Erik stared down into the Black Jaws canyon, completely mesmerized by the size of the white monster below.

The giant bear was tearing huge chunks of meat from the dead walrus with terrifying force.

"Don’t look at its teeth." Erik whispered, forcing his own hands to stop trembling as he unslung his iron musket. "Even if Ragnar says its fat is thick, nothing can survive a concentrated volley of firepower."

After hearing such words, Kjetil let out a whimpering gasp from the dirt next to them.

"You are going to get us all killed..." Kjetil hissed, "I told you, weapons only make the ghost angry. We need to leave right now... We can find food somewhere else!"

"Shut up!" Erik snapped softly, "There is no ’somewhere else.’ Look at the beach! There are dozens of giant sea-cows just sleeping on the sand. That is a mountain of meat. The only thing standing between us and a warm feast is that oversized, overgrown dog."

Though Erik sounded confident, a small bead of cold sweat ran down his neck.

The giant white bear was standing on its hind legs now, sniffing the freezing wind.

It was incredibly tall... easily over ten feet high.

"It knows we are here, Erik." Halig swallowed hard, bringing his musket up to his shoulder.

"Then we don’t give it a chance to climb up here," Erik said. He turned his head slightly to look back at the exhausted musketeers crouching in the snow behind the ridge.

As such, the soldiers quickly crawled forward, pressing their bellies against the rock. They formed a long, horizontal line along the top of the cliff, overlooking the black sand beach below.

"Listen to me, boys." Erik whispered down the line, "Do not aim for the head. The skull is sloped and too thick. Aim straight for the center of mass... Aim for the chest and the shoulders! We hit it all at once, and we turn that white coat to bloody ribbons!"

The men took deep breaths, trying to steady their starving bodies. They pressed the wooden stocks into their shoulders, squinting down the long iron barrels at the massive beast below.

Down on the black sand, the giant polar bear dropped back down onto all four of its massive paws.

It took a slow step toward the cliff face, its dark eyes locking onto Erik’s position.

"It’s looking right at me..." a young musketeer whimpered, his barrel shaking wildly.

"Hold your fire!" Erik commanded, keeping his own sights lined up on the bear’s broad chest. "Wait for my mark! Wait for it..."

The giant bear opened its bloody jaws, preparing to let out a roar to challenge the intruders.

"NOW! FIRE!" Erik roared at the top of his lungs.

A massive flash of bright orange fire lit up the top of the ridge, followed instantly by a choking cloud of smelly white sulfur smoke.

The lead balls ripped through the air, raining down toward the black sand beach like a deadly iron storm.

Erik peered through the thick white smoke, expecting to see the giant bear completely shredded and lifeless in the dirt.

Lying right next to the bear were dozens of massive, incredibly timid walruses.

"Arghhhh! No! No! No!" Erik suddenly screamed, his eyes widening.

The deafening thunder of the guns had terrified the herd of giant sea-beasts. The walruses, who had been peacefully sleeping on the black sand, instantly woke up in a state of blind panic.

They let out loud, barking honks, thrashing their blubbery bodies around.

"They are moving!" Halig yelled, dropping his musket and grabbing his head. "Erik! The meat is running away!"

The massive beasts, completely spooked by the loud explosions, threw themselves toward the crashing ocean waves.

Despite their enormous, fat bodies, they moved surprisingly fast when they were terrified. They slid on their bellies across the black sand, completely ignoring the giant bear and the men on the ridge.

*Splash!*

*Splash!*

One by one, the massive mountains of meat dove headfirst into the dark water of the northern sea.

"Shoot them! Shoot the sea-cows!" Erik roared, completely forgetting about the bear.

He reached for his powder pouch with shaking hands. "Don’t let them get in the water! Damnit, reload!"

But it was too late... reloading took twenty seconds. By the time the Iron Kingdom soldiers could bite off their paper cartridges, the entire walrus herd had escaped into the ocean depths.

The raging waves swallowed them up, leaving behind nothing but the empty black sand and a few scattered traces.

"Fuck!!" Halig cursed at the top of his lungs, throwing his empty musket into the snow. "We scared our own fucking dinner into the ocean!"

Afterward, a devastating silence fell over the men on the ridge.

"It’s gone..." Erik whispered, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"King Erik..." a musketeer suddenly whispered, his voice trembling as he pointed a shaking finger down into the canyon. "The... the bear."

Erik snapped out of his depression. He quickly grabbed his broadsword and looked down at the spot where the giant white ghost had been standing.

The snow and black sand were heavily churned up. Dozens of lead bullets had smashed into the dirt around the area.

But the giant polar bear was nowhere to be seen...

"Where did it go?" Halig asked, quickly drawing his mace and looking around the empty beach. "Did we kill it? Did it fall into the water with the walruses?"

"No..." Kjetil whimpered from the ground. The hunter was staring straight down the rock face of the cliff right below them. "It didn’t run away... it is coming."

As such, Erik leaned over the edge of the ridge, looking down the jagged volcanic wall.

He heard it before he saw it. The heavy sound of massive claws digging deep into solid stone.

Through the falling volcanic ash, Erik saw the monster.

A few of the heavy lead balls had grazed its shoulders and buried themselves into its thick layer of fat, matting its white fur with fresh red blood.

But the volley hadn’t hit its heart or its thick skull. It had only accomplished one thing. It had made the beast incredibly angry...

The giant polar bear was climbing the cliff face directly toward them.

"Reload! Erik screamed, stumbling backward away from the edge of the cliff and raising his mace.

A massive white paw slammed onto the snowy ridge right in front of them, shattering the rock underneath it.

The giant bear hauled its body over the edge, blocking the sunlight and casting a dark shadow over the soldiers.

Halig backed up, his mace raised.