Cyborg Corps: A War of Attrition

The cloaked figure stood atop the icy ridge, looking down at them.

He made no move to attack.

He only stood there, yet the aura around him was already suffocating. It was the restrained, dangerous pressure of a seasoned fighter—far more so than the Primordial Ice Dragon's savage presence.

"Who are you?" Gon asked, clenching his fists.

Though he was covered in wounds from the Ancient Dragon fight, his gaze remained sharp.

The cloaked figure chuckled but gave no answer.

He merely raised a hand.

The next second—

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Dozens of dark figures burst from cover across the ice field and fanned out around the six-person team.

They wore matching black combat suits and half-face mechanical masks that exposed only cold eyes. They moved in perfect unison and landed without a sound, like a pack of well-trained hunting dogs.

More striking were the signs of mechanical modification on every one of them. Some had alloy arms, others had artificial eyes, and some even had small thrusters mounted on their backs.

"Cyborgs," Kurapika said grimly.

Genos's red scanning light flashed on. "Thirty modified human individuals detected. Mechanical modification rates range from forty to seventy percent."

"Overall combat assessment... average Capture Level around twenty."

Level twenty.

Not especially strong.

But thirty attacking together, clearly intent on wearing the team down, would be a problem.

"They're not here for a decisive fight." Killua narrowed his eyes, seeing through their plan at once. "They're here to harass us."

The moment he finished speaking, the cyborgs moved.

They didn't swarm in for a head-on clash. Instead, they split into groups and circled at a distance. Some threw ice-spike projectiles, others fired energy guns from afar, while another group slipped toward the rear to steal the supplies from their packs.

It was a