Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 645 - 544 Storm Princess

Chapter 645: Chapter 544 Storm Princess

Standing atop the tree, Rinne didn’t want to descend.

She gazed into the distance, imagining the Northern Archipelago while recalling the features of Shangjing, Anjiu City, and Mingge Mountain.

The view here was vast, but all she could see was pitch darkness, so she had to pretend the clouds were the smog above the cities and the specks of starlight were the artworks of neon lights.

She was startled to realize she had come to think of the Northern Archipelago as "home" and felt nostalgia for it.

This was an unprecedented sentiment for Rinne. She grew up in laboratories and tech facilities; her most active experiences were on the West Coast, but she had no desire to return to either of those heart-breaking places.

The cities, culture, and monorail routes of the Northern Archipelago had captivated her heart, and now being far away, she couldn’t help but yearn for them.

She longed for a cigarette, but she knew that would risk exposing everyone.

The night was silent and chillingly crisp, reminding her of the countless nights spent in the office at Shijin Mansion. And with thoughts of that office came thoughts of Mr. Web Monitor.

Mr. Web Monitor was like an impregnable castle. They had been intimate, but that was all there was to it. Rinne knew nothing of his childhood, the status of his parents, what he liked, which sports he excelled at, his brilliant creations, or his preferences in art.

Beyond work-related communication and indoor duties, they had never shared their hearts with one another.

Rinne didn’t even know Mr. Web Monitor’s full name...

His surname was Xu, as could be discerned from the name Xu Cheng. The girl was adorable, and given time, she would become a remarkable Witch. But even Xu Cheng knew nothing about her foster father.

Now, Rinne’s heart and body were far from the Northern Archipelago, stationed on this isolated island ravaged and plundered by Black Fire Innovation, with nothing to do but gaze into the distance.

She activated the automatic sleep function of her processor, causing her brain cells to power down and take turns resting—completing a cycle in roughly 24 hours, much less efficient than a good night’s sleep. She didn’t feel like sleeping now anyway, her heart was clogged with an inexplicable sluggishness.

The automatic sleep mode allowed Rinne to keep her eyes wide open and ponder things until she could slowly peel and dissolve the troubles in her heart.

Masasuke Hazuki sent a message to the squad channel through encrypted signals. To avoid startling the enemy, their signals were limited to within the squad and never left the island.

"I’ve gathered some movements inside their base. The soldiers are regrouping because Black Fire Innovation is moving the ’Baraya’ space mothership away from its home port."

They were dispatching that ship? Rinne was shocked by the news.

Baraya was where the headquarters of Black Fire Innovation was located; it was also the largest city in the Taiya Archipelago.

With such a name, it represented a significant status. The Baraya had been in service for 10 years, a state-of-the-art space mothership that had sustained minor damage in the last naval battle with Xia, and now, after several months, it was presumably repaired and ready for action.

"A battle!" A999 was invigorated. "Finally!"

"Are they heading towards Sato City?" Rinne maintained the channel’s closure and encryption.

"It’s vague, but very likely. Also..."

The signal was abruptly cut off.

She heard a sound of wind, a very strong wind, as if it were coming from all directions.

Rinne clutched the branches tightly as the squad members below were also alerted and gathered together.

The sea churned violently, the strange fish by the shore leapt back into the water, and the clouds drew in and dispersed as if a hurricane had swept up.

Why was there a wind blowing?

Rinne constantly scanned around the island, trying to find the source of the storm.

She noted a spot lit up in the sky, and immediately zoomed in her visual imaging. She saw—

A Witch!

It was a Witch with dark golden hair flowing loosely, stunningly beautiful, with emerald eyes and swift, fierce poses, flying effortlessly through the sky.

Rinne couldn’t even see any auxiliary equipment like Iron Wings behind her—her flight was entirely based on her own Magic Power!

A Storm Princess?

She observed carefully and noticed the Witch wore no equipment at all. The visible clothing consisted of only seven or eight black leather belts and sheer silk, barely covering her, as if she greatly detested the constraints that clothing imposed.

Under the Witch’s control and call, the waters around the entire island trembled, her Magic Power so strong it awakened storms throughout the region!

The clouds around the Witch began to spin rapidly. Realizing something was amiss, Rinne quickly rushed down the tree trunk.

The moment she reached the ground, the storm descended swiftly, causing the entire forest to rustle menacingly!

The wind suddenly intensified, all branches and leaves trembling, swaying, colliding in the gust, producing a sound that filled one with terror, and nature itself was vanquished by the force of the storm.

The squad quickly assembled, even having to crouch down, cling to the tree trunks, or hold each other to avoid being blown away by the fierce wind.

Rinne chose a large tree to lean against, and the gust hitting her front pinned her firmly to the tree bark, immobile!

She attempted to speak, to communicate with her comrades struggling in the storm nearby, but her voice scattered with the wind as soon as it left her throat.

The pressure was too great. She closed her eyes, avoiding the twigs, grass, leaves, and mud flying about, the trees cracking under stress, their roots slowly being blown away from the soil, torn out of the ground by the ferocious wind—

Bang! Bang!

Sounds of falling trees followed one after the other—a toppled giant tree striking another, the noise deafening.

Under the onslaught of the storm, everything was devastated until it collapsed. Rinne desperately wanted to raise her hand but was pressed down by the raging wind, passively enduring the chaos of the storm.

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... After a terrifying and awkward few minutes, the storm slowly subsided.

Rinne was gasping for air.

Because of the wind pressure, there were a few dozen seconds where she couldn’t breathe at all.

Looking around, she was horrified to discover that the team members had been completely scattered! Rinne immediately ran downwind and saw her comrades, one after another, clumsily getting up.

Rinne quickly helped up Chiyuki Sajou, whose physique was weaker, now covered in mud from head to toe.

"Xu Cheng... Nidelaide... Seeking Shadow... Xiao Lu... A999..." Rinne turned to look at the squad members with dust-covered faces, the farthest away being the lightweight Seeking Shadow, who, weighing only 30 kilograms, had been blown hundreds of meters away, nearly into the beach.

"Is everyone okay..." Once Chiyuki Sajou was up, she immediately started worrying about the others, "Jiro?"

"I’m here..." Jiro Sajou had been lying prone on the ground since the beginning of the storm, and now his clothes were completely dirty.

Everyone is safe, what a relief... Rinne relaxed a bit.

Wait, it seemed someone was missing.

Where was Snowball?

Rinne hurriedly looked outside the forest, poor Snowball! It had been blown straight to the coast by the storm, somersaulted dozens of times on the sandy beach, and was now limping back toward the forest.

"Come here quickly!" Rinne urged while looking up, dreading the sudden appearance of that terrifying witch before them, releasing such horrific power again.

Just then, communication was restored.

"Are you all okay?" Masasuke Hazuki sent a message, "I heard the wind blowing for quite a while outside."

"The witch from Black Fire Innovation." Rinne replied in a fluster.

The squad members spread out in the forest, continually collecting supplies that had been blown away. It seemed that the storm was not released to destroy them, but the witch had other desires.

Was a torrential rain coming? Rinne looked towards the seashore where under the murky moonlight, the sea churned endlessly. She had been looking out to sea before and remembered clearly that there were no such large-scale clouds in the sky at that time.

Outside it was gray and murky, everything had been blown away, and the lumberyard in the distance was in disarray; it appeared someone had died. Such a hurricane not causing destruction to people’s lives would indeed be a miracle.

"That is one of the Dominator Witches of Black Fire Innovation, commonly known as ’Storm Princess’." Masasuke Hazuki sent a message, "The base’s archives mention the supplies dedicated to her."

Storm Princess... Rinne had never heard of her, Black Fire Innovation officially only had a thousand or so Battle Witches and a handful of Dominators, but there must be many potential powerhouses in the company, as well as numerous mysterious magical items.

Rinne was completely overwhelmed; looking up, she could no longer see the Storm Princess, just chaos everywhere with destroyed trees and bushes.

Having developed magic power to such a great extent was indeed impressive. Compared to Rinne, who had given up magic to focus on technology, becoming a Hacker Witch, the difference was enormous!

Rinne on her own, simply could not face such an extraordinary being.

A shadow couldn’t help but fall over her heart.

So that was...

A true witch... Rinne thought.

She had deviated from the path of witchcraft, having undergone technological transformation; was this against the natural development direction of a witch? However, Rinne herself only had the ability of Anti-Gravity Walking and there was hardly any room for development.

"The Storm Princess appearing here, along with the Baraya setting sail from its home port, means that Black Fire Innovation is going to take action against Nestor Corporation." Seeking Shadow said while sitting on the ground.

"The headquarters is oblivious, still sending three warships here... The Storm Princess’s power is specifically against the air, doesn’t that mean those ships are in danger?" Lu Jing was startled.

"Ships can be repaired, but once the Warship Troops suffer heavy casualties, it will cost a lot of funds to rebuild the force. Worse yet, it will damage the company’s reputation and the enthusiasm of the people in the Northern Archipelago for the war might wane, they may even demand Nestor Corporation to stay permanently neutral." Seeking Shadow analyzed.

"So it turns out the Storm Princess was the culprit that scared away Clares the Second, no wonder it fled." Rinne realized where that spear of air that penetrated the sea had come from.

"We need to tell Nestor Corporation." Lu Jing couldn’t help saying, "The Baraya warship plus the Storm Princess, Black Fire Innovation would actually take the initiative."

"If we can win the fleet battle against Black Fire Innovation, Nestor Corporation will also be officially recognized as a mega-corporation." Nidelaide maintained a positive attitude, "The company hasn’t lost so far, right?"

"But we must first alert them to the risks." Chiyuki Sajou was full of concern.

"We can’t send messages back, it’s easy to be detected, and although the enemy can’t decrypt the signals, they’ll realize there’s someone infiltrated on the island, and then we’ll be in danger." Rinne explained.

Seeing the situation, A999 wanted to speak, Rinne pre-emptively tweaked and optimized its language module.

"Esteemed friends, if we launch a staggering attack, causing major damage to this military base, or defeating the Storm Princess from the battlefield," A999 spoke eloquently, "wouldn’t that solve all our problems? We all know that to act first is to control, to act later is to be controlled. Besides, if we could witness bloodshed, hear the clash of swords, wouldn’t that make us extremely delighted?"

"Or we could simply retreat and report back about this." Masasuke Hazuki, after listening to the channel messages for a while gave his opinion, "The power of this Storm Princess, a few of us simply can’t confront it."

"Aren’t you nervous now, still inside the enemy base?" Rinne asked.

"Not nervous." Masasuke Hazuki replied honestly.

Storm Princess...

Rinne furrowed her brows.

"Let me hack into that military base first." She said sharply, "Once we gain control of the base’s hub, the situation will be in our favor. Since Masasuke Hazuki is already there, we must make good use of this advantage."

Hacker Witch against Extraordinary Witch. Rinne thought to herself. This was a chance to test her limits.

"Besides." Lu Jing cleared his throat, "Don’t forget, I’m beside you all."

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