They're coming. ”

Silence swept everything.

The first bearmen flashed silently out of the dark shadows among the trees, wildlings, their skin stained brown with blood. Their hair is stuck together with dirt. Some were undressed, others were draped in bearskins or rags.

The next to emerge are beasts, mostly bears, varying in size and coat color. There were some species that Udil recognized, and others he had never seen. They were all once beast spirit walkers, now trapped in a ruthless giant bear form. They have long forgotten that they were human.

Then there are the monsters.

They are all eerie mixtures of bears and other creatures, something from legends, nightmares, and folktales. They used to be human, but now they have been completely devoured by the True Beast Spirit, and they have long since lost their normal animal appearance. The largest of them all, a massive bear-like creature, slowly emerged from the woods. Where it should have been its head was a decaying elk skull, surrounded by a mane of black feathers. Its eyes burned with blue fire, and when its mouth opened, a child's face was revealed. Then the child opened his mouth again, spitting out a filthy brown slime. Other nightmare creatures emerged from the woods as it emerged, limping, crawling, and staggering forward.

The bears stood in a messy row opposite Sejuani's army. They didn't put on an offensive stance, they didn't make any noise. They're just waiting.

Udil's breathing slowed, and his trembling turned into a whimsical sway. The pain in the palm of the hand receded. He recognized many souls from the opposite front: students, masters, former oath-bearers. There were clan shamans he knew while drinking, and warriors he knew on the battlefield. They leave little to no sense of self left. Most have forgotten that they were once human. Some have torn their souls apart to the only emotion that is left with the Indomitable Bear Spirit, an infinite self-confidence that borders on rage.

A man emerges from the woods, wearing only a huge crowfeather hood and a bearskin cape. Hunter Lord.

"I'm a bear man. I'm here to send a message to Volibel. He announced loudly.

Udir remembers him a few years ago. He was still called Nazak at the time, and he was a sad boy and an untrained beast walker with great potential. Udil's first student is now the face of the bears. Even as he searched hard and pushed away the magic around him, Udir couldn't hear Nazzak's soul or consciousness. The kid is gone.

It was I who had failed you, Udir thought to himself, but by the time he realized it was too late. Nazzak could hear his heart, no different from shouting.

"You have lived up to the cowardice," the Lord of the Hunt replied to Udir's heart with a roar. "You're torturing yourself. Don't suppress our talent, don't reject its true power. "A gust of wind blew through the snow-covered trees behind him, like a ghostly bell." Why did you summon us, Winterclaw?"

"I ask for the bearman's strength." Sejuani said word for word. "I beg you to fight alongside my tribe, Lord of the Hunt."

The young beast walker turned his head toward Sejuani, his godless eyes motionless in his sockets. "You're asking the wrong person. I'm just communicating Walibell's voice on my behalf. ”

"You are his representative, and I can accept your promise"

"I can't speak for him. I'm just his tool. The Hunter interrupted her. He seemed to be staring into the distance behind Sejuani. "Our Lord walks with us."

Before Udir could see it appear, he felt its power. The voices, the beast spirits in his head, the consciousness that would never linger all began to weaken. Even Sejuani couldn't sense it when she was so close. The irritation and impatience that surrounded her subsided. Wally Bell is here.

In the woods behind Nazzak, huge black-leaved trees crackled and staggered. Taller than a mammoth, it came out of the woods. It is a city of muscles, and each limb that supports it is thicker than a human body. Its ancient, tattered ancient armor was made up of dark metal plates, on which the blood stains from hundreds of battles congealed into a thick layer. On its back and shoulders were many broken weapons, all rusted with age. Half of its face was gone, revealing sparkling bones, teeth, and horns. Strange black blood flowed from its mouth. The four eyes looked unexpectedly ancient, strange, and cold, looking down on Sejuani and Udir.

The incarnation of Spirit Bear approached step by step, like the eye of a quiet storm approaching. Udil's attention was focused on one place. There was no sound left in his head. There are no animals in any way. Nothing was felt. Even Udil's own thoughts were only faint whispers. He could only feel Volibel. Its silence is not the same as that felt by any person or animal. Volibel's consciousness overwhelmingly crushed everything.

Although Sejuani's army was a hundred times outnumbered by the bears, her warriors flinched in front of Volibel. Huge war mammoths, battle-hardened veterans, they've fought men, they've fought trolls, they've fought Skaldvastaya, but now they're all trembling.

The majestic creature in front of her made Sejuani gasp. It never occurred to her that the incarnation of Spirit Bear might personally respond to her call. No matter what value the loser can bring, their owner is a thousand times more than the same.

She crossed her heart in the saddle and stood still in front of Volibel, who was moving slowly. There was no fear on her face, but a flash of ambition.

Udir struggles with silence as he tries to speak, trying to recall stories from his childhood. Some say that even Volibel was once human. A great shaman and beast walker who has given himself completely to Spirit Bear, even enough for it to truly manifest through his body. But now seeing the size of the monster, he suspected that it was unlikely that this thing could be human. Volibell stopped in front of Sejuani, lightning crackling in its back.

Volibel's question flooded Udier's mind and crushed him. Udir felt as if all the words were erupting from his eyeballs, tearing open his fingers and flowing outward.

"Daughter of war, what kind of battle is worth our shot".

The voice echoed through the mouths of every bear and beast walker in the land.

Sejuani had just seen the Lord of the Hunter's eyes roll up, then turn into a puddle of black water, and tilt his head behind him. Now the slender man was speaking in an avalanche-like voice, like a thunderstorm grabbing his throat and turning himself into words. But what really surprised the War Mother was that she heard Udir whispering the same question.