The Veilwalker

Ross dashed forward explosively, covering the remaining distance in an instant. He channeled his mana through his sword with Ethan mirroring his moves.

The blade of his weapon came alive as it blazed a fiery red, the heat quickly reaching thousands of degrees Celsius.

He brandished the blade as he delivered a sweeping arc that hurled a thick stream of flames several kilometres wide towards the void creatures.

The flames burned through their ranks, forcing the void creatures to spread out, breaking their momentum and gathering charge.

From behind, the others closed in on the separated void creatures as they utilized their abilities through their weapons. They had an easier time dealing with the void creatures as they were below their level.

Julia bellowed as she thrust her sword inside one of the creatures and unleashed a cold wave through the creature, freezing it from the inside. She ended the attack with a powerful strike that shattered the void creature into ice shards.

Without waiting to claim the void core left behind, she charged at another void creature that was preparing a beam attack. In a combination of moves condensed into one, Julia slashed and cut the poor creature.

Each slash left frozen channels through the creature. The void creature cried out as it tried to shake off the cold. Unfortunately, what it shook off were frozen and cut pieces of itself.

Henry had changed his fighting style a bit since he was advised by James and every other hunter who saw him fight.

Instead of waiting for the void creatures to come to him, he went in first. Even then, his technique remained loyal to his roots.

He appeared above one particular void creature that resembled a serpent as the creature hissed at him and attempted to swipe at him with its tail.

But the creature was too slow, and even with the void aura it gave off, it did nothing to slow him down. With his sword in hand gleaming ice cold, he slashed through the creature, cleaving it in two.

However, he wasn't done as that was not enough to put down the void creature. He swiftly spun around and bolted towards one half and sliced it into rings of frozen tissue.

Finally, he closed in on the head with a sword thrust charged with mana. The beam swallowed the head whole before exploding into a rain of ice shards.

Victor watched everything with a calm gaze, his senses honed in on his teammates as they flew around, dealing heavy damage and killing the void creatures.

They made sure to pay attention to their surroundings to avoid being blindsided and blasted away with beam attacks from the void creatures.

'They are doing better than I expected—especially the kids.' Victor thought with a nod. But his attention was drawn to something that bothered him since the start of the fight.

'What is up with those void creatures?' The situation was a bizarre one as he had never encountered anything like that before.

Far behind the chaotic ranks of the void creatures stood the Class C void creatures, larger and more imposing than the weaker ones.

Unlike the frenzied masses chasing after the hunters, these creatures lingered in the rear, as though observing the battle.

Victor's gaze sharpened. From what he could tell, the Class C creatures weren't just standing idly—they were directing the weaker ones.

The F and E-tier creatures were falling in droves under the hunters' relentless assault, but the D-tiers held back, behaving unlike the mindless monsters humans had come to expect.

Their movements had purpose while their hesitation was deliberate. There was a flicker of intelligence in their actions as they seemed to study how the hunters handled their weaker kin.

Victor felt a shiver creep down his spine. He could swear they were watching him, their attention piercing through the chaos.

"Command, are you seeing this?" he asked, his voice tense.

Swallowing hard, Victor activated his communicator and sent a recording of the unfolding events back to the ship. He needed confirmation, a second opinion to make sense of the unsettling scene.

Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. And if what he was seeing was real, then things would be getting a whole lot messier.

[Affirmative. Continue monitoring the situation and if anything changes, you withdraw immediately.]

"Understood."

After several minutes of flying around and making short work of the void creatures, Ross's team and the others came to a stop as they looked forward with concerned expressions.

Just like Victor, they noticed the strange behaviour of the void creatures. Instead of rushing towards them, the creatures had stopped and were just watching them.

"Uh… what are we looking at?" Ethan broke the silence, a foreboding feeling creeping within. Whatever he was seeing went against everything he was taught.

"I-I'm not sure," Ross replied in a nervous tone. He decided to ask the leader of their unit. "Victor, you're seeing this right?"

[Yes. Stay sharp and don't make any moves…]

Victor's orders resounded in their helms as they nodded and just observed. The void creatures observed the hunters for several minutes. And each passing minute made the foreboding feeling more disturbing.

Abruptly, the Class D void creatures and two Class C charged at the various divisions. Each one of the D-tier and above void creatures was larger than a mountain and would require each division to handle one.

Surprisingly, the charging number of D tiers matched the divisions with D tiers as their squad head while the C tiers matched the rest.

The situation was a strange one but the teams didn't have time to dwell on it and could only put their worries aside to focus on the incoming targets.

"Get ready!"

Ross bellowed as he and his team members brandished their weapons and got into a fighting stance. Because the incoming creature was at their level, they would have to go beyond to defeat the creature.

Ross and Ethan set themselves ablaze as they took the Manastorm state, explosively increasing their physical prowess while the rest channelled their mana through their weapons.