The moment those two invaders tried to fight their way out, I knew they were planning to bolt. But as I watched the young male stumble away, missing his signature sabers, a reckless thought took root in my brain.
He's broken and bleeding. If I can take him down with Mom and Dad's help, the reward from the system has to be massive.
If I were alone, I wouldn't touch an adult Sabertooth with a ten-foot knifes, even a mangled one. But with my parents right behind me? That was my insurance policy. I wasn't about to let this opportunity trot away into the snow.
I burst from the brush, and slammed into the male's flank as he tried to retreat.
BAM!
The impact sent him sprawling. I didn't give him a second to breathe; I went full savage, hammering my paws into his face as soon as we hit the dirt.
"ROAR!!"
The male reacted with the speed of a veteran. He caught my blows on his thick shoulders and roared back, shoving me off with a burst of raw power. Even a broken teethed adult is still an adult. His pride was wounded, but his muscles were intact, and he wasn't about to let a sub-adult punk finish him off.
He lunged, pinning my shoulders with his massive front legs. His mouth was a gory mess of broken teeth, but he still tried to sink his jaws into my neck. I thrashed, kicking my back legs into his stomach to keep him from gaining leverage.
Thud.
He flipped me. I hit the ground hard, feeling the air leave my lungs.
"Damn, he's strong." I was stunned. This was my first time feeling the true power of a full-grown Smilodon. He had at least 100 pounds on me and twice the raw strength.
But I didn't panic. I kept my paws moving in a defensive blur, swiping at his eyes and nose every time he tried to bite down. Because his sabers were gone, he couldn't find a proper anchor point. He was trying to crush me with his molars, but he was just catching air.
"ROAR—!"
"ROAR—!"
The support had arrived. Mom and Dad saw me in the fight and came charging in, terrified their eldest was about to be turned into a rug.
The young male saw them coming and scrambled off me, desperate to keep running. His mate was already a distant shadow in the storm. She hadn't looked back once. In this world, a Sabertooth without sabers is a liability, and she'd cut her losses the second his teeth hit the snow.
I rolled to my feet and dove back in. I noticed his back was already a mess of gashes from Dad's earlier work. I circled to his side and started a hit and run strategy, hammering his spine with heavy paw-swipes.
He screamed in pain, his hindquarters sagging. He turned to snap at me, but I backed away. I was faster . I circled back, biting and clawing at his wounded back, opening the old gashes until they were fountains of red.
"ROAR—!"
He finally snapped. He ignored the pain and launched himself at me with everything he had left. I tried to skip aside, but his reach was too long.
CRUNCH.
His heavy paw caught me mid-air, sending me flying backward. I slammed into the frozen ground, my vision blurring. He didn't waste a second; he pounced, his weight pinning me down as he aimed for my spine.
He clamped his jaws onto my back and squeezed. But then something happened that he didn't expect. He couldn't get through.
My Level 1 Skin Density—the flat headed Peccary gene—held firm. Without his sabers to pierce the hide, his blunt bite couldn't puncture my hard skin. He was just pulling out tufts of hair and bruising the muscle. He was furious, his claws extending to try and rip my throat open instead.
"ROAR—ROAR—!"
He never got the chance. Mom and Dad hit him from both sides, dragging him off me and pinning him to the ground. He was done. Against one healthy adult, he had a chance; against two, he was finished.
CRACK.
Dad bit through his spine while Mom crushed his hind leg. The light started to fade from his eyes.
I didn't wait. I scrambled up, shaking off the snow, and dove into the pile. I pinned his head with my front paws and aimed right for the throat.
Pshhh—!
I engaged my bite force and drove my sabers. I hit the windpipe and the artery in one go. I felt the hot blood spray across my face as I clamped down. Within a minute, the struggling stopped. The intruder was dead.
I let go and collapsed right on top of him, my chest heaving. My brain was a fog of adrenaline and exhaustion.
"That was... way too close."
I had underestimated an adult's last stand power. If Mom and Dad hadn't been there, I'd be the one to die right now. But I was still breathing, the kill was mine, and I was just waiting for that sweet system chime to tell me it was all worth it.