noveltune Chapter 28 – Choir and Dancers
Chapter 28 – Choir and Dancers
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"Boom—Splash!"
A violent noise echoed through the underground cavern.
Tendrils of flesh fell from above, crashing heavily into the water, sending up columns of spray several meters high.
At the center, a fish-shaped Brutal Beast twisted and writhed, opening and closing its maw as if performing a sinister and ominous dance, all the while directing the surrounding flesh to attack Cui Que with its fervent song.
Cui Que skimmed the water's surface, flying low along the cavern's edge, dodging the occasional tendrils that lunged at her. She raised her Magic Wand and tentatively fired a few beams of Magic Power at the central beast.
But the beams of Magic Power vanished upon hitting the beast, like stones sinking without a trace, failing to elicit any reaction or cause any harm.
From Cui Que's perspective, she could see that the beams of Magic Power disintegrated silently upon touching the beast's surface.
"Is there really a pupa shell?"
For the first time since entering this place, she showed a hint of surprise. "Has it evolved to this stage already?"
The pupa shell is a bodily ability that pupa-stage Brutal Beasts develop as they continue to accumulate nutrients and evolve to higher levels. It grants them a certain degree of resistance and protection against pure Magic Power attacks.
Brutal Beasts are already extremely difficult to harm physically, so evolving a pupa shell makes them nearly invulnerable on the defensive end, making it hard to inflict any damage. Just hearing about it would make most people feel powerless.
Fortunately, the name "pupa shell" indicates its nature—for Magical Girls, it is actually breakable.
There are usually only two ways to bypass the pupa shell and harm the Brutal Beast: one is to use Magic Power exceeding its tolerance limit to continuously attack, breaking the shell with sheer force; the other is to use abilities that are neither physical nor purely Magic Power-based.
The first method corresponds to a siege, which is the easiest approach, requiring only a sufficient number of Magical Girls. Even a group of novice Bud-stage Magical Girls can work. A swarm of Magical Girls attacking with Magic Power can directly break through the pupa shell and attack the Brutal Beast.
Of course, if an exceptionally powerful Magical Girl arrives, using overwhelming Magic Power to crush the pupa-stage Brutal Beast is also possible.
The second method involves more techniques but has higher requirements, the most common being Magic Assembly. The power of Magic Assembly comes from the Magical Girl's True Form, a fusion of soul and Magic Power, which naturally counters the pupa shell of Brutal Beasts.
So when numbers are insufficient, it requires all participants to be at least Bud-stage Magical Girls.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
One after another, water cannons fired in rhythm, aiming at Cui Que's position from the pool below.
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"Swish, swish, swish!"
Tendrils, like whips, lashed down from above, slicing through the air toward the figure in the sky.
Cui Que twisted her body mid-flight, accelerating again.
Such dense and dangerous attacks would make it difficult for any Leaf-stage Magical Girl to escape unscathed, but not for her.
Cui Que moved like a solo dancer in a symphony pit, weaving between the seats with light steps and intense movements that were both out of place and harmonious, as if she were part of the performance. She continuously dodged attacks, using her Magical Assembly to counterattack, leaping from the edge of the pit toward the central podium.
She easily bypassed the brass section, the woodwinds couldn't trip her up, the violinists were blocked by her threads, and the music couldn't hold her leaping figure.
The singer on the podium felt provoked.
It was the singer and the conductor; this concert should not be out of its control. Outsiders should quietly appreciate from the stage below, not intrude and disrupt its performance.
The grand welcome was over; it was time to drive away the troublesome audience.
So, it closed its mouth.
As the central fish-shaped Brutal Beast shut its maw, the booming song abruptly stopped.
The strings of flesh hanging in the air squirmed and swelled, the suspended chunks of meat split open, revealing mouths full of sharp teeth, tongues extending out; the egg-stage Brutal Beasts below retracted their melting cavities, ceasing the continuous water cannon fire, and opened their mouths, which should have been their weak points.
Cui Que's pupils contracted slightly.
She raised her hand abruptly, making an uncommon gesture toward the dense threads in the air.
Immediately, a deafening sonic boom erupted from all directions, piercing the cavern walls, blasting the accumulated pool, and almost shattering all the foreign objects in the space.
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