Off Work, Then Transform into a Magical Girl

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"Boom—Splash!"

A violent noise echoed through the underground cavern.

Tendrils of flesh fell from above, crashing heavily into the water, sending up columns of spray several meters high.

At the center, a fish-shaped Brutal Beast twisted and writhed, opening and closing its maw as if performing a sinister and ominous dance, all the while directing the surrounding flesh to attack Cui Que with its fervent song.

Cui Que skimmed the water's surface, flying low along the cavern's edge, dodging the occasional tendrils that lunged at her. She raised her Magic Wand and tentatively fired a few beams of Magic Power at the central beast.

But the beams of Magic Power vanished upon hitting the beast, like stones sinking without a trace, failing to elicit any reaction or cause any harm.@@novelbin@@

From Cui Que's perspective, she could see that the beams of Magic Power disintegrated silently upon touching the beast's surface.

"Is there really a pupa shell?"

For the first time since entering this place, she showed a hint of surprise. "Has it evolved to this stage already?"

The pupa shell is a bodily ability that pupa-stage Brutal Beasts develop as they continue to accumulate nutrients and evolve to higher levels. It grants them a certain degree of resistance and protection against pure Magic Power attacks.

Brutal Beasts are already extremely difficult to harm physically, so evolving a pupa shell makes them nearly invulnerable on the defensive end, making it hard to inflict any damage. Just hearing about it would make most people feel powerless.

Fortunately, the name "pupa shell" indicates its nature—for Magical Girls, it is actually breakable.

There are usually only two ways to bypass the pupa shell and harm the Brutal Beast: one is to use Magic Power exceeding its tolerance limit to continuously attack, breaking the shell with sheer force; the other is to use abilities that are neither physical nor purely Magic Power-based.

The first method corresponds to a siege, which is the easiest approach, requiring only a sufficient number of Magical Girls. Even a group of novice Bud-stage Magical Girls can work. A swarm of Magical Girls attacking with Magic Power can directly break through the pupa shell and attack the Brutal Beast.

Of course, if an exceptionally powerful Magical Girl arrives, using overwhelming Magic Power to crush the pupa-stage Brutal Beast is also possible.

The second method involves more techniques but has higher requirements, the most common being Magic Assembly. The power of Magic Assembly comes from the Magical Girl's True Form, a fusion of soul and Magic Power, which naturally counters the pupa shell of Brutal Beasts.

So when numbers are insufficient, it requires all participants to be at least Bud-stage Magical Girls.

Tilting her head while flying at high speed, Cui Que looked at the central beast and calmed herself. The presence of a pupa shell was surprising but not unexpected, as it was the reason she came alone.

Fangting City only had three Magical Girls to date, and this number was certainly insufficient to break the pupa shell. Considering the other two hadn't mastered Magic Assembly, they wouldn't be able to cause effective damage even if they came, so Cui Que decided not to involve them.

Now, seemingly aware that the enemy was alone, the fish-shaped Brutal Beast became particularly reckless. After Cui Que's counterattack, it danced even more wildly, summoning more tendrils to reach out from all directions toward her.

Cui Que remained calm, her clothes fluttering, her hair dancing in the air. She slightly parted her lips:

"Magic Assembly, precipitate."

She murmured, and the Magic Wand in her hand disintegrated into Magic Power, forming countless shimmering threads that connected the entire cavern.

The tendrils were blocked, severed, and the beast's blood splattered everywhere, but not a drop touched her clothes. She continued flying, and in an instant, the surroundings became empty, with no trace of enemies.

But this grand symphonic performance was far from over.

The massive cavern was the stage, the central Brutal Beast was the conductor and its own choir, and the hanging tendrils of flesh were its orchestra members and dancers.

Its performance hadn't stopped, so the attacks wouldn't end.

As one wave of attacks was neutralized, tendrils shattered on the ground, its song shifted to a mournful lament, completely different from before.

In the song, as if summoned by some force, a series of bubbles emerged from the murky pool below, and countless objects suddenly floated up from beneath the water, rising high into the air.

Cui Que hadn't yet seen what emerged from the water, but her instincts made her abruptly change her flight path.

"Boom!"

At the moment she changed direction, a cannonball of filthy water narrowly missed her original trajectory, crashing into the cavern wall with a thunderous sound.

It was a water cannon.

Cui Que understood, and in a flash, she realized what was in the pool below. Looking down from the air, the dense objects revealed their true form: they were all Brutal Beast heads.

—Melting Cavity-type Brutal Beast heads.

The mournful song grew more intense, the rhythm stronger, the high notes rising and falling, the heavy chords lifting the music's emotion to a climax.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

One after another, water cannons fired in rhythm, aiming at Cui Que's position from the pool below.

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"Swish, swish, swish!"

Tendrils, like whips, lashed down from above, slicing through the air toward the figure in the sky.

Cui Que twisted her body mid-flight, accelerating again.

Such dense and dangerous attacks would make it difficult for any Leaf-stage Magical Girl to escape unscathed, but not for her.

Cui Que moved like a solo dancer in a symphony pit, weaving between the seats with light steps and intense movements that were both out of place and harmonious, as if she were part of the performance. She continuously dodged attacks, using her Magical Assembly to counterattack, leaping from the edge of the pit toward the central podium.

She easily bypassed the brass section, the woodwinds couldn't trip her up, the violinists were blocked by her threads, and the music couldn't hold her leaping figure.

The singer on the podium felt provoked.

It was the singer and the conductor; this concert should not be out of its control. Outsiders should quietly appreciate from the stage below, not intrude and disrupt its performance.

The grand welcome was over; it was time to drive away the troublesome audience.

So, it closed its mouth.

As the central fish-shaped Brutal Beast shut its maw, the booming song abruptly stopped.

The strings of flesh hanging in the air squirmed and swelled, the suspended chunks of meat split open, revealing mouths full of sharp teeth, tongues extending out; the egg-stage Brutal Beasts below retracted their melting cavities, ceasing the continuous water cannon fire, and opened their mouths, which should have been their weak points.

Cui Que's pupils contracted slightly.

She raised her hand abruptly, making an uncommon gesture toward the dense threads in the air.

Immediately, a deafening sonic boom erupted from all directions, piercing the cavern walls, blasting the accumulated pool, and almost shattering all the foreign objects in the space.

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