Chant, Swipe, Bang!

Paranoia struck the employees as they knew that notorious name from last year. Montana Mills… the man that detonated the building and killed more than fifty people. He had also caused more explosions in the city the entire day and had successfully evaded the police.

Moreover, Montana Mills used to work in Connor Holdings. If he had not gotten his revenge done, then it was very plausible that he planned for a rerun. This time, it would be everyone else or the police that tried to catch him. Else, why would he detonate it even if everyone was out of the building?

Rebecca was filled with worry. She knew of this name as well, and he was someone the SCC failed to catch last year. This year, if he was going to make a comeback, the whole branch would be ready for him. Even the detective had the same sentiments as he read the message.

The name Montana Mills instantly sent everyone into panic… more than the words 'one minute' and 'one bomb will detonate'.

The only people who had a different expression were Noah and Luca. Both of them knew that Montana Mills was standing in the plaza, and he was even one of them. Noah couldn't help but loudly gnash his teeth and hiss in anger.

How dare these people use his name again?!

"The last time, it was Bomberman." Luca tried his best to ground Noah while finding a way to work out a rescue. They didn't know how the bomb would be activated and how to hide a person from exploding in front of the mass media. If they failed to do so, SCC would be in a bad situation…

So would be the entire world.

Every second that passed, the SCC agents were all in a flurry. They had no idea which one would be the first to go and how to even stop the detonation. One minute was too short to make out anything concrete, but it was also enough to prove that the person holding the detonator was in the scene!

The 'four hours' was nothing but a clue. It was a bait to have the SCC agents over to try and solve the mystery of the forty-seven bombs. However, the person holding the detonator was not planning to detonate them in four hours. Else, he wouldn't be gathering the people way before time.

The agents and the police were looking for someone who had the ability to send a text to multiple numbers and to different strangers. Of course, it was only possible if they could control a network and isolate these people who came. Then again, there were many factors to consider.

Not only employees received the text, but also the police officers and the SCC agents. That meant that everyone who owned a phone would receive the message. For something so specific, the person must be on sight… and probably someone who had access to such a groundbreaking technology.

Either that or they had a familiar like the white witch.

Until that line, the leading detective and Noah arrived at similar conclusions. However, the former had no knowledge about witches in particular while Noah was sent to kill them. Noah actually closed his eyes and hunted down Jonas in the crowd using the eyes of the hellhounds.

Just nice Caseus found him first while Pane kept his eyes on the HR employee that was having a hard time breathing.

Right now, Noah only needed a few more seconds to make Caliga find the perfect spot and for the others to ready the ambush site and keep people from straying near it.

Ding! A message came on Luca's phone, and it was from Isla: "Quick, find a way to distract Jones. He's controlling the bombs. One message from him, and the demon will destroy its vessel."

Luca's eyes widened and darted at Jonas Jones who was only regarding mostly everyone with his eyes and a mocking smile. It was as if he knew that no one in this place would be able to catch him. However, when he looked in Luca's direction, he caught Luca staring straight at him.

Panic! Jonas quickly had to detonate the first bomb even if the countdown was not yet over. He had been discovered! One of the targets had seen him!

Before he could send the message…

"Awoooooo!"

A howl came out of nowhere that took everyone's attention from their phones. Jonas managed to press send, but something came out of nowhere. A black dog showed up next to him and chomped at his hand holding his phone. As he screamed and pulled back, his forearm was ripped away.

"Ahh!" Blood splattered along with Jonas's scream, but Noah managed to cross the crowd to get to him. He grabbed the terrorist's mouth and dragged him away. This old man had chosen the back to avoid having people notice his actions; it also made it harder for him to hide in the crowd.

While Noah acted, Luca had also run across to get to the first person who received a text message milliseconds after Jonas met his gaze. Luca grabbed the man's phone and made off with it, the man shocked by the action. By then, the detectives started to do crowd control.

The agents didn't know which one to follow, and so they only split without wasting time. Noah had dragged Jonas to a place, but the old man used his other hand to take out a blade. Bang! He tried to stab Noah to get away from his grasps.

"You're already caught! Don't try to run!" Noah warned the other, but Jonas only laughed. "You really think those are the only bombs we had in place?!"

Kaboom! A floor in the building lit up brightly and was filled with shards and smoke. The police officers were shocked as one of the bombs indeed detonated, scaring the people some more. However, the leading detective looked down at his phone because of a message.

"Let SCC move in. -C"

"Shit." The leading detective cussed.

The SCC agents also received another message after the detonation of the first bomb: "Multiple level three presences detected in the building! Proceed with caution!"

Nods were exchanged among agents, and they rushed to the scene, completely ignoring the police officers holding the line. Of course, some of them remained on the ground just in case. The leading detective only joined his people as someone presented himself as the in-charge of the operation.

"SCC will take over now!" He yelled quite very loud for the people to hear.

Noah received the same message, and his sudden distraction had given Jonas enough time to run off. Caseus, however, ran him down and incapacitated the man with his teeth at the man's neck. The body was then swallowed even if his master had given no orders. It was as if clean-up was automatic.

Noah then ran at his fastest speed to get to the building by a side entrance. Five black dogs followed inside while three of them watched the crowd. A level three was nothing against Noah and the hellhounds; however, the demons had possessed the bomb squad and some SWAT operatives.

The earlier blast was from a grenade brought by a SWAT member. The demons used the humans as both shields and swords against the people. The most the SCC agents managed to do was to restrain them from harming the possessed people.

Luca and Noah met up on one floor, and the former started chanting as soon as they got to a floor that possessed humans were restrained. The demons were forced out of the bodies, and the hellhounds grabbed them with a big bite. As soon as Noah swiped down, the dogs also clamped their jaws.

Bang! The demons died almost simultaneously.

The agents were in awe at how fast the two could save the humans. However, they had no time to stand stupid. Even if Noah and Luca could kill the demons, it was still the agents' job to secure the victims and get them to safety. After the demons were killed, they caught the bodies and carried them down.

"Is this an elaborate trap?!" Luca yelled as they ran up the stairs.

"More like a back-up plan!" Noah snorted. He might be effortlessly climbing stairs because of his magic, but he was shocked at how Luca could keep up with him. This man's skills were all natural, and Noah couldn't help but spare a second full of heart eyes for this hunter.

Three more floors up, and they did the same. Chant, swipe, bang! Noah could sense where the others were so he had no trouble searching for the others. Luca was relying on Theresa's updates where the others were so they would waste time checking the wrong floor.

The demons were being wiped out so fast while the agents were bringing down the passed-out personnel. The leading detective was also in awe at the speed of their operations, but the look at their faces made him feel like they were also terrified by the scale of it.

SCC might be ready, but their hearts still ached and skipped beats every time a problem arose.

"Are you trained to do this?" The leading detective grabbed one agent who was not carrying anyone and was so frustrated he needed answers. However, the agents only shook his head and said, "We're only getting a lot of help from other organizations. This… had become a big problem lately."

The detective's eyes quivered. So it was not the first?

…

Noah and Luca finished rescuing the possessed humans and were about to leave when something caught Noah's death alarm. He quickly pushed Luca out of the way, and a sharp spear-like thing dashed just past Noah's hair, missing him only by an inch.

Bang! The agents were shocked, but they were more terrified than surprised. Their watches just showed a very terrible message.

"Get out of here!" Noah cried out, and the agents quickly raced down the building. Luca got to his feet and readied a concealed gun he knew wouldn't even flick the incoming threat.

The spear-like thing got dragged back to the source, and the wormhole opened. The demon that forced its way in was almost human-like, but its size was more than a normal human. It stood for eight meters even with a curved back. Its arms were like of a human's, but a chain was fixed onto its wrist.

It then smiled at them both. "Greetings, Sleepydog… hunter…"

Luca tightened his grip on his gun, trying to ignore the warning Theresa had issued: "Level nine presence! Get out of there!"