CH 48

"Boom!"

Team Angel had arrived in the location while extensively equipped, the residential district was a few minutes away from the hospital, so it took them a while to get here. They arrived only to see a two-kilometer radius of desolate space around a floating torso. There was a blue light coming from the arms on that torso that seemingly dissipated, and even from here, the devastation it caused can nevertheless be seen.

Body parts are scattered all over the ground. Blood stained walls while screams of pain and anguish fill the air. The team couldn't help but wonder exactly what can cause such destruction. The most confused of all was Zel, who had already released every free mana on his body to produce threads of mana.

Zel's expression can't be seen but his eyes didn't linger on the Heftpound as he used his mana threads to cover a 300-meter radius area. This was equally accurate for Matthew who activated the path ability using his eyes. They arrived only to see a two-kilometer radius of empty space around a floating torso.

The Heftpound is confronting a man whose entire body was smoking, no, that's ice sublimating. His surroundings were covered in ice as three identical men gathered behind him. They were holding on to each other in a triangular formation as a rope made of mana connected the three of them through their chests and in their center is a giant pot made of mana, constantly stirring a blue-green liquid-like material within.

"Go!"

One of the three men suddenly shouted as he pointed his hands toward the torso of the Heftpound which now revealed more of its power as it slammed down its arms towards their direction. This forced the man to struggle and hold back the power which rebounded to them. But before the arms would hit them, a man appeared in front of them while giving the beast a cold smile.

"You stupid beast! You're fighting me!"

All the ice in the surroundings seemingly flowed towards those plunging arms and formed into two massive spikes that would impale the arms should it land. The Heftpound didn't seem to care, not even a little fear was seen in its eyes. It even sped up the arms while an extremely deep blue light surrounded them, similar to the attack it used to level the area just a while ago.

"Roar!"

"Ha!" Chu Yang's whole body was now covered in frost as he floated. Ice grew around him that supplemented the flowing ice river that he had made before, turning those spikes into mighty spears that numbered in the tens.

"Go!"

Just before the spears and the Heftpound's arms connected, chains made of a mixture of green and blue mana appeared. The chains were from the pot in the center of the triplets. Thousands of these chains snaked their way towards the beast, parting into two as they attached themselves to both arms. It pulled the arms apart, making it lose some of its momentum.

Chu Yang, who saw this made no more delay as the spears took to the skies, heading straight for that lone eye.

.....

"I've never seen anything like this before!"

Matthew looked at the fight in awe, he thought their help would be required but he can't fight like that. Though he did think about it being him in that battlefield one day and his blood can't help but boil. He experienced excitement that had only been given birth to three days ago, when he felt the growth due to mana.

"Quake, Path, support the survivors and get them out of here. We won't fight."

Zel's eyes expressed no hesitation as he headed directly towards a few houses. Matthew's eyes saw that those houses still hosted a few people in them, unable to move due to being injured or the building collapsing on them. He hauled Billy with him to help out as well, it was a part of the deal that they would follow his words unconditionally.

"Aren't we going to fight?" But Billy seemed to think otherwise, he went towards Zel's side while he pointed at the Heftpound. Its impaled arms were being beaten down by a giant hammer made of ice as chains rent them apart.

"If we go there now, we can help them beat it!"

Billy was yearning for a good fight since he was beaten down. The competitive spirit of his that he thought was extinguished when he became a father had been rekindled as he felt the need to help them out. More importantly, he wanted to see just how much of his power had improved.

"Phil, brief them about the abdicate." A sigh sounded out from the team's interface. Phil's voice didn't sound out until after a few seconds.

"That's a Level 7 Heftpound, fully capable of leveling the whole city if it fully arrives here on earth. Look how much damage it did by being half here, half on the other side. Right now, the only hope we have is to eliminate it before it can fully transfer, but the problem is... we can't. The highest level a ranker has at present is Level 5. And that man over there, Chu Yang, is one of the four people who are level 5. If he can't do shit, you two absolutely can't."

"We can't? What do you mean us two? What about the boss then?" Matthew followed Billy's lead and started challenging the decisions. He was qualified to see for himself just how much of a massive difference the power of those four are compared to the two of them. Could it be that the boss was close to that level?

"It's his call. He knows a lot more than you think so if he says a command, just follow him." Phil's voice made it sound like he was shrugging his shoulder, though the two didn't witness it, they could imagine him doing it from the other side.

"But it's getting hammered up there! If we don't help now, it would really be hopeless!" Billy was very eager to fight, even if he's just playing a supporting role.

"And what exactly can you do? You think your level 4 ass can beat that thing? Look at those four, one is a Level 5 while the three are a combination of Level 4's. That group alone can kill fifty of you in an instant. You'd just be a hindrance."

Phil had enough of the two and gave it to them straight, but it seemed to have gained the opposite effect. Phil's words caused Billy and Matthew to feel belittled. Even if they weren't capable enough to help, they can't possibly be a hindrance. It merely made them more vexed when they heard the thing roar in pain.

...........

"Roar!"

"Die!" Chu Yang's scream was heard all over the city as he used every last bit of his excess mana to form a giant cylinder that he formed above the Heftpound. He was planning on pinning the thing down to where ever that portal is connected to.

"Bang." The Heftpound's body returned back to barely retaining its arms outside the portal as its head was forced back in. Though the victory didn't last for long.

"Roar!"

Now that Chu Yang had presented his all, the Heftpound was free to move right back out of the portal. Though this time, it didn't force its body out like it was pulling its body out using its arms. Presently, its hands were glowing in the same light it did earlier, changing the white fur into a deep blue one. It grasped onto the edges of the circular portal and gave a big push.

"Fuck!"

Zel had seen the pillar of ice hit the Heftpound, but it wasn't enough. If Chu Yang had been given more time to maximize his vessel limit, he might have ended the Heftpound with one of his 'Ice Nails' to force the thing back. But right now, he had too little mastery over his class.

Now the portal had grown more massive, considerably larger and was directly facing the ground instead of the sky. But that's not the only thing that changed. Now, instead of it's head, a foot appeared first. A rabbit's foot. A giant fluffy white rabbit's foot.

The Heftpound had promptly fully transferred its feet on the ground. It was only being held back by its upper body before the rest of its body is out. Chu Yang and the three others felt no small amount of crisis as they had no more energy to fight back. Chu Yang then looked towards Ed with a defeated expression.

"Get the choppers!"

Ed nodded and turned towards the direction of the helicopter flying over them and spun his finger twice. It was a sign of retreat, meaning... they were leaving. They used everything, and that thing is still standing. They had nothing left to give.

The few survivors saw this and protested and pleaded for them to stay.

"Please! You almost got it! Don't let it come out!"

"Yeah, beat it down!"

"Save us!"

The people were heading for the four as they were riding back on the helicopter. A few courageous men even tried to jump inside, only to experience an invisible barrier immobilizing them midair. A woman inside the helicopter turned to confront them with an unreadable face. She said nothing but the hand whose glowing palm is facing them showed the invisible barrier was coming from her.

"Hey! Don't just leave us here!"

"You assholes! You're abandoning us!"

"You'll slaughter us!"

The people protested but those inside didn't hear a single thing. The four men were so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they got inside. The woman maintained the barrier on as she nodded at the pilot and he navigated them away from here.

"No!"

"Stop!"

"Please! Just take my children with you!"

The woman whose expression was cold and emotionless couldn't help but tear up. She knew she could have saved a few but doing so would not only cause trouble, it would prevent any of them from leaving. She had no doubts that more than a few of those people think they deserve to live more than the others and would do anything to get out using the helicopter. They would have slaughtered everyone by virtue of their inherent instinct to survive.

Zel observed all of this with a curious gaze. This was something he hadn't prepared for to be honest. A level 7 Heftpound appearing had never happened until a few weeks before the landing happens. By then he would have achieved the peak of level 5 and while these abdicates were three or four levels higher, they were still just mindless abdicates. Creatures that possessed no more complex thoughts so most of their more formidable skills would be dormant.

"We're moving out too, we can't stay." Zel had carried out a few survivors and arranged them up. He was leading the way back to the upper district of the city as the defenses there will be better.

The Coalition's headquarters are there after all. Though he wasn't planning on stopping by there any time soon, he was merely placing these people off to a safe enough distance before heading back to the 23rd floor. To escape this disaster, no, this calamity.

"Wait! My daughter is still there!"

"My friend lives a few blocks away! Please, let's get them!"

Zel looked at the a few of the people who looked at him with plea. Their eyes showed a pitiful look that would have made any other man want to accept their request, too bad it was Matthew they were meeting.

"The directions you just pointed at had no life signs of any sort. Either the people you said were there have left or they're dead."

Matthew's eyes allowed him to see the auras of people, making it possible to find anyone as long as their life signs were still there. But he hadn't found anything in a hundred-meter radius. Meanwhile, Zel had spread out his mana so thin to check out everything in a 1-km radius that was still alive. No one else was left behind.

"N-no way! I was holding her just a moment ago and I swear she is alive! Please, help me find my baby girl."

"Yes, my family is also unable to leave without me!"

They continued their protest but Zel didn't budge. He had already checked again just now, but there was no one close in any direction. He looked at Matthew who could have supported him, but he was still looking towards the giant pair of fluffy rabbit's feet, or more accurately, the torso of the Heftpound and it seems to have drawn him in.

"Matty, tell them."

Billy saw Zel was looking at their direction and elbowed the distracted Matthew. He subsequently used his eyes to check for any other survivor in the vicinity again but discovered no one. He swayed his head and looked at the 19 survivors left here.

"There is no one there, I just checked."

"Is looking at it from a far distance checking?"

"Yeah, just hurry up and look for them so we can all leave!"

"Save them!"

Those pitiful eyes had turned hostile.