In the shadows, Fire Wushuang watched as her three roommates lay gravely wounded, their lives hanging by a thread. A turmoil of emotions erupted within her usually calm heart.
She longed to intervene immediately, to slay the boss.
Yet, Aya Tone held her back.
“What’s the rush? I’m not worried.”
Their magical attire hadn’t even been dispelled yet. This was hardly the critical point!
Mere fatal wounds were far from threatening their lives.
Besides! Didn’t they still have her?
“But! They can’t even cast a single spell right now, they’ll die!”
Fire Wushuang gazed at her teacher, who remained perfectly composed before her, and felt a burning anxiety.
“Look, aren’t they managing?”
Aya Tone offered no explanation. Instead, she raised a finger, directing Fire Wushuang’s gaze.
On the battlefield, a scene unfolded.
Lin Ling clutched her wound with one hand, as gentle magical energy continuously surged from her palm towards the injury.
While it couldn’t fully heal her, it was enough to staunch the bleeding, ensuring she could continue fighting for a short while.
She gritted her teeth, her steps faltering. Each movement that tugged at her wound made her involuntarily gasp.
Her face, contorted and pale with agony, turned to Ye Liu. “Ye Zi… the rest is up to you.”
Releasing her magic wand, she placed a hand on Ye Liu’s back, pouring her internal magical energy into Ye Liu’s body as if it were limitless.
Liu Fei made the same choice.
They staked all their hopes on Ye Liu.
With their magical energy depleted, the two could no longer stand. Their bodies went limp, and they collapsed into unconsciousness.
“Everyone!” Ye Liu exclaimed, feeling three distinct streams of magical energy converge and finally merge within her.
Ye Liu wiped away the shimmering tears from her eyes, steadied the falling bodies of her companions, then turned a determined and resolute gaze towards the BOSS charging at them.
With her companions beside her, she would not give up.
Her magical attire seemed to sense her unwavering resolve, shimmering with a faint golden glow.
Damage sustained in the previous battles was swept away by the light, and everything was smoothed over.
She clutched her magic staff, now radiating light.
She knew this was their final stand; beyond this monster lay the dungeon’s core!
Their previous encounters had left her and her companions scarred, and now, with her friends fallen, the burden of defeating the BOSS rested solely on her shoulders.
The monstrous creature roared, charging towards the three, its colossal claws slamming down.
Ye Liu reached out, grabbed her two unconscious companions from the ground, and deftly dodged the attack with a swift sidestep.
With a burst of speed, she transported them to a relatively safe spot.
While there was no truly safe haven within a dungeon, she knew that Aya Tone’s gaze remained fixed upon them.
Waving her magic staff, she chanted incantations, unleashing dazzling beams of magic towards the monster.
However.
The monster’s hide was tough and thick; this attack inflicted no fatal damage.
Though its chest was blasted, leaving flesh and blood exposed, the monster merely opened its gaping maw and roared, enraged!
Ye Liu’s face fell. ‘This damn turtle is truly tough!’ she cursed inwardly.
She could feel her magical energy rapidly draining away; time was running out.
Taking a deep breath, she focused all her concentration, channeling the remaining magical energy within her to the tip of her staff.
“Ling Ling, Fei Fei, lend me your strength!”
The combined magical energy of the three seemed to undergo a profound transformation.
In a flash!
The magic staff flared with brilliant light, forming a colossal orb of energy, within which strange runes flickered.
‘Succeed or die trying!’
“This is our final power, for everyone!” Ye Liu cried out, hurling the energy orb with all her might towards the monster.
The energy orb streaked across the night sky like a meteor, striking the monster with unparalleled force.
The monster attempted to resist, but the orb’s power was too immense, instantly engulfing it.
After a blinding flash of light, Ye Liu’s body swayed before she collapsed, her magical attire dissolving simultaneously.
Yet, a relieved smile graced her lips, for she knew she had won this battle.
****
Aya Tone emerged from the shadows, accompanied by a visibly anxious Fire Wushuang.
She cast a healing spell on each of them.
She then looked towards the BOSS’s location, a strange expression on her face.
“A lucky break, wasn’t it? To actually blast out its weakness like that?” she murmured.
The very first attack, seemingly ineffective, had inadvertently struck the monster’s weak point.
“Never mind,” she mused. “A lucky break is still a win. But their magical energies actually fusing… that’s truly unexpected.”
The energy within each person, much like genetic code, possesses its own unique signature.
Attempting to merge them rashly would be akin to pouring water onto hot oil.
It would simply explode upon contact.
Hmph! Indeed, magical girls are not creatures to be explained by common sense.
****
“Ah…”
Outside the milk tea shop, Aya Tone leaned back in her chair, silent for a long moment.
‘I lost… Damn it, Magical Girl versus Monster Executive.’
‘The Magical Girl suffered a crushing defeat.’
‘Why does it feel like my childhood has been ruined?’
‘Not happy!’
“Ye Zi, what’s wrong with Teacher? She isn’t mad because she thinks we’re too weak, is she…?”
“If nothing unexpected happened… then you’re right,” Ye Liu replied.
After witnessing Fire Wushuang’s battle, they had naturally perceived the clear disparity in their strengths.
Unlike themselves, who had barely managed to clear the dungeon by giving their all.
Fire Wushuang’s entire battle had been nothing short of flawless, every move a calculated maneuver, systematically wearing down the enemy to its demise.
She herself had barely needed to intervene, instead controlling the monster to fight remotely.
Her actions of finding safe spots and recovering magical energy were textbook perfect.
There were no errors; the monster’s every movement had been meticulously calculated.
The gap was immense, terrifyingly so.
After a brief moment of dejection, Aya Tone, her eyes still a bit lifeless, looked at her three disappointing juniors.
“Your wounds have all healed, haven’t they?”
“No problem!” Lin Ling, ever a bit airheaded, declared, reaching to grab Aya Tone’s hand to confirm.
“Stop! Don’t move!” Aya Tone sharply interjected, forbidding any physical contact. “Just speak, no touching.”
Her healing magic was more potent than that of ordinary Holy-class practitioners.
After all, it was, in a sense, another aspect of herself, a gift accumulated from an entire S-rank dungeon.
“Now that your wounds are healed, do you remember how to get to that hotel we stayed at last time?”
The three exchanged blank glances, but nodded nonetheless.
“Then, later, you can take a taxi there yourselves. And thoroughly review today’s battle! Write a combat summary, and meet at the Guild entrance tomorrow!”
With that, Aya Tone lightly tapped the armrest with her fingertip and vanished from the chair.
‘The small skirmish is over; it’s time for me to take over.’
‘But first, I need to find the driver…’
“Gazing at the now empty spot, Lin Ling belatedly gasped aloud.
“Teacher ran off again!”
“Snap!” Ye Liu impatiently ‘slapped’ her, cutting off her histrionics.
“Teacher has her reasons for doing this, of course,” she stated. “Let’s go back and properly summarize today’s battle.”
Then she turned to Fire Wushuang. “Wushuang, do you want to stay with us?”
This was Fire Wushuang’s sister’s territory, so it would be normal for her not to stay with them.
“Wait a moment,” Fire Wushuang replied. “Let me see if my sister can lend us a room to sleep in.”
Lin Ling, rubbing her reddened hand, beamed with delight. “What!”