Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

"Boom—Splash!"

A violent sound echoed through the underground cavern.

Countless flesh whiskers fell from above, heavily slamming into the water and sending up columns of water several meters high.

The fish-shaped Remnant Beast at the center twisted its body, opening and closing its mouthparts as if dancing a sinister, ominous dance, all the while commanding the flesh around it with its vigorous song to attack the Emerald Sparrow.

The Emerald Sparrow hugged the surface of the water, circling at low altitude along the edge of the cavern to dodge the meaty whiskers that occasionally surged towards it, then raised its Magic Wand and tentatively fired a few Magic Power Beams at the Remnant Beast in the center.

But as soon as the Magic Power Beams hit the Remnant Beast, they vanished without a trace, like a fish sinking into the abyss, eliciting no reaction from the creature, nor causing any harm.

From Emerald Sparrow's point of view, she could see that the Magic Power Beams simply disintegrated silently upon touching the surface of the Remnant Beast, dissipating without a sound.

"Is there really a cocoon shell?"

This revealed a hint of surprise on her face for the first time since she had arrived, "Has it evolved to this extent already?"

A cocoon shell is a defensive ability extended by pupa-stage Remnant Beasts as they continue to amass nutrients and evolve into higher forms, granting them a certain degree of absorption and protection against pure magic attacks.

Remnant Beasts are already extremely resistant to physical damage, so when they evolve a cocoon shell, it means that they are almost impervious on the defensive end and very difficult to damage. This thought alone could make most people feel powerless.

Luckily, the word "shell" is part of "cocoon shell," which indicates its nature— it can be shattered by Magical Girls.

To damage a Remnant Beast through its cocoon shell, there are generally two methods: one is to use an overwhelming amount of Magic Power to attack continuously, using brute force to break the shell; the other is to employ abilities that cause neither physical nor purely magic damage.

The first method corresponds to a siege, which is the least demanding tactic, requiring only a sufficient number of Magical Girls,—even if all are Seed-level newcomers. A group of Magical Girls attacking en masse with Magic Power can break through the cocoon shell directly and reach the Remnant Beast.

Of course, if an extremely powerful Magical Girl were to arrive, crushing the pupa-stage Remnant Beast with their overwhelming individual magic power to break it open would also be within the realm of possibility.

The second method encompasses more approaches but generally requires a higher level of capability; the most common of which is magic weaving. The power of magic weaving comes from the Magical Girl's essence, a product of the soul united with Magic Power, which naturally has a certain restraining effect on the Remnant Beast's cocoon shell.

Therefore, when the numbers are insufficient, the Magical Girls participating in the hunt need to be at least Bud-level.

Glancing back at the Remnant Beast in the center as she flew at high speed, the Emerald Sparrow composed herself once more: although the presence of the cocoon shell surprised her, it was not beyond her expectations, for this was the very reason she had come alone.

To this day, there are only three Magical Girls in Fangting City, clearly not enough to break a cocoon shell. Considering that the other two had not mastered magic weaving, even if they had come, they would not have been able to inflict effective damage, so Emerald Sparrow decided not to involve them.

Now, it appeared that knowing there was only one enemy, the fish-shaped Remnant Beast was particularly unrestrained, dancing even more wantonly in response to Emerald Sparrow's counterattacks, summoning even more tendrils from all directions stretching towards her.

Emerald Sparrow's face remained calm, her garments rustling, her hair floating in the air, and she slightly opened her lips:

"Magic Weaving, unfold."

She murmured as the Magic Wand in her hand transformed into magic that scattered, the dense and twinkling Magic Silk threads intertwining, connecting the entire space of the cavern.

The flesh limbs were stopped, the tendrils were severed, and the Remnant Beast's blood splattered in all directions, but not even a single drop soiled her clothes' hem. She continued to fly, and in an instant, the surroundings were empty, devoid of any sign of the enemy.

But this grand choral symphony performance was far from over.

The vast cavern was the stage, and the Remnant Beast at its center was the conductor of this concert, as well as its own choir, with the flesh limbs hanging in the cavern acting as members of its symphony orchestra and backing dancers.

The performance had not stopped, so the attacks would continue.

As one wave of offense dissolved, the tentacles lay shredded on the ground, its song abruptly changed into a mournful chant, completely different from what had come before.

In the midst of the singing, as if summoned by some force, a series of bubbles suddenly emerged from the dimly lit pond below the cave, and countless objects emerged from beneath the water's surface, rising high into the air.

Emerald Sparrow had not yet made out what was drilling up from the water, but an inner alertness caused her flight path to suddenly change.

"Thump"!

The very instant she changed course, a projectile made of dirty water shot past her original trajectory, smashing directly into the cave's inner walls with a thunderous noise.

It was a water cannon.

Emerald Sparrow realized, and within moments of thought, she understood what lurked beneath the pond. From her aerial view, the densely packed objects revealed their true forms: they were all heads of Remnant Beasts.

—Heads of dissolution-type Remnant Beasts.

The choral singing was mournful and tragic, but as the soprano rose, the rhythm strengthened, with high notes fluctuating and dominant seventh chords lifting the emotional peak of the music, seemingly reaching its climax.

"Boom, boom, boom"!

One after another, water cannons rhythmically launched from the pond below towards Emerald Sparrow's position.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh"!

Tentacles that sounded like whip blades slicing through the air swung down from on high, carrying a piercing wind as they targeted the figure in the sky.

Emerald Sparrow twisted her body mid-flight like a bullet, accelerating once again.

Such dense and dangerous attacks would be difficult for any Leaf-ranked Magical Girl to escape unscathed, but not for her.

Emerald Sparrow, like a solo dancer infiltrating a symphony, flitted between the various sections with light steps and intense movements that were surprisingly in harmony, as though she too became part of the performance. Dodging the attacks continuously and counterattacking with her Magic Gear, the solo dancer leaped from the edge of the music pool, charging towards the conductor's podium at the center.

She easily bypassed the brass section, the woodwinds could not trip her up, the violinists were halted by her Magic Silk to the side, unable to hold back her leaping figure.

The singer on the podium felt challenged.

It was both a singer and a conductor; the concert should not escape its control. Outsiders ought to quietly appreciate from below the stage, not barge in and disrupt its performance.

The grand welcome was over; what followed was the expulsion of the disruptive audience.

And so, it closed its mouth.

As the central fish-shaped Remnant Beast clamped its huge jaws shut, the once thunderous song also abruptly ceased.

The strings of flesh banners suspended in the air writhed, inflated, the hanging chunks of flesh tore open, and mouths bristling with sharp teeth unfolded from within, tongues extending; the hatchling stage Remnant Beasts below also retracted their dissolution chambers, stopping the relentless barrage of water cannons and baring the mouths that should have been their weak points.

Emerald Sparrow's pupils contracted slightly.

She raised her hand sharply and made an uncommon gesture towards the dense network of silk thread in the air.

Immediately after, a deafening auditory blast emanated from all directions, piercing the cave's inner walls, blowing away the accumulated pond water, and nearly shattering all foreign objects within the space.