Global Awakening: This VR System is Tyrannical!

Noticing Mareum’s surprised and confused expression, the bodyguard quickly tried to clarify.

"Ah, this, sir? I just got lucky because he was isolated and had your support. If there were two of them, finishing it this quickly would have been impossible."

Mareum smiled wryly, letting out a soft sigh. "Perhaps my help wasn’t as significant as you make it sound. Still, thank you. Leaving your Young Master’s side to come down here couldn’t have been an easy choice."

At the mention of Ji-Hong, the bodyguard’s expression instantly turned sour. Realizing he couldn’t let slip that Ji-Hong was actively on the front line, he blurted out a quick excuse: "Sir, I need to get back to supporting the others!"

Mareum was left dumbfounded by the sudden departure, but he quickly shook it off—they were still in the middle of a life-and-death struggle. Clutching his injured ribs, he trailed deeper into the corridor toward the remaining three mercenaries.

The bodyguard mentally wiped his brow as he hurried away. If Mareum ever found out that Young Master Ji-Hong was currently outside the high-security safe room, actively commanding personnel and sniping mercenaries, the Great Guardian would have completely lost his temper.

Meanwhile, Deluja and his two remaining operatives were having a brutal time trying to push past the six personal bodyguards.

’We haven’t even reached the perimeter of the target room, yet the suits that were supposed to last the entire operation are reaching their absolute limits,’ Deluja thought, his eyes scanning his visor HUD in frustration.

His power reserve had plummeted to 39%, and his men’s suits showed similar depleted numbers. The exoskeletons were meant to bridge the gap against superior numbers, but that advantage was rapidly evaporating.

Suddenly, the mercenaries caught the sound of quick footsteps approaching from behind.

Deluja, positioned on the far right, bore the brunt of the ambush as a sharp right kick whistled straight toward the left side of his face.

Reacting with veteran reflexes, Deluja raised his right arm, bracing his leg muscles and anchoring his center pivot to absorb the blow.

CLANG!

Realizing the kick lacked the force to break through an anchored stance without full momentum, the newly arrived bodyguard vaulted backward off Deluja’s forearm, landing smoothly beside the other six bodyguards.

"How is the other side?" one of the six asked without taking his eyes off Deluja.

"Resolved," the seventh guard replied softly. "Since he was isolated, taking him down was simple. But with these three covering each other, seven of us won’t easily gain the upper hand."

Hearing their comrade’s assessment, the guards nodded grimly. These mercenaries were true elites. Every time the bodyguards set up a synchronized joint-lock or balance throw to eliminate one operative, another mercenary would instantly leap in to break their formation, preventing them from delivering a decisive blow.

Stepping past the shattered marble archway, Mareum wiped the dust from his cheek and took a position opposite the seven bodyguards, trapping the three mercenaries in the middle. His presence anchored the corridor, making it seem as though the operatives were cornered prey.

In reality, however, the move created a physical gap—a tactical error the seven bodyguards instantly realized the moment one of the mercenaries glanced over his shoulder.

"Great Guardian!" one of the personal guards shouted, eyeing the opponent’s sudden shift. "Watch out—"

Before the warning was even fully uttered, one of the mercenaries dashed backward, targeting the injured Mareum.

Mareum recognized the grave danger and forced himself to set aside his injuries, raising his guard. But the mercenary’s boosted speed left zero room for proper preparation, launching a devastating right backhand strike powered by the exoskeleton’s servo-motors.

The corridor erupted in a blur of violent motion as the seven bodyguards surged forward to prevent Mareum from taking a full-power mechanical blow.

Yet Deluja and the second mercenary were more than capable of holding the line, proving why they were top-tier combatants.

When the front two guards stepped in to apply a joint-redirect on the second operative, Deluja didn’t attempt to pull back. Instead, he drove his heavy metal shoulder straight into their trajectory, intentionally breaking their stance.

Simultaneously, the second mercenary slid behind Deluja’s back, his heavy carbon-steel blade slicing diagonally upward through the opening.

SCHLICK!

Two bodyguards gasped as the razor-sharp steel cut through their black suits, leaving deep, bleeding gashes across their forearms and torsos. Recognizing the lethal arc in a split second, they twisted their bodies backward, barely turning what would have been a decapitating strike into a shallow flesh wound.

KABOOM!

At the exact same instant, a violent impact shattered stone, scattering sand and dust into the air.

Mareum crashed violently against the far wall before sliding down onto his knees, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Fortunately, he had managed to cross his arms into a proper block just in time, protecting his already-injured abdomen from further damage. The cost, however, was severe—both of his arms trembled violently, covered in deep, purple bruises.

The mercenary stood over him, unsheathing his heavy combat blade to finish the Great Guardian off.

Realizing the grim situation, the seven wounded bodyguards desperately tried to force their way past Deluja to reach Mareum.

However, Deluja and his partner moved like a single, four-legged beast. Every time a bodyguard tried to bypass them or lock a limb, the other mercenary’s blade was already whistling toward a vital point, forcing the guards to abandon their grapples and leap backward.

In less than twenty seconds, all seven personal bodyguards were bleeding—slashed across shoulders, thighs, and chests. They avoided fatal strikes through sheer agility and game-honed reflexes, but the physical toll was rising fast.

The mercenary stepped over Mareum, his thermal visor glowing red inside the swirling dust. Raising his heavy carbon-steel blade with both hands, he positioned the point directly over the Great Guardian’s throat.

Mareum’s vision blurred from blood loss and concussive force. He tried to raise his trembling arms to form a final guard, but his bruised, battered muscles refused to respond.

"Die," the mercenary muttered coldly, thrusting the blade downward with the full hydraulic weight of his exoskeleton.

Above on the secondary balcony, Ji-Hong and Butler Lee didn’t even need to speak. Their eyes locked onto the falling weapon, their breathing synchronized down to the millisecond.

BANG! BANG!

Two high-velocity rounds shattered through the carved wooden balcony railing simultaneously, tracing two tight lines through the haze.

CLANG—CRACK!

The first bullet, fired by Butler Lee, struck the flat side of the falling blade mid-air, deflecting its path by critical inches so it slammed harmlessly into the stone floor beside Mareum’s neck.

The second bullet, delivered with Ji-Hong’s frame-perfect precision, struck the mercenary’s powered wrist joint at the exact moment of impact.

PZZZZZT!

Sparks erupted as the round crushed the servo-actuator inside the glove. The mercenary’s right hand buckled violently, losing its grip as the carbon-steel blade spun across the marble floor.

"Hm?!" The mercenary staggered back, clutching his sparking, useless right wrist in shock before snapping his gaze toward the upper floor.

"Go! We’ll create the opening from up here!" Ji-Hong shouted to his bodyguards below.

Ji-Hong knew that trying to land outright lethal shots with their limited rifle ammo was impractical against full combat exoskeletons moving at high speeds. Instead, the most efficient tactic was using precise bullet impacts to stagger the operatives, disrupt their balance, and create execution windows for his bodyguards.

Hearing the command, two bodyguards immediately charged forward to bypass Deluja and the second mercenary.

The second mercenary rushed to intercept them, but a rapid suppression volley from Ji-Hong and Butler Lee forced him to duck behind cover, severing his line of movement.

With the distraction cleared, the two bodyguards reached the disarmed mercenary protecting Mareum.

One of the bodyguards used his forward momentum to throw his entire body weight into a shoulder charge.

A human shoulder-tackling a heavy exoskeleton sounded ridiculous—and it would have been, if he were acting alone. But at the same microsecond, the second bodyguard slid low and executed a sweep that knocked the mercenary’s legs out from under him.

Losing his anchored center of gravity, the two-hundred-kilogram armored mercenary was hurl-pushed backward, crashing hard against the stone wall near Mareum.

BOOM!

Mareum managed to drag himself back from the debris zone, keeping his awareness sharp despite his injuries.

The two bodyguards gave the mercenary zero time to recover. Capitalizing on the stagger window, one guard pinned the suit’s upper torso while the other seized the helmet, twisting the head with all his martial strength.

CRACK!

The mercenary’s neck snapped, alongside the suit’s internal neck brace.

Lethal and decisive—as long as they had the momentum and remained undisturbed, the bodyguards’ techniques were absolute.

Seeing only two of them remaining sent a wave of cold rage through Deluja. Even as the situation turned completely grim, his stubborn pride abandoned the idea of retreating.

With only two operatives left, however, they could no longer hold the line as they once had.

The two bodyguards who had just eliminated Mareum’s attacker didn’t pause to take a break. They immediately charged back into the fray, rejoining their allies to form a full seven-man assault against the last two mercenaries.

The numerical shift was overwhelming. Deluja found himself cut off, completely unable to cover his remaining squadmate.

Four bodyguards swarmed the mercenary, using synchronized joint-locks to pin his heavy limbs and forcibly overextend the armor plates.

With the suit’s joints stretched wide open, Ji-Hong and Butler Lee didn’t miss the window.

BANG! BANG!

Rifle rounds zipped down from the balcony, passing straight through the widened gaps in the exoskeleton’s armpit and midsection to neutralize the target.

In seconds, the rest of his squad was completely wiped out.

Deluja stood alone in the smoke-filled corridor. As he struggled to maintain his resolve against the surrounding bodyguards, his exoskeleton’s power reserve had finally hit zero.

The powered servos went dead, locking the heavy steel armor in place and bringing their mission to an absolute failure.

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