Vespersaurus Mechanic
Rangga remained where he was, his eyes fixed on the cloud of dust steadily closing in.
Closer. Bigger.
He could now make out the silhouette of something sprinting behind the swirling sand.
"What is that...?"
Rangga narrowed his eyes. At that exact moment, a golden screen appeared before him.
Mechanical Vespersaurus
Description: A predatory mechanical dinosaur that inhabits the desert. It actively hunts and attacks any living creature that enters its territory. It relies on incredible speed and deadly kicks delivered with its razor-sharp claws.
Weakness: The joint of its primary supporting leg bears the greatest load while running. Damaging this joint will drastically reduce its speed and balance.
Drops:
Thermal Core
Reinforced Synthetic Fiber
Composite Alloy Sword Blueprint
Rangga skimmed through the information.
"Predator... high speed... weak point's the leg..."
His eyes slowly widened and the dust cloud split apart. A slender mechanical dinosaur was charging straight at him at astonishing speed.
"Holy—"
Before he could finish speaking, the Vespersaurus leaped from nearly ten meters away.
Both legs shot forward. Its razor-sharp metal talons slashed straight toward Rangga's chest.
"Whoa!"
Rangga instinctively threw himself to the side but desert sand was nothing like solid ground. Instead of rolling smoothly, his body sank into the loose sand.
Thud!
He landed face-first, sand exploding everywhere.
WHOOSH!
The Vespersaurus flew through the space where he'd been standing only a moment earlier.
Its kick sliced through empty air and Rangga lifted his head from the sand.
"Ptoo!"
"Ptoo!"
He spat repeatedly, trying to get the sand out of his mouth. When he looked up, the Vespersaurus had already stopped several meters ahead.
Slowly, it turned around. Its mechanical eyes locked onto him once again.
Rangga cursed.
"You bastard...! What the hell was that?! Why're you attacking me out of nowhere?!"
The Vespersaurus didn't care. Its feet stamped against the sand. Then—
WHOOSH!
It charged again. Even faster than before. In the blink of an eye, it leaped once more.
The second kick shot straight toward Rangga but he jumped sideways.
This time he avoided the main attack but the tip of one metal talon still sliced across his left arm.
Slash!
"Ah!"
A burning pain shot through his arm, making him wince.
"Hey! You bastard!"
His mind raced. There wasn't enough time to use his bow.
Without hesitation, he pulled the Composite Alloy Spear from his back.
The Vespersaurus spun around once more. It gave him no time to breathe. Again it charged at full speed.
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"Coming again?!"
When it was only a few meters away, it leaped. Its right leg stretched forward for another killing kick.
But this time Rangga was ready. Instead of dodging, he lunged forward. Rather than aiming for its body, he swung the shaft of his spear with all his strength at the extended supporting leg.
Bang!
A loud metallic impact echoed. The Vespersaurus's metal leg bent sideways at an unnatural angle.
It immediately lost its balance midair.
Crash!
Its body slammed into the sand and it rolled several times before finally coming to a stop.
Sand exploded in every direction as the Vespersaurus struggled to rise with its twisted leg.
The Mechanical Vespersaurus fought desperately to stand.
The supporting leg Rangga had struck was bent at an impossible angle.
Tiny motors inside it continued whining as they forced the damaged limb to move. But all the creature could do was roll helplessly across the sand.
Rangga completely ignored the wound on his arm. He tightened his grip on his spear.
"You're done."
Once he was close enough, he raised the spear high overhead. Then—
Slash!
The spear's tip smashed into the joint at the back of the Vespersaurus's neck.
Craaack!
Its mechanical neck snapped apart and the creature froze. A moment later, its entire body dissolved into particles of light.
Several objects fell onto the sand.
A Thermal Core. Several bundles of Reinforced Synthetic Fiber and a rolled-up blueprint.
Unlike before, however, Rangga didn't rush toward the loot. Instead, he looked down at his left arm.
The slash from the razor-sharp talon was still bleeding.
"Damn..."
Rangga grimaced.
"Bastard... This is the first creature I've met that attacked on sight."
"No greeting... No warning... No nothing."
He sat down on the sand.
From a pouch on the back of his leather armor, Rangga pulled out several crushed gotu kola leaves, already squeezed until they released a green medicinal juice.
Ever since being injured while fighting the Protoceratops a few days earlier, he'd made a habit of carrying them as emergency medicine.
"Good thing I thought of this yesterday."
Carefully, he spread the herbal liquid across the wound on his arm.
A cool sensation immediately spread through the cut. The stinging pain gradually faded.
"Huff... That's better."
After making sure the bleeding had stopped, Rangga finally stood up. Only then did he walk toward the glowing loot still lying on the sand.
"Alright... Let's see what I got."
He picked up each item one by one.
A Thermal Core. Reinforced Synthetic Fiber. And the Composite Alloy Sword Blueprint.
"Another blueprint."
Without opening it, Rangga immediately stored everything inside his boat's inventory.
Boat Inventory: 3/150
Once everything was safely stored, he gripped the Composite Alloy Spear with both hands again.
This time, much tighter. His eyes constantly swept the surroundings.
Left, right then occasionally behind him. He waited for several moments.
No more clouds of dust. No footsteps. No mechanical creature suddenly leaping at him again.
Only then did Rangga let out a long breath.
"Huff..."
He slowly shook his head.
"This place is insane... Who would've thought everything here attacks on sight? I figured it'd be like the other islands."
On Tropical Island, the Compys ran away. The Oviraptors were too busy stealing loot.
On Rock Island, the Protoceratops only attacked when someone entered its territory.
But this thing... No introductions. No warning. It just kicked first.
Rangga looked toward the grove of trees in the distance.
If he continued forward, he'd probably run into more Vespersauruses.
But if he went home now. The entire day would be wasted. He had only obtained one blueprint. He hadn't even found this island's resources yet.
Rangga remained silent for several seconds before nodding to himself.
"No... I didn't come all this way just to turn back."
He tightened his grip on the spear.
"Alright... This time, I'll be more careful."
With much slower steps, Rangga continued walking toward the grove in the middle of the desert.
His head constantly turned left and right, searching for even the smallest cloud of dust.
Because now he understood.
On this island, danger wouldn't wait for him to let his guard down. It would come hunting him first.
On Earth...
Footage of Rangga's battle on Desert Island quickly became the hottest topic around the world.
Unlike the long, drawn-out fight against the Protoceratops. This battle had ended almost instantly.
The creature had burst out of a cloud of dust. Leaped. And attacked without giving Rangga even a moment to react.
Viewers reacted in every possible way. The comment section exploded once again.
"Rangga, watch out! It attacks immediately!"
"He just landed and got attacked!"
"Desert Island is terrifying!"
"Good thing his reflexes are so fast."
"If he'd been even a second slower..."
Many viewers admitted they had been startled by the sudden assault.
Some even claimed they instinctively flinched while watching the Vespersaurus's kick flash across the screen.
At the same time, others actually seemed relieved.
"Finally, a real predator."
"Now this makes sense."
"The previous dinosaurs always waited to be attacked first."
"Now everyone has to stay alert."
"The Desert Island seems way more dangerous."
Speculation quickly spread.
"Maybe each biome has monsters with completely different behavior."
"Tropical ones are timid, Rock ones are territorial, Desert ones are aggressive?"
"If that's true, there are probably even scarier monsters later on."
A whole new debate erupted across every livestream. People were no longer discussing how strong Rangga was.
Instead, theory after theory flooded the comments.
Even analysts invited onto live television broadcasts began constructing behavioral models for the mechanical creatures based on Rangga's footage.
Gradually, one conclusion began to gain acceptance around the world.
The Pioneer World wasn't only different because of its resources.
Each island seemed to possess its own unique ecosystem and mechanical creatures with entirely different behavioral patterns.
Which meant countless threats still remained unseen by humanity.