By now, Tu Dinggui has ford a fairly complete guess about the Exam Institute's intention behind setting up this test.
The existence of any exam must inherently be to assess certain abilities and knowledge of the examinee. In this practical test, it's undoubtedly to examine so "practical skills" of the Magical Girls.
The maze before them now clearly simulates the scene of a Remnant Beast's nest.
Since a Remnant Beast's nest will sowhat distort the surrounding space, a Magical Girl must have sufficiently strong perception ability to find direction within it. Hence, the form of this test is a maze, to optimally simulate the state within a nest.
In nests of Remnant Beasts at the Half-Molt level and above, rules co into effect, requiring a Magical Girl to have a clear mind and calm head to analyze and break these rules. Hence, so many puzzles are scattered in the maze, purely to select talents who can continually ponder further questions during exploration.
And since it's a nest, there will inevitably be a Remnant Beast as the master, so the maze is also set up with similar "enemies." After all, just perception and thinking abilities aren't enough for a Magical Girl; basic combat ability and adaptability to the environnt are also required to be assessed.
Following this logic, if she hasn't guessed wrong, the "exit" that no one has found so far should show its true form after defeating the Remnant Beast in front of her.
There's no other reason; according to the flow of "attacking a Remnant Beast's nest," after a Magical Girl clarifies the path, breaks the rules, and defeats the master of the nest... the next thing to consider is how to leave.
Thus, there is only one thing she must do which is right before her.
"If I defeat this guy, then I should have the answer."
Her right hand spread open, and the Magic Wand in her hand instantly disintegrated into dust and reford into a new shape in her palm—a banner.
With a white background, across the middle was a blue stripe, on which floral emblems were drawn. Upon closer inspection, one could find these emblems were actually ford of Favo Runes.
No superfluous explanation needed; at that mont, everyone present understood: this was her Magic Armor.
"Guide the way, Banner Emblem."
She whispered, suddenly waving the banner to fully unfurl it. Then she heavily struck it onto the ground, accompanied by a "boom" collision sound. The emblem on the banner, following the magical power fluctuation, imprinted onto every mber of Team 277.
Erald Sparrow imdiately sensed an indescribable magical power fluctuation attaching to herself. Although she could completely dispel this fluctuation, considering it's a teammate using their ability, she chose to stand by. This magical power fluctuation eventually ford an emblem on the left chest of her outfit, fundantally the sa as Tu Dinggui's emblem on her Magic Armor, just sowhat coarser in detail.
Following this was a burst of exhilarating sensation, making Erald Sparrow feel her magic power was activated and her body and ntal state all becoming unbelievably excited.
"This is…" Dogtail Grass by her side also sensed the changes in her body and couldn't help but exclaim.
"It's my Magic Armor's ability, capable of enhancing both oneself and teammates' strengths across multiple dinsions such as spirit, magic power, and physical body."
As the light waves from the banner dissipated, Tu Dinggui turned back to the two teammates: "I'll lead the charge in a bit; you wait for the opportunity and stay safe."
"Lead the charge?"
Perhaps not expecting mature and calm Tu Dinggui to beco so passionate, Dogtail Grass hesitated a bit: "No need to be so impulsive; I have quite a bit of practical experience on my side. We should first cautiously test that Remnant Beast's ability and, in the anti, ensure Senior Long Dan is protected…"
"It's okay."
However, Tu Dinggui gently interrupted her: "For a Remnant Beast of this level, there's no need to complicate things. I'll be right back."
With those words, she didn't even give Dogtail Grass another chance to speak before clutching the banner in her hand and flying into the air.
Before her, the Remnant Beast stretched out its body, entering a hunting stance, and as soon as it noticed Tu Dinggui approaching, it imdiately displayed its counterasure.
Its previously dry, wood-like body rapidly transford, with cracked wooden patterns closing, yet transforming into a series of continuous irregular protrusions; the previously all-over brown-gray gradually faded, replaced by a rock-like black-gray.
At first glance, it appeared as if several enormous dead woods had suddenly turned into long, thin stone pillars.
Coupled with its earlier behavior of mimicking sounds and even mimicking Erald Sparrow's magical power fluctuation, its possessed ability was undoubtedly "Disguise."
Like the animals in nature that adapt their bodies for camouflage, it too could "disguise itself as other things." However, unlike ordinary animals, this Remnant Beast could take things a step further—disguising the strength of its body and even the external fluctuation of its magic power as sothing else entirely.
The Exam Institute's examiners choosing such a Remnant Beast as the enemy here obviously implies their intention to test the examinees. With its marvellous disguise ability coupled with environntal interference, ordinary candidates might find it truly difficult to discover this Remnant Beast's presence. Even if suspecting sothing, without a composite strength like that of Team 277, it might be impossible to easily make this Remnant Beast abandon its disguise to reveal its true form.
Of course, being adept in disguise doesn't imply the Remnant Beast's overall strength is lacking. Being an enemy in a "Simulation Nest," this Remnant Beast, regardless of circumstances, was a genuine Pupa. In fact, being able to alter the surrounding maze environnt from shrubbery to such an earthy passage demonstrated it possessed significant magical power.
The Pupa Stage requires at least a Leaf Level leader and cooperation with more than a dozen Seed Level Magical Girls to safely subdue.
And now, strictly speaking, still only considered a rookie, Tu Dinggui is facing this Remnant Beast alone.
The distance between the Magical Girl and the Remnant Beast grew closer and closer, followed by Tu Dinggui passing the Remnant Beast. The clash of tal and stone sounded throughout the cavern.
Crack.
A sound of stone fracturing followed imdiately.
One of the Remnant Beast's legs was suddenly severed, with no sign of when it happened.
"Ah——"
The final sound was the ear-piercing howl from the Remnant Beasts, akin to the roar of countless people gathered together, with even the tones of Tu Dinggui and Erald Sparrow mixed in.
"So noisy."
Tu Dinggui turned around, slightly shaking the flagpole in his hand. Amidst the fluttering of the flag, the spear tip at the top of the pole shimred with a cold glint. From the crack on the Remnant Beasts' leg, it was clear that the spear tip had just pierced through its body.
Without giving the Remnant Beasts any chance to recuperate, Tu Dinggui rushed forward with the flag once again. Accompanied by another "crack," after nearly identical movents, the other leg of the Remnant Beasts imdiately fractured.
However, this ti, its leg did not break off imdiately.
Under the watchful gaze of everyone, its body, which once appeared rock-like, began to shimr with a tallic luster. Not only that, but from its fractured wounds, the magical power fluctuation left by Tu Dinggui was gradually being assimilated.
Including Dogtail Grass, all three could sense it was trying to... integrate Tu Dinggui's magical power fluctuation into its pupa shell.
For a Remnant Beast, this was already terrifyingly fast adaptation.
Once it completed this transformation, Tu Dinggui's magic on its pupa shell would significantly lose its power, making efforts much less effective. Combined with its body, which could beco even harder, this battle would turn into an exceedingly prolonged tug-of-war.
"Ah——"
The Remnant Beasts howled again, but this ti with a taunting tone, as if saying, "It's my turn now." As it opened its orifice, several ghastly magical fluctuations began to condense in its mouth. Then, in an instant, the magical power transford into a cannon blast, shooting towards Tu Dinggui.
Whoosh.
The overly aggressive cannon blast generated a strong wind pressure, lifting Tu Dinggui's dress, yet she remained calm. Chanting softly, she raised her free left hand, pointing gently forward.
Nurous runes surged from her sleeve, flowing across a certain range, and then coalesced into a Magic Wall in front of her.
Wall Barrier Technique.
This is a spell technique functionally enhanced based on the Magic Shield. As implied by its na, this technique can create an extrely thick Magic Shield akin to a city wall. Correspondingly, both the Magic Power Consumption and the complexity of the runes required far exceed that of a Magic Shield. Normally, a Leaf Level Magical Girl would need more than half a minute of preparation ti to temporarily use this technique.
Yet now, Tu Dinggui executed this technique in just a few breaths.
Theoretically, this wasn't impossible, especially for Erald Sparrow, observing from the side. She knew several advanced casting techniques that could help a Magical Girl compress the preparation ti for a technique.
However, just employing an advanced technique would definitely not compress a technique usually requiring half a minute to a few seconds. The fact that Tu Dinggui achieved this can only an one thing: she could now utilize multiple techniques compoundly.
Undoubtedly, doing so placed enormous pressure on her Magic Power Output. From the dim runes at her hand when she conjured the Wall Barrier Technique, it was evident she even used the rune polyphony technique, which could hasten the casting but substantially reduce her efficiency in using spells in the upcoming period. But from Tu Dinggui's expression, it seed she no longer intended to consider anything about "what cos next."
Boom——
The fierce Magic Power Cannon Attack struck the barrier she ford, and the exploding magic almost instantaneously blasted a larger void behind the barrier. Soft soil walls were entirely incapable of withstanding such potent attacks. In just an instant, the soil-composed void expanded by more than thirty percent.
Dogtail Grass showed an expression of mixed feelings, nearly rushing over with her Magic Wand to find Tu Dinggui, but was gently blocked by Erald Sparrow.
"No need to go," Erald Sparrow said.
"Eh?" Dogtail Grass was a little puzzled. But when she once again looked towards where Tu Dinggui was, she imdiately understood Erald Sparrow's aning.
Behind the barrier, Tu Dinggui stood there, only slightly disheveled in hair.
"Clang!"
She looked up at the Remnant Beasts above, tapping the flag in hand on the ground once more. This ti, the emblem left on Erald Sparrow and Dogtail Grass disappeared, replaced by Tu Dinggui's own emblem becoming more magnificent.
"Clang!"
She did not stop, tapping the flagpole on the ground again. Her magical power fluctuation increased several more levels at this mont.
And this still wasn't the end.
"Clang," "clang," "clang," "clang."
The continuous tapping echoed densely within the void, with each tap intensifying Tu Dinggui's radiance. Finally, her entire body was enveloped in light, the flag in her hand completely transforming into a cluster of flas on the flagpole, with the originally brass-colored buttons shimring like molten gold.
She raised the flagpole, pointing the spear tip at the Remnant Beasts, the sunlight-like illumination brightening the entire hollow space like daylight, as this gray-white-haired girl stood in the light, resembling the sun at noon.
"Disappear." The most update n0vels are published on novᴇlfire
The sun, like a deity, uttered these words.
Then, the sun delivered its judgnt.
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