Chapter 34: Magical Girls’ Teamwork and Sudden Crisis

“Jin Yan, don’t be fooled by the beast’s weakened state!” Lu Ming’s voice, amplified by magic, rang up from the base of the building.

“Don’t lose focus—watch out for a sudden attack!”

“A bunch of smaller beasts are heading your way. I can only take care of a few. The rest is up to you!”

“Got it!” Jin Yan replied in an equally loud voice, though without amplification magic.

Lu Ming nodded at Xiao Yan’s response.
Xiao Yan’s rank was Tier-Four Sprout, sufficient to handle a beast of the same tier.

Neither side held an absolute advantage to crush the other, but this was a good opportunity to hone Jin Yan’s ability to tangle with a beast.
Plus, with the smaller beasts climbing the abandoned building’s stairs, it would test her adaptability.

Though the situation was a bit overwhelming for Jin Yan, Lu Ming’s gaze shifted to the distance, where a silver streak was speeding toward them along the ground.

“Polaris, head upstairs to assist Jin Yan,” Lu Ming instructed the silver streak, pointing to the floor where the sounds of fighting and occasional falling debris echoed.

The silver streak didn’t slow down, zipping past Lu Ming and racing up the stairs the smaller beasts had taken.

After Jin Yan blocked the fly-beast’s charge with her greatsword, she stumbled back a few steps.
As she prepared to counterattack, her peripheral vision caught seven or eight dog-like smaller beasts closing in behind her.

Just as Jin Yan turned, ready to swing her sword to smash the smaller beasts, she heard Polaris’s scolding voice:

“Hey, you idiot, don’t leave your back wide open!”

A chill ran down Jin Yan’s spine—the gust from the fly-beast’s rapid advance was already blowing against her back.

Jin Yan had forgotten that the fly-beast posed a far greater threat than the seven or eight smaller ones, especially with her back exposed.

The sharp tip of the fly-beast’s forelimb was about to graze her neck.

At the last second, Polaris appeared behind her, wielding Starblade · Starlight to sever the beast’s extended forelimb.
Using the momentum, she slashed a deep gash across the beast’s head.

The fly-beast recoiled in pain, letting out a shrill scream before retreating quickly.

Panting, Polaris sheathed her blade, her trembling hand gripping the long sword.
That idiot Jin Yan had nearly lost her life—and this was Polaris’s first battle.

Polaris kept her eyes locked on the fly-beast, its jaw barely hanging by a few threads of flesh, calculating its likely attack paths.

“Jin Yan, I’ve got an idea. Follow my lead, and we’ll take down this big fly together!” Polaris said to Jin Yan.

Jin Yan, having dispatched the dog-like beasts, stood beside Polaris and replied, “Got it!”

After a brief exchange, Jin Yan took the lead, charging forward.
She swung her Flame Sword, engaging the fly-beast in close combat.
Polaris supported from the side, casting Tier-Three · Fire · Fireball to control the beast’s movements.

The two magical girls and the beast fought their way to the edge of the high-rise.
The fly-beast, seemingly unable to endure the humiliation any longer, charged at Jin Yan with a powerful lunge, knocking her off the floor.
Jin Yan fell like a drifting feather toward the ground below.

“Jin Yan!” Polaris cried out, drawing her Starblade to engage the fly-beast.
The battle pushed them to the opposite edge of the building.

Soon, the beast’s hind legs stood at the edge of the floor.
In the prolonged fight, Polaris inevitably grew fatigued.
In a moment of distraction, the beast precisely knocked her Starblade out of her hand, sending it flying far from her reach.

Seeing the magical girl disarmed, the beast prepared another charge.
As Polaris recalled her weapon and the beast readied its lunge, she freed one hand and fired a Tier-Three · Fire · Fireball at it.
The fireball missed, grazing the beast’s bristly edge and exploding outside the floor.

The beast’s charge wasn’t affected in the slightest.
Just as it launched forward, a red figure shot up from outside the floor—it was Xiao Yan, wielding her Flame Sword.

Xiao Yan aimed the sword’s tip at the fly-beast’s abdomen, targeting what looked like its cloaca, and with a shout, drove the blade in.

“Eat my greatsword, you ugly freak!” Xiao Yan roared, her face fierce as she named her move.

The fly-beast’s armored abdomen glowed from within, and flames burst through its shell, searing bloody, charred cracks across it.
The beast lost all ability to move.

As the fly-beast collapsed to the ground, Polaris raised her blade and severed its head from its thorax, completing its role as a training dummy for the rookie magical girls.

“Polaris, Jin Yan, don’t let your guard down! Another group of smaller beasts is heading your way!” Lu Ming’s voice called from below.

“Got it!” Polaris replied, glancing at Jin Yan, who was pulling her greatsword from the beast’s rear.

As Jin Yan yanked the sword free, a gush of blood-mixed bodily fluids sprayed from the wound, splattering her hand.

Jin Yan shook off the mess like it was nothing, then jogged toward Polaris, dragging her sword and holding out her hand for a high-five.

“Polaris, wasn’t my teamwork pretty good?” Jin Yan said proudly, like a puppy begging for praise.

If that puppy weren’t covered in filth, Polaris would’ve happily high-fived her.

Polaris stepped back and said to Jin Yan, “Let’s deal with the beasts coming upstairs first.”
She avoided looking at Jin Yan’s hand.

“Alright!” Jin Yan replied, and the two began clearing out the remaining beasts.

…

Ten minutes later, in the plaza of the abandoned real estate site, Polaris and Jin Yan, having wiped out all the smaller beasts, stood in a line awaiting Lu Ming’s battle debrief.

Lu Ming stood with one hand behind her back, her trench coat fluttering over her women’s suit in the summer breeze.
She held her phone in the other hand, reviewing the beast extermination report sent by Yan Huimeng.

She then sent Yan Huimeng a brief report of the subjugation on her end, including the exact location of the battle, so the beast corpse recovery team could clean up the remains.

Once everything was handled, Lu Ming began reviewing Polaris and Jin Yan’s performance today.

“Jin Yan,” Lu Ming said to Jin Yan.

“Here!” Xiao Yan responded.

“Your courage to fight a beast barehanded is commendable, but you’re too reckless.
You didn’t draw your weapon immediately to deal effective damage, and your combat awareness is lacking.
You exposed your back to the beast—if it weren’t for Polaris, you’d be in a hospital right now,” Lu Ming critiqued.

“Polaris,” Lu Ming turned to Lu Yue.

“Here,” Lu Yue replied.

“Your strategy was impressive, but with your Tier-Four rank and mana reserves rivaling Tier-Five, you didn’t need such a complex, drawn-out plan.
You and Jin Yan are both Tier-Four—dealing with a Tier-Four beast should’ve been well within your capabilities.”

“You could’ve used magic to wear it down from a distance, then harvested it with your weapons.
That’s the standard strategy for such beasts.”

“But what’s worth praising is…” Lu Ming began, but was interrupted.

Crash! Crash!
Sounds came from the top of the abandoned high-rise.
Lu Ming, Polaris, and Jin Yan turned to look at the spot where the magical girl duo had fought.
The battle had damaged the building’s structure, causing parts of the floor to collapse, sending faint tremors through the ground.

“What’s worth praising is that, despite having no prior experience fighting beasts, you overcame your fear.
That’s excellent.
Many rookie magical girls cry during their first battle—you two did great.”

“And…”

As Polaris listened to Lu Ming, she mentally reviewed the battle’s details.
Suddenly, she felt a faint tremor in the ground beneath her feet.
She glanced at Lu Ming and Jin Yan—they showed no reaction, so it must be another floor slab hitting the ground.

But the tremor grew stronger with each passing second.
Lu Ming also noticed something was off and quickly called to Polaris and Jin Yan to prepare to leave.

In the critical moment, Lu Ming only had time to detonate the air in front of her with magic, blasting Polaris and Jin Yan away.

“Run—” Lu Ming’s words were cut off as she was instantly engulfed by a storm of flying sand and debris.

“Teacher Lu Ming!”

Polaris screamed.