Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 100 - 100 83 One of You Has Betrayed Me

100: Chapter 83 One of You Has Betrayed Me 100: Chapter 83 One of You Has Betrayed Me Outside, the factory’s security systems arranged by the mercenaries were completely hacked.

All friend-foe identification systems maligned, numerous concealed gun turrets rose from within the walls, and a deluge of bullets hailed down upon the mercenary squad.

Caught off guard by the attack, many dropped to the ground riddled with bullets in an instant, their sturdy armor ripped to shreds.

Bang!

An intelligent automated sniper turret in the corner of the factory opened fire, shattering Matteo’s helmet outer shell, revealing his indestructible metal visage beneath.

It never ends, Matteo thought to himself.

He fully armored up, his black skin transforming into a high-grade alloy plating which shone a dazzling silver in the sparse light.

His eyes retracted, and mechanical camera lenses protruded outward, abandoning any semblance of human form.

His right arm morphed into a heavy rifle, while his left transformed into a long-handled bayonet.

In his armed state, Matteo had once pushed Xu Yang to the brink in a battle at the mining site.

Now, once again donning that form, the feeling of oppression resurrected.

Bang!

The sniper turret fired again; its 14mm armor-piercing bullets ricocheted off Matteo’s outer plating, leaving behind a dent.

The target had hacked the entire factory, but these tricks couldn’t harm him.

Matteo moved swiftly.

The area was cluttered with massive, rusting industrial equipment interspersed with walkways and staircases—a complex terrain offering plenty of cover.

Once he pinpointed the hacker’s position, he could turn the tide.

“Kong Tai!” Matteo called out, “You take them and retreat first, I’ll take down the hacker.”

“Yes,” Kong Tai nodded in understanding, gripping his ion axe and charging up his phase-shift device.

If he faced a real threat, he could use it to escape danger with rapid jumps.

Moreover, Kong Tai’s armor was solid enough to withstand the barrage from the traitorous weapons.

He immediately led the other mercenaries in retreat.

As long as they could get away, everything else could be dealt with later.

Kong Tai, like the other mercenaries, was at the command of the “messenger” from Black Fire Innovation Faction—Matteo.

To the mercenaries, Black Fire Innovation was paradise; as long as they were skilled at killing, they could exchange it for funds without worrying about any other annoyances.

Black Fire would pave the way for them.

Kong Tai charged to the main entrance through the gunfire, a mercenary following close behind him.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out and the mercenary who was retreating behind Kong Tai fell to the ground, screaming ceaselessly.

Quick to survey the scene, Kong Tai saw that a large-caliber bullet had pierced the mercenary’s knee—the only weak point of standard issue armor.

Only a shooter with real wartime experience would know this trick.

Kong Tai traced the trajectory of the shot and looked up to see a glint of light within the darkened Underground City, like the scope of a sniper or an untouchable phantom.

The sound of gunshots from the Cassandro Comet had numbed his ears, and as an experienced user of the gun, he recognized the elegance of the sniper rifle’s design.

They had been ambushed by a highly capacitated mercenary team.

Kong Tai made his assessment.

In the underworld, retribution was inevitable, but he had been psychologically prepared for it.

Killing or being killed, it didn’t matter.

Kong Tai glanced back at the other mercenaries who had dropped along the way, the fresh recruits annihilated by their own facilities even before seeing the enemy.

He leapt out of the factory gate to the street.

Against the darkness, another figure lunged at him, clad in a red vest, black pants, and wielding a crowbar, her expression determined and her muscular definition clear.

A gang woman?

Kong Tai swung his ion axe, chopping down with a blade of high-energy ion beams.

This weapon could even deal effective damage to power armor and was a reward given to him for his service to the Black Fire Innovation.

The newcomer was Asa Katsuragi.

She saw the black-armored giant charging out of the factory swinging a strange axe with a flickering blade and hastily swung her crowbar in response.

At the collision, there was a gentle sound, like a breeze across the water’s surface.

Asa Katsuragi immediately lost the weight of her crowbar—it had been cut in two from about two-thirds down, and the end fell to the ground with a clatter.

What a vicious weapon!

Asa Katsuragi pulled out her pistol, poised and alert.

Kong Tai continued swinging his axe.

His armor was heavy, which slowed his moves.

Asa Katsuragi, agile as a butterfly, evaded the deadly swings without being touched.

Dodging the heavy axe head, Asa Katsuragi fired back.

But the close-range shots couldn’t inflict any real damage; the bullets ricocheted off Kong Tai’s heavy armor.

With the widespread application of Fenrir Alloy developed by Suvy Metals, heavy individual armor slowly made a comeback to the battlefield.

Much like Middle Ages knights sought thicker armor, powerfully backed mercenaries also bought heavy armor to resist gunfire.

She’s no match for me, Kong Tai concluded and activated his phase-shift device, teleporting behind Asa Katsuragi and brought his axe down.

Bang!

In the distance, Lila, having tracked the shift in position, took another shot, hitting the handle of the ion axe and shattering it.

The blade veered off course, and the ion axe lost its potency.

Asa Katsuragi looked back at the mercenary, her heart pounding—if not for Lila’s support, she would have been sliced already.

Indeed, the body in its simple form had reached its limits.

Even someone like herself had to keep up with the times.

It was miraculous.

Kong Tai dropped the broken axe and threw a punch at Asa Katsuragi.

Asa Katsuragi’s vest instantly stretched out with nano armor fully manifesting, a fearsome dragon in angry defiance.

Kong Tai’s armored fist crashed onto the crimson nano armor, causing only minimal damage as the impact was largely absorbed.

She seized the opportunity, grabbing Kong Tai’s arm and tried to twist it with all her might, but he planted his feet firmly, rooting himself to the ground.

“You can’t overpower me,” Kong Tai gritted his teeth, ready to counter.

Asa Katsuragi took a deep breath.

Her armor, responding to her intentions, allowed nanobots to penetrate her skin, releasing copious amounts of “X” substance for body enhancement—a kind of adrenaline mimic developed by Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing, which amplified her strength.

Crash!

Grappling his arm, she yanked with full force, slamming Kong Tai’s body into the ground.

His head plunged downward, colliding with the cement as his metal helmet met the pavement, jarring his skull with dizzying pain, a bloody sickness bubbling up within him.

Like subduing a wild dog, Asa Katsuragi pinned down Kong Tai.

“You can really fight,” Asa Katsuragi panted, “join me and be my underling.”

Asa Katsuragi still held onto the gang mentality that the losing party must surrender; many of her underlings in the Suzuki Group were subdued and taken down by her.

“Join a gang?” Kong Tai breathed out a bloody scent, the taste clogging up inside his helmet, “What’s in it for me?”

His heart raced, mindful of the invisible sniper still targeting him; every second he remained alive was precious.

“We have loyalty and conviction!” Asa Katsuragi gripped his hand, “We will carve out a new world in Aizu City!

Unite brothers, help the weak and eliminate the strong!

We’ll fix this broken city bit by bit!”

Forget it!

Kong Tai had been killing since he was six and had never believed such naive talk.

The woman before him seemed unprecedentedly superficial, yet her tone was so firm it was as if she fully believed in it all.

Staying alive was the priority.

“Spare my life,” Kong Tai shouted, “and I am open to anything.”

“Join us in killing that guy named Matteo, that’ll be your proof of allegiance!” Asa Katsuragi yelled.

Kong Tai instinctively wanted to refuse, but then thought that with Black Fire Innovation having stirred up huge trouble in Anjiu City, they were bound to be besieged.

Switching to another ship might be a wise move.

“After you,” Kong Tai said groggily, following closely behind Asa Katsuragi.

Meanwhile, Matteo activated his sensors, scouring for any sign of Xu Yang’s whereabouts, until he spotted a suspicious shadow near the back door, seemingly accessing the factory’s system.

Matteo immediately started up his arm machine gun, bullets thundering in that direction, heavy-caliber ammo piercing through the walls to reach the target.

Xu Yang in his continuous monitoring, had already detected Matteo’s movements and promptly dodged by twisting his body.

Clothed in nano armor, he sidestepped, instantly increasing the distance and avoiding Matteo’s shots.

With the situation inside decided, he no longer needed to hack in.

Matteo didn’t rush to pursue; he turned to see that 101 and 102 hadn’t appeared, realizing they certainly harbored treacherous intentions.

Watching his side suffer heavy losses, they must have thought of betraying him.

“101 and 102!” It shouted toward the interior of the factory, “Show yourselves before me right now, or I will kill you immediately!”

101 appeared beside Matteo in an instant, while 102 slowly crawled out from the basement to the upper floor, making her way to her sister’s side.

“Xu Yang is outside,” Matteo said urgently, “take him down, and we can leave together.”

“How did he find this place?” 101 asked calmly.

“We have a traitor among us who sold the information about Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing to him…” Matteo looked at the numerous corpses of mercenaries behind him, momentarily uncertain of who the traitor was.

“Maybe headquarters sold you out too!” 102 yelled, “Just as you intended to sacrifice the two of us!”

“Execute the combat order,” Matteo urged, “Get moving!

Bring him to me!”

A flashing electromagnetic grenade was thrown in from the outside.

101 grabbed 102’s hand and teleported away, while Matteo looked down at the grenade sliding toward his feet.

The monotonous metal visage struggled to form an expression, but it showed a degree of fear.

Boom!

The electromagnetic pulse exploded, and Matteo stood there, trembling, wreathed in electric arcs.

The grenade’s power was not as strong as the large pulse defense device used before, but it was enough to paralyze Matteo for a good while.

He swayed like chaff in the wind, his body twisting.

“I sure threw that far.” Xu Yang poked his head in, having just tossed it casually, still holding four more electromagnetic pulse grenades in his hand, waiting to torment Matteo.

Having escaped the electromagnetic wave, 101 returned with 102 in an instant.

They looked at Matteo and then at Xu Yang.

“He’s the one who sent us the message through the TV,” 101 explained to the clueless 102.

“We’ve got bombs planted on us!” 102 came to her senses, “Take him down fast!”

“You do it,” Xu Yang said.

Matteo’s mechanical eyes stared fixedly at 102.

Under the influence of the electromagnetic pulse, its mind had completely shattered into countless meaningless photonic signals, unable to form a coherent artificial will.

“The chip restricts our will; we can’t do that,” 102 said anxiously, “We can’t attack Blackfire’s people!”

“I’ll do it.” Kong Tai entered from outside, grasping the broken Ion Axe and swinging it forcefully, cutting Matteo into two halves.

“You bastard, you…” 102 was shocked.

“I don’t have a chip in my head, and if you two aren’t afraid, why should I be?” Kong Tai crossed his arms over his chest.

Xu Yang looked toward the depths of the factory where the dead mercenaries lay.

Some of them were still clutching boxes of various sizes, filled with precious materials and key plans taken from the bunker.

Moreover, countless firearms, ammunition, mercenaries’ armor, and electronic parts could be recovered to arm his own entire security department.

This haul was significant.

With Matteo eliminated and the Rat Tide disintegrated, the two great menaces were eradicated, and he could finally bring Farosa back to the Shrine at Suzuki Springs.

There, she would reclaim the most complete “Power.”