Chapter 140: betrayal

Sweat rolled down his face, tingling his fair skin as he worked, but Sergeant Eliot refused to wipe the sweat away. His body was completely tense from the expectations on his shoulders, as the soft but steady ticking sound of the bomb timer sounded in the now quiet compartment.

Knowing that how fast he worked would influence the side mission that they were assigned, brought him loads of pure pressure that he could barely suppress.

He felt like his body was present, but his soul was already in an alternate world. He succeeded in getting to a realm of concentration, that he had never been to before.

Though he was confident that he could work his way around it, he was still extremely intimidated by how complicated the manual mechanical set-up of the safe was. Compared to the ones he had worked on before; the difference was miles apart.

Throughout his years as a soldier, he already worked on and successfully opened dozens of safes. But this one was undoubtedly the most complicated one that he had ever encountered.

He knew that if he could leave here alive, his gains from this experience would be enormous. But would he survive? This was the big question that was plaguing him and bringing him more pressure.

He tried to keep his breathing steady, as he used his electronic picking stick to work the internals of the safe carefully. He could already feel faint aches, all over his neck and body.

His hands felt so sweaty and stiff, as the stethoscope transmitted the mechanical moving sounds of the safe’s internals to his hearing. His eyes were closed and he was completely focused, as he listened carefully and attentively.

Click!! His figure slumped down on hearing this, as he finally heaved a sigh of relief. After what seemed like an eternity to him, he finally heard the sound that he was looking for.

“How is it?” Clark asked cautiously in a probing tone, as he looked at the weary look of his subordinate.

“It’s done sir. The safe is now open, you can now access it”. He finally recollected himself, as he answered immediately with a smile of triumph on his face.

“Good”. Clark smiled, as he directly moved forward to unlock the safe. Time was not on their side anymore, they were currently treading on a path of no return filled with thorns.

Everything was without complications, as the door to the safe opened without any fuss. With another click sound, it finally revealed the contents that were stored in it.

On seeing the research books and documents stored inside, his face could not help but bloom into a wide smile. He was sincerely happy, but this was not the time to celebrate as a time bomb was ticking away above their heads.

He asked for the special storage device that they brought, which was handed to him immediately. After inputting the required code, he opened it and stored everything that was on the safe into the storage device, before he ordered their retreat.

All the soldiers were happy and they felt fulfilled, their faces were all filled with smiles as their achievement was worth celebrating over.

They already finished their original mission; they now got an extra mission and also secured its success. They walked back confidently like victorious soldiers from war.

[Ding!! Hostile intentions detected from Master’s allies…, Initiating deep detection procedures.]

[Ding!! Warning alert…, Imminent attack on…]

His implant did not even finish its warning before he felt the strong killing intent from his side, being directed at him. His subconscious sent him deep danger signals, alerting him immediately.

His body reflexively reacted even before his brain could completely analyze the situation in detail, as he immediately ducked and rolled forward.

Whoosh!! The vicious stab of his ally’s sword narrowly missed him, as he quickly turned to observe and get a better understanding of what exactly happened.

He was fast, but his opponent was still on the move, so he was faster. He was not given the chance to calmly observe, as he saw what was about to happen. The same soldier who stabbed at him was aiming at Sergeant Brody, after failing to take him down.

He knew that if that strike was to connect without any interruption or intervention, he would lose this veteran soldier of the Spartan republic.

Almost all the soldier’s armor’s energy reserves were already depleted, this strike could completely finish the remaining reserves and kill Sergeant Brody immediately.

Despite his small beef with this Sergeant, he was still a loyal and extremely capable soldier of the Spartan republic. He would not allow him to die such a miserable death from their own ally’s hand.

His body burst forth with strength as his figure blurred, rushing forward to Sergeant Brody’s side speedily. He was fast, but the sword already connected and stabbed the Sergeant’s armor.

He used his forward momentum to push the Sergeant’s body forward, as he narrowly avoided being cut in two.

Before the nearby Spartan soldiers could react, the Dawn Sergeant already took hold of the free-falling storage device. After getting what he wanted, he made a hand sign as his fellow Dawn ranged soldiers immediately unleashed hell on their Spartan counterparts.

This was when the Spartan soldiers finally understood what was happening, as they hastily took cover by jumping to the side. They reacted fast after understanding the situation, but their armors were now too vulnerable.

Blood sprinkled down from their diving figures, as the Dawn soldiers used this opportunity to sprint for the door.

They knew that with an outrageously strong soldier like Clark here, they would not win if they stayed to fight a battle. But they did not have to fight, they already got what they wanted.

The soldier who planned and initiated the attack was the 2nd in command of the Dawn fleet.

Since the mission started, he was already annoyed by how the Spartan Captain was allowed to lead them. But he persevered, as Captain Jack reassured him that they would get the last laugh in the end.

He was originally ready to endure this, but his mind changed when his Captain decided to stop all the plans they initially made. After Captain Oxford broke through, his Captain immediately became cowardly as he directly canceled all their plans.

Being his leader, he could not directly refuse his Captain’s orders. But he was already planning something else himself, he was fed up, he no longer had hope in his superior.

When the Spartan Captain separated the group, he finally started having hopes that his plan would work. In the end, he gathered the courage to implement his plan and it succeeded.

Clark finally rose up after the Dawn soldiers escaped, his face was completely twisted from rage as he looked at the bloody gash in the ribs of Sergeant Brody. Without his intervention, this soldier would have been directly split in two.

Seeing his other injured fellow Spartans made him angrier, as he clenched his fists to calm his mood.

He was originally suspecting the Dawn soldiers, but this suspicion stopped when his Captain broke through to become a 4th rank high-grade soldier.

He thought this intimidation factor would be enough, but it seems he was too naive.

His current hot-blooded mood was pushing him to go after the Dawn soldiers alone, but he forced his impulse back.

If he left his injured soldiers behind, they would likely not survive alone. And if he fought against the Dawn soldiers, he would necessarily not emerge as the winner.

After thinking of all these, he forcefully calmed his fluctuating emotions, as he calmly ordered his uninjured soldiers to administer first aid treatment to the injured.

Despite the Spartan soldier’s fury, they all calmed down as they listened to the orders of their leader. They all knew that their being allies for this mission did not grant them trust in each other.

Being allies under the European alliance did not mean that they should leave their interests, and fulfill that of their ally countries. The European alliance only enforces the ally rule, when there is a threat to its existence. So, this betrayal was not entirely unexpected.

Clark went to the corner, as he brought out the special communication device that Captain Oxford gave him. He was suspecting that this ambitious Dawn soldier made this decision without asking his Captain for approval.

He did not doubt his implant’s decision, as it notified him yesterday of how terrified and resigned Captain Jack was after seeing the breakthrough of his Captain. Well, he no longer cared.

“If your subordinate betrays us behind your back and escapes, then you have to take the punishment on his behalf”. With this reasoning, he contacted Captain Oxford and swiftly sent a message of what happened here to him.

Though the loss of his hard work pained him, he was confident that Captain Oxford would wrath vengeance on his behalf.

After sending the message, he toyed with the communication device a bit before going back to regroup his soldiers.

They had no time, they had to leave the military research base now. The bomb timer was set to go off in less than 20 minutes. He already informed Captain Oxford about the bomb countdown, so all he had to do was regroup with them.

…

The Spartan/Dawn allied soldiers under the lead of Captain Oxford rested at the side, as they calmly waited for the return of their soldiers.

After a lot of fighting and fumbling around, they were finally able to find a hidden compartment where the horde of mechanical soldiers could not access.

At this moment, Captain Jack had an anxious expression on his face as he fidgeted nervously.

His subordinate just sent the message to him about what happened, which left his back soaked with cold sweat. This was an unexpected bomb that just dropped down from the sky to him.

Like Clark predicted, he had no hand in what just happened. He was ready to follow the Spartan soldiers till the end of this mission, he did not expect such a reckless decision from his subordinates.

He was currently in a dilemma. Should he just support his subordinates and betray the Spartans, or should he apologize? Would they even believe and forgive him?

As he was thinking, Captain Oxford suddenly stood up with an expression of rage on his face as he turned to face him. All the Spartan soldiers also received the message, as they stood up with twisted expressions of anger on their faces.

On seeing this, Captain Jack immediately knew that he was screwed as these people probably already knew. As he thought of how to escape, the enraged Captain Oxford finally spoke.

His deep vocal cords spread the sound, as his loud voice echoed around word by word.

“Jack! What! Have! You! Done!!?”

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