─And, Dinosaur Ninja Dash-!
Audience members who heard the stage narration assumed that this situation was part of a prepared play.
Kail thought the same.
Thanks to this assumption, even as the ninja-turned-dinosaur charged towards Sera, Kail didn’t react at all.
“Oh, these plays these days are amazing.”
“Mi, You Crazy Bastard! What the hell are you saying!”
─ROAR-!
“It’s coming for me! Stop it!”
When the charging dinosaur-ninja’s teeth lunged toward Sera, Kail finally moved. The Aura Blade he summoned slashed upward with a brilliant flash—right beneath the dinosaur’s jaw.
In an instant, the silenced dinosaur-ninja looked confused before being kicked back onto the stage by Kail.
“What? This wasn’t a play?”
“There’s no way this is a play! You dumbass!”
“Well, then why did they do the narration?”
“I don’t know! That guy must be in on it too!”
Never imagining that someone would provide such a perfect narration during a mid-play ambush, Kail grabbed Sera under his arm and quickly escaped the theater.
After leaving the theater, Kail burst into laughter upon seeing dinosaurs roaming the streets.
“This place is Jurassic Academy Park.”
“Grrr…!”
Seeing half-torn clothes and drooling dinosaurs approaching him, Kail swiftly climbed up a building.
Fortunately, dinosaurs couldn’t climb trees or fly, so they just glared at Kail like dogs chasing chickens.
“What the…”
From atop the building, Kail surveyed the Academy Territory with bewilderment.
The city was overrun with more dinosaurs than humans. It wasn’t that humans had been eaten within the short time of watching the play—it was something else entirely.
Far away—a large whistle sound accompanied something flying through the air and crashing into the city. Upon impact, a pale blue smoke began to spread across the ground.
“Ugh, Gack-!?”
Territory residents fleeing from the dinosaurs were struck by the smoke and suddenly screamed. After screaming for some time, they transformed into creatures resembling nearby dinosaurs.
“Huh?”
This new dinosaur, clearly perplexed about what happened, spotted a fleeing human in the distance and immediately started chasing after them, moving purely on instinct rather than reason.
It seemed that the humans turned into dinosaurs were now attacking other humans without hesitation.
“Sigh.”
Witnessing this, Kail realized he couldn’t attack the dinosaurs and would need to prevent them from killing each other while also finding an antidote.
It was quite the difficult task. Creating an antidote was impossible for him, and subduing animals without harming them wasn’t exactly the forte of an Aura Master specialized in combat, not hunting.
Even hunters struggled to capture prey unharmed unless using traps or snares.
“Sera, how did this happen?”
“And why are you asking me? I’m confused too.”
“Can you make an antidote?”
“Hmm… Maybe the universal cure could work. I can try, though.”
“In that case, stay here. These dinosaurs can’t fly, so I’ll keep an eye on you from here.”
With that, Kail leapt off the rooftop with a whoosh. As he disappeared, Sera watched carefully, vowing not to leave the roof, until she noticed a flying pterosaur approaching from afar.
“C-Cail…?”
She hesitantly called out her childhood friend’s name. Kail seemed too preoccupied dealing with the dinosaurs to notice the pterosaur.
The tiny dot-like pterosaur rapidly grew larger, giving a sense of its incredible speed.
“C-Cail! Help me!”
─ROOOAARRR-!
“This son of a—!”
Sera rolled around trying to evade the pterosaur.
* * *
Upon landing, Kail swung his fist at the charging dinosaur’s snout.
The dinosaur’s jaw slammed shut with a THUD! before collapsing. Watching the dazed creature fall over, Kail realized that dinosaurs’ weak points were similar to other animals.
‘Seems like shaking their jaws knocks them out.’
However, not every dinosaur would succumb to the same method. The previous one was a Velociraptor, commonly known as a raptor, but another four-legged dinosaur charging at him with its horn ready appeared far tougher, with a neck built to resist any shaking.
“Sigh, how do I deal with this?”
─BRAAAAWWWR-!
As the four-legged dinosaur roared and charged, Kail grabbed its horn, which resembled a rhinoceros’ tusk.
Though roughly matched in strength, Kail was significantly lighter and was pushed back several steps. However, wrapping the horn with Aura, he twisted his waist and hurled the dinosaur backward.
A wrestling technique known as a headlock throw successfully flipped the massive four-legged dinosaur onto the ground with a loud CRASH! Watching the defeated dinosaur foam at the mouth, Kail decided this approach would work.
“Ground fighting really is king, huh.”
“Grrrr…”
“Scared? Come here. I promise it won’t hurt.”
Smiling mischievously at another frightened dinosaur, Kail slowly approached.
For every step forward Kail took, the dinosaur retreated. Just as it seemed they’d continue this infinite parallel movement, Kail suddenly darted forward and twisted the dinosaur’s jaw.
Having knocked out dozens of dinosaurs in moments, Kail realized this wouldn’t end anytime soon.
‘How many people live in this city, and I’m knocking them all out alone?’
He couldn’t kill them; subduing them was necessary, and there were better candidates for this job than himself—an Aura Master.
Glancing upwards, he saw more bottles of dinosaur transformation drugs falling from the sky. Just as Kail finished knocking out another batch of dinosaurs—
“「Frozen World」”
A spell cast from somewhere froze the falling bottles instantly. Turning his head, Kail grinned upon spotting two mages flying in the sky.
“Too late.”
Academy Headmaster and Yuri Grace arrived.
The two Master-level mages observed the chaos below and nodded before casting spells.
“Oh mighty blizzard, sweep through this land.”
“Incantation activation.”
SNAP. Kail looked up as a white snowflake melted on his nose.
Snow fell in May.
While women holding grudges might bring snow even in summer, mages could summon snow without harboring resentment.
“KICK, KIIIIEEEK…!”
The dinosaurs hit by snowballs began losing body heat. Being cold-blooded creatures unable to regulate their own temperature, they were heavily affected by the sudden environmental change. The once-active dinosaurs gradually stopped moving or collapsed where they stood.
“Kail!”
The unconscious dinosaurs were restrained by students from the Knight Department of the Academy. Seeing Arthur running towards him, Kail waved happily.
“Arthur. What’s going on?”
“The Headmaster declared an emergency and mobilized the students. Everyone except non-combatants like Art and Admin majors.”
“That’s right. The Academy isn’t some daycare center.”
The overly protective Headmaster of the past was nowhere to be seen. Was it confidence that memories could simply be erased if needed, or a shift in thinking?
Either way, it pleased Kail that the Academy was developing the ability to handle incidents on its own.
As he satisfiedly watched the students, Arthur’s chest began swelling.
“A, uh…?”
─CHIRP!
“S-Star Tail…! Stay inside! I’ll let you out later…!”
─PIIIIEEEEEEEEK!
At that moment, Star Tail burst out of Arthur’s chest and flew wildly into the sky.
Though this was Star Tail’s first public appearance, the already chaotic crowd failed to recognize the dragon amidst the dinosaur chaos.
“C-Cail! Let’s go chase it!”
“Wait—Sera! Are you alive?”
“–I’m dead, you idiot!”
Returning to Sera, who stuck her head out from the rooftop and shouted, Kail scooped her up under his arm and descended to the ground.
Ignoring her screams, Kail reached Arthur and shrugged at him.
“Let’s chase it.”
“…Is that okay?”
“She won’t die. Don’t worry.”
“J-Jesus, I feel like I’m gonna die…”
Ignoring Sera’s complaints of nausea, Kail pursued Star Tail alongside Arthur.
* * *
Watching the Academy scene, JinYan Jing paused upon seeing a pure white dragon flying before him.
“…Who are you?”
An unbelievable sight even to his eyes—the living embodiment of their dreams and goals: a real-life dragon soaring majestically in the distant sky.
Tears streaming down his face, JinYan Jing trembled with joy.
“A-Ah-AHHHHHHHHH!”
The scholar’s joy at the reappearance of a species believed extinct for thousands of years, combined with the religious fervor of welcoming their revered dragon, overwhelmed him as he gently wiped his face.
“O-Over here… We shall honor you properly…!”
─CHIRP?
Confused, Star Tail tilted its head before turning and flying away.
Watching Star Tail disappear, JinYan Jing mobilized his subordinates to capture it.
─PIIIIIIIIEEEEK!?
“Forgive us for touching your sacred body, but your rightful place is here.”
Star Tail, attempting to wriggle free, discovered it couldn’t move within JinYan Jing’s embrace and slowly drifted off to sleep.
“This fulfills our long-held wish—”
“–STAR TAIL!?”
Kail and Arthur arrived belatedly.
Seeing their pet dragon cradled in JinYan Jing’s arms, Arthur cautiously spoke up.
“T-The creature… No, animal in your arms is my pet… Could you return it?”
“…Pet?”
Daring… DARING…
Furious at Arthur calling the Great One a “pet,” steam exploded from JinYan Jing’s mask as he vented his anger.
Realizing something was seriously wrong, Arthur gulped nervously while Kail produced a handy scanner.
“Go, Scanner!”
“What are you talking about? He obviously looks evil!”
“Alright, your call?”
With Sera’s approval, Kail swung his sword.
