“I didn’t expect to see you here?”
Clara became alert.
It was the Witch of Snake Eyes. As for what she was pulling out…
‘It’s a relic.’
It was the witch who had just commanded the shadow soldiers to kill Clara (Rabbit) and was preparing to flee through the wormhole with the relic.
As it turned out, the “god’s relic” got stuck in the passageway, and the witch, who had turned into a little girl, seemed unable to pull it out.
“Got you, thief!”
Kamui immediately lunged forward and pinned the little witch to the ground.
Clara quickly warned:
“Watch out, her ability is to create spikes from shadows! Even the Sigma series exoskeleton armor can’t withstand—”
However, before Clara could finish speaking, the shadow spikes summoned by the witch struck Kamui, but shattered and dissipated like ice cones hitting a steel plate, merely leaving more holes in Kamui’s already tattered combat suit.
“Hmph, is that all?”
Kamui sneered, keeping the Witch of Snake Eyes pinned down.
Clara said nothing more.
As for the reason the witch had weakened, Nyx had an explanation.
‘Now she only has one core left, so her strength must be much weaker than before.’
“Better to be careful anyway.”
Even so, she was still a witch; Clara dared not let her guard down.
“You encountered the Witch of the ‘Fourth Calamity’?”
Alice’s voice came through the walkie-talkie again, and she also warned:
“Drag her out first! Whatever you do, don’t start fighting inside the mainframe.”
The hero network remained connected. At this moment, Alice should be in the Control Center.
Next came a message from Bald Uncle.
“Things went smoothly on your end. The Beacon Recovery Team has also completed its mission. The Surface Hero Team was dragging their feet, but they finally got it done.”
Then, the wormhole passage inside this small room finally closed.
“Why did it take so long?”
Clara muttered softly.
If they had closed the beacon earlier, they wouldn’t have had to face so many shadow soldiers.
Although they hadn’t posed much of a threat to Clara.
“It was too tough; some heroes even died in the recovery team.”
“Huh? Are the Association’s heroes that weak?”
Clara asked.
Bald Uncle explained:
“It’s not that they’re weak; they’re just not suited for it. You guys didn’t have many Dark Domain Individuals over there, but the recovery team had to face dozens of times that number.”
“Those shadows didn’t even form human shapes; they blocked the passage in front of the Storage Room as thick black mud, making it impossible to get through. So in the end, they had to rely on the firepower of Top-tier Heroes to clear the way and complete the mission.”
“Now it’s time to clean up the mess.”
Bald Uncle continued:
“Keep an eye on the thief and the relic. Reinforcements will arrive soon.”
Clara didn’t know who Bald Uncle meant by reinforcements, but taking care of the criminal and the relic seemed easy enough.
At that moment, Kamui had completely locked down the little Snake-Eyed Witch’s movements with a cross armlock.
Seeing her former formidable enemy in such a sorry state, Clara couldn’t help but crouch beside the witch, propping her cheek on one hand, and asked:
“Confess: what did you want that relic for?”
The witch pursed her lips and said nothing.
Seeing this, Kamui increased the pressure, yanking the witch’s right arm hard, forcing the latter to let out a series of whimpering cries.
But she still showed no intention of answering the question.
“This one still can’t talk, huh?”
However, Clara knew she could definitely understand.
Those vertical pupils filled with resentment didn’t look like those of a being without intelligence.
Next came retrieving the relic.
Clara also crouched by the passage. Compared to the witch’s short arms, her own retractable, flexible tentacles were much more convenient and stronger. She easily adjusted the angle of the stuck relic and pulled it out of the passage.
It was still wrapped in white cloth, but this time the weight was right.
“Miss Alice, can’t you open a larger door in the mainframe’s shell? We can’t keep crawling through a dog hole to transport the witch, can we?”
Clara didn’t believe that the iron ball only had a dog hole for an entrance.
“Wait a moment.”
Alice only said that.
“Two more Top-tier Heroes have taken the freight elevator down.”
Bald Uncle also brought good news.
“But how are they going to get in?”
The passage in front of the freight elevator was blocked by server racks; an adult couldn’t squeeze through.
Even Clara and Kamui, with their loli-like figures, could barely manage.
“Blocked? Then destroy the server racks.”
Bald Uncle replied.
“Huh?”
Clara didn’t understand.
Alice had insisted for ages that they not damage the hero network, yet now the Top-tier Heroes were coming down to tear things apart?
Bald Uncle explained:
“The main body of the hero network is the core right in front of you. The surrounding servers are just data relay stations. Even if they’re destroyed, they can be restored…”
Alice’s voice sounded somewhat reluctant.
“But the hero network will be paralyzed for a while.”
“This is a result that should be avoided.”
The wormhole had closed, and the witch had been captured; there was indeed no need to continue causing destruction.
“The hero network has stopped running, and the mainframe shell is being opened.”
As Alice said this, the erosion light strips that covered the entire chamber retracted into the blue cube-shaped core.
Although it had stopped running, the blue cube still emitted a faint glow.
“This thing looks a bit like BB-0027’s core, but that one goes dim after power is cut.”
According to Alice, all current human technology is excavated from relics, so the black box technology of the strong AI must also be of the same origin.
Perhaps this core was the origin of all AIs?
Even the NIX-01 Driver was the same.
Would there also be such a blue cube inside the Driver?
Then, a crack appeared around the wall.
With a rumbling vibration, the upper half of the room slowly lifted up like the lid of a treasure chest, revealing the various cable tubes connected above the hangar.
“So it can open, huh? And you made us crawl through a dog hole?”
Clara muttered like that.
Alice replied:
“It can only be opened when the mainframe is shut down, but shutting it down takes time.”
Originally, Clara had expected some kind of final boss battle.
As it turned out, not only did the “hero network” not attack them directly, but even the once-powerful witch had become quite weak.
Kamui stretched the little witch’s hoodie sleeves and tied a knot. The latter wriggled but couldn’t break free.
“It seems this is all over.”
Alice also said:
“Thank you for your hard work, you two.”
Just then, from below the opened shell, came the sound of breaking.
A series of flashing silver blade light swept through the passage entrance at an extremely high frequency, and the mainframes along the way were instantly cut into a pile of scrap metal.
It was the belated Top-tier Heroes.
At this point, they could only deal with the remaining shadow soldiers below.
“Wait, there are still wormhole readings.”
Alice suddenly said.
Buzzzz—
Just as Clara thought everything had settled, yet another wormhole slowly opened inside the computer room, above the opened big iron ball.
As if interfered with by some power, the appearance of that wormhole was a bit different from the previous one.
The little witch, tied up by Kamui, lifted her head and gazed at that wormhole.
Her serpentine eyes, which had shown no emotion, now faintly glimmered with a glint of light.
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