Chapter 5848

Jared regarded the charging giant with a single, almost tired glance. He extended his right index finger and, as casually as one might dismiss dust, flicked it toward the advancing bear king.

A crisp snap echoed across the basin, sharper than any bell.

Mid-stride, the Alpha Bear froze, shock widening its molten-silver eyes. It lowered its gaze to its chest as though searching for a reason its heart had turned silent.

There, a hole no wider than a man’s thumb had appeared. The rim shone mirror-smooth, and no blood spilled. Flesh, bone-even the creature’s very spirit-had been erased in an instant by a force beyond mortal grasp.

Thud.

The colossus toppled, kicking up a storm of frost-dust that drifted, sparkling, through the unnatural twilight.

At last, true animal instinct set in. The remaining beasts whimpered, scrambled backward, then broke in every direction -only to find the expanding tai-chi of fire and ice already enclosing them in a merciless ring.