Athanasia: My Hacker System

BOOM!

John was about to say something when the underground basement suddenly shook. John didn't need to go outside and investigate to know the reason behind this.

The next instant, he opened his map. And there he spotted many red dots appearing in the Military Department.

"Fifty-five? That's way too few…"

John narrowed his eyes. He expected a few hundred enemies, but seeing such a low number made him quite suspicious.

"This is just a bait," Natalie knew she had to leave a good impression before the real battle started. "They want to see how you'll respond, and also they may want to keep you busy here while they attack the rest of the academy."

Natalie said these words before starting to move. Even John didn't make up his mind about his next step, so seeing her take the initiative like that startled him.

"Where are you going?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I'm going to recruit more to my team, obviously," she didn't even turn around to glance at him, kept walking in determined steps, "I'll record everything that's happening at the rest of the academy, while you regain control of the Military Department."

John looked at her distant back while feeling weird. He couldn't fully grasp her personality yet. He thought she was the showy type, yet during their recent talk, she showed how intelligent she was.

And now she showed another side of her personality.

"It seems she will cause more headache than I thought," John shook his head, before turning his eyes towards what really mattered. He checked the map, while a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Yet she is mistaken about one point, though… Our department isn't weak. It's the Military Department; everyone there is a ferocious warrior."

John knew she had asked him to go and purge the department. Yet she totally missed the true nature of the department. From students to teachers, everyone was capable of fighting the invaders.

That perhaps was where she mistook the intentions of the enemy slightly. This was indeed a probe attack, but it was meant to gather the ferocious teachers and prodigy students on one side. After all, no matter how he saw it, the invaders focused their attack on one side of the department.

Overall, he knew the teachers and students up there were enough to handle the first attack. Instead of throwing himself into this trap, it was better to simply wait for the real attack to land.

That was why he wasn't in a hurry or showed any distress on his face. He calmly walked back to his friends, who showed clear signs of anxiety and worry on their faces.

"The academy is under attack right now!"

The moment he drew closer, Luke almost ran towards him, shouting from a distance.

"We need to move now," Ricky stepped up as well to meet him, alongside everyone else. Even Cissel showed the same worried look on her face.

"Not right away," yet John calmed them down, "Natalie went to do her job, record the attacks over different departments. For now, we'll handle the assault over the Military Department."

"Then we should move now," Mond looked at others, asking for their support, "we shouldn't be left behind…"

"No, we should," John calmly raised a hand and interrupted his friend's enthusiastic words, "after all, walking back to the department might be walking right into the enemy's trap."

No one got what he meant, and he inwardly sighed.

"Mark isn't stupid," John purposefully paused, "he knows the Military Department is going to be a tough nut to crack. So instead of wasting effort on it, it will be wiser to isolate the strong warriors inside the department."

When he reached this point, everyone started to read the situation from his point of view. Thinking about gathering then isolating the teachers and students inside the department, while wreaking havoc at the rest of the academy, was quite scary.

"Yet that won't let them destroy the strongest power of the academy," Ben frowned, "they won't kill us this way, and once the isolation falls, we'll attack and take revenge on them…"

"That's not easy to do if they surrounded our department with enough weapons to wipe us off Athanasia," Ricky rolled his eyes, "we are dealing with something far scarier and more vicious than you ever think. Above all, he also has unthinkable means."

Ricky's words were quite understandable to John, Elena, Luke, and Cissel. But to Mond and Ben, they looked quite weird and unrealistic. Though when they turned to see John calmly nodding in support, they knew it was settled.

"Then what shall we do now?" Ben asked, while more tremors started to come from outside, telling everyone how fierce the ongoing battles above were.

"We'll stay behind to attack the rest of the enemies once the isolation starts," Elena said, as if it were something very basic to tell.

Yet John slowly shook his head.

"We'll indeed hide inside," he moved his eyes among his friends, "but the moment Mark uses whatever means he will use to isolate the department, we'll need to identify what this method is, and how to negate it."

"You mean we'll move to remove the isolation first?" Mond said in genuine surprise, "Not a bad plan, still it depends on whether we can recognise what method that bastard will use."

"Well…" Cissel cleared her throat, "I can do it."

Everyone turned to look at her, with different feelings. Ben and Mond, they didn't get why she was this confident in doing this seemingly challenging task.

Yet to others, they felt some sort of change. It felt like Cissel was coming back to her senses, acting like the old Cissel they knew, even if it was for a little bit.

"Then we'll leave this task for you," John said, yet inwardly he decided to also check whatever means Mark would use.

After all, he could tell Mark would use something unknown to this world. And he would be the only one capable of dealing with it. Yet he didn't speak up openly and let Cissel have a moment; hopefully, she would return to her old self.

'Girls do indeed know how to handle girls.'

He inwardly smiled, not knowing if the current situation of silent battle between Natalie and Cissel was fun or bad.