Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077-Chapter 212

Leo gestured for the others to stop. Although the stairwell ahead remained pitch-black, with not even a sliver of light, his integrated tactical screen clearly showed that a dozen laser trip mines had been set up at the end of the stairs, and four automated defense turrets were hidden within the walls on either side. Leo shared the tactical screen's visuals with the others.

"Lucy, shut them all down."

Lucy nodded, stepped beside Leo, and began remotely deactivating the trip mines and turrets one by one. The group moved forward again, and after only a few meters, an automatic door appeared in their path. This time, without waiting for Leo's command, Lucy's eyes flashed red as she unlocked the door.

Behind the door was a vast underground space, now transformed by Lilith's House into a cult ritual altar. On the floor, a massive inverted pentagram had been drawn in blood, with skulls, candles, and flowers placed at each of its points. Within the pentagram, numerous people knelt, bare-chested, their skin carved with various patterns that seemed to hold some hidden meaning. Outside the ritual circle stood cult members in white robes, wearing pointed hats. At the very center of the pentagram was a coffin-shaped freezer, pure white with a large bloodstain on its surface.

As Leo's team entered, this bizarre and chilling scene unfolded before them.

The sound of their footsteps drew the cultists' attention.

"Defilers, more defilers have entered!"

"Those who interrupt Lilith's descent must atone in blood!"

"Kill them, offer their blood and brains to please Lady Lilith's arrival!"

At the command of the lead cultist, the others pulled weapons from beneath their voluminous white robes.

A fierce battle was about to erupt.

Gunfire exploded across the underground space.

V and Lucy each found cover, staying behind it as they raised their smart weapons, which needed no line of sight—just an extended barrel and a pull of the trigger, and the guns would lock onto targets on their own.

Jackie also dove behind a pillar, though he wasn't one for smart weapons. He preferred heavy hitters like the MK.31 heavy machine gun or the precision tech rifle Achilles, both long-range, high-power weapons that could send enemies flying.

On the cultist's side, they mixed kinetic, tech, and smart weapons, but Leo's team had the advantage: aside from Leo himself, the others were equipped with cutting-edge anti-smart-weapon implants, causing most of the cultist's smart bullets to veer off course, and some even reversed midair, turning back on their owners. This was why, despite Arasaka exporting smart weapons globally, its own field agents and soldiers often carried kinetic and tech guns—smart weapons didn't work everywhere.

The invention of a spear inevitably gave rise to the invention of a shield, and once smart weapons appeared and tore through battlefields, people—including their creators, began devising counters.

Bullets ripped through the air, blasting countless holes in walls and pillars.

The hostages kneeling inside the pentagram, marked as ritual offerings, were terrified. They wanted to flee, but with their tendons cut, they couldn't even crawl away.

"Their firepower and implants are too much for us—bring Lady Lilith!" the lead cultist shouted.

Just as he finished, Jackie saw an opening and fired—his bullet pierced the cultist's cover, turning the man's head into pulp.

Leo stomped forward from behind cover. The cultists tried to stop him, but their bullets only sparked uselessly off his Falchion armor. In a flash, he closed the distance, swinging Murasame through their ranks, and the sound of gunfire swiftly turned to screams of agony.

The outcome was sealed from that moment. Not even Arasaka's elite assault teams or the "Troy" unit could stop Leo—these cultists had no chance.

The battle ended quickly. Silence fell as Leo scanned the area with his tactical display, confirming every enemy was dead before finally sheathing his blade. V, Jackie, and Lucy emerged from cover.

"Is it over?" Jackie glanced around before striding toward the ritual circle.

"Hanks? Hanks!"

"I... I'm here," Hanks, who had instinctively flattened himself against the ground during the chaos, weakly called out. "Jackie, is that you?"

"It's me. Are you okay? You look like... shit."

As Jackie untied Hanks, he noticed his severed hand and foot tendons, but quickly steadied himself. This was Night City—even if you lost your limbs, you could replace them with cybernetics. As long as you used genuine corp-made gear, it was as good as real.

Severed tendons? Hardly a big deal in their current day.

"Jackie, get everyone out of here. We can chat later—something's not right," Leo warned.

Suddenly, from the center of the inverted pentagram, the blood inside the freezer began to roil like boiling water, bubbling up violently.

"What... something's coming out?" Leo's pupils contracted. "Jackie, get away from there!"

Jackie dragged Hanks, trying to put as much distance as possible between them and the freezer. V and Lucy raised their weapons, forming a triangle formation with Leo to surround the freezer, ready to unload a volley the moment anything emerged.

They didn't have to wait long.

A naked old woman slowly crawled out of the freezer. Her hair was like seaweed, her skin sagging and rotting, reeking of decay. She looked eerily similar to the old woman from Room 237 in The Shining.

V and Lucy's brows furrowed as they instinctively squeezed their triggers, but no bullets came out. Startled, they lowered their gaze and saw their guns melting in their hands, dripping away like softened butter.

V reflexively reached for the pistol strapped to her thigh, only to feel something cold and slippery. Looking down, she saw that where her Ken-Shin tech pistol should have been, a green snake flicked its tongue. Horrified, V kicked the snake away with a sharp motion.

"Lucy, Jackie... Leo!"

V spun around, a chill running down her spine.

At some point, the others had vanished.

The pentagram remained. The freezer was still there. But the hostages, those once intended as offerings, now lay sprawled across the floor, throats slit, long dead.

V called out again, but no one answered.

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