The hunt began instantly.
As Mom lowered her body, creeping toward the herd of Western horses grazing on the plain, the lead stallion acting as a sentry suddenly bolted upright. He blasted a short, piercing neigh of alarm!
The herd of Equus occidentalis erupted into a panic.
Led by the stallion, the massive horses hammered their hooves into the earth. The sound was like rolling thunder, a grand and violent momentum as they fled in the opposite direction.
"ROAR—"
James, Zack, and Zoe burst from the flanks of the herd, their voices overlapping in a synchronized threat.
Even as sub-adult Smilodon fatalis, their deterrent effect on these herbivores was massive. In a state of terror and chaos, the herd funneled directly toward the shrubs where Dad lay in ambush. Mom, James, Zack, and Zoe immediately closed the gap, driving the panicked horses forward.
"ROAR!!"
Just as the herd was about to vanish into the thicket, Dad lunged from a diagonal angle, targeting a sub-adult horse in the group.
Dad was too experienced to charge the herd head-on. The iron hooves of these wild horses were no joke; getting caught in a stampede meant certain death or crippling injury.
Finding Dad suddenly closing in on its flank, the sub-adult horse braked hard in terror. It pivoted, attempting to flee toward the right.
However, Mom and James's trio had already moved up, cutting off every possible escape route.
On the other side, the frantic herd abandoned their companion. Their dust clouds soon vanished into the vast horizon of the grasslands.
The sub-adult horse trapped in the family's encirclement put up a feeble resistance. It was quickly brought down by the sheer violence of Mom and Dad, finally meeting its end beneath the sabers.
[Ding! Host participated in killing a Western Horse. Gene Points +20.]
Another 20 points in the bank.
James checked his status panel and found that his accumulated Gene Points had reached exactly 300.
Goal achieved!
Once they returned home today, he could finally exchange them for the Shark Gene, granting his teeth the powerful ability of regeneration or maybe he can find any better option.
The thought lightened James's mood significantly. Even the raw horse meat in front of him tasted better than usual.
------------------------------
On the other side, the Titanis was greedily feasting on the flesh of the Macrauchenia.
Due to its extreme height, the terror bird had to fold its long legs and lower its massive head, crouching low to the ground so its beak could tear into the carcass.
While eating, Mom and Dad occasionally looked up toward the Titanis, keeping a sharp eye on its movements.
As long as both sides minded their own business, there was no need for a life-and-death struggle. You take your path, I'll take mine—this was the tacit agreement between apex predators.
However, there are always radicals who refuse to follow the rules of the elite.
"SCREECH!!"
James, mid-chew, whipped his head toward the Titanis as it shrieked in sudden terror.
A massive American Lion (Panthera atrox) launched an ambush from behind. It leaped onto the terror bird's back, slamming the bird into the ground before it could react.
"ROAR—"
The American Lion was robust, but its explosiveness and speed were staggering. It hit the Titanis like a cannonball.
Its jaws unhinged, revealing sharp fangs. The moment the bird hit the dirt, the lion sank its teeth deep into the long neck.
"SCREECH—"
The Titanis thrashed violently, desperate to buck the lion off.
But the lion weighed more than twice as much as the bird. That massive tonnage advantage meant that once the bird was pinned, there was no hope for a recovery.
The lion used its forelimbs to suppress the bird's struggles while tightening its bite. Once the teeth pierced the skin, they clamped down on the carotid artery.
While Panthera atrox lacked the long sabers of a Smilodon, its bite force was significantly higher. It followed the standard feline hunting model: crushing the windpipe and arteries to induce rapid suffocation.
Within seconds, the bird stopped struggling.
The Titanis was dead, its corpse slumped over the Macrauchenia remains, its large amber eyes wide and sightless.
The American Lion released its blood-soaked grip. It extended a claw and swiped the bird's body aside with indifference. It didn't care for bird meat; the Macrauchenia beneath it was far more appetizing.
...
That was an eye-opener.
The entire execution had taken less than thirty seconds.
For James, the shock was immense. Not long ago, he had been thinking about the clash between "dinosaurs" (birds) and "beasts" (mammals). Now, reality had given him a live broadcast.
The last of the avian dinosaurs, which once ruled North America, had finally fallen to the king of the mammals.
Granted, it was a sneak attack. If they had fought face-to-face, the outcome might have been different.
But a loss was a loss. For the Titanis, failure was death.
"Grrr..."
Mom and Dad stood up instantly, their posture tense.
The American Lion paused its meal, eyes locking onto the Smilodon family.
"ROAR—"
"ROAR—"
Tiger vs. Lion. The Smilodon roar was high and sharp like a hurricane; the lion's was a deep, rolling thunder.
The air seemed to freeze. The tension between the two apex groups was a hair-trigger from violence.
James felt his muscles tighten. Is this it? Are we fighting?
Despite having the numbers, James looked at the Lion's sheer size and felt some concern. As the heavyweight champion of the North American Ice Age, the American Lion was technically more powerful than a Smilodon fatalis in a one-on-one fight. The size difference alone made that clear.
However, their lifestyles differed.
Smilodon lived in family units—parents and sub-adult offspring. The American Lion was a ghost, a solitary hunter more like a modern Siberian Tiger. They only paired up briefly for mating before the male moved on.
Because of their family structure, the sabertooths could hold their ground against the lions. They were a power that could not be easily pushed aside.
"Ugh..."
Ultimately, the fight James expected didn't happen.
The American Lion chose to yield. It snatched up the remaining Macrauchenia carcass in its jaws and turned to leave.
But before it vanished, it threw a cold, predatory glance directly at James.
The message was unmistakable: I'm going to kill you.