Fear

Lilia kept her eyes fixed on the menacing silver spider in the distance while checking Ye Huasheng’s injuries out of the corner of her eye.

The wounds were severe, but fortunately, the magic power within her body had already begun to heal them.

Still, seeing Chengzi so battered, Lilia’s heart pounded with residual fear.

If she hadn’t happened to glance over, if she hadn’t had the foresight to come and check, even a second’s delay would have led to unimaginable consequences.

But this was no time to feel relieved.

Because things had happened so quickly, she had only managed to leave a magic imprint, which meant Sister Lin’s support might still be a while away.

The best choice right now was actually to grab Chengzi and retreat decisively.

An Anomaly of this level was clearly not something two novice magical girls of a mere six-star rank could handle.

However, Lilia had a feeling that if she dared to use magic to escape, that spider could catch her in an instant!

To think pessimistically, the current “standoff” might just be the creature toying with its prey.

After a short while, Ye Huasheng regained her strength.

She opened her now-clear eyes to see the beautiful blue figure in front of her, looking tense and anxious.

She wanted to say something, but the intense pain washing over her brain made it difficult to even open her mouth.

“Chengzi, you…” Lilia saw that Ye Huasheng had recovered her strength and was about to speak, but in that fleeting moment of distraction, the spider’s attack arrived in an instant!

Bang—!

With a roar, the manhole cover behind the two magical girls exploded, and countless small spiders swarmed out, leaping towards them!

Ye Huasheng subconsciously tried to fire a magic projectile but found her wand was long gone.

Fortunately, Lilia quickly pulled Ye Huasheng behind her, firing sonic waves to repel the enemy while flying backward.

However, two tentacles whipped towards them in that opening!

In the nick of time, Lilia could only push Ye Huasheng to safety, but she herself was struck by a tentacle and crashed to the ground.

She heard the sound of her ribs breaking, but she forced herself up and flew away before the next round of tentacles could strike.

‘No, I can’t do this alone, I can’t hold on!’

Although her ribs were healing quickly, the pain was excruciating.

Lilia endured the agony and rapidly considered her options.

Soon, she spotted Ye Huasheng’s discarded wand and dove towards it.

The small spiders seemed to be extensions of the larger body.

Noticing Lilia’s movement, they quickly coordinated with the main body to respond.

They converged, forming several silver spiders the size of the ones on the street earlier, and raced towards Lilia.

“Echo Barrier!”

Lilia multi-tasked, dodging the tentacle attacks while keeping an eye on the movement below.

Seeing the spiders pounce, she immediately waved her wand, and a completely different kind of magic appeared.

A highly intricate magic circle appeared at the gem-tipped end of her wand, composed of many complex patterns and characters.

With the wand as the center, sonic waves rapidly spread out, vibrating to form a huge screen of light.

The spiders crashed into the light screen and were sent flying back, turning into a mist in mid-air, as if they had been hit by their own attacks.

This was clearly a very powerful spell, as the light screen collapsed in less than three seconds.

Lilia’s face also became very tired, but that brief moment was enough for her to successfully retrieve Ye Huasheng’s wand and fly away.

In the instant she flew away, Lilia glanced back at the ground.

The mist sprinkled on the ground and instantly turned into even smaller, finer spiders, which quickly crawled back to the main body.

‘In other words, as long as my magic remains on the physical plane, I can’t destroy this monster… In that case, maybe even Sister Lin can’t defeat it…’

Lilia shivered, fear welling up in her heart.

But she quickly suppressed it.

Mentally calculating the time until support arrived, she flew to Ye Huasheng’s side and blasted away the attacking spiders with a single sonic wave.

“Nannan…”

“Chengzi, catch. Sister Lin will be here in three or four minutes. We have to hold on.”

Lilia handed Ye Huasheng’s wand to her, explaining her plan in a low voice.

“My magic power is almost gone, and I don’t have any powerful attacks. So, I’ll be responsible for attracting its attention to create an opening for you. You do the attacking. Remember not to go head-on. We don’t have to destroy it, just hold on…”

Before Lilia could finish, a series of deafening roars interrupted her.

The two of them looked over to see all the spiders on the ground converging on the mother body, then completely merging into it.

It became an even more hideous, more terrifying silver spider.

Behind it, the two tentacles had merged into two thicker, stronger ones, which shot towards them!

Seeing this, Lilia didn’t retreat but advanced.

With a wave of her wand, countless sonic waves stacked in front of her, forming a shield that blocked both tentacles!

Although it was pierced in an instant, the less-than-a-second pause and slight deflection of the angle allowed her to successfully fly to the silver spider’s left side.

She unleashed numerous sonic attacks to draw the monster’s attention while casting a strengthening spell on Ye Huasheng.

“Chengzi, now’s your chance! Attack its side, we’ll flank it!”

Ye Huasheng clutched her wand.

With the magic’s buff, she, having regained some strength, looked at the silver spider now distracted by Lilia.

Its hideous body trembled, terrifying under the moonlight, making her scalp tingle.

In response to Lilia’s call, she froze.

“Quick, Chengzi!” Lilia shouted urgently when she saw this. The two tentacles were about to entangle her.

“Ah—!”

However, to everyone’s surprise, Ye Huasheng suddenly let out a sharp scream.

She quickly waved her wand and unleashed powerful magic projectiles.

But instead of attacking from the right to flank it as Lilia had said, it was as if she had lost her mind, or had simply closed her eyes, and charged straight at the spider’s front!

“Aaaah!”

“Chengzi! No! Stop! Chengzi! Chengzi!”

Ye Huasheng could no longer hear anything, or rather, she had already lost the ability to think.

Her entire field of vision was filled with only the hideous and terrifying silver spider.

She was afraid, very afraid.

Afraid of having to face such an incomprehensible monster.

There was only one thing left in her mind now: quickly, quickly destroy this monster.

As long as this monster was destroyed, she wouldn’t have to face it!

So she charged forward recklessly, unleashed magic recklessly, fought recklessly.

The silver spider let out a hiss.

Facing the charging magical girl, the very human-like laughter in its roar became even more piercing.

Completely ignoring the fierce firepower exploding on its body from Ye Huasheng, the two tentacles behind it abandoned Lilia and rapidly split into a dozen, surrounding Ye Huasheng from all directions!

Ye Huasheng was already on the verge of collapse.

The wand continuously firing magic from her hand was her last anchor of sanity.

So when the last bit of her magic power turned into a brilliant explosion, Ye Huasheng also stopped her charge.

She stood there, dazed, watching the abyss coming towards her.

“Chengzi!”

At the critical moment, the beautiful blue figure came to her side again.

Lilia used her last bit of magic power and stamina to turn into a blue streak of light, pushing the completely incapacitated Ye Huasheng away.

The price was that the mercury-colored tentacles wrapped tightly around her!

“Aaaaaaaaaah…!”

It was an incomprehensible pain.

Even though she had cast a layer of magic barrier on herself beforehand, Lilia could feel that the tentacles seemed to be covered in countless sharp spines that instantly pierced through the barrier, pierced through her skin!

From head to toe!

Lilia’s face turned as pale as a sheet of paper.

The suffocating feeling of near-death already filled her chest.

“Chengzi… run…”

Lilia used her last ounce of strength to shout, but she could no longer see her friend lying motionless by the roadside, her life uncertain.

‘Is this how it ends…’

As she was gradually engulfed by the silver liquid, her vision covered by a layer of silver, Lilia finally despaired completely.

‘Everyone takes it for granted that if they cry out, a magical girl will come to save them.’

‘But when a magical girl cries out, will a hero come to save them?’

‘Probably not…’

“As expected, just a little kid after all. Can’t handle a little fear. This blue one is a bit interesting, though.”

Suddenly, the agonizing Lilia seemed to hear someone’s voice.

But when she tried to listen carefully, there was only the sticky sound of liquid moving over her body.

‘Auditory hallucinations before death?’

“Alright, let me, for the first time in a while…”

“Transform!”

Whoosh—!!!

That voice rang out again, and along with it, the sound of a surging gale.

In that instant, Lilia suddenly felt as if she were in the eye of a hurricane, surrounded on all sides by an incredibly oppressive storm!

Boom—!

Suddenly, the storm vanished in an instant.

Everything became quiet, as quiet as the deep cosmos.

Just as Lilia was wondering if this was death, a piercing explosion sounded in her ear!

“PUNCH!”

And then, she saw the stars.