An Uninvited Guest

Lin Xiaolu focused intently on sensing the road ahead, groping her way forward.

The assessment had lasted for most of the day, and she was already very familiar with the use of Spell Formula in the maze. She knew exactly how many meters ahead to turn and which forks in the road were dead ends.

Confident that she wouldn't make any mistakes, she walked so fast that at one point, when Mint, who was walking in front of her, suddenly stopped, she had no room to dodge and bumped headfirst into Mint's back.

Fortunately, it wasn't too painful.

She thought to herself, then stepped back from Mint and asked, "What's wrong?"

Mint stood there, her gaze fixed ahead, but unfocused, as if her thoughts had drifted away. Hearing Lin Xiaolu's question, she gradually came to her senses, grinning, "Ah, I suddenly thought of something, so I spaced out. Sorry, did I bump into you?"

No, not at all.

Lin Xiaolu shook her head. "Did you find something wrong up ahead?"

"No, it's just some personal stuff, nothing serious."

Mint casually brushed the topic aside. "But what you said about the earlier part being problematic seems to be true."

After a long period of exploration, the three had solved two puzzles, and after receiving the reward for solving the second puzzle, they also found a secret passage without any problems.

At this moment, they are proceeding along the secret passage, intending to find the so-called "Maze Node".

"What's the problem?" Since it concerned Maze Node, or rather, a large amount of bonus points, Lin Xiaolu was particularly concerned. She was counting on this bonus to rank among the top, and didn't want anything to go wrong.

"There's a fight going on."

Bai Jingxuan, who was following behind Lin Xiaolu, peeked out with a tense expression. "Moreover, the magic fluctuations are numerous and chaotic; it's probably not from a battle with Aberrant Beast."

"Hmm, it seems another team approached the node before us, but started fighting before even entering it."

Mint nodded in agreement with Bai Jingxuan's statement, then asked Lin Xiaolu, "What do you mean? Should we go check on the situation?"

"Will they fight over which nodes to control? Why?"

But Lin Xiaolu didn't make a decision immediately. Instead, she asked, somewhat puzzled, "Didn't they say that multiple teams could conquer nodes together and then split the rewards equally? Why are we fighting over this too?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're worried about having too many applicants and not enough rewards, so they don't want to share the prize money with other teams."

Mint guessed absentmindedly, "It sounds stupid, though."

By now, most candidates have figured out the pros and cons of attacking other teams, so they won't even bother unless they're absolutely certain of a victory through a sneak attack. Openly challenging others to a fight seems pointless. Therefore, fighting for node rewards sounds like the act of a hot-blooded fool, something even Lin Xiaolu wouldn't do.

Therefore, the battle unfolding in front of them right now just doesn't make sense.

"So, continue forward?"

Mint asked again, "Should we retreat one by one, wait until the people in front have finished fighting and entered the node, and then sneak over?"

"Hmm... I don't feel any difference."

Lin Xiaolu pondered, "Since they can fight over node rewards, they wouldn't be willing to share with us, right? As long as we still plan to go to that node, it seems like conflict is inevitable?"

"That's most likely the case."

Mint nodded. "However, my advice is to stay as far away as possible, at least to avoid being caught in the crossfire of their battle..."

--"it's over."

Before she could finish speaking, Bai Jingxuan suddenly spoke up again, "The magical fluctuations on one side have disappeared."

"Huh?"

"Ah?"

This news shocked both Lin Xiaolu and Mint.

Lin Xiaolu's perception was somewhat inferior to the other two, so even with Bai Jingxuan's reminder, she still couldn't detect anything unusual. However, Mint quickly probed ahead and then revealed a somewhat serious expression. "It's really... over."

"That's it? And they actually eliminated them?"

Lin Xiaolu looked incredulous. "What kind of logic is this? You're so eager to give away your scores?"

"The frequency of the magic fluctuations is only three... no, excluding the remaining fluctuations, there is only one frequency left."

Bai Jingxuan continued to report, "Moreover, the source of that fluctuation is getting closer to us!"

"They've discovered us?" Lin Xiaolu was even more surprised.

Mint didn't speak, but her brows furrowed, as if she had thought of something and hesitated to speak.

"What should we do? Should we retreat quickly?"

Seeing that she didn't speak, Lin Xiaolu took the initiative to ask Mint, "Or should we find a fork in the road we came from and hide there...?"

"It's too late."

"Mint said this with certainty," Mint said.

"What do you mean? It's too late?" Lin Xiaolu felt like a broken record, only able to repeat the shocking news from her teammate in a startled manner.

"We've arrived," Bai Jingxuan's voice explained Mint's attitude.

As her words fell, a cloud of black mist gradually emerged ahead of the secret passage. This mist rustled and whispered as it rapidly approached the three. Only when it drew close enough did the true form of the black mist finally appear:

--Those were a group of bats.

Because they huddled together so tightly and flew at such a uniform speed, the swarm of bats looked like a cloud of black mist from a distance.

When they reached Lin Xiaolu and the others, they suddenly stopped. In an instant, countless bats gathered together and transformed into a human figure. The figure took a few more steps forward, breaking free from the black mist, and its face gradually appeared.

She was a girl who looked to be about fifteen years old, with a few strands of red highlights in her long black hair, which was combed into a high bun on her head. A gold and red crown was embedded in her hair, and the crown's design was extremely exaggerated; it was a huge bat flower. The outer edge, which stretched out like bat wings, and the hard lines that hung down like tiger whiskers, all constantly attracted everyone's attention.

She wore a black and red gown, like blood congealed in the night. The tight corset accentuated her sharp curves, and the high collar covered her chin. The collar was adorned with dark red, leaf-shaped Heart Gem that gleamed like dried blood droplets in the dim labyrinth.

If one word had to describe the impression this magical girl gives off, it would be "aggressive."

An aggressive force so strong it seems to want to devour everything.

After the black and red magical girl appeared, she first sized up Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan with her blood-red eyes, then turned to Mint and revealed a smile that appeared quite elegant, yet incredibly powerful:

"Good evening, my dear sister. It seems you've found two very interesting 'friends'?"

Meow