Chương 58: Chapter 55: Dinosaur Point

The next morning, I woke up a little before dawn to get my gear ready and eat a nourishing meal Denise was cooking up for us. Though it was a simple breakfast of pancakes and eggs, her system ability ensured it still gave our strength and constitution a temporary boost. Because I hadn't managed to get a full eight hours of sleep, my system interface notified me that I only received the well-rested bonus for a duration of four hours. Hopefully, that would be long enough to complete the dungeon dive.

The destination itself was only a thirty- to forty-minute drive from Novus, and luckily we still had enough fuel to get there. We had fully depleted Chad's personal reserves over the last couple of days, but our scavengers had successfully siphoned fresh gas from abandoned vehicles in the surrounding area. I decided to leave Dog back at the school with Denise.

While he would no doubt be beneficial in a fight, he might also prove to be a hindrance if we encountered tight, close-quarters corridors once we went inside. Plus, knowing Dog was there gave me peace of mind that Denise and the rest of the family would be protected if anything went sideways while we were gone. I had also recently asked one of the school's new residents to reinstall the passenger seats in the van, and I didn't want to go through the hassle of tearing them out again.

Before we left, I had Henry enchant a new ring of holding for Mike. Watching my son's face twist in absolute shock when he first stored an item into it was priceless; it was the exact same disbelief I had felt when I received my own ring. Alex spent the morning brewing a fresh batch of healing and stamina potions for the team. This time, he stored them in individual glass vials salvaged from the science wing. There was enough for each team member to carry five doses of each type.

Five seemed to be the magic number for Alex's alchemy; for every concentrated batch he brewed, the system yielded exactly five individual doses. Thanks to his druidic ability to rapidly mature flora, we had a virtually unlimited supply of raw ingredients to feed his cauldron. Once everyone had tucked their main gear and weapons safely into their rings of holding, I had Isadora sing her warding verse over the group. The melodic song provided a helpful buff to our melee and magic damage resistance for the next hour.

It wasn't a particularly long duration, and we would likely burn through half of it just getting to the site, but when dealing with the unknown, more protection is always better than less. With our preparations finalized, the five of us loaded into the van and headed west toward the hills. We reached Dinosaur Point roughly thirty minutes later.

The highway climbing up the pass was completely devoid of traffic, save for a few vehicles parked sporadically along the shoulders where they had died the moment the EMP kicked off. I pulled the van into the visitor center parking lot, revealing a decent-sized, one-story stone building that overlooked the massive reservoir. A couple of cars remained in the lot, but the area felt completely abandoned.

We stepped out of the vehicle and assumed a loose formation as I initiated the party invite through my user interface. Joe and Pete took the lead, gripping their heavy shields, while Alex and I stepped a few paces behind and to the flanks, covering the building's entrance with our bows. Mike pulled up the rear, ready to range out once we crossed the threshold to scout ahead using his superior sneaking proficiency and trap-finding skill.

We started the encounter using traditional ranged and melee weapons, as they were significantly quieter than firearms. Each of us still carried a sidearm in a hip holster and an AR packed into our dimensional rings with plenty of spare magazines for a prolonged engagement. The firearms were our strict last resort; there was no need to notify the entire dungeon of our presence on the very first floor if we could help it. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Because Mike was the only one among us with a dedicated trap-finding skill, we entered the front doors of the visitor center slowly, moving with as much caution as possible. I hoped that if the rest of us focused entirely on our active perception and environmental awareness, the system might eventually register the effort and trigger the skill for one of us. At the very least, paying close attention might allow us to spot a physical tripwire by eye. As it turned out, none of that caution was necessary.

The visitor center was entirely empty. Aside from a pair of small administrative offices and public restrooms, the layout consisted of one large, vaulted room filled with historical pictures and educational murals detailing the construction of the dam and reservoir back in the early 1950s. As the team systematically swept the building a second time, searching the walls for hidden doors or secret passages, I opened my mental mini-map to double-check our positioning.

"So what's the deal?" Joe asked, looking around the empty room.

"Where is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure," I admitted, studying the interface.

"My mini-map shows we're standing directly on top of the destination marker."

"On top?" Joe questioned, pausing.

"Just a figure of speech, Joe," I replied.

"But what if that's exactly what the system means?" Joe countered, turning toward the back of the building.

"What if we are literally standing on top of where we need to go?" Joe and I walked over to the wide panoramic windows that looked out over the reservoir. From our elevated vantage point, we could see that the reservoir's water level was extremely low, exposing the vast, dry banks—a common sight for California at this time of year. The high-water erosion line was clearly visible far up the rock face.

As we scanned the exposed banks below, we noticed a massive, shadowed depression carved into the side of the hill, situated directly beneath the visitor center. From up here, we couldn't quite tell if it was a true cave opening, but we could clearly identify heavy drag marks and shallow, repeated ruts cut into the dirt, leading from the depression straight down to the water's edge. I gathered the team, and we exited the building to find a path down to the banks.

The hillside was incredibly steep—to the point where a normal walk down the slope was impossible. The depression sat approximately one hundred and fifty feet below the visitor center, putting it roughly thirty feet above the current waterline. Taking it slowly one by one, we slid down the loose dirt, leaning back to stay as upright as possible. A few minutes later, the five of us stood at the mouth of a massive, rounded cavern opening, roughly twenty feet in diameter.

The interior of the opening was pitched in deep shadow, preventing Joe and Pete from seeing very far inside, but the downward slope made it obvious that the tunnel descended deep into the mountain. The grade of the tunnel was far gentler than the hillside we had just navigated. Up close, the deep ruts in the earth were unmistakable, worn smooth by something heavy traveling back and forth to the reservoir.

Given the name Dinosaur Point, our immediate thought was that the tracks belonged to something large and reptilian. Whether we were dealing with massive alligators or something far worse, we had no way of knowing yet. Interestingly, there were also dozens of smaller, shallower ruts alongside the main path, suggesting smaller creatures accompanied the larger threat. But what truly caught my attention were the footprints stamped into the damp mud.

The front of each print featured three distinct, clawed toes, but the overall shape was strangely humanoid. They showed clear arches and heel patterns, indicating that whatever had left them walked upright on two legs rather than four. The direction of the tracks was easy to read; the prints leading back into the tunnel had deep, aggressive gouges where the talons had dug into the soil to push the creature's weight up the slope. It was a sobering realization.

We weren't just hunting simple beasts; we were about to face multiple distinct species, and at least one of them was highly mobile, humanoid, and hunting in groups.