The world tilted in that instant.
Not from the bear's charge—
But from the collapse of control.
"Move!"
The roar came not from the beast—
But from Colin.
High above, on the cliff, Colin's eyes had already abandoned the deer.
Five thousand prey meant nothing now.
There was only one variable that mattered—
The Frostclaw Bear.
And it was moving far too fast.
"Fox unit—scatter! NOW!" Colin's voice cut through the valley like a blade.
Below, the frozen fox-people snapped out of their terror.
Too late to run together.
So they ran apart.
Instinct—raw, desperate—took over.
The bear slammed into where they had been a heartbeat before.
"BOOM!"
The ground exploded.
Mud, blood, shattered bones—everything was thrown into the air.
One fox-man wasn't fast enough.
A claw the size of a shield caught him mid-turn—
There was no scream.
Only a wet, crushing sound.
Panic spread faster than fire.
Not just among the fox-people—
But through everyone.
The deer herd, already in chaos, fractured completely.
Instead of a single torrent, it split into dozens of frantic streams.
Some still forced toward the valley exit.
Others crashed blindly into the cliffs.
Some—
Turned back.
"Hold the line! HOLD—!"
Haske's command broke halfway.
Because even he—
Felt it.
That primal, suffocating pressure.
This was no prey.
This was something else entirely.
The Frostclaw Bear charged again.
This time—
Toward the werewolves.
It didn't choose.
It didn't hesitate.
Anything that moved—
Was a target.
"Break formation!" Colin's third command came instantly. "Do NOT engage it!"
That order—
Saved lives.
The werewolves scattered just as the bear crashed into their position.
A moment too slow—
And Goff would have been crushed.
He rolled through blood-soaked mud, barely escaping as a claw tore through where his torso had been.
"Chief!" Haske shouted upward, fury and fear colliding in his voice. "We'll lose everything!"
Colin didn't answer immediately.
Because he was calculating.
The hunt.
The herd.
The terrain.
The traps.
The bear.
All variables.
All shifting.
All lethal.
Then—
His eyes sharpened.
"Change of plan!"
His voice rang again, louder than the chaos.
"Use it."
Below, confusion flickered across faces.
Colin pointed—directly at the rampaging beast.
"That thing—"
His voice dropped, cold and absolute.
"—is now our hammer."
Understanding didn't come all at once.
But for warriors who lived by instinct—
It came fast enough.
"Drive the herd through it!" Colin commanded. "Turn the stampede back!"
Risk?
Certain death.
But staying like this—
Was also death.
Haske bared his teeth.
Madness lit his eyes.
Then he laughed.
"YOU HEARD HIM!" he roared. "TURN THEM! TURN THEM BACK!"
The werewolves moved again.
Not toward safety—
But sideways.
Circling.
Cutting.
Biting.
Not to kill—
But to redirect.
Anna sprinted along the flank, her blade flashing—not at throats, but at legs—forcing deer to veer.
Goff howled, a deep, commanding sound, driving panic in a new direction.
Even the boar-men above resumed their assault, smashing rocks not downward—
But diagonally—
Closing escape routes.
The herd shifted.
Slowly—
Then violently.
Like a river forced into a new channel.
And at its center—
The Frostclaw Bear turned.
It saw movement.
More movement.
Endless movement.
Its rage found a perfect target.
The bear roared—
And charged straight into the densest part of the herd.
What followed—
Was no longer hunting.
It was annihilation.
Deer were thrown into the air like broken dolls.
Bones shattered.
Blood sprayed in arcs across the mist.
The tight formation collapsed completely under the combined chaos of traps, predators—
And now—
A living catastrophe.
At the narrow valley entrance, the fox traps turned deadly.
Trapped deer couldn't flee.
Stampeding deer couldn't stop.
And the bear—
Didn't need to choose.
From above, Colin watched it all unfold.
Perfectly imperfect.
Controlled chaos.
Not clean.
Not efficient.
But devastating.
"Now…" he murmured.
This—
Was enough.
He raised his arm—
Preparing the next signal.
Because this hunt—
Was no longer about survival.
It was about how much they could take—
Before everything collapsed completely.