The crowd glared at Germain and the others with open hostility.
Then, Sheila wiped her tears and stepped forward, shielding them from the gun barrels pointed their way.
"Don't shoot!" she shouted, struggling to keep her eyes open against the pounding rain. "I called them here!"
Pakunoda's expression twisted in disbelief. She stared at her childhood friend.
"Why?" she demanded. "Why would you do this? And… how do you even know them?"
And then, in an instant, realization dawned on her.
Before this, the Phantom Troupe had already discussed the possibility of a traitor leaking their Nen abilities to Germain.
Machi was once a suspect, but she was later cleared of all suspicion.
Now, it seemed that the real traitor had finally been exposed...
"So it was you..." Pakunoda could barely breathe. "You, me, and Sarasa… we were so close… and yet, you betrayed us?"
Before this, she had never once suspected Sheila.
"I... I didn't!" Sheila quickly realized what Pakunoda had misunderstood. She had never leaked any information about the Troupe's Nen abilities.
But now, no matter how much she tried to explain, it was useless. Even if she threw herself into the ocean, she wouldn't be able to wash away the suspicion.
"Traitor." Machi's voice was cold and emotionless. "Three traitors from Meteor City. Nothing more."
She rolled out Nen threads between her fingers, keeping a close eye on Germain.
Pakunoda also pulled out her gun—the one that fired "Memory Bullets."
The Meteor City combat forces stood ready.
Germain, Shizuku, and Kurapika, of course, wouldn't surrender. They responded in kind, their stances prepared for battle, while pulling Sheila back to their side.
"There's nothing left to say," Kurapika told Sheila. "Now that we've crossed paths, this conflict won't stop."
Sheila's expression tensed before sorrow overtook her face…
Tonight, she might once again witness a childhood friend die in front of her…
Why did these tragedies keep repeating before her eyes?
And why was she powerless to stop them?
However, the battle just now, along with Germain's Crescent Slash, attracted not only Machi and Pakunoda's team.
The lightning illuminated the mountain of garbage and the mountain of corpses, making the surroundings as bright as day, and revealed a large group of shadowy figures moving wildly.
Boom—Boom—
The thunder followed, rolling like countless heavy wheels grinding over the fragile ground.
"Why am I not a 'Royal Guards'?" The leader of the demon-like monster muttered softly.
"I've clearly been following Lord Zazan... No, no, no, now it's Lord 'Ant Queen'... I've been with Lord 'Ant Queen' the longest."
A demon, resembling a spider, crawled up the mountain of corpses, like a melancholic poet, singing its own sorrow.
Countless demons swarmed together, but along with them, there were many rocket launchers that looked particularly terrifying.
Amid the rumbling noise, as loud as thunder and shaking like an earthquake, three tanks emerged, their dark cannon mouths aimed at the human side.
Boom, boom, boom—
The sound of cannons echoed, and the explosive power caused the unprepared Meteor City combat team to scatter in the middle, their screams filling the air.
Like shattered watermelons, red and black chunks of flesh rained down everywhere.
Wearing white protective suits, they panicked, raising their guns to fire, without even waiting for orders from their nominal commanders, Machi and Pakunoda.
However, the bullets hit the three steel beasts with a tat-tat-tat, but other than sparking, they didn't achieve any real results.
The combat team knew very well why the demons had three tanks: they had purchased them from the outside world, but not long ago, the demons had stolen them.
And nearly all of their anti-tank rockets, firearms, grenades, and more were now in the demons' hands.
This meant that the Meteor City combat team could only use whatever they had left to try and stop these three giants and the surrounding demons eyeing them hungrily.
"Destroy their tracks!" Machi had already been thinking about how to handle the tanks after they lost three of their own.
She glanced at Germain, Shizuku, Kurapika, and Sheila. At this point, they couldn't act against them anymore.
Machi silently prayed, hoping they wouldn't seize this opportunity to betray the Meteor City combat team.
If they were attacked from both sides, the consequences would be unthinkable!
Pakunoda clearly thought the same.
Her sharp eyes met Machi's briefly before she glanced at Germain, Sheila, and the others, then turned her focus back to the true enemy in front of them.
Now was not the time to deal with them.
The Meteor City combat team followed Machi's orders, attempting to approach the tanks and destroy their tracks to stop them from moving forward.
However, the demons quickly saw through their plan.
Whoosh—
Boom—
The rocket launcher pierced through the heavy rain of bullets, trailing a long, echoing sound, before exploding between the Meteor City battle units.
"Spread out!"
Machi turned again, her fingers launching strands of Nen, wrapping tightly around one of the rockets, spinning and throwing it back.
Boom—
The rocket exploded on one of the tanks, a burst of light followed by thick smoke.
The tank's hatch opened immediately, and several demons crawled out one after another, landing on the ground, revealing their fierce faces.
This is the worst part… Machi thought.
Normally, explosions could stun or kill living creatures inside a tank, but the demons' bodies were too strong; they weren't even human!
Even without tanks, rockets, or firearms, these demons were still terrifying, monstrous enemies.
The Meteor City battle units had already scattered, hiding behind piles of trash, houses, and mountains of corpses, shooting back at the demons.
But they knew their counterattacks wouldn't make much of a difference.
Before this, they still had many heavy weapons capable of killing or driving back lower-level demons.
But after several battles were lost, a large number of weapons were lost as well, and the tide of the battle quickly turned against them.
The Meteor City fighters had been battling day and night, already exhausted, and tonight, the demons launched a surprise attack in the heavy rain, possibly the final straw that would break them.
If possible, Meteor City wanted to use the "Poor Man's Rose" or similarly powerful explosives to end this nightmare that had yet to end.
But because of Meteor City's reckless reputation, even terrorist organizations felt ashamed in comparison. No one wanted to sell "Poor Man's Rose" to them.
Years ago, the people of Meteor City had threatened outsiders with human bombs. If they got their hands on "Poor Man's Rose," who knew what they would do?
Even the greediest arms dealers wouldn't take such a risk.
Having completely lost hope in their weapons, all of their expectations now rested on the most skilled team in Meteor City—the "Phantom Troupe."
This was the reason why Machi and Pakunoda were currently back to back, not charging forward.
If even one more of them fell, it would deal a devastating blow to the morale of the Meteor City combat unit.
So, they decided on a strategy of defense and counterattack, waiting for the demons to rush in, and then striking back with perfect coordination!
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