The Cunning Core and the Golden Gunner’s Fury

The disaster beast’s core had narrowly avoided being struck by the girl’s shot, prompting it to unleash another soul-shaking roar.Transparent tentacles writhed and lunged at Amber.

Although Amber had managed to freeze some of the tendrils with her snowflake orb and even severed a few errant ones with her rapier, these attacks seemed to have little effect on the dense mass of tentacles before her.

Swiftly, the severed tendrils elongated and regenerated, restoring themselves to their previous state.

Gradually overwhelmed, Amber was struck by a tentacle that lashed out from behind her.

Before she could even regain her balance in mid-air, two more tendrils coiled around her ankles, leaving her hanging upside down.

Her cowboy hat, however, seemed to be enchanted by some unknown magic, remaining firmly affixed to her head even while inverted, showing no sign of falling off.

Despite her inverted vision and immobilized state, no trace of fear marred Amber’s face.

From this vantage point, she could clearly discern the disaster beast’s colossal head, which seemed to eclipse the very sky, along with its obsidian core, faintly shimmering within its translucent body.

“To be able to constantly shift its weak point within its own body… what a cunning creature.”

“If that’s the case… then why not just blast through all of it?”

As Amber’s confident declaration echoed, a fierce fire ignited within her brilliant golden eyes.

Pale golden light enveloped her entire body, and simultaneously, an intricate golden magic array, adorned with elaborate patterns, slowly materialized behind the girl.

The star icons on the array rippled like water, and countless firearms, identical in style to the pistol hanging at Amber’s hip, slowly extended from within the formation, buzzing with an aura of lethal intent.

Golden and silver light intertwined as the magic array behind her erupted in a dazzling glow, transforming vast magical power into a surging torrent.

“This boring game ends now!”

The girl’s words concluded, and her restraints finally shattered.

Countless bright yellow vertical streaks of light poured forth from the magic array; upon closer inspection, these luminous points were revealed to be thumb-sized, star-shaped bullets.

The rapidly firing bullets screeched as they tore through the air, instantly pulverizing the interwoven tentacles into scattered dust.

A series of explosions, accompanied by flashes of fire, spread across the disaster beast’s body, leaving behind gaping holes.

The speed at which its filamentous tissue attempted to repair itself was far outmatched by the rate at which the golden bullets pierced through it.

Before long, the dimly glowing ovum was exposed to the open air.

Her silver rapier, adorned with a bow, swiftly severed the tentacles binding her feet.

Amber pushed off with her legs, soaring rapidly into the air, leaving a faint golden trail as she streaked towards the exposed core.

As if sensing Amber’s intent, the continuously writhing and struggling disaster beast let out a series of warning roars, brandishing even more tentacles in an attempt to tear the slender girl before it to shreds.

A sharp flash of her sword cleaved the incoming tentacles in two.

Though the disaster beast attempted once more to envelop its core with filamentous material, having already expended its energy on repairing the previous holes, it now lacked its former speed.

Amber, now a streak of flowing light, had already arrived before it, and her shimmering silver rapier instantly pierced the core, which had not yet been fully re-enveloped.

As if a drawing on paper had been erased, the bizarre surroundings rapidly dissipated, accompanied by the disaster beast’s piercing wails.

The eerie blue light emanating from its body gradually dimmed, and its massive form began to swell and distort, becoming riddled with cracks like shattered glass.

Finally, its wails faded into the wind and vanished, as the disaster beast’s fractured body dissolved into countless tiny specks of light, scattering in all directions.

Only its pitch-black core remained, suspended in the air.

“Thank you…”

A gentle voice whispered in Amber’s ear, prompting her to instinctively turn around.

Yet, apart from the whistling wind, no other sound could be heard.

‘Was it just an illusion?’

The girl tilted her head, then redirected her gaze back to the black ovum silently floating before her.

“Phew… is it over?”

Witnessing the disaster beast vanish into thin air and the eerie amusement park return to normal, Bai Muxue involuntarily wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her forehead, a quiet sigh of relief escaping her.

‘It’s a good thing someone actually won… otherwise, my already precarious lifespan would have been brutally cut down even further.’

‘Attending my own funeral is already strange enough; if I actually ended up in a coffin right after… that would be utterly humiliating.’

Her thoughts momentarily wandering, Bai Muxue looked up, only to see the golden-haired girl, suspended in the distance, tentatively reaching out towards the pitch-black core.

“Amb—”

No sooner had Bai Muxue’s words left her lips than the previously quiescent, pitch-black core suddenly erupted in a blinding flash of light, followed by a deafening boom.

‘Eh…?’

Bai Muxue had no time to react whatsoever as astonishing heat, accompanied by roaring flames, surged towards her.

Just as she was flung backwards by the violent shockwave, a golden light shot forth, embracing the petite girl, and a pale yellow shield enveloped both of them in layers of protection.

However, the shield shattered with a resounding crash after only an instant.

The two figures, clasped tightly together, were instantly thrown backward, slamming violently into a tunnel as massive concrete blocks and steel rebar rained down, completely sealing off the exit.

Even though the intricate pattern on Amber’s right neck had begun to flicker at this point, she never loosened her embrace, ensuring the girl in her arms remained unharmed.

Dust billowed, obscuring their vision, with only sporadic rays of light piercing through the cracks to illuminate their faces, pressed together.

Amber’s soft chest pressed tightly against the small girl beneath her.

She painstakingly gathered a sliver of strength, laboriously kicking away the rocks that had piled around them, finally creating a small pocket of air for them to breathe.

Amber struggled to push herself off Bai Muxue’s body, only to collapse weakly beside her.

Her smooth golden hair was now caked with dust, and her cowboy hat lay askew, powerless.

Wiping away the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, Amber coughed violently.

Having been at the epicenter of the explosion, she had no time to deploy any defenses, and had then poured all her remaining magic into protecting Bai Muxue.

She was truly in a sorry state, completely devoid of the spirited confidence she had displayed moments ago against the disaster beast.

“Hey, hey… Xiaoxue, are you still alive?”

She painfully twisted her head, softly saying to Bai Muxue, who lay beside her, “If you’re dead, give a squeak.”

“Squeak.”

The girl’s weak voice reached her ear.

“I’m already dead. We’ve gone to heaven now.”