Joint Assault

"Wait, what did you say?"

The Larkspur frowned and interrupted the Lantern: "People are feeding Aberrant Beast? Are you kidding me?"

"I wouldn't joke around at a time like this."

With a serious expression, Lantern emphasized, "But if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have believed it either."

"Humans who feed Aberrant Beast..."

After pondering the information provided by the Lantern, the Larkspur thought for a moment and realized another blind spot in the information. Suddenly, it looked up and asked, "What is he feeding them with?"

No one answered her question.

The Lantern simply shook its head and remained silent.

However, Larkspur already had a guess in her heart. Even though the Lantern hadn't said anything, she could guess the general idea, so she asked in a deep voice, "Is it a person?"

"... Hmm." The Lantern's voice held a hint of weakness. "I couldn't save them."

The Larkspur's expression turned icy.

Her fingertips twitched slightly, instinctively contracting inwards as if to clench her fist, but after a slight hesitation, she ultimately did not make that move.

For a fleeting moment, she almost blurted out, "How dare they!" But she wasn't facing enemies, but comrades who had been injured in battle, and she didn't need to show her anger in front of them.

Coldness and rage were reserved for her enemies. The impression this group called Black Ash Dawn had left on her was already incredibly negative.

Aberrant Beast are a calamity for humanity and the enemy of magical girls. Every human living in the Material Realm will have some negative interactions with Aberrant Beast, directly or indirectly, in their lives.

The less severe cases involve seeing reports of Aberrant Beast attacks from various places online; the more severe cases involve the death of acquaintances in Aberrant Beast attacks; others involve the destruction of their own homes by Aberrant Beast; and still others involve being a victim of Aberrant Beast's claws themselves.

Growing up in such an environment, no matter whether one is an ordinary person or Mage, one should not feel the slightest bit of sympathy for the Aberrant Beast.

But this group of people who call themselves the Black Ash Dawn have repeatedly crossed this line, making Larkspur increasingly disgusted.

Trying to calm her momentarily agitated emotions, Larkspur composed herself and asked Lantern, "So you just went straight in?"

"So I just went straight for it," Lantern honestly admitted.

"You're wounded, but what about the enemy?"

"At first, I managed to inflict serious damage on that Aberrant Beast, but after that man came out..." Lantern shrugged helplessly.

Clearly, she herself was not satisfied with the result.

"What about those Bureau of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau employees you encountered in the Nest? Have you taken care of them?" Larkspur then asked.

"I originally planned to help them leave after dealing with the Aberrant Beast, but I failed, so that was the end of it."

The Lantern smiled sheepishly, "So, they're probably still hiding somewhere, right?"

Her answer inexplicably reminded Larkspur of the office she had encountered when she arrived, an office stained with blood.

This isn't the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau; it's just the Nest the remnants of Aberrant Beast, and she already knows that. Therefore, the offices here are empty; there shouldn't be any living people inside.

Thinking about it this way, the victims in that office were obviously ordinary people from the outside world, and it's even very likely... they were the people that Lantern mentioned.

"What's wrong?"

The Larkspur's silence caught the Lantern's attention.

"Nothing."

The Larkspur shook its head, deciding not to reveal the truth to the Lantern, but rather to gently let it pass.

She didn't become more indignant after realizing this fact; instead, she became somewhat indifferent, because at this moment, in her heart, the instigator of this incident was an unforgivable person who deserved to die.

Tightening her golden robes draped behind her back, the Larkspur asked the Lantern, "Can you still find the center of the Nest?"

"Now? Although I didn't record the route when I escaped there, I should be able to find my way back using the abilities of my Magic Armament..."

The Lantern blinked. "Inspector, are you planning to go?"

"For me, the sooner the better."

As Larkspur spoke, she stood up and asked, "How are your injuries? Do you need me to help you move to a slightly safer spot?"

"If it has magic, then there's no problem."

The Lantern moved its body slightly, slowly propping itself up against the wall. "As for the battle, my True Form wasn't seriously damaged. Dealing with the remnants of the Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast..."

"If it's just a pupa, you can leave it to me."

Larkspur steadied the Lantern's arm, helping her to her feet. "Take me there now. It's time to resolve this problem."

Supported by the Larkspur, Lantern took two steps forward and, upon hearing what the larkspur said, paused slightly before remarking with some emotion, "Senior Larkspur, although you look exceptionally small, your words are very reassuring."

"You can't make someone happy by praising them while also mentioning their shortcomings."

Larkspur said expressionlessly, "Or is your real intention to emphasize that I'm short and it's uncomfortable to hold you, and the second half of your sentence is just a cover-up for yourself?"

"No, no, no, you think too badly of me."

Lantern waved her hand in defense, "I just thought of someone I know when you said 'Leave it to me,' and that's all I felt. Maybe it's because she's also in the Investigation Institute, but when you say things like that, you subtly give off an air of trustworthiness."

"Is that so?" Larkspur raised her eyebrows, but ultimately did not continue the topic and accepted the Lantern's explanation.

The topic involved the Investigation Institute, but she didn't really have much to say. After all, her position as "Inspector" was just a title; she didn't have any real connections within the Investigation Institute.

The Larkspur was unwilling to discuss it further, so the Lantern tacitly ended the topic as well. The two of them stopped talking and headed toward the center of the Nest.

Under normal circumstances, if the Larkspur were to use Spell Formula combined with their senses to explore the route, the process would be quite lengthy, especially since the space they were in was unimaginably vast and more complex than any Nest the Larkspur had ever encountered before.

However, with the Magic Armament of the Lantern, the process became much easier.

The Lantern's Magic Armament is shaped like a lantern. According to her, when she uses her lantern, magical markings appear in her field of vision, showing traces of magical activity in the corresponding area throughout the day.

In addition, if she has marked the magical properties of a target, she can clearly sense the target's location within a certain range.

When she arrived, she used this method to mark the suspicious man, thus enabling her to track down the core location of the Nest. After engaging him in battle, she also marked the remnant of the Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast.

In other words, she now seems to have a compass pointing directly to the center of the Nest.

With this assistance, the two of them found the location of the Lord of the Nest without much effort.

It was a huge lair that seemed completely out of place with its surroundings.

Unlike the "First Floor of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau" that Larkspur and her companion had seen countless times on their way here, this space, although still maintaining a similar decorating style to the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau with bright white lights and silver walls, reveals upon closer inspection that its interior furnishings completely defy common sense.

A table placed on the wall; a filing cabinet tangled into a triangle; a door bent into a Rule shape... a distorted scene, like a dream, appeared before their eyes.

In fact, this also exposes the true nature of the Aberrant Beast —the monster cannot understand the purpose of human design for tools.

Within this distorted space, however, lies something even more distorted, completely captivating the two magical girls' attention and leaving them no time for anything else.

It was an Aberrant Beast that looked like a spider, lying on the giant web that covered the entire nest, gnawing on something.

The Aberrant Beast had several large holes in its body, from which blood was still gushing out, clearly the "severe injury" that the Lantern had mentioned earlier. However, it did not seem to be weak and still retained the energy to eat.

The Spiderweb beneath it was entirely composed of flesh and blood, looking incredibly grotesque. The scarlet web spread throughout the entire space, and a stench could be smelled from afar.

Beneath the enormous Flesh Spiderweb, several tumors, each several meters tall, hung motionless.

If one doesn't pay attention, these growths seem unremarkable, merely extensions of the Flesh Spiderweb. However, upon closer inspection, the Larkspur discovers that these growths are not solid, but rather resemble fleshy cocoons encasing something, their blurry shadows faintly visible under the bright white light of the nest.

Upon closer inspection, one can see that the outlines of these shadows seem remarkably similar to those of humans.

"Those were the victims he captured; the tumors were filled with people he 'fed' to the Aberrant Beast."

The Lantern followed beside her, lowering its voice, "Although we don't know what methods he used, that Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast behaved very calmly in front of that man, showing no signs of rebellion, and obediently accepted his 'feeding'."

"And those who were 'fed' out were all put into those sarcomas. I don't know what will happen after they're put in, but most likely..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but she didn't really need to; the consequences of being caught by the Aberrant Beast were self-evident.

The Larkspur's brows were furrowed.

She felt nauseous just looking at the scene before her.

Even the destruction of cities and the killing of humans by Aberrant Beast beasts did not arouse her such disgust. After all, Aberrant Beast are essentially monsters that only know how to follow their instincts, and they have no ethical burden when they commit evil.

However, the nature of the matter is completely different when humans collude with Aberrant Beast.

Harming one's own kind, even offering them up as bait to Aberrant Beast —such behavior is beyond the capacity of the word "despicable" to describe the feelings of the Larkspur.

She believed she had seen enough "evil" to date, but there were always people who could push the boundaries of her understanding and reveal even uglier aspects of it.

What kind of person could do such a thing?

She simply couldn't understand it.

And the person she couldn't understand was also in this den.

Beneath the fleshy tumor covered in Flesh Spiderweb, there stood a humanoid figure, gazing up at the Aberrant Beast on the Spiderweb above.

The figure was holding an instrument of unknown purpose, observing the Aberrant Beast while adjusting something on the instrument with his hand.

"That's the one. Shall we make a move?"

Seeing that Larkspur had also spotted the figure, Lantern asked, "However, Senior Larkspur, you might need to be careful; he's very strong."

"Let's do it," Larkspur said without any hesitation.

Even without seeing the disgusting sight beneath the Flesh Spiderweb, she was already determined to fight.

Having finally reached the heart of the Nest and encountered the enemy, there was naturally no reason for them to retreat.

After a brief discussion, the two magical girls decided to attack together: Lantern would feign an attack to distract the enemy, while Larkspur would launch a surprise attack to see if they could severely injure them.

Two magical trails, one azure and the other dark brown, flashed across the top of the lair. The azure trail vanished instantly, while the dark brown trail shot straight toward the man on the ground.

The man operating the equipment, dressed in a black robe, was initially focused on observing the Aberrant Beast above his head. However, a warning rising in his mind made him suddenly lower his head, then reach out, his hand wrapped with purplish-black magic, blocking in front of him.

Boom!

A Magic Barrier purplish-black magic formed, blocking the attack from the Lantern.

"You actually dare to come back?"

Upon seeing the Lantern appear before him and recognizing his attacker, the man was slightly surprised, but only slightly surprised. "I thought that after you escaped, you would at least find a place to hide for a while. I didn't expect you to be in such a hurry to come back and die."

The Lantern remained silent, casually unleashing a few Mana Beam while several magic runes flashed in his hand. Then, the Fawo Runes transformed into spears, which he thrust straight at the man.

As Blossom Rank magical girl, Lantern is highly skilled in Spell Formula. However, because her Magic Armament abilities are more supportive, she primarily uses Spell Formula that focus on strong attacks.

Faced with the barrage of attacks from the Lantern, the man curled his lips in a mocking smile, clearly having a plan in mind and not taking them seriously.

Just as he had demonstrated, in an instant, the barrier in front of him suddenly changed, transforming into a giant maw that swallowed the Lantern's Spell Formula in reverse. The spears only held in his hands for a few seconds before being broken down into several pools of unclaimed magic power.

Just as he was feeling smug, thinking he had made a brilliant enough response, and was about to say something more sarcastic, he felt a chill run down his spine.

--"Masterpiece, number six, the Kopis of Cleaving."

Before he could react, a dagger made of magic pierced his back. The magic surged and pierced through all his defenses with overwhelming force, then entered through his heart and emerged from his chest.