Athanasia: My Hacker System

Chapter 295: It’s So Dangerous to Tease Elena!

Ricky’s words landed like a bomb, turning the entire world around silent, while all eyes fell on him.

It wasn’t just Darge who was stunned. Elena and even John were taken by surprise by the sudden declaration. Ricky’s gaze had turned deathly serious, his wounded pride and previous arrogance cast aside in the face of a genuine crisis. He looked at John with a newfound clarity and determination.

"I can tell you want to investigate that northern mysterious den’s threat yourself, but your hands are tied with the western dens," Ricky said, his voice steady.

"You’ve stabilised the situation here in this territory, and you plan to move to other dens and stop them as well. Why not let us share this burden with you? We can scout the north while you deal with the remaining machine dens."

"Sure, but..." John paused, sighing as he weighed the risks. He looked at the two of them, exhausted but determined. What Ricky said was, in fact, true. His hands were tied, and theirs as well. Luckily, he freed the two of them, and so they could start moving as Ricky suggested.

"Cissel is holding the western border of the northern territory. You’ll find her near the intersection with this territory. Go there first and meet with her. You need to gain firsthand experience with the evolved types you’ll face further up north before you go deeper.

The giant D-1000s and the thruster S-1000s are a different breed entirely. Not to mention the metallic wasps, although I have never heard of their presence in these northern squads yet. Still..."

"Don’t worry, we won’t try to play the hero," Ricky interrupted, reading the unspoken warning in John’s eyes. "We know our limits. But to do this right, we need to replenish our stock of defensive items and weapons. We’re tapped out."

"We used every single thing we had!" Elena jumped in, her hands gesturing to the empty space as if she were referring to their reserves. "The mobile fortresses, the walls, the towers, the cannons, everything is either deployed or destroyed!"

"Ah, don’t worry about that," John said. He opened his inventory, then took heaps after heaps of different items. Defensive towers, reinforced wall segments, super cannons, and many more items materialised on the fortress floor in huge quantities. "Take these with you. It’s more than enough to strengthen an entire territory’s worth of space..."

John’s voice trailed off. His eyes remained fixed on his inventory screen, scanning a group of items he hadn’t noticed before.

"What?! Did something else happen?!!" Elena instantly panicked, her nerves already frayed to the breaking point. She couldn’t imagine a situation worse than the one John had just described.

"Ah, it’s nothing," John said, a calm, enigmatic smile spreading across his face as he closed the inventory. "I’ll need to head west for now to deal with the dens there. If you find anything suspicious in the north, do not engage. Retreat, and wait for my return, okay?"

"Sure," the two nodded in unison, looking for all the world like obedient disciples receiving instructions from a master.

Suddenly, Elena’s expression shifted, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face. "How about Luke? Can I... Can I go and check on him?"

"Missing him already?" Ricky saw his opening and took it. Since Elena had teased him mercilessly when John first arrived, he repaid the kindness in double. "Love is indeed a heavy burden to handle in the middle of an apocalypse, isn’t it?"

"I’ll kill you if you don’t stop right now!" Elena shouted, her face turning a deep, telltale red that exposed her true feelings.

Ricky couldn’t resist a short laugh at the bickering pair. As for John, he simply nodded to Elena.

"Sure, go and check on him. Cissel had to leave him alone to face the machines while she pushed south to help me. If you want, you can go there and help him secure his territory until I arrive, or you can take him with you to search for the hidden den."

"Take him with us? What about his territory?!!" Both Ricky and Elena were shocked. Abandoning a territory was a concept that went against every instinct they had developed during the trial.

John simply shrugged, as if the suggestion were the most natural thing in the world. "It’ll save me more time in the long run, believe me. If the four of you are together, you’re a mobile strike force capable of handling any threat. One territory left empty for a few hours is a small price to pay for finding that sixth den."

Without another word, John jumped off the high fortress wall. The moment his boots hit the ground, he sprinted as fast as he could toward the west. As if drawn by a powerful magnet, the sea of machines surrounding the fortress immediately pivoted and followed his trail, a massive wake of steel trying and failing to catch the man who moved like lightning.

"Tsk! And just like that, he takes the whole army with him," Ricky muttered, watching the tide recede. He turned back to Elena, who was still glaring at him with murderous intent. "But this is for the better. Now we can leave immediately and check on Cissel. Then, we can pay a visit to your—"

"I swear, Ricky, if you finish that sentence with anything like what I think you’re thinking, I will throw a purple grenade directly at your face!" Elena roared.

Ricky shook his head, holding up his hands in mock surrender as if he were the victim of a grave misunderstanding. "How can you even tell what I’m thinking? You’re being paranoid! Okay, okay, I’ll stop. I swear I’ll stop!"

In face he was already planning the next joke to tease her. However, before he could utter another word, Elena actually pulled two Wrather cores from her storage device, held them high in the air as if she was ready to let the two get closer and get activated. She looked entirely prepared to execute her threat.

Realising he had pushed his luck to the absolute limit, Ricky scrambled back and jumped off the fortress wall, shouting in distress as he landed. He made a mental note as he started running: Elena was definitely not the type of person to mess with when her heart was on the line.