Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl

Book 2: Chapter 208: Discord

Lin Xiaolu felt immense pressure. It wasn’t simply because of the exam content. If she only considered the process of clearing the Maze Node, it had actually gone quite smoothly.

In fact, it had been too smooth.

She believed she had the strength to sense the entire battlefield, and Bai Jingxuan was not much weaker than her in some respects. Although the Remnant Beast at this node was indeed very large, and besides this "big guy" there was a countless swarm of low-level Remnant Beasts... she was confident that even without anyone else’s help, just relying on herself and Bai Jingxuan, they could still clear this node.

Maybe it would take a bit more time, approximately.

However, when the Magical Girl codenamed Arrowroot took the lead and rushed into the battlefield first, the situation evolved far faster than she had imagined.

Unlike the usual way Lin Xiaolu was accustomed to, where Magical Girls fought Remnant Beasts by dealing external injuries through magical power to destroy their bodies, Arrowroot’s method was completely different. She transformed into countless bats and black mist, invading the Remnant Beasts’ bodies, after which the beasts inexplicably weakened.

The low-level Remnant Beasts couldn’t withstand this move at all. After a short while, they withered rapidly, like balloons deflated of air, and then disappeared.

As for the big one, it wasn’t defeated so quickly. But after a brief period of weakness, it fell into a frenzy of rage.

“Roar—”

Its roar echoed throughout the node’s cavern, running madly and attacking everything it could sense without distinguishing friend or foe.

Not only Lin Xiaolu and her team, but even the low-level Remnant Beasts leaping down from the walls could be crushed by it along the way. It was clearly oblivious to this; it had identified Lin Xiaolu’s group as the "culprits" responsible for its pain and unleashed all its might to chase them.

At this moment, Lin Xiaolu truly understood what “the earth shaking and mountains trembling” felt like.

When this giant beast, over thirty meters long, began to run wildly inside the hollow, she even felt like the ground beneath her feet was turning into a trampoline.

“Don’t just keep running, help out a bit. Don’t let those small Remnant Beasts get close to it!” Arrowroot’s voice sounded in Lin Xiaolu’s ear.

“What? Who’s speaking?” Lin Xiaolu was startled while dodging the giant beast’s attack and almost got hit by its paw.

“It’s me, I’m inside its body!” Arrowroot continued, “It just hasn’t realized yet why it feels uncomfortable. Once it notices, it will swallow those small Remnant Beasts to find me inside! If that happens, I’ll have to deal with those pests first, which will get very troublesome. So, help me keep them away.”

“Don’t you know this big guy is already mad?”

Lin Xiaolu shouted, “Shouldn’t we subdue this thing first?”

“I can handle it quickly! You all hold on for two minutes!” Arrowroot said confidently.

“Holding on for a short while is not hard.” Lin Xiaolu glanced at the movements of the Remnant Beasts in the distance, assessing their potential destructive power before making her judgment: “But is it really just two minutes?”

“At most three minutes!”

“Alright.” Lin Xiaolu immediately summoned her magical equipment and turned back to repel the giant beast’s claw with her spear: “As you said, if you can’t handle it, I won’t be so nice!”

“Heh.”

Arrowroot just laughed, then didn’t say anything more.

Then, eight minutes ago, while Mou Haifang and the others were still trying to dodge attacks and block the high-level Remnant Beasts, this white beast suddenly stopped moving for a moment. Then, as if all its strength was drained, it collapsed with a crash.

The time was exactly as Arrowroot had said.

After its body dissipated into Echo, Lin Xiaolu saw this white beast’s appearance—just like the high-level Remnant Beasts that Arrowroot had killed along the way, its body was emaciated and withered.

This made Lin Xiaolu think of a creature that only appeared in fantasy stories: the vampire.

According to legend, this monster feeds on the blood of living beings, fears sunlight, moves at night, and has an inseparable association with bats. Moreover, it is said that when they attack prey, they can drain all the blood from the prey’s body, causing death by blood loss.

Arrowroot was like a "vampire" feeding on Remnant Beasts. Although not all Remnant Beasts had the concept of blood, whatever she absorbed was definitely something taken from their bodies. Rather than fighting, it would be more accurate to say she was “feeding.”

A Magical Girl that devours Remnant Beasts? Or perhaps she could absorb more than just Remnant Beasts?

Looking at Arrowroot, who had reformed into human shape after flying out from the Remnant Beast’s body and was now covering her mouth to burp, Lin Xiaolu was startled by her sudden thought.

But no matter what, Arrowroot had indeed demonstrated astonishing power. Although Lin Xiaolu thought this level probably didn’t quite reach what Mint called “another dimension”—she was confident that she could still fight this Remnant Beast one-on-one—but with Arrowroot’s participation, it certainly made their process of clearing this node much smoother.

After the giant beast was defeated, even the swarms of low-level Remnant Beasts were no match for Lin Xiaolu and the others. They swept through like cleaning up trash, turning all the Remnant Beasts into piles of Echo.

As mentioned earlier, their node clearing process had been very smooth.

However, after that, Lin Xiaolu fell into a scene that made her feel immense pressure.

Because Mint and Arrowroot were arguing again.

And it all started with Mint’s ambiguous comment: “You sure have a big appetite. Be careful or you’ll gain weight again tonight.”

“By the way, before the exam, didn’t you publish a ranking list online? It got an unexpectedly good response, though you only put me in second place, which made me a bit unhappy.”

Mint’s words clearly irritated Arrowroot. She stood close to Mint, though a few centimeters shorter, wearing a proud and domineering smile: “You actually put that Magical Girl called Kapok ahead of me? What kind of ability does she have that you recognize her more than me? Or is this one of your intentions? Putting me in second place is just your usual little trick to annoy me?”

As soon as these words were spoken, the temperature in the hollow seemed to drop by several degrees. The atmosphere, which had barely remained stable due to the battle victory, instantly plummeted to freezing point.

“Really pathetic, but how I rank the list is my business.”

No longer with a forced smile, Mint also retracted her grin: “Maybe she really is stronger than you? Why don’t you go compare with her?”

Arrowroot stopped speaking, and Mint’s face turned cold. The two confronted each other silently.

If it was just a conflict between these two, it might have been okay, but obviously, among the members present, there was another teammate who had a very poor impression of Arrowroot.

That was Bai Jingxuan.

She said nothing but silently brought her magical equipment and stood next to Mint, adopting a “bring it on if you want to fight” stance, glaring at Arrowroot with resentment.

“You want to fight too?”

Arrowroot naturally did not ignore Bai Jingxuan’s presence; in fact, she had always clearly paid attention to Bai Jingxuan. When she saw Bai Jingxuan’s stance, her smile actually carried a hint of pleasure: “Then maybe this will be more interesting than expected.”

At this point, the tension among everyone present was about to explode.

To be fair, if it had been the usual Lin Xiaolu, she would have already rushed out to protect Bai Jingxuan, prepared to fight Arrowroot.

But now, still in the middle of the exam, Lin Xiaolu realized one thing: if they really fought outside, there was a small chance it would end in a very difficult situation. Whether they won or lost, it would certainly harm their exam results.

So she was definitely the only one present who could still remain rational, and the job of “mediating” fell solely on her.

She herself? To do that kind of thing?

Never before had Mou Haifang wished so much for Veronica to be present as she did at this moment.

She had never done that kind of thing before. Usually, she was the one who got angry, and Veronica was the one who calmed things down. And yet, seeing things from Veronica’s perspective was actually such a feeling?

Mou Haifang wanted to stop thinking, but it was too late. The time she had left to think was already narrow.

What should she do? She tried to drive her almost paralyzed mind.