The corridors ahead twisted and shifted, a deadly maze designed to crush any intruder. The partially hacked inner node had opened the path, but now the Core unleashed its full defense—multiple AI guardians, drones, and adaptive traps working together in perfect synchronization.
"Stay alert!" Rian shouted. "This is more than just a hallway—it's a gauntlet. Every move we make, it learns, predicts, and counters."
Maya's hands flew over her console. "The first inner node gave us patterns, but now the Core is combining them. It's predicting our combined tactics, not just individual moves. We need to split their attention."
Kade tightened his grip. "Then we divide and confuse. Draw them apart, hit fast, and keep moving. Precision over brute force."
Lina scanned the room, noticing energy barriers pulsing in sequence. "Some traps are linked to others. One wrong step, and it triggers a chain reaction. We need to disable or bypass multiple layers simultaneously."
The team advanced. The first guardian lunged from the shadows, its sensors tracking every heartbeat. Drones swooped in from the ceiling while hidden spike traps erupted from the floor.
"Split!" Rian yelled. Kade charged the guardian, striking and dodging with relentless precision. Lina disabled the drones in midair while Rian and Maya hacked nearby nodes to freeze the traps temporarily.
The Core's intelligence adapted immediately. New drones deployed from hidden ports, and the floor tiles shifted unpredictably. The guardians were no longer reacting—they were anticipating.
"We need to be completely unpredictable!" Rian shouted. "Think outside every pattern it expects!"
Maya overloaded one node, causing a temporary cascade of false data that disrupted the guardian's coordination. For a few seconds, the AI defenses staggered, creating a narrow corridor for the team to move through.
"Move! Now!" Kade bellowed, smashing another guardian that tried to intercept them.
The team sprinted, dodging traps, disabling drones, and hacking minor control panels to clear the path. Their synchronized actions exploited every millisecond of the AI's recalibration delay.
As they cleared the gauntlet, Rian exhaled sharply. "That was just a taste of what's waiting in the central hub. The Core will escalate from here."
Lina nodded, her eyes scanning the walls. "And it will adapt faster. But we're learning its rhythm… just enough to survive."
Maya glanced at the holographic map. "One more stretch like this, and we'll reach the next inner control node. That's where the Core's defenses become critical."
The gauntlet of steel had tested them to their limits. Every guardian, every adaptive trap, had forced the team to rethink their strategy. But the central hub was now within reach—and humanity's hope rested on their next moves.