Among all the races in Terra, the Ursus were undisputed in terms of raw combat power.
Every Ursus male was born a warrior, their bloodline granting them immense strength and resilience. It made them proud, often to the point of arrogance, looking down on weaker races. To them, only their own kind were worthy opponents. Being challenged by an outsider was an insult they had never suffered.
Kate tilted his head slightly, eyes locked on the towering Ursus gang boss.
"Is the power of you Ursus people just standing there doing nothing?"
The man's eyes widened, veins bulging on his forehead.
"Ahh!!!"
The next second, he roared and lunged forward.
"I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART!"
Drawing the massive sword from his back, he stomped forward. Over two meters tall, he rushed at Kate like a runaway freight train.
Yoren felt the ground tremble beneath him.
"Kate, be careful!"
When the Ursus giant was just two meters away, he raised his sword high, ready to bring it down with devastating force.
At the very last moment, Kate moved.
There was a flicker of cold intent in his eyes as he stepped forward, his calloused hand shooting out like a viper.
His palm met the Ursus man's face.
A crack split the air. The massive man's momentum came to an instant, unnatural stop.
BOOM!
The ground beneath them exploded. Cracks spiderwebbed outward as the force of the impact drove the Ursus leader's entire upper body into the earth.
Chunks of rock and dust shot into the air. The blood splatter was immediate.
When the debris finally settled, Kate calmly pulled his hand from the wreckage and shook off the blood. The Ursus gang boss lay motionless, his head buried in the shattered ground.
Dead. Motionless.
The silence was deafening.
The surrounding Ursus gang members stood frozen, eyes locked on the corpse of their leader, as if their brains had yet to register what had just happened in front of them.
To them, the outcome had been obvious. That scrawny Vaifan should have been cut down in an instant, or at the very least forced to roll out of harm's way.
Instead, with a single hand, Kate had ended it all in a heartbeat.
The stunned silence broke with a howl of rage.
"He killed the boss! GET HIM!"
Weapons were drawn. The remaining Ursus gang members surged forward, their roars echoing through the barren landscape.
Despite witnessing Kate's terrifying strength, they still believed in their numbers. No matter how strong one fighter was, he couldn't possibly stand against dozens.
Kate didn't move. Instead, he glanced at Yoren and called out.
"Yoren, get back to the truck. I've got this."
"You're handling this alone?"
Kate narrowed his eyes.
"Didn't I just say I had something to prove to you?"
Ten minutes later.
Kate knelt on the bloodstained snow, one hand bracing against the ground as he gasped for breath.
One of his eyes was swollen shut, blood trickling from a deep cut. His back bore two vicious, crisscrossing wounds, and his other hand dripped crimson onto the frozen earth.
Around him lay over thirty bodies. Some twitched in their final moments, others were still. The snow, once pristine, was now painted red.
Only one Ursus remained alive, barely.
The dying man's body trembled as he forced his lips to move.
"You… who are you…?"
Kate exhaled slowly, ignoring the pain lancing through his body. He sat down with a tired grunt and pulled out a cigarette.
He lit it, took a deep drag, and let the smoke curl into the freezing air.
"Ever heard of the Glasgow Gang?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the Ursus man's pupils shrank in horror.
"You… Are you… Vina?"
Kate let out a low chuckle. "Heh, no. Vina's our boss, and she's a woman. Me? I'm just a small-time nobody."
The Ursus man coughed, blood bubbling at the corner of his lips. Still, there was a strange sense of peace in his expression.
As if dying by the hands of Glasgow was something he could accept.
"Why… would a famous international gang be here…?"
Kate smirked. "You even need to ask? Money, obviously."
The Ursus man let out a weak, breathy chuckle. "Heh… yeah… that's real gangster…"
His eyes slid shut.
He never opened them again.
Yoren sat in the truck, watching the entire fight unfold before him.
His impression of Kate shifted entirely.
He had always thought of him as the easygoing one, the guy who cracked jokes and played it cool. But after witnessing the massacre, there was only one way to describe him:
A god of war.
There had been no elaborate techniques, no fancy maneuvers. Just raw, brutal efficiency. Every punch was meant to kill. Every movement was calculated. Kate had faced down a force ten times his own and emerged standing, his enemies in pieces around him.
Before, Yoren had believed the Glasgow Gang's fearsome reputation rested on the shoulders of Vina and Indra. Now, he wasn't so sure.
Watching Kate fight, he realized something.
The only reason Snowsant's defense had seemed impenetrable before wasn't because Vina and Kate weren't strong enough to break it.
It was because Snowsant's backpack was just that unreasonably tough.
If he removed her from the equation, it was undeniable—the Glasgow Gang's core fighters were among the deadliest warriors in Terra.
And it wasn't by accident.
They weren't a club. They weren't some social group. They were a gang. A real one. Their entire survival depended on their ability to fight and win. Their numbers were small, but each member had carved their way through death itself to earn their place.
That was why Vina was so cautious. She could flip battles against impossible odds, she could stomach watching her comrades fall in combat…
But against Oripathy, she was powerless.
Watching her people waste away, knowing she couldn't save them—that was the one enemy she couldn't fight.
That was why she had to be careful.
Yoren exhaled. The sky was getting darker.
Kate flicked away his cigarette and shouted toward the truck.
"Yoren! Why the hell are you still hiding in there?! Get out here and help me! This hurts like hell!"
Yoren blinked, snapping out of his thoughts.
"Got it!"
Yoren opened the truck door and rushed over to help Kate up.
"Kate, your injuries—"
"Nothing serious. Just some surface wounds. I pushed myself too hard back there. Just need a breather."
"But your eye—"
Kate grinned, waving a hand dismissively. "Eh, just rubbed it wrong. A little gauze and I'll be good as new."
Seeing that Kate wasn't just putting on a brave face, Yoren nodded and let it go.
After a brief rest, the two secured the vehicle, activated the communicator, and reached out to Vina.
"Vina, this is Kate. The car's hidden. Where are you now?"
"What took you so long?"
"Had a little trouble. Took care of it."
"We're in A6, near a run-down church. Get here fast."
"On our way."
15 minutes later.
Following the map, Yoren and Kate arrived in Block A6, quickly spotting the church Vina had mentioned.
The structure was distinctly Ursus in design. Though its walls had been battered by time and disaster, traces of once-grand murals still clung to the stone.
Stepping inside, Yoren immediately spotted Vina and the others resting.
"Vina, we're here."
Vina strode toward them, her sharp gaze locking onto Kate's wounds.
"Kate, what happened?"
Kate stretched his arms, still casual. "Ran into a local Ursus gang while parking the car. Seems like it's not just us and the military—other scavengers want a piece of this pie."
Vina's eyes narrowed. "It's dealt with?"
"Not a single one left."
She didn't look surprised. If anything, she had expected it.
Yoren, meanwhile, stood near the church entrance, scanning the ruins outside. Some shop signs still clung to buildings, their faded names barely legible.
He closed his eyes for a moment. It wasn't hard to imagine the lively streets of Mandel City, 27 years ago, filled with people instead of silence and decay.
Kate turned to Vina. "Find anything?"
"No traces of other groups yet. Looks like we're the first here."
"What's the next move?"
Vina knelt, spreading a map on the floor. Everyone immediately gathered around.
"Mandel City is structured like an irregular five-pointed star," she began. "There are five outer districts—A, B, C, D, and E—extending from the main city. A river cuts through the center, dividing it into North and South. That makes seven total districts."
The group studied the map, committing the layout to memory.
"Right now, we're in Block A6," Vina continued. "It's the closest point to our vehicle and our primary escape route. If anything goes wrong, take this street south. It leads straight to the hill where we parked."
She paused, scanning the faces around her. "Everyone got that?"
"Got it."
The group answered in unison.
Yoren, still processing, spoke up. "Where are we heading next?"
Vina pointed to the northern edge of the map.
"Almost everyone, including us, the Ursus military, and any other scavengers, will be entering from the south. That means they'll start in Districts A and B. But gathering Originium is a slow, complicated process. We can't afford to get caught up in competition here. We're moving here."
Yoren followed her finger. "City E?"
"Exactly. The northernmost district. It was Mandel City's slums. Fewer buildings mean a clearer view of Originium clusters. If we collect enough without interference, we grab our haul and slip away before anyone notices."
Yoren swallowed. "And… if we do run into someone?"
Vina's expression didn't waver. "If it's a small group, don't hesitate. Kill them. Take their Originium."
Yoren hesitated. "Just… kill them?"
Vina stepped closer, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Yoren, does that sound cruel to you? Don't be naive. If we don't kill them, they'll try to kill us. There are no rules here—no laws, no morality. If we want to leave with what we came for, we can't give the enemy a chance."
Yoren exhaled slowly, nodding. He understood. He had seen too many people die because they hesitated when they shouldn't have.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder—had Vina always been this ruthless? Or had she learned the hard way, suffering for past indecision?
In a world of disasters and high-stakes scavenging, this was survival. Nothing more.
A thought crossed his mind. "Vina, what if we run into the Ursus military?"
She folded the map and met his gaze.
"This may be the borderlands, but it's still Ursus territory. Originium is a national resource—they won't let outsiders take even a fraction of it. If I had to guess, the first thing they'll do when they arrive isn't mining… it's wiping out every 'thief' in this city."
Yoren's stomach clenched. "So what do we do if we see them?"
Vina's voice was cold. "Simple. We kill them."
She glanced at him one more time. "The syringe—is it safe?"
Yoren patted his inner pocket. "I have it. I know how important it is. I won't lose it."
Vina's lips curled into a rare smile. "Good. But listen, Yoren—you don't have to die protecting it. That syringe is for saving a Glasgow brother. You're one of us, too. An important partner. Your life matters more than the syringe."
There was no hesitation in her words. No hollow reassurance. Just quiet sincerity.
For the first time, Yoren realized—Vina already saw him as a true member of Glasgow.
"Vina..."
And what could he do for her in return?
As he met her gaze, something inside him shifted.
He didn't care about Originium profits. He didn't care whether the mission succeeded or failed.
This world should have followed its predetermined course. But because of him, everything was changing.
He ran a hand over the precious syringe through his clothes.
He couldn't save everyone.
But he could make damn sure that Vina never got infected.
No matter the cost.