At Odds

Lin Xiaolu felt a lot of pressure.

It wasn't simply the exam content that caused her stress; rather, if we only talk about her process of navigating the Maze Node, it actually went quite smoothly.

Rather, it was just too smooth.

She believed she possessed the ability to sense the entire situation, and Bai Jingxuan was in some ways no weaker than her. Although the Aberrant Beast at this node was indeed very large, and although there were countless low-level Aberrant Beast besides this "big guy"... she believed that even without the help of others, she and Bai Jingxuan alone could conquer this node.

It might take a little longer, probably.

However, once the magical girl codenamed "Arrowroot" took the lead and charged into the battlefield, the situation evolved far faster than she had imagined.

Unlike Lin Xiaolu's usual method of fighting magical girls and Aberrant Beast, Arrowroot didn't rely on magic to inflict external injuries on the Aberrant Beast and destroy their bodies. Instead, she transformed into countless bats and black mist, invading the Aberrant Beast's bodies, after which the Aberrant Beast would inexplicably become weak.

Those low-level Aberrant Beast couldn't withstand this attack at all. After only a short while, they deflated quickly, like balloons that had been emptied of air, and then disappeared.

As for that big guy, it wouldn't be taken care of so quickly. But after a brief period of weakness, it went into a rage.

"Roar--"

Its roar echoed throughout the entire node cavern, and it rushed about like a madman, attacking everything it could sense indiscriminately, friend or foe.

Not only Lin Xiaolu and her group, but even the low-level Aberrant Beast that leaped down from the walls could be crushed by it. It was completely oblivious to this; it had its sights set on Lin Xiaolu and her group as the "culprits," believing that its suffering must have come from these uninvited guests. Therefore, it used all its means to hunt them down.

Lin Xiaolu now truly understands what it feels like to experience an "earthquake".

When this giant beast, over thirty meters long, began to run wildly through the hollow, she even felt as if the ground beneath her feet was about to become a trampoline.

"Don't just run, do me a favor and keep those little Aberrant Beast away from it!" Arrowroot's voice rang in Lin Xiaolu's ears.

"Huh? Who's talking?" Lin Xiaolu, who was busy dodging the giant beast's attacks, was startled and almost got slapped by its claws.

"It's me, I'm inside its body!" Arrowroot continued, "It just hasn't realized why it's feeling unwell yet. Once it does, it will definitely swallow those small, Aberrant Beast and come looking for me! If that happens, I'll have to deal with those small fry first, which will be a lot of trouble, so please help me keep them under control."

"Don't you know this big guy has gone mad?"

Lin Xiaolu exclaimed, "Shouldn't we try to subdue this thing first?"

"I can handle this quickly! You guys hold on for two minutes!" Arrowroot said confidently.

"Just holding out for a while isn't too difficult..." Lin Xiaolu glanced at the movements of the Aberrant Beast in the distance, assessed its potential destructive power, and made her own judgment. "But really only two minutes?"

"Three minutes at most!"

"Okay." Lin Xiaolu immediately donned her Magic Armament, turned around, and used her spear to repel the giant beast's claws. "You said it yourself, if I can't handle it, I won't be so easy to talk to!"

"Oh."

Arrowroot just chuckled and then said nothing more.

Then, three minutes later, while Lin Xiaolu and the others were still trying to dodge the attacks and hold off the low-level Aberrant Beast, the giant beast suddenly paused. Then, as if all its strength had been drained, it collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The time was just right, exactly as Arrowroot had said.

Before its body dissipated and Echo, Lin Xiaolu saw the appearance of the giant beast—like those low-level Aberrant Beast that were killed by Arrowroot along the way, its body was haggard and shriveled.

This reminded Lin Xiaolu of a being that only exists in fantasy stories: vampires.

According to legend, this monster feeds on the blood of living beings, fears sunlight, walks in the dark, and is inextricably linked to the image of a "bat." Moreover, it is said that when they attack their prey, they can drain all the blood from its body, causing it to bleed to death.

Arrowroot is like a "vampire" that feeds on Aberrant Beast. Although not all Aberrant Beast have blood, whatever it absorbs, it does take something from the Aberrant Beast's body. Rather than fighting, its behavior is more like "feeding."

A magical girl who devours the Aberrant Beast? Or perhaps, she can absorb more than just Aberrant Beast?

Watching Arrowroot fly out of the Aberrant Beast's body, reform into human form, and even let out a burp while covering its mouth, Lin Xiaolu was startled by her own sudden thought.

Regardless, the opponent did indeed display astonishing strength. Although Lin Xiaolu felt that this level probably didn't quite reach the "other dimension" that Mint had mentioned—she was confident that she could fight this Aberrant Beast alone—on the other hand, the participation of Arrowroot did make their process of conquering this node much smoother.

After the giant beast was defeated, the remaining low-level Aberrant Beast were no match for Lin Xiaolu and her group. They swept away the Aberrant Beast like a whirlwind, turning them into Echo scattered all over the ground.

As mentioned earlier, their process of conquering the nodes went smoothly.

However, after that, Lin Xiaolu found herself in a situation that put her under immense pressure.

--Because the Mint and Arrowroot are arguing again.

And it all started with Mint's ambiguous remark, "You've got quite an appetite, be careful you don't gain weight again tonight."

"Speaking of which, didn't you post a ranking list online before the exam? The response was surprisingly good, although you only ranked me second, which made me a little unhappy."

Mint's words clearly displeased Arrowroot. She stood close to Mint, a few centimeters shorter, but her smile was arrogant and domineering, "You actually ranked that magical girl named Cotton Tree ahead of me? What kind of abilities does she have that you acknowledge her more than me? Or is this one of your purposes? Ranking me second is just your usual little trick to annoy people?"

As soon as those words were spoken, the temperature inside the cave seemed to drop several degrees, and the atmosphere that had been barely maintained due to the victory in battle instantly plummeted to freezing point.

"I'm sorry, but how the rankings are arranged is my business."

The other person stopped feigning a smile, so Mint also stopped smiling, "Maybe she's stronger than you? Why don't you go and challenge her to a match?"

Arrowroot fell silent, and Mint's expression turned cold; the two remained locked in a standoff.

If it were just a conflict between these two people, it wouldn't be so bad. But clearly, there was another member present who had a very negative opinion of Arrowroot.

That's Bai Jingxuan.

Without saying a word, she simply carried her Magic Armament and walked silently to Mint's side, adopting a "come and fight" stance, and glared at Arrowroot with a resentful expression.

"Heh, you want to fight too?"

Arrowroot naturally wouldn't ignore Bai Jingxuan's presence; in fact, her attention to Bai Jingxuan had always been quite obvious. Seeing Bai Jingxuan's posture, her smile turned slightly pleased, "That might be more interesting than you imagine."

At this point, the conflict between the people present was about to erupt.

To be fair, if it were the usual Lin Xiaolu, she would have already rushed out to take sides and prepared to fight Arrowroot in order to protect Bai Jingxuan.

However, while the exam was still in progress, Lin Xiaolu realized something: if she were to fight with the other party here, it would most likely end in a very difficult situation, and whether she won or lost, it would definitely be detrimental to her exam results.

Therefore, if she is the only one at the scene who can remain rational, then the task of "mediation" can only be done by her.

Do it yourself? Do this kind of thing?

Never before had Lin Xiaolu wished that Larkspur could be there as much as she did now.

She had never done anything like this before; in fact, she was always the one who lost her temper, while Larkspur was the one who smoothed things over. And from Larkspur's perspective, this was actually how she felt?

Lin Xiaolu wanted to think about it more, but she knew very well that she didn't have much time to think.

What should she do? She struggled to revive her nearly shut-down brain.

--What would Larkspur do?

Some settings from the previous text have been modified; the Butterfly Bush has been moved to fourth place on the Carry Ranking.