"Move!" Zol bellowed as he pushed Mason out of the way when a straight red beam shot out of the creature's eyes. The beam cut through space with ease, travelling faster than light as it arrived before the two hunters.
Its size was enough to completely cover the moon. Fortunately, Zol acted the moment he noticed the creature's expression change.
When the beam flashed passed them, their eyes widened in horror as they showed signs of melting. The beam was hundreds of degrees hotter than the sun.
Even being separated for thousands of kilometres from the beam was not enough to cool them instantly.
With shaky eyes, the two turned to look at the monster that remained standing with its snout held high and eyes spewing blood-red flames.
Mason gulped in absolute horror, his heartbeat going several beats per second. Any normal person would have died from that kind of beat.
The wolf-like void creature made a gesture towards the surrounding void creatures as they all turned to the two hunters. Their forms blazed with mana and void energy as they got ready to pounce on the hunters.
"I think we should call out men," Mason suggested, conjuring projectiles from his barrier magic ability.
"I don't think it's a wise decision. That monster—that thing can join the fight at any moment if it so wished. Our only hope is that the others make it here as fast as possible,"
The weaker creatures were forced to stay back as they were too weak to do anything. Their speed was not even enough to match the battle about to take place.
As such, only the B and A Class void creatures made a move. All forty-six and the hundreds of B class dashed towards them like a swarm, quickly closing the distance between them.
"Be aware of your surroundings at all times!" Zol advised. He pushed through the overwhelming pressure and blasted towards the approaching void creatures.
There was no way that beast of a creature would play fair, Zol was sure it would intervene whenever it wished.
It had no obligation to play by their rules. It was only here for one thing and one thing only—destruction.
As the two hunters blasted towards to creatures, the wolf-like creature observed everything with a sneer.
It wanted to measure the prowess of the defenders before it engaged. Also, it was watching out for something.
Zol and Mason moved with purpose as they used their abilities to quickly dispose of the weaker creatures while delaying their encounter with the A-tier monstrosities.
Within minutes, they had eliminated the B-tiers and although the creatures tried to evade their attacks, they were too slow for S class.
Finally, they were ready to face the A-tiers, but a part of their senses was watching the wolf at all times. But the void creatures did something that was not very surprising—they shrunk to match their size.
Some had humanoid figures, others with beast figures while the shapeless monstrosities just reduced in size. By condensing their forms, they became faster and more powerful—physique-wise.
"These things are evolving way too fast. They can tell what is more effective against us now." Mason clenched his fists in outrage.
"Mason, we should take them together for a quicker outcome." Zol's eyes shifted to the beast that was watching everything unfold. "We can't afford to drag this out." He widened his stance as his floating blades hummed from his mana infusion.
"Agreed," Mason said with a nod and mimicked Zol.
The brief recess passed as the void creatures dashed towards the hunters. Beasts went in with their claws and fangs while humanoids went in with their clawed hands.
There were no attempts to fire concentrated beams at the hunters as their reactions were very fast. They were still outclassed after all.
"Now!" Zol instructed and Mason took action. He stretched his palms out and conjured a barrier that appeared in the midst of the incoming void creatures. They were still hundreds of thousands of kilometres away.
But his abilities had no problems reaching that far. From Class C and above, except for some special abilities, they could utilize their skills at a distance. It didn't have to physically leave their bodies to take effect.
The barrier held back more than half the void creatures as Zol abruptly took his Manastate form, utilizing ten per cent of his mana and doubling his speed and power.
In a flash, he appeared before the separated bunch in the front and hurled his weapons at them. The creatures did not see it coming—Zol and his blades were too fast.
His blades numbering in the fifties targeted different parts of the creatures as they sliced through them like hot knife through butter. The blades sliced them into so many pieces, there was no chance of regenerating.
They died.
But when Zol recalled his blades and was about to charge towards the rest, he heard Mason yell out his name.
"ZOL!"
However, Mason didn't have to as Zol felt his heart drop to his stomach moments before the shout even reached him.
A chill like he had never felt before ran down his spine and when he turned his back to look, the wolf creature that was supposed to be in the back—millions of kilometres away was right behind him.
Unlike its cosmic size, it had shrunk to about three meters—a few centimetres taller than he was. Like some sort of werewolf with its looming shadow, the creature had its right hand raised high for a slicing strike.
The wolfish grin on its face and its gleaming red eyes instilled a haunting sense of doom in Zol.
'Fuck…'
Zol cursed inwardly as he attempted to redirect his weapons to act as a shield, hoping he made it in time even if it wasn't going to be enough.
Before his eyes, he could also see a barrier rapidly forming between them. But even that wasn't going to hold. The gleaming claws on those powerful arms could cut red giant stars asunder, much less him.
As the paw descended, space cracked wherever the hand passed, leaving claw marks in the void. It was a situation he had never seen before. None of them had ever caused the very fabric of spacetime to tear from their attacks.
Since the universal calamity, some physical laws have been broken, while some have been changed. But then there was one thing that remained a constant—tearing spacetime was no easy feat.
While hyperjump technology operated harmoniously with spacetime's rules, the incoming attack was charged with void energy that defied the rules, bypassing the hardened nature of spacetime.
Then….