CHAPTER 96: HOLLOW FORMATION!

The beast unleashed a roar so thunderous that it sent visible ripples through the air itself, shattering windows of nearby buildings and surrounding vehicles in one devastating wave of sound that made the earth itself seem to tremble.

Terror filled Elaine’s eyes so completely that she couldn’t even speak, especially as this was far beyond anything in her paygrade. The raw power radiating from the creature made her feel like a child facing down a hurricane.

Ayan stared at the monster with a grim expression etched across her face. "That isn’t an S-class threat," she said quietly, her voice carrying the weight of someone who’d seen enough battles to know when they might be getting outclassed here.

Each faction had similar systems to USOV’s for detecting threat levels of mythical creatures, and their readings had initially picked this breach off as S-Class threat.

Updated warnings also just crackled through the agents’ comm devices: "New threat level ascertained! Titan Class! Priority remains evacuation!"

"How do we go about this?" Elaine asked audibly, making sure Liam could hear her question since it was really directed at him.

Liam’s response was immediate and firm. "Elaine, you need to get out of here."

She nodded without argument, knowing this was well above her capabilities, and immediately started backing away slowly before taking flight and turning her body to fly out of the immediate danger zone.

At the same time, the other USOV vehicles had started pulling up to the scene, though they positioned themselves far out of range after hearing the threat level warnings. Elaine landed close to the newly arrived vehicles as the rest of Team C and other agents emerged, keeping their distance but ready to assist where needed.

"Jesus, what is that thing?" Sarah asked while staring at the massive creature, and even from this distance, the energy they could feel was enough to send chills down their spines.

Elaine’s worry was focused elsewhere entirely. "I just hope Liam doesn’t get hurt," she said, expressing her most pressing concern.

Liam was preparing to step in when Ayan walked up in front of him, now wielding both of her katanas as she spoke rather courteously, "Mind if we have at it first? It’s in our turf, after all."

The five men she’d brought with her had also moved up behind her, and one of them, clad in knight’s armor—had already started growing into a much taller giant, his frame expanding with each passing second.

Liam sighed but said nothing to Ayan’s statement, instead giving Brian a look and shaking his head, a clear signal to stand down for now. He stepped back several paces with both hands in his pockets, watching as the members of Hollow Demons prepared to engage.

They were the number two faction in Michigan for good reason—while they might not have someone as highly ranked on the individual board as Selene Marquis, they had the best collection of S-tier Visors and people slightly above that level in the entire state.

Their faction only recruited S-tier members, down to even their cleanup crew, making S-tier their absolute minimum standard.

Ayan herself was no exception, she might not have been on the official rankings board, but she was several leagues above regular S-tier Visors, which sometimes made people wonder why she wasn’t ranked at all.

She raised both hands as her blades caught the afternoon light. "Formation Delta!" she called to her team. Like a perfectly choreographed dance, her five teammates moved into position with fluid precision. The knight who had grown into an eight-foot-tall giant with his body bulked up in thick armor charged forward, each step cracking the ground beneath his massive feet.

The beast lunged forward with its fist, and it clashed with the giant’s fist in a collision that sent shockwaves rippling outward from the point of impact.

From the creature’s side, Jeremy—one of the five men carrying what looked like a normal shield, lunged in, and the shield suddenly expanded until it became as massive as the beast itself, which he used to ram the creature from its flank, sending it staggering two steps sideways in near-perfect synchronization with their giant’s assault.

Meanwhile, two other teammates—Mitch with twin short blades and Zack with a single double-edged sword, moved in perfect sequence as soon as the beast staggered, attacking from the flanks like trained assassins. Their weapons flashed silver in the air as they struck at the creature’s armored legs and sides.

The beast roared again as it was clearly getting riled up from the consistent barrage of coordinated attacks. Before it could motion for any counterattack, a voice yelled from a building high above: "Move!" and instantly the four male visors surrounding the beast dispersed and gave considerable distance.

From somewhere up high, their ranged teammate Wilson unleashed a concentrated beam of brilliant blue energy that struck the armored beast across its entire frame. The energy explosion was so bright it lit up the whole street like daylight for a split second, temporarily blinding anyone watching.

sfx: BOOM!

Liam, observing from a distance, found himself genuinely impressed by the sequence and coordination between these Visors, their teamwork was flawless and their timing impeccable.

The other agents watching from various angles were equally amazed, and even Brian seemed to admire how these humans had developed such an effective fighting formation, a slight smile playing across his face as he watched.

However, when the explosion effects cleared and the smoke began to dissipate, all that remained was the sight of vapor oozing from the beast’s body and searing off its armor, but the creature itself appeared completely unharmed. The culmination of those devastating attacks had accomplished absolutely nothing as the armor it adorned with golden highlights was far too strong for any of their assaults to breach.

"Tsk," Ayan clicked her tongue in frustration as she watched all five of her members’ coordinated assault fail to make any meaningful impact.

Then she decided it was time for her personal entrance, beginning to pace toward the monster—at first it looked like a regular run with both swords in hand, but then she simply vanished from sight.

Liam’s eyes widened slightly when he couldn’t immediately track her movement. This wasn’t just regular fast movement through speed alone, it was complete disappearance.

This was her signature technique, Shadow Step, which allowed her to blend seamlessly with her surroundings without leaving a trace of herself or her magical energy. However, with Liam’s heightened perception stats, he was able to pick up subtle changes in air density around the beast, and he noticed that Ayan had somehow repositioned much closer to the creature’s side.

In that moment, there was a precise attack aimed at a section of the beast not covered by armor—a calculated stab that cut through the exposed skin between armored plates.

The beast roared in genuine anguish this time, causing shockwave ripples that forced Ayan to guard against the blast, which involuntarily undid her technique as the shockwave pushed her bracing form backward.

"Fuck!" she exclaimed, "That skin is incredibly tough!"

There was one fundamental problem with Titan-class monsters—it was nearly impossible to gauge their true strength, as they could range anywhere from being slightly above S-class threat readings to being as powerful as a high-ranked Visor.

And frankly, right now it looked like this particular monster was definitely one of the stronger variants.

The group of five immediately leaped back toward Ayan to regroup and restructure their approach, since it was becoming clear that their current tactics weren’t making any significant progress.

Gabby, the giant Visor, spoke first,. "Boss, I won’t lie, this thing is incredibly strong."

The others nodded in agreement, and Wilson added his own concerns. "That armor it’s wearing isn’t letting our attacks through, and I charged up that blast with a substantial amount of magical energy too."