Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner-Chapter 134: Hacker wars

Noah crossed his arms. "Can you backtrace how long they’ve been talking to each other? How long this has been going on?"

Kelvin cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Now you’re suddenly interested? Five minutes ago, you were all ’Kelvin, you shouldn’t be doing this’ and now you’re giving me assignments?"

Noah shot him a deadpan look.

Kelvin put his hands up. "Fine, fine. Let’s see…" His fingers flew over the tablet’s screen, navigating through its security logs. A few taps later, a timeline populated on the display.

"Bingo," he muttered. "They’ve been talking for about a month."

Noah hummed. "That’s… not too long, but also not short enough to be a recent mistake."

Kelvin shrugged. "Blackmail doesn’t happen overnight. He’s been sitting on this for a while."

Noah leaned back, arms crossed. "Alright, next question—can you find out where the virus came from?"

Kelvin arched a brow. "You think someone sent it to Raven to wipe his tablet?"

"Albright clearly knows what’s on this thing," Noah said. "He’s not an idiot. He wouldn’t just sit back and let some kid dangle leverage over his head. If anything, I’m shocked Raven didn’t see this coming."

Kelvin snorted. "Yeah, well, not everyone’s as paranoid as you." He cracked his neck and got to work.

It took a few minutes of digging, but eventually, he whistled low. "Oh yeah, this was definitely a hit job."

Noah’s eyes narrowed. "Explain."

Kelvin rotated the tablet so Noah could see. "The virus wasn’t just some random bug or system glitch. It was custom-coded. Designed specifically to seek out and corrupt video files. But get this—whoever sent it disguised it as a routine academy update. Raven probably didn’t even realize he was downloading it."

Noah exhaled sharply. "Meaning this came from someone inside the academy."

Noah exhaled, already bracing for the reaction. "I need you to track where the hacker sent this from."

Kelvin immediately stopped typing and turned to him, staring like he had just suggested something insane. "Wait, hold up. You’re seriously trying to find this hacker?"

Noah didn’t answer.

Kelvin scoffed. "And do what? Shake hands? Make a business proposal?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "Just track it."

Kelvin leaned back, crossing his arms. "You do realize this is a technopath we’re talking about, right? Whoever they are, they’re not some amateur script kiddie. This level of work? Custom-coded virus, hidden in an official-looking update, deployed without tripping any security alarms? That’s next level."

Noah remained quiet.

Kelvin narrowed his eyes. "So why are we even doing this? Is it because Albright’s been breathing down your neck?"

Noah’s jaw tightened.

Kelvin nodded to himself. "Of course it is. Makes sense. He’s been watching you like a hawk since you got arrested last month. Claiming you’re hiding some hidden ability or whatever—which, by the way, is stupid because you’re just you. Albright is paranoid."

Noah didn’t correct him.

Kelvin sighed. "Alright, I get why you’re curious about this. Albright’s making your life hell. But going this far? Digging up dirt for Raven?" He scoffed. "That 1A, underdeveloped brat doesn’t deserve the headache we’re about to get."

Noah shrugged. "Maybe not. But we’re already in it, aren’t we?"

Kelvin groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "You suck, you know that?"

Noah smirked. "You say that, but you’re already opening the tracker."

Kelvin grumbled under his breath, but sure enough, he got to work.

Kelvin exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders like he was preparing for a fight. "Just so you know, I almost gave myself a brain aneurysm trying to kill this virus the first time. Only reason Raven’s lucky ass still has a functioning tablet is because some other technopath already modded it before him. Built-in antivirus kept the damn thing at bay."

Noah raised a brow. "So Raven got lucky?"

"Extremely lucky," Kelvin muttered. "And you want to track down whoever did this?" He let out a dry laugh. "We’d be better off praying we never actually find them."

Noah remained silent, arms folded as he watched Kelvin finally stop messing around and actually use his powers.

The shift was immediate. Kelvin’s fingertips glowed a neon green, his eyes flickering to match. The air around his hands shimmered as complex code began forming in real time—numbers, letters, intricate symbols rewriting themselves as if being typed by invisible fingers.

As he worked, Kelvin muttered, half to himself. "Okay, what do we know? Hacker’s in the school. Using school facilities to stay hidden." His brow furrowed. "That’s already scary enough."

Noah tilted his head. "Could it be one of the IT guys?"

Kelvin considered, then shook his head. "Albright’s already the second most powerful figure in this place. If this was his hacker, he wouldn’t want too many eyes seeing his dirt. He’d keep his circle tight."

Noah hummed, watching as Kelvin went back to work.

Lines of glowing green code stretched out in the air, crawling like digital vines. Symbols linked and reassembled, reaching through the school’s data like feelers searching for a pulse—

And then everything froze.

Kelvin’s fingers twitched. His entire body went rigid.

The green code started to corrode.

Noah’s eyes widened as a new color bled into the air—violet.

It spread fast. A different script, one Kelvin hadn’t written, began eating through his code like a virus consuming a host. And then, right there in the air, the violet code twisted, rearranged—

And formed the shape of a rat.

Noah stiffened. "Kelvin—"

"Yeah," Kelvin gritted out, eyes locked on the shifting symbols. "We’ve got a problem."

Kelvin gritted his teeth as the violet rat scurried through his lines of code, gnawing away at his carefully built sequences like it was feasting on a buffet. His fingers twitched, the glow intensifying as he rapidly typed in the air, rewriting the compromised data in real time.

"Oh, you wanna play?" he muttered, eyes narrowing. "Fine. Let’s play."

The neon-green symbols around him twisted, reforming at rapid speed. New sequences assembled, patterns emerging from the chaos. Within seconds, a massive feline silhouette took shape—its glowing emerald frame stalking through the sea of code like a predator hunting prey.

A digital cat.

The rat noticed. It skittered, darting through fragmented numbers as the cat gave chase, leaping from one block of script to another. Kelvin guided the construct with sharp, precise keystrokes, trapping the rat between firewall subroutines and encrypted loops.

"I’ve almost got it," he said, voice tight with focus. "Just a little more—"

The rat twitched. And then, right before his cat could pounce—

It changed.

The lines of violet shifted, code rewriting itself at breakneck speed. The rat expanded, growing, reshaping into something massive.

A knight.

Fully armored, sword gleaming in pure violet script, the knight raised its blade and slashed.

Kelvin barely had time to react before his carefully crafted code shattered like glass. The shockwave sent green fragments scattering, his cat dissolving instantly.

"Shit," Kelvin hissed.

Noah, watching from the sidelines, blinked in sheer confusion. "Uh…what just happened?"

Kelvin didn’t answer immediately. He was already working, his fingers moving at lightning speed. The symbols forming this time were different—not a creature, but something bigger.

"Kelvin—"

"I get it," Kelvin interrupted. "You don’t speak hacker. Here’s the English version: That knight? It’s an adaptive countermeasure. Someone’s actively watching me, and they just deployed a kill script to take me out."

"A what now?"

"A program designed to wreck my shit. Now shut up, I need to counter it."

Kelvin’s green light pulsed. More lines of code surged forth, forming something far larger than before—a colossal trojan horse, its body segmented like layers of an impenetrable fortress. But on its back, mounted and ready, was a knight of his own.

"Okay, this should work," Kelvin muttered, sweat beading at his temple.

Noah watched, wide-eyed, as the battlefield expanded. The projections stretched across the walls, the floor, even the ceiling, bathing the entire dorm in a digital warzone. The violet knight clashed against Kelvin’s trojan-mounted warrior, blades flashing as sequences of brute-force decryption scripts clashed violently.

The room flickered as Kelvin pushed harder. His breathing was getting heavy.

"Kelvin, maybe—"

"I know what I’m doing, Noah!"

The green knight landed a strike, slashing through the violet knight’s defenses. Code shattered, breaking apart in rapid spirals—

For a moment, it looked like Kelvin was winning.

Then it changed again.

The violet knight morphed. Its armored frame dissolved, reforming into something slithering.

A serpent.

Noah didn’t need to be an expert in code to know this was bad.

"Kelvin—"

"I see it!" Kelvin barked, fingers moving wildly. "I just—Damn it!"

The serpent moved with terrifying speed, its coiling body twisting through the collapsing code like it owned the battlefield. One by one, Kelvin’s blocks, defenses, numbers—everything—was getting devoured.

The moment his trojan knight raised its weapon, the snake lunged.

Its fangs sank deep into the green construct, and in an instant—

It was gone.

Kelvin gasped, stumbling back a step. The serpent writhed, glowing ominously, before retreating. It slithered through the collapsing remnants of code, making its way to a pulsating violet hole that had just materialized in the air.

Noah’s stomach twisted. "Kelvin?"

Kelvin’s fingers twitched. His whole body was trembling, his breath uneven.

The serpent turned to face them one last time—then it vanished, disappearing into the void.

And then, as if none of it had ever happened, the digital battlefield collapsed.

The glow from Kelvin’s fingers faded. His knees buckled slightly, but he caught himself, standing there panting.

Noah swallowed. "...Okay. So, uh… what just happened?"

Kelvin’s voice was hoarse. "We just got completely outclassed."

Noah frowned. "Meaning?"

Kelvin wiped his forehead, exhausted. "Meaning… whoever’s behind this? They’re miles ahead of me."

Noah exhaled slowly, eyes shifting to the now-empty space where the violet hole had been.

This was way worse than they thought.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Kelvin stood there, hands still faintly twitching from the exertion, while Noah watched him with an unreadable expression.

They were both thinking the same thing.

That thing—that hacker—was dangerous.

Then, suddenly—

Beep. Beep. Beep.

One of Kelvin’s digital setups near his PC table flickered to life, the screen flashing with a new notification. The sound was sharp, urgent.

Kelvin’s head snapped toward it. His exhaustion evaporated in an instant.

Noah straightened. "Uh… is that bad?"

Kelvin was already moving, rushing to his desk, fingers flying over the keyboard. His smirk returned, sharp and predatory.

"Not entirely," he said, voice laced with something dangerous. "It depends on if we act right now."

Noah took a step closer, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"

Kelvin’s hands didn’t stop typing as he explained. "When that bastard’s snake ate my code, it triggered something I embedded in my sequences a...how do I say this in the best way possible now?—uhm...a sticky tracker. It basically latched onto the python’s digital footprint and is following it back to its origin."

Noah blinked. "Wait… so you can actually find out where they are?"

Kelvin grinned, teeth flashing. "If we move fast enough—I can decrypt and narrow down our hacker before they realize I’m on their trail."

Noah exhaled, feeling his pulse pick up.

The game wasn’t over.

It was just getting started.

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