魔法少女暴露啦! 第17章

"Ah... we didn't know what to call you, so we temporarily called you 'Xiao Bai'..."

Xiao Chun hurriedly explained.

But Xiao Bai had no intention of listening to her explanation. It was not that Xiao Bai was too cold-hearted—it was because the Fish Monster Demon's attack had already arrived!

"Watch out!"

The Fish Monster Demon's water tentacles struck again.

This time, the tentacles were even thicker. At a glance, they seemed larger than Xiao Chun herself. They sliced through the water, rushing in from afar as though they meant to knock Xiao Chun down from above!

The tentacles were incredibly fast. Though they could not compare to the Speed Demon, in a place like the bottom of a lake, their speed had still surpassed the limit of what the naked eye could perceive.

One second, they were still far away. The next, they had already reached Xiao Chun!

At that critical moment, Chains suddenly appeared beneath Xiao Chun's feet. They yanked hard, dragging Xiao Chun down from above into the waters below.

It might have been a little rough, but it allowed Xiao Chun to narrowly dodge the incoming water tentacles.

"Th... thank you!"

Xiao Chun thanked Xiao Bai.

But Xiao Bai returned to her icy expression. "Did you have to come down here to die?"

"I... I just thought I could help you..."

"If you hadn't broken out of the cage I made for you, I might have already dealt with it by now."

Xiao Bai spoke coldly.

(She sure is stubborn.)

(Might have already dealt with it [crossed out], might have already become the heroine of a doujin.)

(By the way, why haven't Xiao Qiu and Xiaoxia arrived yet? It's been a minute, right?)

(Maybe something delayed them, like being found by their cousin.)

(Or maybe the plot demanded it.)

Plot demands... perhaps that was possible.

But it was more likely that Xiao Qiu and Xiaoxia had been in a monitored area. If they wanted to transform, they would first have to leave the surveillance zone.

And this was a scenic area. There were plenty of places with security cameras. If they wanted to transform, they probably had to find a restroom.

So depending on how far away the restrooms were, the time it took them to arrive and provide support would naturally differ.

Anyway, in Fang Ming's memories, the battle had already ended by the time those two arrived at the scene.

Xiao Chun had no idea what was happening below. After Xiao Bai spoke to her like that, she awkwardly shrank back, her voice weakening.

"S-sorry..."

"Hmph."

Xiao Bai snorted and did not scold her further. More importantly, there was no time for the two of them to argue.

The Fish Monster Demon was not like those villains in other anime that deliberately gave the protagonists time to chat.

After its first strike failed, the Fish Monster Demon attacked again.

Countless tentacles and torrents of water surged toward Xiao Bai and Xiao Chun under its control.

The lake bottom was originally the Fish Monster Demon's domain. Combined with the trident in its hand that could control water, as well as what they had suffered before, Xiao Bai and Xiao Chun did not dare confront it head-on.

The two quickly separated, communicating through magic as they discussed how to defeat the Demon.

"Xiao Bai! Look at its chest—it has four Nightmare Seeds!"

"I can see that!"

Rather, she had seen them the moment she entered.

Xiao Chun continued, "That proves it's stronger than the previous Demon! So... should we wait for Xiao Qiu and the others..."

"No need!"

The silver-haired girl said coldly.

It was unclear whether she meant she did not need Yu Muqiu and the others' help because she had the power to deal with the Demon herself.

Or whether she would rather be defeated by the Demon than allow outsiders to interfere in her "territory."

Xiao Chun merely watched as the silver-haired girl suddenly rose higher, creating chain after chain at the bottom of the lake. The Chains gathered together, forming a cage that restrained the Fish Monster Demon.

It was just like the cage that had trapped Xiao Chun earlier, except this one had been enlarged countless times over.

Only after finishing did Xiao Chun hear Xiao Bai say,

"Since you're here, help me hold it off for a while. A few dozen seconds will do."

"Okay!"

Hearing Xiao Bai ask for her help, Xiao Chun immediately focused. She raised her longbow and condensed magical Arrows.

Green magical Arrows flew from the bowstring. There was only one when it was released, but it transformed into thousands in midair!

The densely packed green Arrows trailed long streams through the water as they shot toward the Fish Monster Demon, leaving it with no attention to spare for Xiao Bai, who was preparing her move!

This was one of Xiao Chun's spells. It excelled at dealing with groups, and the Demon was controlling numerous tentacles, which could conveniently count as a group. There was no problem with Xiao Chun using this move against it.

However...

What Xiao Chun had not expected—and what Xiao Bai had not expected either—was that the Fish Monster Demon did not immediately counterattack in the face of their combined assault. It... ran.

That was right. After suddenly unleashing a violent wave that swept all the Arrows aside, the Fish Monster Demon locked onto a direction and hurled its trident with savage force, causing an explosion beneath the water.

The surging demonic power blasted a gap in the distant chain prison. The Fish Monster Demon immediately rushed toward the opening!

"!?"

The Fish Monster Demon actually ran away. Xiao Bai had not expected that.

Xiao Chun was stunned for a moment as well, but both she and Xiao Bai recovered almost immediately and rushed forward in pursuit.

However, while fleeing, the Fish Monster Demon created countless water tentacles to obstruct them.

Xiao Bai easily swung her scythe and Severed every tentacle.

But Xiao Chun, who was better at long-range combat, was caught off guard and dragged to the bottom of the lake by the tentacles!

Xiao Bai seemed not to notice. Xiao Chun wanted to call out, but when she thought that making Xiao Bai stay might allow the Fish Monster Demon to escape, she forcibly swallowed her cry and fought the tentacles alone.

Xiao Bai had already gone far away, while the tentacles only grew more numerous, nearly burying Xiao Chun beneath them.

"N-not good... my magic power..."

Fighting underwater consumed an enormous amount of magic power, especially since they also had to convert magic power into oxygen to survive. That made the drain even greater.

After the battle, Xiao Chun's magic power was nearly depleted.

At last, she could no longer maintain her transformed form. With a flash of light, she changed back to normal.

Without magic power to sustain her oxygen, Xiao Chun's expression became pained.

She could not cry out. She could not use magic power to form telepathic speech and call Xiao Bai. And Xiao Qiu and Xiaoxia had still not arrived.

Xiao Chun seemed to have reached a dead end.

"O-oxygen... ngh..."

Xiao Chun's face twisted in pain, her consciousness gradually fading from lack of oxygen.

Before she lost consciousness, Xiao Chun seemed to hear something being Severed. Then she felt someone pick her up, and after that, she completely lost consciousness.

When Xiao Chun hazily regained consciousness again, she heard a familiar voice.

"...One, two, three, four! It came out... she coughed the water out!"

Someone pressed down on her chest, forcefully squeezing the water from her lungs. Xiao Chun coughed up the water and opened her eyes in a daze, seeing Fang Ming's tearful expression of joy.

"Fang Ming... big brother...?"

"Xiao Chun! Hold on! Don't fall asleep! The ambulance will be here soon! Don't sleep!"

Fang Ming turned Xiao Chun over and took off his own clothes, wrapping them around her to keep her from becoming hypothermic.

Even so, Xiao Chun still could not hold on and closed her eyes.

Of course, she was not dead. Xiao Chun was a magical girl, after all. As long as she was alive, her magic power could preserve her life to some extent.

She had merely gone through too much. With her magic power depleted for the first time, she could not endure the exhaustion and fell unconscious.

Xiao Chun on the Sky Screen fell asleep, and the screen briefly went dark.

Yet the comments on the Sky Screen became even denser, countless messages drifting across the sky.

Chapter 23: Cousin Worked Hard

(Holy shit! Holy shit! Xiao Chun!!!!)

(It's okay, it's okay, Xiao Chun is fine. Xiao Bai must have been the one who saved her in the end...)

(Doesn't that mean the Fish Monster Demon got away?)

(Isn't that normal? This is only episode six. If the second major BOSS dies now, what are they going to show for the next six episodes?)

(No, didn't any of you notice the important part?! Cousin Fang Ming was giving Xiao Chun CPR! Let me remind you, CPR goes together with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!)

(Holy shit! Xiao Chun's first kiss!)

(Tsk, get your minds out of the gutter. This is a life-or-death situation, and you people are focused on this nonsense?)

(No!! Xiao Chun's first kiss!! Fang Ming, you really deserve to die!)

"?"

Talk all you want, but why drag me into this?

And one of those comments was absolutely right just now. This was a life-or-death emergency! What if Xiao Chun had died because Fang Ming had not given her emergency treatment?

Would you have taken responsibility?

Although Fang Ming could have used magic power to treat her at the time, plenty of passersby had gathered around when Xiao Chun was pulled out of the water.

Fang Ming could not exactly use magic in front of them.

Luckily, he knew a few CPR techniques. Together with a little help from magic power, he managed to pull Xiao Chun back from the brink of death.

Otherwise, you would have been attending Xiao Chun's funeral!

Fang Ming curled his lip, turning a blind eye to the "bad reviews" about him.

The Sky Screen only went dark for a moment before the next part of the story quickly began.

When Xiao Chun woke again, she was already in the hospital.

She lay in a hospital bed with an IV drip beside her. When Xiao Qiu and Xiaoxia saw that she was awake, they immediately threw themselves onto her.

"Xiao Chun!!"

"Sorry, sorry, we came too late! Wuwu, it's all that damn ticket seller's fault. She insisted on making us buy things..."

As Chen Xiaoxia apologized, she also condemned a certain unscrupulous salesperson at the scenic area.

If that ticket seller had not insisted on holding them up, and if it had not been inconvenient to transform while they were in a monitored area, they would likely have reached the scene the moment Xiao Chun sent her request for help.

Then Xiao Chun would not have ended up like this.

Although Xiao Chun was exhausted, her physical condition was still fairly good. Seeing her two companions sprawled over her and crying their eyes out, Xiao Chun hurriedly reached out and stroked them reassuringly.

"It's okay. I'm okay. You don't need to apologize."

But Chen Xiaoxia disagreed. Her eyes red, she said,

"The doctor said that if Fang Ming hadn't rescued you in time, you would already be dead! How is that okay?!"

"But I'm still alive..."

Xiao Chun said somewhat guiltily.

Fang Ming came over at some point. Looking at Xiao Chun lying in the bed, he also sighed in relief.

"It's good that you're okay. Otherwise, I wouldn't even know how to explain this to your parents."

"Sorry... Fang Ming, I made you worry..."