing hand started to suck it into quite easily while it was screaming during the process.
*QUAAA!
"COME OUT!" Sam shouted again, and his shining palm spat it out immediately whereas it was still screaming aloud.
Once it was out on the ground, it instantly started to plead and beg him to stop. But despite all that, Sam ignored it, or maybe never he did notice as he was far too much taken by the enjoyment and carried on doing it over and over for quite some time.
After a while, Sam stopped and it kneeled down on one knee tired, gazing at Sam with eyes filled with clear annoyance and slight anger. But as soon as Sam noticed that, he instantly flinched and gave a nervous smile. He was unsure if he overdid it, but he soon realized how he bullied in the same way like he had been bullied, to feel regret right after.
"I-I'm sorry," Sam apologized. "I-I was just testing this new skill or whatever it was."
*Qmm
The Dinobird turned its head away from Sam as it was sulky pouting.
"I'm really sorry-"
Sam couldn't complete what he was saying. He was interrupted by a third wave of deafening explosions which began to fall over the cavern once again. Sam had forgotten about it, but right now, he was feeling like the Tigowls weren't planning to stop attacking and let them be, the explosions felt like forever.
"S-shit, I forgot about them!" Sam cursed before he saw the children and thought of using his new founded skill to protect them.
Therefore, Sam asked the mother, "I'm thinking of using my new skill to protect your kids, so what do you think?"
It nodded silently in agreement then Sam sucked them into his hand, feeling pretty glad because he thought he finally became able to do something to protect them, even though it was useless on him himself.
"Now, we have to find a way to get rid of those freaks," Sam said, contemplating a solution while holding his chin with his hand as he was starting to get used to the heavy shakes, keeping his balance.
While protecting himself from the flying stones, Sam was also looking around him hoping to find something quite useful to be used against the Tigowls.
'Please please, please. Anything useful, anything useful.'
Such a deadly hard situation, which could take his life right here and right now, caused his body to release more amount of adrenaline and other hormones, and his brain to overwork leading to using far more nerve fibers than usual, thus more action potentials and pulses were created and traveled through the nerve fibers, resulting in a significant increase in his all senses, including his focus and concentration.
Soon then, a lamb lit up in his mind.
'Yes, I got it!' He thought, almost leaped gladly. 'Now, I know how to deal with them.'
Sam then turned to the adult Dinobird and called out, "Hey you, do you still have enough power to do hard stuff?!"
*Qua qua
-"Yes, to some extent, but why?" The Dinobird replied while wondering about what the weird and weak human in front of it was thinking to do in such a desperate situation.
Sam then shifted his gaze away, looking out the hole before he said with a confident smile on his face, "I got an easy peasy plan."
*****
On the vast blue sky over a holes-filled cavern located on a greatly huge mountain, forty or so numbers of arranged Tigowls were floating near over the cavern where they had somehow found some Dinobirds, who had been their archenemy for a long, long time, had been hiding inside for quite some time. Each Tigowl was holding a ball-shaped exploding device, or 'bomb' according to Sam, with one paw.
Some of them were talking with each other in their language. Among these, a certain Tigowl having what seemed like an afro hairstyle was chatting with another Tigowl having what resembled a spiky hairstyle.
*Owo Owo
<"Hey ya, do you think they've already died? I can't see anyone get out of that cavern. I hope this would end as fast as possible 'cause I'm bored to death."> the afro-haired Tigowl complained.
<"Are you stupid?! What if they were deceiving us?! What if it was a trap?! What if they attack us stealthily?! What if the-"> the spike-haired Tigowl replied with a rain of questions before it was interrupted.
<"Okay okay, man. What's wrong with ya?! When ya open your mouth, ya can't stop!"> the afro-haired Tigowl interrupted.
The spiky-haired Tigowl replied, <"Me?!! When have I ever talked to you so long?! When have I never closed my mouth?! And you say I can't close my mouth?! What about you, why can't you even speak properly?! Why you don't cut your hair-">
<"Okay okay stop, dog! Ya headache!"> the afro-haired Tigowl interrupted once again.
<"I'm a headache?! Why don't you think of yourself?! Why don't you realize that you're a pain in the ass?! Why can't you be a normal Tigowl like me?! ....."> the spiky-haired Tigowl rained an endless amount of questions over the afro-haired one, but the earlier wasn't interrupted by the latter like before, instead, the latter kept its silence as it knew it wouldn't work interrupting while the earlier continued with the questions.
<"....">
Due to its patience reaching its limits, the afro-haired Tigowl shut the spiky-haired one's mouth up with a ball of its fur. However, the spiky-haired Tigowl kept on talking even though the ball of fur blocked its mouth utterly...
<"mmm mmmmm mmmmm">
<"Huh, you're really a freaking headache, bro!"> the afro-haired Tigowl sighed.
Not too long after, a Tigowl from the vanguard was crying out on the top of his lungs in a panicked manner: <"LOOK OUT! A FIREBALL COMING AT US!">
<"Huh?!"> the two Tigowls gasped at once.
That fireball came at high speed to strike the afro-haired Tigowl, making it cry out crazily: <"M-MY PRECIOUS HAAAAAIR!">
That Tigowl's hair was in a fire, and that was the reason why it panicked and started to scream as loudly as it could.
Sending horror to all the other Tigowls, an incredibly loud cry out had come out from the vanguard, <"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! THE DINOBIRDS ARE COUNTER-ATTACKING!">
*******