A pair of white mutant sabertooths!
James's pupils contracted slightly. As his gaze locked onto the dominant male of the pair, a wave of genuine astonishment crossed his mind.
Throughout his entire journey, this was the first time he had encountered a wild sabertooth carrying such monstrous physical proportions.
The standard dimensional scale for a mature *Smilodon fatalis* typically ranged from 2 to 2.3 meters in length, with a body mass swinging between 160 and 280 kilograms.
Yet, the massive white-coated tiger standing before him cleared an estimated length of 2.5 meters, his raw weight easily tracking close to 300 kilograms!
Without question, this was an undisputed king of their lineage.
By comparison, James's current physical layout was visibly a notch smaller than this northern king; his length had not yet crossed 2.3 meters, and his mass sat right at the 250-kilogram mark.
The environmental variables dictating such extreme growth were straightforward: abundant resources and intense climate pressures.
The rich wildlife concentrations surrounding the Alaskan range provided an endless supply of high-fat nutrients during the tiger's growth cycle. Furthermore, this tiger had likely spent his entire development within the high, freezing slopes of Mount McKinley. Under the stimulus of those extreme sub-arctic conditions, his skeletal frame had expanded to break past the standard limits of his species.
It was this precise physical advantage that allowed him to dominate the northern tracks.
"ROAR~~"
The king sabertooth fixed his gaze on James, his green eyes shifting between confusion and intense fury.
The massive tiger could instantly sense that James's scent signature did not belong to this mountain area.
An interloper had breached his range!
James maintained a guarded stance, observing the tiger with deep concentration. This was the very first time an opponent of his own kind had projected such immense physical pressure against him.
Suddenly, his eyes pinned a grim detail: clamped firmly within the king's jaws was the lifeless body of a small cub—this must be the offspring of the slaughtered pair he had encountered down the path.
"ROAR~~"
"REOW~~"
Behind his shoulders, Aurora and the cheetah closed the distance. The moment their senses registered the staggering scale of the white tuger, visible signs of alarm and hesitation altered their posture.
"ROAR~~"
James emitted a low, structural grunt, ordering his companions to maintain their distance and hold their positions clear of the path.
"ROAR!!"
Closing the gap to a hundred meters, the white tiger came to a heavy halt, casually dropping the mangled cub onto the frozen turf.
He bared his massive jaws, exposing his long sabers as his hot breath misted against the low alpine brush. His thick, heavily muscled limbs locked against the earth .
Unsheathing his front claws to anchor his weight into the soil, the short tail behind his flanks twitched with rapid kinetic energy—the universal preparatory stance for a Smilodon launching an assault.
The white tiger locked his gaze onto James, unleashing a deep, thundering roar that carried a natural, bone-chilling authority across the slope.
As a member of the same genus, James understood the intent behind that vocalization instantly.
The king had just issued a declaration of war!
"ROAR!!"
In an instant, the hot blood of combat pride surged through James's torso, completely clearing any trace of caution.
His own retaliatory roar erupted across the clearing, ringing out with even greater volume and resonance than the king's challenge!
To cross paths with a matched opponent of his own bloodline was a rare, exhilarating dividend on this long migration.
"ROAR——"
A heartbeat later, the white tiger drove off his hindquarters, launching hi frame forward with the sudden velocity. James refused to concede an inch of ground, accelerating straight down the central lane to meet the charge head-on!
CRASH!!
Lacking any elaborate display, the two apex predators collided with pure kinetic fury.
At the exact millisecond of impact, both titans reared onto their hind legs, uncoiling their thick forelimbs to exchange a massive sequence of paw strikes.
BAM!
A heavy, muffled boom echoed through the stands as their massive paws smashed together, sending a visible shockwave rippling through the low grass.
The pressure of the mutual impact forced both cats to break their balance and step backward. But from that single exchange, James knew the outcome of this dispute was already settled.
Though both had been deflected by the counter-force, the white tiger had been driven significantly further back along the gravel path than James.
The disparity in their underlying power parameters was absolute.
"ROAR!!"
The white tiger staggered back several paces before managing to lock his limbs and stabilize his heavy frame.
When he snapped his head back up, his green eyes were clouded with pure rage and dark disbelief.
He had never anticipated being physically overpowered by a sabertooth that was visibly younger and smaller than himself. Driven to madness by the failure of his initial routine, he emitted a terrifying, ear-splitting screech.
An instant later!
The white tiger launched a secondary assault, determined to validate his position as the true sovereign of the McKinley tracks.
Backed by a massive surge of confidence, James met the incoming momentum without a trace of hesitation.
The two giant carnivores locked into a brutal melee. James's reinforced claws sliced cleanly across the king's shoulder, instantly carving deep, bleeding furrows through his white coat.
The king countered with equal fury, driving his own talons hard against James's chest.
But the moment his claws made contact, the white tiger felt as though he had struck a block of solid mountain granite. The surface was so incredibly dense and unyielding that his sharp claws couldn't penetrate a single layer.
This left the tiger stunned. Driven by wild desperation, he attempted to force a mutual trade of injuries, doubling down on his offensive.
Yet, the outcome remained non-negotiable; his prized weaponry couldn't even break the outer layers of the golden tiger's hide.
The white tigers's confidence fractured completely.
"What kind of an unnatural monster am I fighting?"
Sensing the precise moment the tiger's momentum faltered, he shifted his body with supreme agility. Tightening his hindquarters, he reared his torso up once more, the thick veins across his muscle sheets bulging with immense pressure as he launched a rapid, relentless barrage of strikes toward the king's skull.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Deploying a flawless left-right sequence, James treated the tiger like a static training weight, delivering a massive succession of high-velocity paw strikes.
The tiger managed to parry the initial movements, but his defensive routines collapsed under the sheer speed of the onslaught. The heavy slaps distorted his features, sending blood flying from his jaws, until one of his worn sabers snapped in half under the immense pressure, the white ivory flying clear of his lips.
The crushing force left his head ringing with severe concussion. He had never experienced strikes carrying this level of force, feeling as though his very cranium were fracturing under the weight of the blows.
In a single flash, the king's desire for combat vanished entirely. Terrified of the golden tiger, he attempted to swivel his shoulders and execute a rapid retreat.
But James refused to grant him an exit lane. He closed the distance instantly, utilizing the massive weight of his thick forelimbs to slam the white tiger flat into the frozen dirt, locking him down completely.
Dark blood flowed freely from the king's brow, staining his remaining saber as his pupils dilated with failing focus.
He had not only lost his dominance over the mountain pass; he was about to lose his life.
Faced with immediate threat, the tiger's calculated composure dissolved into frantic, uncoordinated panic. He kicked his rear legs wildly against the stones, straining every muscle group to break the vacuum of James's hold.
Operating with the cold finality of an executioner, James drove his jaws downward, clamping onto the king's neck. His long, sabers punctured the thick skin and muscle, sinking deep into the tissue until they made contact with the underlying cervical vertebrae.
"ROAR!!"
At that exact millisecond, the white female, who had remained on the margins of the clearing, unleashed a furious scream, launching her own mass into the lane to breach the combat grid.