Melting

After restraining the Aberrant Beast's movements, Cornflower briefly sensed her current magic usage and stopped measuring, no longer using the Ruler Magic Armament's abilities.

She was facing a Half-Molt, whose total magical power was far greater than that of an ordinary Aberrant Beast. Therefore, the consumption of her abilities was much greater. Just to initially restrict the beast's movements, she had already used up nearly 40% of her energy.

She didn't intend to put the remaining 60% of her effort into the ruler's abilities, because what she had done was already enough. If this Aberrant Beast couldn't come up with any other skills, it would be almost impossible for it to break free from the shackles of the Magic Armament.

So, will this Half-Molt run out of tricks?

A persistent, unsettling sense of danger told Cornflower that it probably wouldn't.

From the moment she saw the Aberrant Beast, she had this premonition. It was like this when the Aberrant Beast broke free of its cage, it was like this when the Aberrant Beast chased after the two of them, and now, even though the Aberrant Beast seemed to be kneeling on the ground, as if it could no longer fight back, it was still like this.

Perhaps due to this psychological pressure, Cornflower felt sweat dripping down her cheeks. Almost instinctively, she reached out and wiped it away with the back of her hand, but then she was startled.

Sweat?

She repeated the word in her mind, looking at the back of her hand. A slight burning sensation was now attached to her cheek and the back of her hand, and she could even see some tiny magical particles slowly rising from the areas where "sweat" had been applied.

If we're talking about whether magical girls sweat, the answer is yes. Because high-intensity activities and the use of magic inevitably raise body temperature, magical girls, like humans, sweat and shed tears in order to cool down their bodies to some extent and to match their physiological habits as humans.

However, to make a magical girl "sweat," the battle must be extremely intense and exhausting.

For Cornflower, the struggle between them since she encountered the Aberrant Beast had indeed been thrilling. However, she hadn't expended much magic power yet, or rather, her body wasn't "tired" at the magical girl level, so there was no reason for her to sweat at this moment.

So, what is this slightly damp feeling all over her body?

"Captain, I feel like something's not quite right..."

Nina, who was standing nearby, also spoke up at this moment. Cornflower looked in the direction Nina was in and noticed that Nina's face was also glistening with water, looking quite damp.

"I always feel a suffocating sensation, like being trapped underwater."

Nina's words were almost exactly what Cornflower was feeling at that moment.

Although she was still surrounded by the streets of Luen Nore, Cornflower felt as if she were standing in a swamp, or even a pool of water, and was sinking deeper and deeper. The damp and suffocating feeling started from her neck and spread upwards until it completely submerged her body.

We need to deal with this Aberrant Beast in front of us as soon as possible.

The next moment, she made the decision and almost instantly unfurled the silk threads. But when she was about to attack the already trapped half-beast, she witnessed an extremely astonishing scene.

--As the Aberrant Beast writhed, it seemed as if it were shedding its skin.

The term "molting" is not entirely accurate, because when the outer layer of skin falls off the body, it can hardly be called "skin" or "shell" anymore, but rather a solid-liquid mixture resembling mud.

Its comical wriggling was not a futile struggle, but an attempt to "break out" of that outer layer. Once it shed the layer that had bound it to the ground, it naturally regained the ability to move.

The viscous fluid that had been seeping from its body was now overflowing and flowing down like a faucet, making it stand upright and wobbly, like a broken water pipe constantly leaking water.

Seeing this, Cornflower could no longer allow it to make any further moves, so she directly manipulated the silk threads, intending to turn them into sharp blades to shred the Aberrant Beast that had lost its Pupa Shell protection. However, even this plan failed, because she discovered that her silk threads had already turned into a limp, waterlogged state almost before they even touched the Aberrant Beast's body, like noodles soaked in water.

These noodle-like threads draped over the Aberrant Beast, only to be quickly flung off and splattered onto the ground, mingling with the slime.

The thread has failed.

This fact weighed heavily on Cornflower's heart.

The premonition of danger she had felt before arriving had now almost materialized, turning into a cacophony of alarms in Cornflower's mind. These alarms desperately alerted her to the impending doom, as if trying to draw her attention to something.

What did I miss?

Cornflower kept forcing herself to think, her eyes darting around as she observed everything happening around her: the slime splattered everywhere on the streets and surrounding buildings, the Aberrant Beast that kept oozing liquid like broken pipes, and herself and Nina, who were inexplicably getting wetter and wetter.

Throughout this entire scene, there seems to be a recurring keyword.

--Gets wet.

Yes, everything around us is getting wet.

This process has been ongoing ever since the Aberrant Beast escaped from its cage. While chasing the two magical girls, the Aberrant Beast also continuously sprays its slime onto the surrounding area.

This process of becoming wet, if it only affected itself and its surrounding environment, would be fine. But now it seems to be affecting Cornflower and Nina as well. So, the nature of this behavior seems to have been explained.

--These are its Rule.

Although the exact principle behind this Rule is still unknown, its effect seems to be to make things wet. Moreover, the liquid produced by this wetting is extremely similar to the mucus on the object, so both are quite corrosive.

"Aaaaaah, Captain! Captain! My clothes!"

Cornflower could already hear Nina's screams. She glanced to her side and saw that Nina's entire body was becoming soaked. Amber-colored magical specks were constantly floating up from around her, indicating that her body was continuously dissipating magical energy. These were clearly signs that her magical body was being corroded.

Of course, what Nina cared about most at this moment was something else entirely—her magical attire had also been corrupted.

The witch-style dress that had once looked incredibly thick began to rip and tear, dripping water constantly, and like a paper napkin soaked through with water, it started to collapse, creating more and more holes.

Upon seeing this, Cornflower silently turned her head away, no longer watching Nina's miserable state. Instead, she raised her hand to look at her own clothes, only to discover that her magical attire, like Ink Lotus's, was showing signs of corrosion.

However, this potentially "indecent" scene failed to evoke any sentimental feelings in Cornflower, because what she saw next was far more surprising, even ominous:

Her hands melted too.

A magical girl's body is primarily composed of magic power, so when there's a problem with her magic power, it will inevitably manifest in her body. In the current situation, even the most oblivious person should be able to react and gradually realize what this Aberrant Beast in front of them has done.

--Transform magic into a corrosive, sticky substance.

This is a part of the Rule governing the Half-Molt of this Aberrant Beast.

It had already used its own Rule, even going so far as to turn its own body and its Pupa Shell into slime, into provisions, simply because it wanted to use this slime to do something more advantageous to itself:

Nest.