Chapter 161 | This Magical Girl Is a Bit Strange

No matter what name the Association had given this Erosion Body, Qiluo had already named it in her mind.

Ugly Tree. It was creatively ugly.

In her original world, monsters that could grow to this size were either dragon species or ancient colossi—at least they had a majestic appearance.

It perched on the mountain peak, its bark face frozen in a look of dying with its eyes wide open, reminding her of the rotten-skinned treants in her old world that had soaked in a swamp for three days and three nights.

Qiluo adjusted her sitting position and leaned the back of her head against the cold metal sheet.

Star-trail's field of vision hovered in midair, looking down at the polluted mountain area side by side with Nuomi. Through Star-trail's eyes, she scanned the mana distribution of the entire mountain.

To think she hadn't sensed the emergence of such a massive Erosion Body beforehand.

Her daily mana patrols had never stopped. Late last night, she had even specifically had Star-trail fly along the edge of the city, not sparing even the low-tier Erosion Bodies in the sewers.

Yet this Erosion Body had just appeared out of thin air on the mountaintop. Could it completely shield itself from external perception?

At the foot of the mountain, Mingyue gripped her scythe tightly. “Snowrealm, Seina, cover me.”

She lowered her center of gravity and dashed toward the mountainside like an arrow shot from a bow.

The scythe dragged a long trail of dazzling sparks across the surface of the barrier. The tip of the blade cut about a finger deep, but no matter how much force she applied, she couldn't penetrate any further.

The crack sliced into the barrier healed rapidly the moment she withdrew her blade. The dark green patterns remained completely intact, without even a single scratch left behind.

Snowrealm's ice-dust chains followed closely behind, as dozens of ice spikes bombarded the exact same spot from different angles.

Ice shards flew everywhere, and a spiderweb of cracks finally appeared on the surface of the barrier. However, those cracks lasted only for the span of a single breath before they were smoothed over.

The ice dust was shattered in midair, fluttering down like snowflakes.

“It's no use. The attacks are being dispersed.”

Snowrealm retracted her chains. “It conducts the impact it receives across the entire surface of the barrier, diluting the effect of a single-point attack. Unless we can apply a force that exceeds its maximum capacity all at once, otherwise—”

A pale purple arrow of light whistled down from on high, precisely passing through the fragments of ice dust and pinning itself straight into the weak point Snowrealm had just blasted.

The moment the arrow sank into the barrier, it let out a dull thud, like a pebble dropped into a deep pool.

Yet in the next second, the arrow's mana fluctuations vanished completely, and the cracks on the surface of the barrier healed once more.

“We can't break it...” Seina hovered above the mountainside. She watched her arrow get completely swallowed by the barrier, her mana connection to it severed entirely. She couldn't help but bite her lower lip.

“Wait,” Star-trail's voice rang out in the ears of all three girls simultaneously, interrupting their next round of prepared attacks.

“This isn't an ordinary barrier. Seina's arrow wasn't deflected just now; it was eaten. The barrier absorbed all the mana from the arrow and converted it into its own healing energy.”

Mingyue's scythe was still poised to strike, but she turned back in surprise. “How do you know that?”

“I saw it. The mana patterns on its surface actually brightened after Seina's attack,” Star-trail said.

Snowrealm retracted her straight sword. None of the ice spikes she had just launched had left a mark. “In other words, the stronger our attacks, the faster it recovers?”

“Yes, it converts mana into its own nourishment.” Star-trail landed gently on Snowrealm's shoulder.

“But this conversion process takes time. If it can't convert the absorbed mana into healing energy quickly enough, the excess will accumulate in its core, like continuing to pour water into a bucket that's already full.”

“Will it burst from overfilling?” Seina lowered her bow.

“No, but its conversion speed has a limit. If it is attacked beyond its conversion rate while in an overloaded state, the excess mana will cause a backlash internally. At that point, its defense will drop significantly.”

“So that's how it is.” Mingyue switched her scythe to her other hand, narrowing her eyes as she re-evaluated the seemingly impenetrable barrier.

“Meaning we need to apply continuous pressure with high-frequency attacks, making its conversion speed unable to keep up with its absorption rate. Once the internal mana accumulates to a critical point, we can break the barrier with a full-power strike—”

“Star-trail is so amazing!” Before she could finish, she was interrupted by a crisp, childish voice.

Nuomi hopped down from Mingyue's shoulder, its four short legs paddling a few times in the air before landing steadily next to Star-trail.

It circled Star-trail twice, its fluffy large tail wagging excitedly from side to side.

“How do you know everything? Mingyue attacked for so long and couldn't figure it out, but you understood with just one look! You're so smart!”

“...I just happened to notice the changes in the mana patterns.”

Star-trail nudged itself a bit to the side, trying to avoid Nuomi's passionate gaze.

But Nuomi also shifted half a step, continuing to look up at it with those sparkling, large caramel-colored eyes.

How was she supposed to explain this?

This kind of mana aura, this characteristic of absorbing offensive mana and self-repairing—the more she looked at it, the more it resembled a high-tier defensive spell from her original world.

Mana-Devouring Thorns.

It was a type of life magic specifically designed to counter pure mana attacks. Hitting it with mana was like feeding it.

The situation Mingyue and the others were in was exactly like those freshmen back at the academy who would wildly bombard their targets.

As a result, the targets only became sturdier the more they were hit, and it was only when the instructor demonstrated using pure physical attacks that they finally broke through.

It seemed the people of this world had never seen this trick either, which was why Mingyue, Snowrealm, and Seina's attacks were all swallowed up.

“So, is there a solution?” Mingyue chased after Nuomi, snatching her embarrassing Contract Spirit back from Snowrealm's shoulder.

This fellow Nuomi, she really didn't know who it had learned this from. The moment it saw Star-trail, it would run over as if possessed.

“Since mana attacks are absorbed, then use the most primitive method. Pure physical impact won't be absorbed by the barrier. Your attacks just now weren't completely ineffective; they were only partially neutralized by the mana.”

Mingyue looked down at the weapon she was accustomed to holding and suddenly said, “Snowrealm, Seina, step back.”

Snowrealm stopped her movements upon hearing this.

Seina's fingers, which had pulled her bowstring taut, hovered in midair. She blinked. “Senpai?”

“A pure physical impact... isn't that just smashing it with a scythe?” Mingyue swung her scythe from her side, the blade cutting a cold light through the air as she slammed it heavily against the surface of the barrier.

The dull sound of the impact echoed across the open mountainside. Her hand went numb from the shock, but the crack she had sliced into the barrier did not heal, just as Star-trail had said.

“It's working.” Snowrealm was the first to react. She retracted her straight sword, and the mana glow faded from the ice-dust chains around her wrists, leaving only a pure metallic texture.

She gripped the end of the chain in her hand and whipped it fiercely toward the same spot.

When the chain struck the barrier, it let out a heavy metallic clang, and the crack widened further.

Seina watched her two seniors smashing at the barrier in the most primitive way. She looked down at the bow in her hands; smashing it with a bow was clearly unrealistic, and her arrows were also manifested from mana.