Anthony raised his left hand, forming a basketball-sized fireball in his palm, aimed at the Harpy. "Fireball!" The fireball was instantly released, rapidly flying toward the Harpy. Unfortunately, before it reached her, the Harpy flapped her wings, causing a gust of wind to blow. With a bang, the fireball extinguished in an instant.
"Again! Flame Gatling!" Several more fiery orbs took shape in his hand, and the scorching heatwaves raised the ambient temperature by several degrees. One after another, they shot toward the Harpy.
Once again, the Harpy flapped her wings, extinguishing the fireballs with the fierce gusts. Seeing that fire was ineffective, Anthony pointed a single finger at the sky. A blue lightning ball crackled with electricity, forming on his fingertip. He pointed it at the Harpy, and the lightning transformed into a serpent, racing toward her.
As the thunder serpent approached, the Harpy suddenly opened her mouth, emitting concentric sound waves. The next moment, the sound waves collided and exploded with the thunder serpent in the air. With a bang, the two forces cancelled each other out and dissipated into the air.
"A first-level ability is still too weak after all." Anthony muttered to himself, retracting his power.
Currently, Anthony could only produce flames and fireballs. Abilities requiring higher temperatures consumed a considerable amount of mental energy, which he couldn't achieve at this stage. The same went for the thunderstorm, as well as other objects. He could only reach the intensity of a first-level ability. To achieve greater power, he would need to enhance his mental energy. Aside from his own limitations, Anthony had roughly gauged the strength of the Harpy. She should be at the early stages of the second level.
With that in mind, Anthony glanced at his wristband and murmured softly, "Eliminate the Harpy."
"Understood, master." A mechanical voice sounded, and the metal wristband began to slither off his wrist. Gradually, it coalesced into a metallic humanoid figure beside Anthony. With pale silver hair and an icy complexion, her eyes showed no trace of emotion.
As the figure formed, Anthony felt a gust of wind sweep by him, nearly blinding him. When he could finally open his eyes again, Zero had disappeared from his side and appeared in front of the Harpy.
"What is this? Could this person also be a summoner like me?"
Seeing this suddenly appearing woman, Ollie's face turned to shock, yet he didn't back down. He shouted, unfazed, "Harpy, take her down!"
The Harpy let out a resounding cry to signal her compliance. Her icy gaze locked onto Zero as she stood her ground. Due to her large size, she couldn't move as nimbly. She stood waiting for her adversary to approach.
"Eliminate!" In an instant, Zero's single arm transformed into a silver spear, thrusting toward the Harpy's chest. Unfazed, the Harpy swung her talons to meet the attack. The two engaged in a fierce exchange.
Observing the Apocalypse Warrior Zero entangled with the Harpy, Anthony looked at Ollie gripping the Tang knife and whispered to himself, "This is my chance!"
With that, he darted forward, directly swinging the knife at Ollie.
Ollie seemed to sense the danger and urgently yelled, "Harpy, stop him!"
Hearing her master's command, the Harpy attempted to break free from Zero's grip and rush to assist her master. However, Zero's hold was too tight, preventing her from escaping. In desperation, she used her shoulder to block the spear thrust. The spear pierced her shoulder, but enduring the pain, the Harpy teleported a few times and instantly arrived in front of Ollie. Spreading her wings, she shielded him in the middle.
In that instant, Anthony's Tang knife was upon them. With a tearing sound, the blade cleaved down, producing a grating noise as it met the Harpy's wings. It was as if he was striking metal, the resistance extraordinarily strong.
However, when that strike landed, Anthony managed to carve a gash of over fifty centimeters on the Harpy's wing. He withdrew his blade, stepped back a few paces, and then lunged forward again, executing a vertical chop.
"Slash!" The word fell, and a surge of blood spurted from the Harpy's wing, causing her to let out a piercing cry.
"Not enough!" Anthony raised his blade once more and shouted, "Zero, attack the Harpy's back!"
"Yes, master." The Apocalypse Warrior Zero nodded, emitting a mechanical sound.
As Anthony had instructed, she instantly vanished, reappearing behind the Harpy. Her spear thrust forward. Anthony, too, swung his blade. The two of them relentlessly hacked at the Harpy, whose massive form was beginning to show signs of collapse.
In contrast, though Ollie hid beneath the Harpy's wings, as the summoner, he felt the attacks inflicted on the creatures he summoned as if they were happening to him. Particularly in this case, the Harpy had been summoned using a significant portion of his own life force, making every blow against her feel like it was striking him.
Seeing the Harpy's vitality wane, Ollie gritted his teeth and shouted, "Retreat!" With the command given, the Harpy balanced her defense while initiating movement. Her seven to eight meter wingspan suddenly extended, and with Ollie held between her hands, she propelled herself into the air, her wings beating rapidly.
With a bang, a hurricane stirred, and the Harpy shot upward. Her speed was remarkable, and in the blink of an eye, she had flown nearly a hundred meters away.
"Oh no, is she trying to escape?" Anthony watched as the Harpy attempted to flee. With a flick of his wrist, his Tang knife disappeared, replaced by the second-level Apocalypse Laser Gun he had obtained earlier. He lifted the gun, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. The energy gauge quickly filled. The energy sphere at the gun's muzzle condensed into a red beam that shot straight toward the retreating Harpy.
Meanwhile, above the sky, Ollie let out a sigh of relief. He never expected Anthony to come knocking so soon, and with such formidable power. All his efforts seemed to be in vain. However, his life was still intact. Thinking this, he turned his head with determination toward the direction of the YangHe Hospital.
Wait, Ollie would definitely return! In the next moment, a splatter of blood burst in the sky. Ollie stared at his right leg, severed cleanly at the root, and the fist-sized hole in the Harpy's body, almost unable to believe his eyes.
After a while, Ollie regained his composure. Suppressing the intense pain, he roared, "Kid, I'll remember you! Let's go!" The last word nearly drained his remaining strength.
Following the command, the Harpy's wings beat even faster. In a few breaths, they vanished into the cloud layer.
"Sigh, they still managed to escape." Watching the disappearing specks, Anthony sighed helplessly. Facing a flying opponent, he was utterly defenseless. While he could briefly levitate using his abilities for about a minute, true flight was nothing but a pipe dream.
"Now, what's next?" Anthony looked at the survivors who were still in shock and his lackeys standing nearby, all in a daze. He began to feel a headache again. Handling the predicament of over six hundred people was a monumental challenge.