At the same time, the bck-cd soldiers arrived oskirts of Tribeca. A thermal drone buzzed overhead, sing the area. “No guards detected,” one soldier reported. “Two heat signatures ihe Mansion. One should be the target.”

  The team leader smirked. “Perfect. Let’s move.”

  Their only obstacle was a three-meter-high unity wall, which seemed insignifit to the trained operatives. However, evenly spaced along the wall were strange half-meter-loal rods. “Looks like an arm system,” one soldier guessed.

  “Hyena, check it out,” the leader ordered.

  Without hesitation, a wiry man niamed Hyena sprioward the wall. He moved like a shadow, leaping into the air with practiced ease. His jump cleared nearly five meters, easily surpassing the height of the fend rods. Just as he he wall, a cealed camera locked onto him.

  Bzzz!

  The rods hummed ominously as they charged. When Hyena crossed the invisible threshold, arcs of electricity shot out like lightning, striking him mid-air.

  Crack! With a siing thud, Hyena’s charred body hit the grass. Smoke curled off his scorched skin.

  “Damn it!” the leader hissed. “Shoot those things down! Now!”

  Gunfire erupted, shattering the silence of the night. One by ohe voltage rods were destroyed uhe barrage of bullets.

  In the basement of Mansion No. 9, a soft hum broke the stillness. Four dormant spider-like maes powered on, their red eyes glowing ominously. Tarantu, Annie’s half-assembled spider robot, activated as well. The meical creatures sprang to life, entering bat mode. With a series of sharp clicks aallic whirs, the steel predators surged out of the Mansion, ready to defend their territory.

  Sophia heard the gunshots outside and her expression shifted instantly. Gng at Annie, who was still sound asleep, she didn’t waste a sed. Ign her injuries, she bolted to the basement, suited up in MV-01, and sprinted out of the Mansion.

  Outside the unity, a man in bck with sharp perception suddenly shouted, "Something’s ing! Fast!"

  He sensed several highly dangerous entities closing in on them from within the unity."Damn it! Who used the drohe ander barked furiously. "Didn’t you say there were no guards?"

  "It was me, sir," a soldier stammered. "But I used a thermal droo s the area, and I swear, I didn’t detey guards!"

  The ander was about to respond when Tarantu and the spiders appeared, and everything became crystal clear. Now they uood why the heat-sensing drone had failed—it hadn’t detected the guards because they weren’t human. They were maes. Tarantu, a t mae over three meters tall, was the first to appear.

  As Tarantu approached the perimeter, the voltage rods on the wall reized her as friendly and didn’t activate the electric barrier. With a thunderous boom!!, it leaped over the wall effortlessly, nding with a shockwave that rattled the ground. Upon nding, it arm bdes extended with a meical hiss, and it mood light switched to an ominous red. She wasted no time charging at the closest soldier in bck.

  "Ah! Stop her!" one of the soldiers shouted as they opened fire. Bullets ricocheted off Tarantu’s armor, king harmlessly to the ground. Only a few shots aimed at it joints mao slow it movements slightly.

  Tarantu didn’t care. Swinging it arm bdes in a lethal arc, it sliced through the soldier in front of her, cleaving him into four pieces in a grotesque dispy. Without missing a beat, it spun around, lifting one of her sharp meical legs, and impaled another soldier who had been trying to fnk her. As the soldiers reeled in shock, four spiders climbed over the wall, skittering into the fray. The maes moved with terrifying speed and precision. Uarantu, they had simpler AI and relied on straightforrogramming to overwhelm enemies in close bat.

  "These things aren’t human!" one of the soldiers shouted, panig as the realization sank in.

  "Fire! Use grenades!" the ander yelled, regaining his posure.

  Half the team focused their firepower on Tarantu’s joints, while the other half unched grenades from their rifles. Tarantu’s sensors immediately picked up the ining grenades. With surprising agility for it massive frame, she dodged them effortlessly. In AI mode, it adopted a quadrupedal stance, crawling like a spider to increase her mobility. Though her movements weren’t as fluid as Annie’s when manually piloting the suit, for an autonomous mae, it was an impressive dispy of adaptability.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Explosions rocked the area, but none of the grenades hit Tarantu directly. Shrapnel and shockwaves washed over her without leaving a scratch. The spiders weren’t so lucky. Lag the advanced evasion protocols of Tarantu, two were caught is. Their legs were blown off, leaving them immobilized. The other two sustained severe damage but mao stay operational, albeit sluggishly.

  Seeing this, the ander felt a glimmer of hope. "They’re not invincible! Take them down!"

  Just as he finished speaking, the sound of heavy gunfire erupted from the dire of the unity gate. Large-caliber bullets tore through the night, mowing down several soldiers. The ones hit by the heavy rounds were left with gaping holes iorsos, their deaths horrifid immediate.

  The ander spun around to see a figure in humanoid armor standing at the gate, wielding a heavy mae gun. The MV-01 armor’s reflective surface glinted uhe dim light as bullets fired by the soldiers bounced harmlessly off its surface.

  "It’s the target!" the ander shouted, his eyes lighting up. "trate fire! Kill her!"

  Three soldiers behind him tore off their coats, revealing bulging muscles that looked almost inhuman. Without hesitation, they charged at Sophia, moving with superhuman speed."Mutants?" Sophia muttered ihe armor, her eyes widening in shock.

  Thanks to Erza, she’d learned about people in this world who possessed extraordinary abilities. But sudividuals were supposed to be one in a millio here, she was fag not o three. Unbeknownst to her, there were more mutants in the squad. The electrocuted hyenas and the soldier with enhanced perception—both were mutants too. Out of the twenty-soldier team, five were geically altered, far more than Sophia could have guessed.

  As the three mutants closed the distance, Sophia steadied her nerves and unleashed a barrage of firepower. The heavy mae gun spat bullets at them, but their muscles absorbed most of the impact. Although blood sprayed from their wounds, the bullets didn’t pee deeply enough to stop them.

  "Spread out!" one of the mutants roared, signaling the others.

  Sophia hesitated, her hands g the trols of the MV-01 suit as she watched the three attackers split up and rush toward her from different dires. “Damn it!” she muttered, panic flickering in her eyes.

  The MV-01 armor owerful and durable, perfect for close bat. But Sophia had a gring disadvantage—she had no bat experience. She was a plete novice when it came to fighting, and the reality of the situation was sinking in fast. Not far away, Tarantu’s AI noticed Sophia’s predit and instantly switched to rescue mode. Zack had programmed a hidden directive into all his AI units: prioritize the safety of personnel above all else, no matter the cost.