reaching hard stage: the weapon

"Shit what do we do now." Lisa muttered as they were now surrounded by the hunters. Luckily the hunters hadn't yet opened fire as they were in the armoured truck, but the defense of the truck was greatly weakened only leaving some few parts.

"Hello is there anyone there..."

"we're surrounded by heavily armed hunters, I repeat we're surrounded and there's no way out. Hello can someone hear me? dammit!" Ryan grunted in frustration as his hand was on his left ear. he tried communicating with anyone in the resistance, but unfortunately like always it never went through.

"Fucking comms.."

"Sighs! All this for nothing. I can't believe it's ending here, hell I wanted to see the end of this damn war." Ryan bitterly smiled. He knew there was no way out from this, as they were trapped. He knew the mission was a failure from the moment he received it, but he still had hope.

"I-i can't die like this.. there are so many things I haven't done yet." lisa mumbled. even if she might've said she didn't have any plans for the future, truth was she did! And it was slowly slipping away from her.

"W-we can beat them, I know we can." Atlanta slowly said. she was still in pain and shockingly her body wasn't regenerating like before, and she couldn't communicate with Nexus but her system was online.

"We can't kid.. we're beat, it's time to know when to give up." Ryan sadly said with remorse. even if they tried out of desperation it would be futile, as their forces were greatly outnumbered.

[Medium stage completed! hard stage beginning.] She heard the fortifier system voice in her head, indicating she'd completed the medium stage and advanced to the hard.

"I know you might think am crazy, but when we were together there's one thing you taught me and that's never giving up, even when I can't go on." She softly spoke, wiping off some little blood from her lips. Looking at her, Ryan was undoubtedly shocked by her level of confidence and will.

'How's she still calm when we're about to die.' Lisa stared at Atlanta with complex eyes, she didn't know if the latter was just crazy or had a death wish. But either way, she saw something in her she couldn't grasp.

"W-we just have to separate the hunter's with long range weapons, from the short range attackers." She softly said getting up with her feet, staring through the small spaces in the metal vehicle.

"But how? they basically won't be dumb enough to not see through our tricks." Ryan knew the hunters won't be stupid enough to follow bait. Some hunters held long range weapons, semi automatic weapons, handguns, while some held cyber swords, energy dual blades, and so one.

"I just need you guys to cause a distraction for me and take out the long range attackers, I'll focus on the short range attackers." She said. Even if she couldn't communicate with Nexus and wasn't healing properly, she wasn't that bothered as her system was still online and she could use her skills.

"Distraction.. distraction... Oh!" Lisa exclaimed a bit dipping her hand into her left pocket, pulling it out she brought out an item.

"I have a flash bomb." She said, proudly holding the small black metal ball in her hands.

"Perfect..."

After their little discussion they were ready to take out the hunters swiftly, giving it their all as their lives depended on it. Meanwhile outside, the hunters were about opening fire when they saw an item thrown outside to the floor.

"What the-" a female hunter stepped closer to the ball but regretted it, quickly realizing what the small black ball was.

'Bang!' Before they could react the small ball exploded with a bang, releasing a bright white blinding light that stunned the hunters, blocking their visions momentarily.

Atlanta without delay then swiftly charged forward, heading for the long range weapon users first intending to eliminate as much as possible to save them stress. Activating power punch, she punched forward with both her hands to two hunters head in front.

[Battle frenzy mode: 35]

'Bang! bang!' Small bang sounds went off as her fists collided with their heads, with it exploding into bits as their headless body dropped to the floor. Not stopping she went to another two, one holding a spear with green electric currents sizzling at the tip while the other a weird purple bow shaped like a V, along with glowing purple arrows emitting with a weird kind of energy.

'Power punch.' Her fist connected with the chest of the hunter with the spear, going through and creating a hole in the left side of his chest.

"Argh!" He screamed not dead yet, using the spear to plunge forward to Atlanta in a desperate attempt. Dodging she kicked the hunter's hand, dislocating his human elbow joint as he screamed in pain.

[Weak spot located.]

Using eagle eyes, she pinpointed the hunter's weak spot. slipping to his back she shove her hands into his spine, forcefully pulling it out along with his spine and some wires connected to it. The motors spinning in his spine immediately slowed down, stopping as the hunter dropped dead.

[Battle frenzy mode: 46]

Not wasting time she went to the female hunter with the purple bow and arrow, locating her weak spot she punched forward to her heart region activating power punch. Surprisingly the female hunter dodged, shifting her head to the side and using her bow to slash at Atlanta.

"Argh!" The latter grunted, as there was a deep slash mark across her hand. She didn't expect this strange bow to be this sharp, costing her as she underestimated the hunters.

Extending her knee forward, Atlanta intended to kneed the hunters gut but she shockingly dodged again, intending the same attack. Atlanta was faster as she dodged, leaping a bit descending downwards with a fist to the hunter's head.

'What..' before Atlanta descended, the female hunter with lightening fast reflexes placed a purple arrow to the bow, firing off at the ground.

'Bam.' The arrow hit the floor exploding, creating a small blast of two meters releasing a purple coloured energy field, sending both Atlanta and the hunter back.

[Critical hit! Abnormal amount of energy absorbed.]

[-20hp]

'Fuck.' Atlanta groaned coughing out fresh blood to the floor, her whole system received an electric jolt as her body sizzled a bit. She didn't know what the hell those arrows were made of, but she sure knew they were a problem as it had managed to take away 20 of her health points.

The hunter too was affected by the small blast, as some components of her body consisted of metals. Some space had been created between she and Atlanta, as she could now fire off her energy arrows.

'Bang! bang! bang!' The hunter fired off three of her purple arrows consecutively to Atlanta, to which the latter dodged running forward estimating the blast radius. The hunter then did something strange, taking a arrow she fired it at Atlanta not stopping she placed another one, but this time firing it upwards.

[Battle frenzy mode: 51]

The hunter then steadily ran forward firing off two more arrows, but Atlanta still dodged not stopping in her tracks.

'Bang!' A much louder bang sound went off as Atlanta's power punch fist collided with the female hunter's bow, sending out energy waves with power packed currents.

[-5hp]

[-5hp]

Atlanta didn't care seeing her health going down, she was more focused on killing this hunter.

'Bang! bang! bang!' More bang sounds and waves of currents went off, as Atlanta collided with the female archer matching in Atlanta's speed.

[-5hp]

[-5hp]

A considerable amount of Atlanta's HP had gone, but she still wasn't fazed.

'Fuck.' The female hunter exclaimed as a shot made it's way to her, going through her shoulders handicapped a bit. Atlanta seeing the opportunity took it, activating power punch twice doubling the effects and slamming her fist into the female hunter heart.

'Boom!' A small boom sound could be heard as the hunter's heart exploded into a pulp, splashing all over Atlanta's body.

"Phough! N-not bad." She softly uttered, before her body slowly crashed to the ground. Looking over, Atlanta gave Ryan and Lisa a thank you nod to which they responded with a I got you nod.

Picking up the bow and remaining arrows in the vase, the description flashed before her eyes but she didn't have time to read them. The hunter's had regained their vision a while back and had now began attack, the remaining group of about ten long range attackers shooting at Ryan and Lisa, while the short range weapon users attacked Atlanta.

Placing one of the purple arrow to the string of the bow, Atlanta felt the same overwhelming pressure but she fought on, refusing to give in. Pulling the string back her grip on it was released, as the arrow shot fast cutting through the air and meeting it's mark.

'Bang.' The same thing happened, and the three approaching hunters were jerked off their feet but they weren't dead yet, only when she fired another did she confirm their death. The others seeing this were weary but it didn't matter, as Atlanta was going to give them the fight of their lives.

'Bang! bang! bang.' Multiple blasts went off as Atlanta fired the arrows, she didn't have any knowledge of archery but somehow she could precisely shoot this arrows. Ryan and Lisa also didn't stay idle, continuously shooting out energy shots from their advanced rifle whilst protecting Atlanta.

"I've been thinking, and I think she kinda takes after us." Ryan chuckled, glancing over a bit to Atlanta's location.

"What do you mean idiot. We're not married." Lisa frowned, technically annoyed by Ryan's playful attitude.

"Haha! don't try to deny that she takes after our strong will and sharp mindset."

Ryan laughed softly, not intimidated by Lisa in the slightest.

"She's independent, on her own. And besides, you don't have a sharp mind in a little bit." Lisa smirked, causing Ryan to raise a brow as his face contorted a bit.

[Immunity activated.]

[Battle frenzy mode: 56]

Just like that the battle field had change to a more even one as these two teams battled it out, to the death. Touching her back she estimated she had about three arrows left, while the hunter's force were still at that of 12. Compromising of two long range shooters, and 10 short range attackers.

Shaking her head she proceeded forward, taking out another arrow firing it at the incoming hunter's. They had gotten much wiser seeing Atlanta firing the arrows so they avoided the first, but she wasn't done yet. placing the two remaining arrows, she shot them out with speed.

Due to how close they were the arrow closed the distance in a short time, but just as it was about to connect a hunter with a shield came forward, holding a huge blue shield. slamming it to the floor it made a clang sound, as Atlanta's arrow connected with the shield.

It glowed a bright blue light as the arrows collided and one would've expected a blast, but it was the opposite as the energy was absorbed by the shield then redirected back to Atlanta.

[-30hp]

Atlanta was sent to her knees breathing raggedly, stained with blood as that attack met her. There was a terrifying hole in her guts, but she was still alive but momentarily beaten.

The bulky male hunter then smirked running over to Atlanta's location, the blue shield in his hand.

[Quest received! Defeat the lv 3 hunter in front]

[Reward??? Penalty???]

"Shit! she's in trouble." Ryan and Lisa had finished taking care of all the long range shooters, leaving only ten of the short range attackers. They wanted to help Atlanta but there was a problem, they'd run out of energy in the weapons!

"Shit. w-we can't let her die." Panicking, Ryan and Lisa contemplated on what to do when their eyes befall on the hand gun dropped by Atlanta.

"It only has two shots left." Ryan saw the indication on the handgun.

'I'll have to make this count.' He thought, placing the gun with his hand stretched out in front, pressing the button the holographic scope formed.

Taking aim Ryan's hand suddenly became sweaty knowing the dire situation at hand, but he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.