Bite Mark

Boom!

Nordly struck without warning, her shoulder slam like a collapsing mountain. She smashed through a reinforced concrete load-bearing wall, thrust her hand through the rubble, seized a White Fang Gang member by the face, and clenched her fingers.

Before the man could scream, his cheeks were crushed beneath her fingers. Nordly casually yanked back, tearing off his facial skull along with the skin and bone, exposing a steaming brain.

"What the fuck, how are we supposed to fight something like that?!"

The horrific sight sent chills down the spines of even these hardened desperadoes.

Against a group of ordinary people, Nordly's slaughter was far too effortless. She was like a meat grinder—whoever charged at her was ripped apart alive.

Her body was massive, yet she could erupt with cheetah-like speed at any moment. Against ordinary bandits, all it took was a charge, a grab, and a crush. In an instant, her fierce gaze had already settled on the next target.

"Damn bastard—"

Someone finally snapped and raised his gun. Before he could aim, a violent gale of force arrived. Nordly's mountain-like body merely brushed against him, but it was as though he had been hit by a truck. He was sent flying into a wall, his spine shattered, dead on the spot.

The people farther away came to their senses and concentrated their fire on Nordly. But she merely swayed her body and slammed her fists together.

Aura Burst!

Her blazing white aura became tangible, spreading with greater ferocity and speed than high-pressure steam. Before the incoming bullets could reach her body, they were deflected and sent flying by the erupting aura.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat—

Heat and smoke muddled everyone's vision. Bullets poured into the haze without end. No one knew whether they had hit her, but with their lives on the line, they could only keep dumping ammunition.

Click!

The rain of bullets stopped. The bandits ejected their magazines, reloaded, and racked their guns at the fastest speed of their lives. Just as their fingers were about to pull the triggers, a fist the size of a casserole pot, gleaming with white light, suddenly appeared before them.

Whoosh—

After an oddly hollow sound, the gunman's head was knocked clean off and sent flying more than ten meters away. It crashed into the wall behind him and burst with a pop, splattering across the ground like a watermelon.

"Fuck! She's in here!"

Some of the newer recruits were utterly panicked by the scene. Nordly's rapid slaughter had driven them out of their minds. Though they knew she was right beside them, they still instinctively swung their guns around and held down the triggers without letting go.

Nordly merely shifted and turned slightly, allowing the lines of fire to crisscross and sweep freely. In an instant, large numbers of White Fang Bandits were hit by their own comrades' gunfire or by ricocheting bullets, losing their ability to fight.

"Stop shooting—Agh!"

"Stop, stop! If you shoot from this close, we'll all die!"

"Use your pistols, you fucking idiots!"

Yet no matter how they struggled, the fate of these bandits, caught at close quarters by a Martial Artist, had already been decided.

"None of you are getting away!"

Nordly's eyes were bloodshot. Everything these bandit scum had done along the way had completely enraged her.

Robbery, torture, humiliation, bullying female medical staff who could not even defend themselves, even disabled patients...

"Die!"

She shot out both hands, each seizing a bandit by the head. With a fierce forward pull, she ripped out two spines. Wielding one in each hand, she infused the bloody, nerve-wrapped vertebrae with aura and swung them like whips.

Twin Wind Shattering Slash!

Nordly held nothing back, unleashing even her martial arts' ultimate killing move. The two aura-infused spines were swifter than wind and sharper than blades, wildly smashing, whipping, and cleaving through the crowd. The bandits had no way to resist. Packed shoulder to shoulder, they only tried to flee backward, even deliberately shoving their companions to the ground to hinder Nordly's pursuit as they scattered in blind panic.

"You filthy scum! All of you... have to die!"

Nordly was nearly mad with rage. She even abandoned basic defense, forcing her way into the crowd and using the crudest, most primal impacts to break bones and draw screams from the bandits. She ignored every weapon and bullet that pierced her flesh, swinging her spinal whips to lash apart and shatter everything before her.

She raised a spine and smashed it down viciously on someone's crown. The sharp coccyx immediately punched through his skull. Nordly remained unmoved and continued her assault, hooking her fingers into the dead man's eye sockets. Just as she was about to raise the other spine, the crowd before her suddenly parted, opening an empty space.

Nordly saw a pair of lifeless, hollow, emotionless eyes.

Whoosh—Bang!

Before Nordly could react, a shadow slammed into her chest with the savage force of a high-speed train's front end. Even as an Alpha Rank Martial Artist, caught unprepared, she had no way to evade. She could only take the blow head-on. Shadow's feral beast sent her flying, yet even while she was hurled backward, it reached out with claws to tear at her and lowered its head to bite.

Nordly raised a hand to shield her face, landed on one foot, and burst forth with aura to steady herself. Shadow stretched out both arms, bent its elbows, and smashed down with explosive force. Nordly was driven back again and again. Before her rear foot could touch the ground, Shadow rammed her with a shoulder strike, sending her staggering. Both claws shot out, pried apart her defense, and sank its teeth fiercely into her face.

Rip—

Nordly bared her teeth in agony. A chunk of flesh was viciously bitten from her left cheek. The injury disrupted the flow of aura within her body, and she could only raise a hand and strike out with her palm, trying to drive her opponent back and buy time to stabilize her footing.

However, as her palm shot out, Shadow split into three, circling around her defenses from the left, right, and above, striking her ribs, shoulder, and the back of her neck respectively.

"Argh—"

Nordly's pupils contracted. The intense pain and injuries disrupted her breathing, and combined with her unsettled state of mind, the circulation of aura within her body fell into chaos.

For martial artists, nothing was more taboo than an unstable mindset in battle. It was not that they feared losing control of their power; in a fight to the death, victory was not decided by who had superior technique, but by who made fewer mistakes.

The instability in her aura regulation lasted only a beat, but the chain reaction it caused made her movements slightly sluggish.

In less than 0.21 seconds, Shadow's claws broke through the protective aura around her body and plunged into her chest.

Splurt—

Nordly spat out a mouthful of blood. Her lung had been pierced, and a great deal of blood flooded into it, disrupting her breathing. But it was not fatal. She could still fight. As a Martial Artist, she could continue unleashing her strength.

Facing these beasts who trampled on humanity and were unworthy of being called human, she would fight to the bitter end even if it cost her life, and wipe these bastards out completely.

Yet amid the crowd, she saw a girl in an ill-fitting coat, her body covered in wounds.

Dirty bandages were wrapped around the girl. Her body was riddled with bullet holes and burn marks, dark purple corrosion spreading across her skin, while an unsettling stench of rotting corpses wafted from her.

She stood there blankly, her red-and-black eyes like the Esha Clouds blanketing the sky.

"...A patient."

Still so young—her body had not even had time to develop before hunger and bullets destroyed it. She was using her ability, yet she had no awareness of it, neither excited nor afraid, as though the whole world had nothing to do with her.

I'm fighting a child.

A flicker of hesitation arose in Nordly's heart. If she were a warrior, she would have killed the attacking enemy without hesitation.

But she was not truly a warrior. She was merely a Head Nurse in the Nethermark Humanity humanitarian relief organization.

Her raised fist hesitated. She could not even feel the claws piercing into her body.

I have to kill her. She's too dangerous, but how can I kill a child... an infected child?

These scumbags!

I... can't do it.

Nordly realized she could still keep fighting. Even killing this infected girl in a desperate struggle was not impossible.

But if she did that, it would mean betraying the faith that had been instilled in her ever since she was born.

"I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug..."

"Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice and corruption, especially of sexual acts with both female and male persons, whether free or enslaved."

"Whatever I see or hear in the lives of my patients, whether in my professional practice or not, which ought not to be spoken of outside, I will keep secret. If I uphold this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all people in all times; but if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite be my lot."

The Hippocratic Oath she had solemnly recited on the day she joined Nethermark Humanity still echoed in her ears.

How could I lay a hand on a child like this?

The shadowy claws continued to pierce through her, but Nordly loosened her fist.

The girl showed neither sorrow nor joy. She merely stood there blankly until the leader's voice rang out. "Enough, Zonia. Their reinforcements are here. It's time to go."

The girl raised her head slightly. The shadows rapidly withdrew and surged back into her body, while another patch of dark bruising spread across her skin. The rotting-corpse stench from her wounds grew even stronger.

"But, Boss, one more hit and this bitch would be dead." The White Fang Gang thugs still shuddered at Nordly's terrifying combat power.

"So what if she dies?" The leader glanced at the severely wounded Nordly sprawled on the ground. "A seriously wounded person needs at least two people to care for them. Take a guess—would they pour a ton of manpower into treating such valuable combat power? Sometimes the living are more important than the dead. Grab the supplies and the women. We're leaving."

"Boss is wise!" The White Fang Gang thugs suddenly understood. One of them spat at Nordly and raised his middle finger. "You stinking bitch, your girls and your food were good. We'll be back for more next time!"

"Hahaha, we hit the jackpot this time! Medical equipment, prosthetic parts, antibiotics, batteries, and diesel. We'll be able to swagger through the Outland."

"And several pretty little girls too. Tsk, tsk, just not enough to go around. I haven't had my fun yet. Boss, how about we grab a few more..."

"What's the rush?" The leader grabbed Zonia by the neck and tossed her to his men. "Isn't there something right here? Take her and handle it yourselves."

"B-Boss... she stinks..."

Zonia did not react at all. The leader pinched her gaunt cheek, glanced at his men, and said, "You're lucky to have one at all. She's obedient too—she won't resist you. Don't you dare make demands of me. What, have I given you lot too much face or something?"

"N-No, you're right. It's just that the boys haven't had any meat in a long time... Well, if we hold our noses and turn off the lights, it's not impossible."

"Don't... don't try to run..."

Nordly knelt weakly on the ground, her fingers digging into the wall. Her vision grew increasingly blurred, and her eyes dulled.