V still wanted to hold them back, but Adam's Hammer casually fired the Eight-Star Gun in Mercer's direction.
At the moment the micro-missile was launched, V had to transform into a shadow, slashing at the missile with a blade to save Mercer.
Rebecca also made a turn, once again blocking in front of Mercer—when the missile exploded and the smoke dissipated, Adam's Hammer had already turned into a black dot, running full speed into an abandoned building.
He directly smashed a gap in the wall of that small building and then vanished without a trace.
"Shit!" V cursed, about to give chase again when Mercer's voice sounded: "Don't chase."
Only then did V reluctantly stop.
"Go turn off the electronic countermeasures device in that building." Mercer propped himself up and sat up, wiping his face, unsure where he accidentally hit earlier, leaving him covered in blood.
V glanced at him with concern, but seeing Rebecca had already walked over, said nothing more, heading to shut down the electronic warfare device in the building, lifting the current network signal blockade.
Meanwhile, Rebecca hurried over, inspecting him from head to toe: "You okay?"
"I'm fine, what about you?" Mercer looked at her battered armor, reaching out to press down on her helmet, and sure enough, inside the helmet, Rebecca's face was a mess of blood.
To be honest, taking a direct rocket hit and several micro-missiles, it's somewhat incredible that she's still standing.
The armor might withstand explosions, but the fragile human organs inside may not endure such force; even if the armor has buffer shock absorption, Rebecca still endured a terrifying amount of impact.
Only now did Rebecca grimace with pain: "It hurts a bit..."
"It's fine, we'll go to the hospital soon..." Mercer turned his head, looking at Lucy still slumped on the back seat, holding her head in a daze, then at Jack and Mann waving from afar indicating they're okay.
Everyone carried injuries, but fortunately, none were life-threatening; Mann was the most seriously injured, having lost an arm and a leg—arms and legs are no grave wounds in the Cyber World.
At this moment, Dolio, with a worried expression, was administering a hemostatic agent to Mann, performing emergency dressing, while Mann nonchalantly pulled out a slightly crumpled cigar, appearing calm.
Jack, too, had several bullet holes, his clothes shredded by bullets, but he just grinned and gave Mercer a thumbs up, multiple gunshot wounds on his body still oozing blood.
Yet he leaned against a beaten armored vehicle, injected himself with a stimulant, then sat down gasping for breath, trying hard to calm his respiration.
This was thanks to everyone having Heavy Subdermal Armor and Frenzy Operating Systems; against conventional firepower, even if they couldn't withstand it head-on, they could still react and dodge vital points.
The Netherworld Dogs responsible for defense also contributed significantly—they might not have equipment as good as the Spark Team, but they didn't run during the fight, providing crucial fire support.
They concentrated fire to suppress Arasaka's agents, buying Mercer and the others precious time, and delaying until Takemura's retreat.
At this moment, reinforcements from the Netherworld Dog were also rapidly arriving; although the battle sounded complex, the actual fighting only lasted a little more than three minutes.
As a large number of Netherworld Dog soldiers arrived, they immediately began cursing and searching the nearby buildings, and V, too, at this moment turned off the electronic warfare equipment, clutching her shoulder as she walked over.
Her shoulder had been hit by an electromagnetic sniper shot; if the first RPG hadn't served as a warning, that electromagnetic bullet, traveling faster than reaction speed, could have pierced her heart directly.
Even she, facing such a terrifying weapon, could barely avoid critical areas; needless to say, if the bullet had come without warning...
Mercer looked at her with concern, but V just nodded to him nonchalantly to indicate she was okay, then said bitterly, "Those bastards just ran off like that?"
"The explosions were so loud that even if they disrupted communications, support would arrive in three to four minutes at most—they didn't want a direct confrontation with the Netherworld Dogs; they weren't here to kill anyone."
Mercer said, coughing twice, his lungs burning and his head feeling a bit charred.
This wasn't a metaphor—his hacker implant had smoked for a while, and now the internal circuitry had fused; the fact that it didn't catch fire showed the reliability of its design.
The Brain-Computer Interface also malfunctioned, possibly due to some circuits being damaged by the EMP, leaving Mercer feeling weak all over, with arms and legs out of control, and the Network Access Vault had also been directly destroyed during the electronic warfare by the EMP.
In essence, if Rebecca and V hadn't stopped Adam's Hammer and the other agents armed with Sianwistan, if Mercer's Single Molecule Line hadn't miraculously not malfunctioned, this would have been a disaster for him.
"Director Mercer, we'll take you to the doctor now..." a Netherworld Dog rushed over, concerned; Mercer hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded.
He didn't quite trust the doctors in Dog Town, but letting the Trauma Team take them out for treatment might not be safe either.