Dawn mist clung to the Frostmoss Tundra like boiling milk as Xu Qing crouched beneath newly erected mine scaffolding. His claws absently scored frozen oxhide ropes - strength tripled in three days, now crushing fist-sized ice chunks barehanded.
"Whitefang! Ironblood's Frostbone Legion approaches!" Snowclaw stumbled into the cavern, darkfire-lensed goggles frosted. "Two hundred plate-armored warriors!"
Xu Qing's pupils narrowed to slits. Memories of armored infantry tactics from his past life surfaced. He retrieved his "darkfire journal" (bearhide-bound with weapon schematics), fingertips brushing "steam catapult" designs. "Tell Elder: gather warriors at Icecleft Chasm. Have elders mix darkfire powder into snow bricks at north bank."
Snowclaw blinked. "But Ironblood comes from southwest trade route—"
"They'll detour." Xu Qing's voice held glacial certainty. "Frostbone is Ironblood's 'Glacier Spear' - he'll crush our tribe head-on." Removing goggles revealed azure-lit eyes. "Circle slag heaps thrice. Leave 'wolf retreat' tracks."
Frosthorn watched sunlight glint on approaching bone-plate armor - a moving glacier. His staff's darkfire crystal glowed - Xu Qing's "proximity alarm" activated at five-mile range.
"Elder, warriors wait at chasm," Ironclaw growled. "But Whitefang's 'divine traps'—"
*BOOM.* Blue smoke erupted from Icecleft's south bank. Frosthorn roared: "Bone whistles! Southwest flanking maneuver!" Warriors sped across ice on grease-treated hides - Xu Qing's "glide-step" technique doubling mobility.
Frostbone's warhammer cracked glacial sheets. Tracking wolf prints, he heard ice groaning overhead. "Halt!" Ice walls collapsed, darkfire-laced snow burying his troops. Blue powder seeped armor joints, sizzling against skin - Xu Qing's "scorch-powder" (darkfire shards + wolfsbane) igniting at body heat.
"Northwest retreat!" Frostbone's command drowned as twenty Whiteclaw scouts emerged from crevasses. Ice-coated nets entangled armored ankles. Glazed terrain became death trap - plate-armored warriors skewered allies in falls.
Xu Qing observed from snowdrift, vulpine-earmuffs amplifying Frostbone's curses. His enhanced hearing (emerging last night) tracked every word. Darkfire grenades (hide-wrapped shards + ice shrapnel) hung at his belt.
"Loose!" Ten grenades arced. Blue flames ignited fish-oil sealed armor collars. Screams shook glacial walls.
Flame-scorched Frostbone spotted the frail figure on the ridge - Whitefang refracting Frostwolf Totem through darkfire crystal. Ironblood morale shattered. Warriors knelt pleading.
Twenty prisoners bound by firepit. Xu Qing traced cracks in Frostbone's armor: "Know why your plate failed? Ice God deems greedy armor becomes coffins."
Frostbone spat blood. "Darkfire witchcraft—"
"Witchcraft?" Xu Qing raised glowing shard. "Blessings for those revering tundra." His whisper cut deep. "Think your Chieftain sent you for ore?" He ripped command token from prisoner's belt. "No reinforcements when Sunderblade fell."
Frostbone's eyes widened. Xu Qing pressed reindeer hide map into his palm: "Escape via underground rivers. Three days hence... aurora opens Divine Retribution Pass."
Frosthorn studied interrogation logs marked with scout symbols. Human script concluded: "Sabotage Meltwater Gulch supply lines."
"Explain this." Frosthorn tapped alien text. "And how you knew Frostbone's succession strife?"
Xu Qing fumbled darkfire shards. "Overheard Ironblood guards..." He pointed triangular marks. "Caravan route symbols—"
Frosthorn seized his wrist. Blue veins now formed claw patterns reaching elbows. More alarming - Xu Qing's body temperature ran two degrees below normal bears.
"Whitefang." Frosthorn's voice rumbled like subglacial rivers. "Your father's last words: 'Where firebird falls, tundra splits.'" He produced metallic wreckage. "Thirty winters past... indentations match your claws."
Xu Qing's pulse raced - crash memories echoing. Spiral patterns on wreckage recalled Old Knife's "rift resonance" theories. Kneeling, he confessed: "The crevasse... glowing stones... let me hear tundra's breath. But they curse—"
"Build catapults tomorrow." Frosthorn stored the artifact. "Darkfire payloads outranging bone javelins." Gazing at stars, he added: "Monster or star-spawn - survive first. Judgement comes after."
Xu Qing etched improved schematics in snow: triple bear-tendon cords, ice-runner bases, darkfire-resonant slings. Warriors gasped as he carved wood with claw-knives (now two-inch blades).
Ironclaw's kick met air. "Really hurl three hundred paces?"
Xu Qing cowered, pointing distant drift. "Watch—" The modified catapult *twanged*. Darkfire snowball exploded blue fury across tundra.
As warriors recoiled, Xu Qing saw his elongated shadow - human posture with bear claws. Whitening ear-tips confirmed "Whitefang" fading, the helicopter-crash soul merging with bear-flesh through darkfire's glow.
Across tundra, Frostbone's retreat map spread among Ironblood ranks. None knew "Aurora's Judgement" marked darkfire mine collapse zone. When reinforcements arrived, they'd face no wolves - but a bearskin-clad human and his ice fortress woven from lies and genius.