The Phase Two Reward

What is the most infuriating thing when running a dungeon and facing a boss?

It’s when you and your teammates have exhausted every ounce of strength to finally defeat the boss, only to find that the music hasn’t stopped—she has a second phase.

And what’s even more infuriating than that?

It’s when you and your teammates discover that the attack patterns in Phase Two are completely different from Phase One. The gear you equipped, the skills you slotted, and the tactics you meticulously planned before entering the map have all become utterly useless.

Facing Ran Jiuyi as she unleashed her true abilities, the “Three Little Ones” found themselves in exactly that predicament.

From their previous encounter at the abandoned factory, it was clear that in terms of pure melee prowess, Ran Jiuyi far surpassed the three of them. If she managed to close the distance, she could take them all out in a single exchange.

In the earlier part of this battle, they had been able to wound her only because of two critical prerequisites.

First, Ran Jiuyi had been unable to move through the air. Second, she lacked effective long-range attacks.

Furthermore, the open wilderness offered no cover or platforms. Lunging recklessly at the airborne Bai He’an would have only exposed Ran Jiuyi’s defenseless body mid-air, making her an easy target for the crossfire between Bai He’an and Jiang Yunshu.

Because of these two constraints and the environmental advantage, Ran Jiuyi had been unable to effectively strike Bai He’an, who hovered above, raining down fire with impunity.

Beyond that, the only reason Yi Ziling could plant her gel in advance was because Ran Jiuyi couldn’t pinpoint her location within the illusion or move at high speeds through the sky.

So, what happens when none of those conditions apply anymore?

Unwilling to give Ran Jiuyi any more time to recover, Bai He’an opened fire again. Although her laser cannons and autocannons were more powerful now, their rate of fire was lower, making them less of a threat to a high-speed unit like Ran Jiuyi.

Moreover, Ran Jiuyi was now using her Erosion Needles.

With a mere thought, the surrounding needles flew in front of her, intercepting Bai He’an’s barrage.

Though the needles were only about twenty centimeters long, they were unnervingly durable; a single needle could deflect a dozen rounds from an autocannon. Even against the high-output laser cannons, Ran Jiuyi only needed a few needles to completely neutralize the beams.

Dozens of needles circled her body, forming an impregnable defensive perimeter. Whenever a needle was destroyed, Ran Jiuyi instantly manifested another to replace it.

Seeing her attacks failing, Bai He’an shouted anxiously, “Her defense is too strong! I need support!”

“Coming!”

Reactivating her Butterfly Realm Illusion, Jiang Yunshu launched a volley of light beams from all directions—a mix of real attacks and feints.

Unfortunately, Ran Jiuyi already had a solution for this.

No matter how realistic an illusion is, it remains an illusion. By pre-positioning her needles along the trajectories of the beams, she could easily feel out which ones carried actual mass and magical weight.

Once the truth was revealed, Jiang Yunshu’s beams could no longer touch her. In fact, by tracing the path of the beams back to their source, Ran Jiuyi could counterattack.

Ignoring the phantom beams as they “struck” her, Ran Jiuyi effortlessly dodged the real ones and casually manipulated over a dozen needles to fire back toward Jiang Yunshu’s position. To ensure a hit, she intentionally widened the gap between the needles to increase the kill zone.

Such a maneuver sounded simple, but in practice, it would be impossible without Ran Jiuyi’s superhuman reflexes, control, and judgment.

She recalled the needles to her side. Because of the illusion, she could only tell if she had hit her mark by the sense of resistance the needles felt as they moved.

Among the needles she had just fired, one had clearly met resistance. Her past combat experience and the bloodstains on the needle told her everything: she had pierced Jiang Yunshu’s body.

“Aaaagh!!!”

Inside the illusion, Jiang Yunshu clutched her right shoulder. Blood poured from the puncture wound, staining half her body.

Yi Ziling hurried to create healing gel to cover the wound. “Hang on, it’ll be okay!”

Between the healing gel and a Magical Girl’s potent vitality, the bleeding was quickly stanched. However, the wound was too deep for Yi Ziling to heal instantly. For the remainder of the battle, Jiang Yunshu’s right arm was useless.

“Don’t worry about me! Go see what Bian is doing!”

“Oh—right!”

Yi Ziling looked toward Ran Jiuyi, only to find her “flying” through the sky, chasing a struggling Bai He’an.

Unlike Bai He’an, who relied on back-mounted thrusters, Ran Jiuyi’s movement in the air was more akin to her movement on the ground. She seemed to be stepping on thin air, using successive “leaps” and “steps” to maneuver.

More terrifyingly, she could change direction abruptly without any warning or momentum. Just now, as she was drifting right, she suddenly snapped to the left, dodging Bai He’an’s retaliatory fire by a hair’s breadth.

Because of these sudden changes in vector, Bai He’an found it impossible to predict her trajectory or land a hit.

How is she moving like that? The hunted Bai He’an had no time to think, but Yi Ziling, observing from below, spotted the trick.

It was the needles! Ran Jiuyi was using the Erosion Needles as fulcrums in mid-air to create footholds, and then using the needles to apply physical force to herself to achieve those instantaneous turns.

Even though she understood the mechanism, Yi Ziling was powerless to help. She could only watch the aerial battle in a state of frantic helplessness.

Bai He’an didn’t last much longer. Despite her best efforts to keep her distance, an Erosion Needle eventually tore through her abdomen.

The agonizing pain interrupted her flight, and she plummeted like a fallen angel with broken wings.

After a brief moment of rest, Jiang Yunshu had recovered slightly. Seeing Bai He’an’s dire situation, she hurriedly fired a beam to provide cover.

It was useless. Ran Jiuyi tilted her body slightly to dodge. Furthermore, because Ran Jiuyi was in the air, Jiang Yunshu had to fire upward at an angle, completely revealing her position.

Dozens of needles streaked toward Jiang Yunshu. With no time to dodge, Yi Ziling threw herself in front of her friend, manifesting a defensive barrier of solidified gel.

The barrier didn’t hold for long; it shattered under the pressure. However, it bought enough time for the two of them to narrowly avoid most of the needles.

But not all of them. Yi Ziling was half a step too slow, and a needle drove clean through her right calf.

“Eeeaaagh!!”

Yi Ziling collapsed, screaming in pain.

Jiang Yunshu tried to help her up, but she suddenly felt a wave of tidal exhaustion wash over her entire body. The normally light Yi Ziling now felt like she weighed a thousand pounds. No matter how much strength Jiang Yunshu mustered, she couldn’t lift her.

What’s happening? Jiang Yunshu’s mind was racing. She knew she had used a lot of mana and stamina, but she shouldn’t be this weak.

Suddenly, Jiang Yunshu’s knees buckled. In a matter of seconds, her legs—which were moving just moments ago—felt completely paralyzed.

Wait… it wasn’t just her legs. As she tried to prop herself up, she realized her arms were just as limp.

How? Did Bian do something? When?

Then, Jiang Yunshu noticed something on Yi Ziling’s pierced calf: a pattern shaped like a crown of thorns had appeared around the wound.

She remembered her own shoulder. Was there one there too?

With her last ounce of strength, she peeled back the healing gel on her shoulder. Sure enough, the same thorn-patterned mark was etched into her skin.

“Careful… the mark…”

The movement exhausted her. Now, she didn’t even have the strength to speak.

Noticing something was wrong, Yi Ziling crawled over to her, patting her cheeks. “What is it? Yunshu? What’s wrong?!”

Receiving no response, Yi Ziling hurriedly encased Jiang Yunshu in a thick layer of healing gel. It was all she could do.

It was a pity—Jiang Yunshu had figured it out too late. Even though she realized the thorn mark was the culprit, she couldn’t warn her companions. She could only watch as they fell into the same trap.

As the weakness intensified, the illusion began to flicker. Reality started bleeding into the Butterfly Realm, signifying that Jiang Yunshu was losing the ability to maintain it.

Bai He’an noticed this and realized Jiang Yunshu was in trouble. She struggled to stand, wanting to provide support, but Ran Jiuyi would not give her a single moment to worry about others.

The real world vanished once more as the illusion flickered back to life. Jiang Yunshu was trying to hold on; she refused to give up.

But physical weakness is not something that can be entirely overcome by willpower—and her willpower wasn’t as ironclad as she had imagined.

A moment later, the illusion collapsed entirely. Jiang Yunshu and Yi Ziling were left completely exposed to Ran Jiuyi’s gaze.

It was over. At that moment, the “Three Little Ones” knew the truth. Jiang Yunshu was incapacitated. Without the cover of the illusion, Ran Jiuyi could finish Yi Ziling in a heartbeat. The remaining Bai He’an was nothing more than a fish on a chopping block.

If they could see it, so could Ran Jiuyi. Seeing that victory was assured, she didn’t press the attack. Instead, she asked, “Do you three plan on surrendering?”

“…”

“Fine. One can’t talk, and the other two who can have no intention of surrendering.”

Ran Jiuyi scanned the area. Her gaze made the still-mobile Bai He’an and Yi Ziling instinctively recoil.

The high-spirited confidence they had started with was gone. In its place was a deep, paralyzing fear of the monster before them.