Despite the show and method of the display the lost figure put forward, the menace of the crude, pointed spears, the apparent observer turned stalker was not dissuaded. If anything the act of burrowing incited a sense of attentiveness to it, the to point it dropped to a low creep, even at a distance and at a skewed angle. It was neither directly from behind it neared closer yet nor was it from the side; the motion was not conscious, rather an instinctual understanding of the blind spot most prey things had. Unbeknownst to it, the quarry was no conventional prey item who had a wide field of view, but this method would not have varied much either. After all, most anything short of the large porcupine or glyptodon, was most vulnerable at such a point.

Slinking along, pausing only now and then to observe, it came closer still almost to the base of the snow shrouded tree, but mere feet away. With no moonlight through the obscuring environment, not that it would have helped much, it was a ghost in the darkness which balanced upon delicate albeit broad feet. Both ears now sleek to its leonine head, it held its position for a few tense moments as the snow continued to build into a mound around the dug out, backed by the shield. It was then, creeping about the side of the tree, it launched its attack from behind the shoulder.

The round base of the large, old pine prevented a direct attack from the rear, but as with any lion or its relatives this meant very, very little. If anything, it changed nothing at all in fact. The first thing the prehistoric felid did was drive its head around, jaws first toward the side of the neck, but turned it back inward so it was hooked and straight toward the throat; this was measurably timed with the outer paw reaching in to try and find purchase upon the chest. This method of biting would tuck itself to beneath the prey item's chin, shielding the most sensitive and vulnerable parts of the hunter while giving the defending beast little means to do anything but attack the thick, muscular neck or incredibly dense skull, if it even had recourse at all. Several millions of years of evolution had refined this tactic which naturally kept the cat away from what were usually crushing forelegs' hooves or spearing horns and led directly to their usual method of killing by suffocation.

The paw however had a different purpose, to act as an anchor and cement a hold, splaying with terribly vicious talons that were curved like fishhooks; the moment one should catch, the cat could clench and drive them in with a tensing. At such a point one of only a few things tended to happen, either they were affixed to the flesh, tore violently free by the ensuing struggle and creating deep wounds, or at times became stuck - much too hooked or sharp for their own good and often at the hands of an inexperienced cat. Regardless of the ultimate case or outcome the only more dangerous weapon were the teeth punctuating the bite; not that the claws which could flay hide were not bad enough, but the crushing, piercing jaws were unmatched.

Teeth, with nearly two-thousand pounds of bite force per square inch, put their pointed ends to the outsider they held in peril; more than enough to pulverize a femur in one single gnash, aimed at what might well have been the most vulnerable point of an entire human being.

The rest of the cat, seemingly somewhat lost in the snowdrift at the base of the tree were it not for the fact it was pushing aside the cold mounds, balanced upon its three remaining legs and weighed its mass out with its long tail. Already balanced to drag back the moment paw and or jaw found their mark, it was not about to let its quarry dig deeper into its burrow to escape. Most things that tended to do so were unpleasant, often biting at the cat's paws or worse, inflicting a painful quill or jet of burning, stinking chemical odor to drive it off. If it were going to eat, its prey drive having been sufficiently stimulated, it intended to act fast, something even the grace of winter in this odd place could not stop. After all, the sole thing more powerful or talented than it was more a finesse hunter with a far more fatal bite...