Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 252: Killing the Cyborgs in Cold Blood!

"Hahaha, that wasn’t necessary, but thanks anyway!"

In just a couple of minutes, the one thousand cyborgs that John had previously cut down began to slowly rise to their feet. The blue sparks of the Sword Lightning still danced across their singed clothing, but they looked totally fine, as if they weren’t just hit by a deadly attack.

"It wasn’t needed, but that kind of attack of yours is quite amazing!" Mark’s voice projected from several of the rising figures simultaneously, creating a weird, choral effect. "I believe you paid quite the price to activate such a strong AOE attack. Was it worth it, Mr Mirage? You do know we won’t die from it, don’t you?"

"Nothing to bother about," John replied, his voice cold. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t wait for his enemies to stand erect. He reactivated his sword’s special effect for the second time.

The air hummed with renewed electrical tension. This time, the cyborgs experienced visible damage, yet, for some reason, they didn’t fall dead at once. The same attack that moments ago killed all of them failed to leave a single dead body behind. John narrowed his eyes, as it felt like their bodies’ defence got boosted when they turned into cyborgs.

"Hahaha, we are different now!" a female voice shrieked from the side. Suddenly, the ranks of the thousand broke. They didn’t charge John in a mindless wave; instead, they began to dash away, scattering in every possible direction like a shattered glass pane. "We aren’t the useless, weak, and defenceless humans anymore! We are the stronger cyborgs!"

"Let’s see about that..."

John didn’t hold back at all. He knew that if even a few of these escaped to another territory, they would ignite a fourth den. He instantly activated Speed Lock, engulfing himself in a shimmering speed booster that made the world around him appear to crawl, while slowing down their speed at the same time.

To the cyborgs, it was as if they had been plunged into a vat of thick sand, their movements slowed by a massive chunk of their original velocity.

John became a blur, leaving behind afterimages while slashing his sword. He dashed through the area, reactivating his sword’s special effect in subsequent bursts. This time, the cyborgs began to fall in earnest. Heads rolled, limbs were severed, and many had a look of horror, rage, and shock on their faces.

"Screw you! How far are you going to be stubborn and stupid?!" Mark’s voice roared from a youngster at a distance. The remaining cyborgs, realising their withdrawal was being clearly obstructed and fiercely killed by John’s attacks, began to run madly in even more erratic directions.

John had butchered almost half of their numbers in mere seconds! It didn’t take a genius to know he was going to finish the job if they remained within his reach.

Yet, they still underestimated John’s resolve and his ability to multitask on a battlefield. Mark had underestimated how far he had grown in this trial.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

John didn’t blindly charge without reading the board. Even if Mark tried to act strong and confident, John had already seen through the fake facade. This program was, at its core, a coward!

Mark was the type to lurk in the shadows of the system, hiding from the Big Mind, and refusing to confront John directly until he felt he had a definitive advantage, like the evolution attempt he was trying today.

That told John everything he needed to know about Mark’s true nature. He was a shady, parasitic entity, the kind that lived in the dark for long periods, slowly weaving schemes and dirty tricks, only to pounce when victory was mathematically certain.

Mark’s biggest mistake was a classic one: underestimating the target. He had failed to account for the massive leap in John’s strength and the hardening of his experience during his stay in the pocket trial.

Mark had mentioned hearing about the Hiveminds’ defeat and vaguely linking it to John. That confirmed he wasn’t as all-seeing as he claimed. He hadn’t witnessed John’s growth in the past few weeks, and he couldn’t grasp how dangerously John had matured.

John attacked with everything he had from the very beginning. He didn’t just rely on Lightning Dance and Speed Lock. As he moved, he threw ten Logic Bombs across the various groups of fleeing cyborgs, timing their fuses for exactly three minutes. They detonated at the perfect time, when the remaining cyborgs were trying to make a frantic run away from John.

The fierce gales of the explosions took the cyborgs completely by surprise. The raw damage, the concussive shockwaves, augmented by the relentless Lightning Dance attacks that John kept raining over their heads, turned the entire situation upside down.

In the blink of an eye, Mark lost another four hundred cyborgs. Those who remained alive were missing limbs, their bodies hanging together by shreds of HP.

Then, John moved in for the harvest.

He simply slashed his sword in clean, efficient arcs. He didn’t use any special effect anymore; he simply waved his sword, severing the heads of the wounded in cold blood.

The remaining hundred or so were scattered across a huge area, but they proved no challenge at all for someone with John’s mobility. In less than two minutes, he had circled the entire battlefield, covered every escape route, and killed everyone, leaving only one behind.

"You... You can’t be real! This... This can’t be real!!"

The shock was evident on the face of the final youngster. He was roughly the same age as John, causing a flicker of dark thought in John’s mind about who this boy had been in the past, and how his life had been before it was plagued by the machines, by Mark.

"Hear me clearly, you stupid, pathetic program... I don’t give a damn about the machines, about the Big Mind, or even about you. All of this is irrelevant when it comes down to standing before my path," John said, standing over the trembling youth. "No matter what you do, you’ll fail. This pocket trial is mine."