The purplish-black markings on their heads quickly covered their entire bodies. Like inflating balloons, their bodies grew uncontrollably in size.

One after another, they reached 3 meters tall. During this process, their bodies quickly lost the human proportions.

These guys looked more like bloated, outlandish, purplish-black apes now.

One after another, they pulled out tiny empty syringes out of their arms. Taking a closer look... their levels did not look stable. Jeff wouldn't be surprised if these guys self-detonated in the next moment.

In this chaotic battleground, there's simply no way for Jeff to care about 5 B-ranks. Also, this formation appeared instantly. There's simply no time to react.

Clung!

Red light rippled in front of a void fighter.

A camouflaged dagger quickly unveiled itself. Leaving a blur, it flew back into Jeff's palm.

Apparently, the circular formation below this guy provided some form of protection.

'There is a follow-up after all.' Jeff knitted his brows.

'That was a peak-level SSS-rank attack, with a trace of sage-tier properties. Yet, even that couldn't its defenses huh...' Jeff sighed in his head. 'Looks like I've outgrown yet another piece of equipment.'

Seeing that Jeff's attack was futile, these guys smiled in relief. Taking confident strides, these guys quickly closed in. The circular formations below them followed.

The formation shrunk in size. The walls quickly thickened. In a second, these void apes were only 5 meters apart from each other.

'So you can easily fend off SSS-rank attacks... How about sage-tier attacks?' Jeff squinted.

Taking in a deep breath, Jeff was ready to enter sage-tier again. 'This is the exact reason why I prefer to work alone...'

Ring~ Ring~

Jeff: ...

'Wow. Great timing...' Jeff took out his flip phone.

"Yoh, Liam, what's up?"

"Hey Jeff, we need you back at the sanctuary."

'It is the sanctuary after all huh...' Jeff nodded with a serious expression. "I'll be back soon, but I doubt that you'll be getting any other reinforcements."

"What do you mean?" Liam asked with a quick voice.

"Mr. Norman, I wouldn't worry about your friends." One void ape widely smiled. It's as if his... its...?

It's as if their victory had been secured already!

"You are the only SSS-rank in Berrystone after all. So we do have to give you some special treatment."

"You won't be leaving here any time soon."

"We are sacrificing the rest of our lifespans for you after all!"

"These will be the best 2 hours of our lives! For the void!"

"For the void!" Wearing a crazed expression, these guys shouted in unison.

"Ok... then." Jeff slowly nodded and put his phone on speakers.

Since these guys wanted to spill some beans...

"What are you guys planning to do in these 2 hours?" Jeff asked.

"Sire Atlas will submit the sanctuary's massive storage to the void! That will be enough for him to reach the realm beyond SSS-rank! He will be a living deity on Earth!" One void ape shouted in an ecstatic voice.

"Yes! Yes!" The other void apes fanatically nodded in agreement.

"Once Sire Atlas conquers this city, he will summon us back from the void! Death means nothing to us! For the void!"

"For the void!"

"Oh. It's Atlas." Jeff nodded.

'Everyone is out of the Sanctuary. That leaves Atlas a window of opportunity.'

'Due to his past record, we won't trust him with an altar destruction mission.'

'As the head of internal security, he'd be expected to stay inside the sanctuary anyways. Which gives him the perfect opportunity to get what he had wanted.'

'However... We are watching him. It shouldn't be easy for Atlas though...'

"Kukaka!" One void ape chuckled in pride.

"Even in the case of us failing, we also have a backup plan!"

"Yes yes! We always have a backup plan!"

"So don't bother Norman!"

"Even if you get past us, it's already too late!"

"Our team should have already captured your little girlfriend now."

"Don't blame us for playing dirty!"

"It's for the greater good!"

"For the void!"

"For the void!"

"Hmm... Good." Jeff nodded and looked around.

"Very good..." Kill-intent leaked from Jeff's eyes.

"Well. How stupid of me." Jeff flipped close his phone and put it into his pocket.

"Wow. Gee. I sure never saw this one coming. I guess I have to make a tough decision now. Save the damsel in distress, or save the sanctuary. Wow. What, do I do?" Jeff chuckled in anger.

"Actually, no. We are planning to convert your girlfriend to the void race, so you'd be willing for the conversion as well."

"Alright. Yeah." Jeff smirked. "That's a viable plot too. Gee. You sure got me good here."

'Alright... That's enough info.' Jeff nodded in his mind.

"Good. So give up, and stay here." These guys nodded in victory.

"You can try to break through our formation."

"But it will be futile!"

"Everything is according to Sire Atlas' plans!"

"Heh..." Jeff scoffed. "Looks like we are kind of similar."

"I like to stack backup plans myself as well." Jeff took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"You still want to fight?"

"Even hearing our plan?"

"Even knowing you have no chance?"

"What's so bad with joining the void!"

These guys looked genuinely confused.

"Anyways, thanks for the intel." Jeff opened his eyes.

For the first time, Jeff became serious. At this moment, Jeff held nothing back.

Blue light overflowed from Jeff's eyes. The air surrounding Jeff became dense and frozen like a solid.

Crack!

The ground below Jeff cracked and sank. The cracks quickly expended out. Asphalt debris, soil, and pebbles floated into the air.

The red transparent walls surrounding Jeff trembled.

"Impossible!"

"Is this really what SSS-rank looks like?"

The void apes widened their eyes.

Wearing a serious expression, Jeff raised his hand. 'Try this sage-tier attack, you assholes!'

"We can do it!"

"Hold!"

Pressing their palms onto the ground, these guys poured their energy into this dome.

Yet, at the same time, cracks quickly expanded on these guys' bodies. They were burning their short lifespan in doing this!

Snap!

"Hiiiaaah!" These guys braced for impact.

PUuumm...

The red dome expanded out a little. Its walls shattered like broken glass. For an instance, these fragments were still intact with each other.

Ppptttoooom!

The dome exploded like a house-sized bomb!

A mushroom cloud rose up 50 meters high!

The ground violently trembled under this tremendous force!

Looking from above, a ring of dirt and debris rapidly expanded out from that mushroom cloud.

The height of this blast wave had to be at least 10 meters high. After travelling down a few blocks, this ring of shockwave gradually slowed and settled.

In an instance, about 25 blocks in this uptown area had been leveled!

Facing this blastwave head on, those SS-rank void apes had been instantly vaporized.

Jeff looked around at this wasteland. Fortunately, his attack was mainly absorbed by that dome. The collateral damage outside was not that bad.

The enemies near that apartment building had been wiped out, leaving some void rifts in the air.

A few streets down, the coalition force suffered some injuries as well.

Some severely injured A-ranks. Most of them only had light wounds.

All the S-ranks were fine though. They took this collateral hit with ease.

No more enemies could be seen now. This blast had cleared out all the low-ranking void servants.

One after another, Jeff's temporary subordinates shakily got up. Looking at the ground, these guys didn't dare to meet Jeff's gaze.

'This is the exact reason why I prefer to work alone...' Jeff sighed in his mind. 'Feels bad man... But it had to be done...'

Looking around, Jeff turned to Daylor. Holding a palm forward, a crate popped into existence and dropped to the ground.

"Here is some red pots. I leave the rest to you."

"Y-Yes." Daylor nodded while staring at the ground.

Leaving a nod, Jeff squatted down a little. With a jump, Jeff flew into the fog.

A moment after Jeff flew away, these guys still looked shell shocked.

"So this is the strongest man in Berrystone." Someone chuckled in disbelief.

"Is this... still in the range of man?" Someone panted like he'd been traumatized.

"You have to be joking right?"

"Help..." An A-rank whimpered.

...

Flying towards the sanctuary, Jeff pulled out his phone.