Unlike the scattered groups and ambush squads they had faced in the upper sectors, the S rank monsters here were arrayed in a flawless, terrifying military formation that rivaled the elite armies of the human kingdoms. There was no chaos, no wild pacing, and no mechanical glitching. They stood in absolute, eerie silence.
At the absolute front, at least fifty Steel Squires stood locked shoulder to shoulder, their heavy iron boiler plates overlapping perfectly to form an impenetrable, seamless wall of riveted metal. Behind the first row, a second row of Squires held their bladed forelimbs angled upward over the shields, creating a lethal, bristling wall of spikes.
Grouped tightly on the left and right wings of the phalanx were packs of Hazard Hounds. Instead of slinking in the shadows, they were lined up in disciplined, multi-tiered columns, their metallic jaws perfectly still, ready to execute a synchronized pincer sweep the moment the line was breached.
