The moment James tightened his grip on the Aqua Spear, something in the distance shifted.
One of the raptors stepped forward. Then another. Their red eyes locked onto him completely.
James slowly exhaled as realization hit him.
They had already noticed him. They were now treating him as a threat.
The pack stopped eating.
Half-chewed flesh still hung from one raptor's mouth as it slowly lifted its head. Burned grass crackled under their claws as they repositioned themselves, spreading slightly into a loose semicircle.
They hadn't finished their prey yet.
The triceratops bodies were still warm, still fresh. Which meant one thing.
They were still hungry.
And now James had stepped into their territory.
James swallowed.
"They're definitely angry," he muttered quietly.
The raptors let out low, sharp sounds.
"Ki… ki… ki…"
It was like communication, or signals.
James stared at them and felt a cold chill run down his spine.
"I guess they think I'm disturbing their meal," he thought.
Which made perfect sense.
A stranger suddenly appeared near their food. Of course they would react aggressively.
James forced a small awkward smile and looked at the floating camera.
"Guys…" he said sheepishly. "I don't actually know how to fight."
A bead of sweat slowly rolled down his forehead.
"I've never fought anything before. Not even in real life," he added nervously.
That is a huge problem.
Bro just realized it now. Moreover, you're fighting dinosaurs, not playing games.
This is bad.
Human body vs five fire raptors? Yeah, that's a problem.
You are too skinny for this fight, man.
James scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Yeah… that could be a problem," he admitted quietly.
He looked at the five raptors again. Each one of them could spit fire and larger, faster, and more experienced in killing than him.
And he was just a normal human with a slender build.
Even with buffs, this situation was still insane.
You need a strategy. Don't fight head-on.
Try separating them? Idk…
Use the spear range.
Be careful…
Then a new message appeared.
Stop talking and move. You only have five minutes of buff. When the buff ends, you die. Don't waste time.
James froze for a moment.
Then he read the message again. Right. He only had five minutes of strength and speed.
After that, he would return to being a normal human. Facing five fire raptors without buffs would be certain death.
James slowly nodded.
"Yeah," he whispered. "You're right."
He couldn't waste time.
If he hesitated now, he would lose his only advantage.
His grip on the spear tightened.
His breathing steadied.
Then, with reckless abandon, James stepped out of the bushes.
The dry grass crunched under his shoes as he walked into the open field.
Then he started jogging toward the raptors.
The camera followed him closely, floating beside his shoulder.
The raptors reacted instantly.
Their bodies stiffened. Their heads lifted higher. Their red predatory eyes narrowed.
Low growls escaped their throats.
They began communicating again.
Two raptors moved slightly to the left.
Two moved to the right.
One remained in the center. They create a formation and surround him.
James stopped about twenty meters away from them.
The burning grassland flickered behind the raptors, smoke drifting slowly in the air.
The five raptors stared at him with pure hostility. Their sharp teeth exposed. Fire glowing faintly inside their throats.
James stood there, holding the spear.
And fear hit him hard.
His heart pounded. His legs felt slightly stiff. His mouth dried.
"This is terrifying," he thought.
His hands trembled slightly.
But then he clenched the spear tighter.
"All of this is already messed up anyway," he thought.
Streamer system… Another world…
Fire-spitting dinosaurs…
Viewers watching his life-or-death battle.
Nothing about this situation was normal.
So why hesitate now?
If he was going to fight, he should fight properly.
Before the raptors could fully process his movement James suddenly roared.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
He charged forward. Running straight at them with spear raised high in both hands.
The ground trembled slightly under his sprint as the strength and speed buff pushed his body forward like a launched arrow.
The raptors froze for half a second.
Their primitive dinosaur minds struggled to understand what was happening.
A small human charging at them?
James didn't give them time to think.
With a wild roar and burning determination in his eyes he rushed toward the pack, Aqua Spear glowing bright blue in the fire-lit battlefield.
The raptors' instincts as predators were already prepared for something like this.
They were creatures that lived by hunting, killing, and surviving in a brutal environment, so they immediately understood what was happening the moment James charged forward.
Another predator had entered their territory and was coming straight at them.
In their eyes, James did not look particularly intimidating. He was small, thin, and fragile compared to them, just another strange creature that dared to challenge a hunting pack.
That was enough for them to react with aggression instead of fear.
The center raptor let out a sharp screech as the four others began moving to flank him, spreading their formation wider to surround and trap the incoming threat.
Their claws dug into the burned grass as they prepared to attack, fire slowly building inside their throats. They were ready to tear him apart the moment he got close.
But James did not think about the other four raptors at all. His entire focus locked onto the one standing in the center. The one that appeared slightly larger and more aggressive than the rest. It stood at the front of the formation.
Its posture was confident and dominant, clearly acting like the leader of the pack. If he wanted to break their formation that was the one he had to take down first.
As he rushed forward, James suddenly realized something surprising.
His body was moving far faster than he expected.
The strength and speed buff was far stronger than he imagined. Instead of simply running, his body felt like it was being propelled forward by invisible force.
The ground passed beneath him in a blur as his muscles pushed him forward with explosive momentum. He was not running toward the raptor anymore—he was practically launching himself like a projectile.
The center raptor noticed it too.
For a moment, confusion flashed across its predatory eyes.
The small human in front of it was moving far too fast.
Its instincts screamed danger.
But in the blink of an eye, James was already in front of it.
He used all the momentum from his charge and thrust the glowing blue spear forward with both hands, aiming directly at the raptor's head.
The motion felt natural, almost instinctive, as if his body already understood how to use the weapon under the influence of the buff.
The raptor tried to move away. Its body twisted to dodge, but James was faster.
The spear pierced forward.
A sharp hissing sound erupted the moment the Aqua Spear struck.
It sounded like ice being dropped into burning coal.
White mist burst out from the point of impact as the blue aura clashed with the raptor's fire-infused skin.
The water element reacted violently against the creature's heat, producing steam and crackling sounds.
The spearhead drove straight into the raptor's skull with brutal force. The water energy spreads like frost across the wound.
The raptor let out a distorted screech that was cut short almost instantly.
Its body stiffened.
Then it collapsed to the ground.
James himself could not fully process what he had just done.
Everything happened too fast.
But the chat could see it clearly.
The livestream exploded.
HOLY SHIT!!!
HE ONE-SHOT IT!!!
WHAT WAS THAT SPEED?!
THAT WAS INSANE!
WTF JUST HAPPENED!
The chat scrolled so fast that the messages became a blur of text and emoticons flooding the left hand bottom of James's vision. Explosions of reactions, shock, and excitement filled the livestream interface as viewers spammed reactions nonstop.
At the same time, the viewer count in the corner of the screen rapidly increased.
[Live Viewers: 500,000]
[Rising…]
More and more people were joining the stream every second.
The battlefield, the dinosaurs, and the real-time combat were drawing global attention.
James pulled the spear out of the raptor's head, blue mist still rising from the wound as the creature's lifeless body fell completely to the ground.
He waited for a notification but nothing appeared.
No system message, kill reward, or experience notification.
Nothing.
James frowned slightly but quickly shook his head.
It did not matter right now.
There were still four raptors left.
He slowly turned his head and faced the remaining predators, tightening his grip on the Aqua Spear again as the blue aura flickered in the smoky battlefield.
The other raptors were no longer calm. Their eyes burned with fury.
Now they understood that the small human in front of them was not prey. He was a predator too.
—