"ROAR! ROAR!!"
Zack panicked completely, his entire body shaking with fear as he pushed his legs to their absolute limit. He opened his jaws wide, letting out a series of frantic, high-pitched shrieks for help. The world outside the family cave was far too dangerous!
In the dead of night, those desperate roars carried far across the timber, sparking a wave of alarm through the local birds and small game.
Inside the den, the parents were instantly jarred from their sleep by the noise. A quick scan of the cavern revealed that Zack's sleeping place was empty. The terrified screams echoing through the valley belonged to their son.
Without wasting a breath, the father and mother bolted from the cave mouth, racing toward the source of the distress calls.
On the other side of the ridge, Zack was running blind toward his home turf. Because of his smaller, lighter frame, he managed to maintain a slight edge in speed over the heavy lion, preventing the monster from closing the gap.
Soon, the reassuring roars of his parents echoed ahead, and he saw their powerful shapes tearing through the brush toward him.
"ROAR——"
The pursuing American Lion slowed its pace as the adult Sabertooths entered the clearing, its gaze turning incredibly cold. Though they had crossed paths before, the evolutionary rivalry between the two apex species ran deep in their marrow. A clash was inevitable.
"ROAR——"
With a furious, deafening blast, the mother launched herself forward with total resolve, completely ignoring the fact that the lion heavily outweighed her. The father pivoted from the opposite flank, his ivory sabers flashing like winter frost in the moonlight as he aimed directly for the lion's spine.
"ROAR!!"
Faced with a dual assault, the American Lion didn't back an inch. Relying on its massive skeletal frame and superior strength, it met both attackers head-on.
The lion was a veteran of countless territory wars. It constantly shifted its weight and swiveled its hips, ensuring that even though the parents had it flanked, they could never get a clean, disabling angle on its spinal column.
The brutal war of attrition lasted the entire night. By the time the first pale light of morning filtered through the trees, all three combatants were covered in deep gashes, their stamina thoroughly spent.
Ultimately, the American Lion gave ground, backing away into the thicket with a low snarl.
The victory was only possible because the lion had already burned a massive amount of energy killing the Xenosmilus pair earlier that night; otherwise, the outcome would have been a defeat for sabertooth family.
However, the giant didn't retreat far. It claimed the newly vacated territory of the dead Xenosmilus pair as its own. Having a massive, hostile lion sleeping right on their border was a ticking time bomb for the family, but in their current state, the parents could do nothing to change it.
"ROAR~~"
Dragging their heavily bruised, exhausted bodies, the parents gave a low rumble, signaling Zack to follow them back to the safety of the den. They had already been starving for days before the fight; now, carrying severe lacerations and drained of all energy, it was uncertain how long it would take them to recover.
Zack watched them slide into the shadows of the cave, his eyes tracking their ragged breathing. He remained silent for a long time. He understood that with his big brother gone and his parents heavily injured, the responsibility of providing for the family fell squarely on his shoulders.
As the sun began to climb, while his parents slept off their exhaustion, Zack turned and trotted out of the cave alone, his stride firm and determined.
He was going to hunt.
*******************************************
Far away on the slopes of Mount Elbert, James had no idea his old home had just been turned upside down.
In fact, over the past week, he had been formulating a tactical plan of his own: to march back to the border and eliminate that troublesome Xenosmilus pair once and for all. He remembered how they had tracked him when he briefly returned to the family territory; they harbored an absolute hatred for him and his family.
Even though James had moved on, those two cats remained a constant, lethal threat to Zack and Zoe. His parents lacked the build to execute them cleanly, making James the perfect candidate for the job. Plus, the Gene Points from two prime apex predators would be an incredible payout.
As for the execution method, James already had a strategy in mind.
A pitfall trap.
With his current stats, taking on two coordinated, adult Xenosmilus in an open field was still a high-stakes gamble. Using a bit of environmental assistance was only logical.
"ROAR~~"
That morning, James set out toward his old borders. This time, he wasn't alone; his entourage followed closely behind—the Giant Beaver and Aurora. The two subordinates still had a habit of bickering, requiring James to occasionally drop a heavy paw between them to keep the peace.
By midday, the familiar riverbeds and ridges of his youth came into view.
"A little over a month," James thought, surveying the old timber. " I'm back."
His parents' den wasn't far from here, and he fully intended to swing by and check on their status after the job was done. He wondered if their hunting success had improved, and how much Zack and Zoe had grown in his absence.
As they waded through a shallow creek, a sparse patch of juniper bushes appeared ahead—the boundary marker between his family's land and the Xenosmilus territory.
Before James could begin his scout, a heavy, round shape burst through the foliage ahead. It was a Californian Tapir (Tapirus californicus), running for its absolute life.
Just behind the tapir, a familiar yellow silhouette was giving chase, straining to close the gap. But the difference in speed was too vast. The four-legged tapir twisted and pivoted through the dense brush with surprising agility, leaving the trailing predator eating dust.
The tapir looked back, and seeing that its pursuer had given up the chase in exhaustion, it gave a smug, victorious grunt.
"ROAR!!"
An instant later, a deafening roar exploded from the flank.
The tapir's body stiffened in terror. Before it could swing its snout around, James launched his compact, heavy frame from the brush, flattening the animal into the dirt. His reinforced claws dug deep into its shoulders, anchoring it instantly.
The tapir was pinned like a prisoner in stocks; its frantic struggles only served to drive James's weight deeper into its lungs. James didn't give it room to breathe, driving his sabers through the throat to end the struggle cleanly.
---
[DING! Host killed a Californian Tapir. Gene Points +25.]
---
The system notification chimed in his mind, but James ignored it completely.
His gaze was locked entirely on the exhausted silhouette that had been chasing the tapir initially.
If his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, that scrawny, heavy-breathing cat standing just twenty meters away was his younger brother ~ Zack.