On the way back, she casually picked some wild vegetables she did not know were edible. After handing them to the teacher leading the group, who picked through them and left only a few scattered bits, she could only shake her head helplessly.
It seemed that things that looked tasty were not necessarily edible. She had no idea how Kajieliena and Hui had managed to bring back such a huge pile of wild vegetables.
The day passed no differently from yesterday. After secretly discussing things with Kajieliena, when it was time to sleep that night, she kept herself awake and had Ruby remain on alert around them.
When midnight arrived, a strange sensation suddenly entered her mind. Like ripples spreading across still water after a stone was thrown in, it made Ando Meiko shudder. She instantly sprang up from bed and glanced at Ling Ye, who was still sleeping beside her.
[Ruby!]
[Yes, Master. Someone is using magic in the direction of the student camp.]
[It really is a magic fluctuation.]
She quietly pulled open the tent flap and slipped outside, then immediately jogged toward the student camp without hesitation.
"Meizi."
The voice from behind startled Ando Meiko, but when she turned and saw that it was Kajieliena, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Clearly, Kajieliena had the same idea as her.
"Kajieliena, stay outside. I'll go in."
"Got it."
Grasping her necklace, she silently recited the transformation spell in her heart. As a burst of dazzling light enveloped the darkness, tiny and delicate Ruby slowly descended to the ground from midair.
"Open, gate to the Void!"
The magic wand swept through the air before her. As the door leading to another world opened, Ando Meiko accelerated and darted inside.
She shot out from the other end of the rainbow-colored passage. Following her memories, she headed straight to the place in the student camp where the incident had occurred, now within the Void World.
But unlike the Reality World, there were no tents in the Void World. The surroundings were completely empty, and she could see everything at a glance.
[Where did all the tents go?]
[For a magical model to remain in the Void World, an object must stay relatively still in the Reality World for three days.]
It was already past midnight. They had arrived the day before yesterday, which meant that if tents were to form here, they would have to wait until tomorrow morning at the very least.
With nothing in such a wide-open area that could conceal the mysterious person, this was undoubtedly excellent news for Ando Meiko.
[I see.]
She replied casually, then slowly walked to the center of the student camp and began examining the area.
Yet there was still no trace or clue she wanted to find in the Void World, just as there had been none in the Reality World.
That fleeting, faint fluctuation of magic was as though it had never existed.
If that sensation had not directly stimulated Ando Meiko's consciousness, allowing her to be absolutely certain that the magical fluctuation had appeared, she would have thought it was merely an illusion.
"If they're not inside, could they be outside?" Ando Meiko murmured.
What she could be certain of was that this mysterious presence was definitely not a Void Beast. Otherwise, the moment Demonic Aether appeared, she would have been forcibly pulled into the Void World long before now.
[Master, I think you should personally sense the magical fluctuations around you. If I do it, I won't be able to notice extremely faint residual traces.]
[But how am I supposed to do that?]
The moment she asked that question, Ando Meiko suddenly thought of something.
[Do you mean like when I speared fish yesterday?]
[That's exactly what I mean. To grasp this ability in less than an hour, Master truly is one of the most talented magical girls.]
[All right, leave it to me for now.]
Ignoring the latter half of Ruby's flattery, she closed her eyes, and the world before them was completely swallowed by darkness.
With her vision deprived, Ando Meiko's other senses were heightened to a certain degree.
Her senses extended beyond her body, and her surroundings appeared in her mind like a three-dimensional image. First came colors, then objects.
Leaves, branches, trunks, clouds, sky, stones, earth... As one useless piece of information after another was removed from the three-dimensional image, her perception of special energy became greatly amplified.
This was what she had comprehended while spearing fish. Though this ability did not seem useful in actual combat, it had no problem finding hidden energy or matter.
When nearly everything in the three-dimensional image had been stripped away and her Consciousness Space returned to a world of darkness, she still found no clue.
[Wait, Master. Take three steps forward, then squat down and take a look.]
Just as Ando Meiko was about to sink into discouragement, Ruby's voice lifted her spirits slightly. Though she did not know Ruby's intentions, she followed the instructions anyway.
[One step, two steps, three steps... then squat down.]
At the instant she crouched, a dark-red band of light, as thin as a strand of hair, twisted and crystal-clear, abruptly appeared within her Consciousness Space.
[Found it!]
The light band was simply too small, and its dark-red color nearly blended into the darkness, so she had overlooked it at first.
If Ruby had not caught that faint glimmer and reminded her, Ando Meiko would have returned empty-handed this time as well.
[The light band extends into the dense forest. It looks like it goes quite a distance... Forget it. Let's follow it.]
She wanted to return to the Reality World first and switch places with Kajieliena. Though she hated to admit it, Kajieliena's presence gave her quite a bit of security.
But considering that her current location was unsuitable for opening a gate, and that she might lose the nearly imperceptible energy residue, Ando Meiko decided to follow the light band alone.
She transformed her magic wand into a katana, carved an arrow pointing in the direction of the dark-red light band onto the ground, then began slowly walking deeper into the forest along its guidance.
Volume Two: The Vanished Everyday Life: Chapter Twenty-Six: Ambushed
After walking roughly two hundred meters from the student camp into the depths of the forest, the continuously extending light band suddenly stopped just as she was about to leave the woods.
She scanned the surrounding area, and her gaze eventually settled on a small stream not far away.
After thinking carefully, Ando Meiko confirmed that this was probably upstream from the creek beside their camp.
But what exactly was that thing? Why would it absorb the magic of ordinary people in the student camp, then head all the way to a place like this?
Could it be a magical girl living in seclusion on this mountain, or perhaps... a witch?
She crouched again and inspected the point where the dark-red light band ended. Reaching out, she gently touched it, but felt no magical fluctuation from the hair-thin light band.
"There's no magical fluctuation. Could this red light band be Aether residue? No wonder I haven't been able to sense any magic since earlier."
Though Aether and magic came from the same source, Aether was the general term for highly condensed magical Aggregates. Thus, Aether was also known as solid magic.
Unlike magic, Aether did not dissipate. Therefore, unless it was touched, it would not produce special fluctuations like used magic did.
It was like water and ice. Nothing special happened when ice was placed on the ground, but if water was poured onto the ground, it immediately spread in every direction.
Just as Ando Meiko was feeling puzzled, the crisp rustling of leaves suddenly entered her ears.
Immediately afterward, a sharp gust carrying a hint of chill descended from above her head, diving straight toward her position.
"Master, watch out!" Ruby shouted the warning directly.
In a true emergency like this, she could not afford to speak within Ando Meiko's mind.
Almost instantly, the magic wand transformed into a frying pan. In her panic, Ando Meiko could only pour as much magic as possible into it, enlarging the metal pan above her head as much as she could.
The sound of metal clashing suddenly echoed through the forest of the Void World. The heavy force striking the bottom of the pan made Ando Meiko's body sink, leaving her barely able to support herself on one knee.
When the force finally dissipated, she could still stand, but the arm gripping the pan's handle had been numbed by the transmitted impact.
"What was that? A Void Beast?" Ando Meiko cried out inwardly as she swiftly moved the frying pan blocking her view away and transformed it into a katana.
As the obstruction vanished, Ando Meiko finally saw the person before her.
Dark-red hair hung messily over most of the figure's face. The half of her face visible to Ando Meiko was sickly pale, while her savage blood-colored eyes glimmered faintly crimson.
Though the small amount of clothing she wore came in a matching set, it covered only the most important areas like underwear, preventing her gaunt body from being completely exposed to the air.
From her slightly open mouth, two massive fangs extended beneath her lips.
But the most terrifying thing was actually her two thin, pallid hands. The protruding nails at the ends of her fingers were a full ten centimeters long.
Those ten nails were like ten sharp daggers, every one of them reflecting a strange metallic sheen.
She did not resemble a Void Beast, a witch, or even a magical girl. This bizarre creature with a human appearance could only be described as a monster.
Vampire...
Ando Meiko rapidly searched through all kinds of books in her mind, but only that word overlapped even slightly with the horrifying monster before her.
She had considered the possibility before, but even in a world with magic and familiars, Ando Meiko had never truly believed that things like Vampires existed.
The humanoid monster gave Ando Meiko no time to think or be shocked. The moment her ambush failed, she let out a piercing shriek and charged at Ando Meiko again.
The humanoid monster was fast, but at most she was only comparable to Rin. Compared with speed-type familiars like Marugang and Iris's owl, she was still far slower.
After enduring Rin's relentless torment for eight hours, Ando Meiko had begun adapting to this level of speed.
She had panicked when she was first ambushed, but once she clearly saw what was before her, the fear was no longer so overwhelming.
She kicked off the ground and rapidly retreated. She swung the katana through the air several times, and solid magical bullets immediately formed around her.
As her control over magic became increasingly proficient, Ruby Splash could now gather magical bullets several times faster than before. The moment she poured in magic, the points of light had already condensed into shape.
Ruby Splash!
She called out the skill's name in her heart, and countless red bullets gathered around her body began firing at the humanoid monster in waves.
Facing the red bullets flying toward her, the humanoid monster's red glow brightened. The gray membrane of light formed by her sharp nails constantly slashing through the air instantly blocked every bullet.
"Why can everyone block my Ruby Splash? Is my magic really that weak?" Ando Meiko could not help complaining inwardly as she watched her bullets get blocked again.
Every time she used Ruby Splash, it either did nothing or got blocked. Other than wasting magic, the spell could not even buy her time.
The Ruby Splash that had pierced through a Void Dog on its first use had seemed rather powerful, but who would have thought that its first battle had been its peak?
What if she increased the amount of magic in every bullet, enhancing their power, speed, and penetration?
An idea flashed through her mind. She was now completely determined to prove herself against this spell. How could she accept that a magic she had imagined herself was so useless?
The humanoid monster, unhindered by the bullets, did not slow down. She quickly caught up to Ando Meiko and swung her right hand the instant she entered attack range.
Sharp nails carrying a lethal chill swept toward her. Ando Meiko's heart jumped. She raised the katana pointing at the ground in an upward slash, clashing against the nails as sharp as daggers.
A crisp sound rang out, followed by another irresistible force seeping through the katana and numbing Ando Meiko's wrist.
[She's much stronger than me, and I don't know any swordsmanship. Close combat puts me at a huge disadvantage.]
[Master, lure her to the stream.]
Ando Meiko casually glanced behind her and immediately understood Ruby's meaning.
The area beside the stream was relatively open. There were not many trees obstructing the view, leaving her enough room to evade the monster's attacks and maximize the advantages of magic.
Volume Two: The Vanished Everyday Life: Chapter Twenty-Seven: It Can't Be Human, Right?
[I understand. I'll try it your way.]
Her toes tapped the ground repeatedly as she rapidly retreated. During that time, she had already switched the katana back into the frying pan she handled most easily.
Using the broad pan, she blocked the humanoid monster's attacks again and again, borrowing its force to increase her retreating speed even further.
After Ando Meiko completely escaped the forest's cover, she leaped from the ground and shot into the air. Magic surged forth again, rapidly forming red bullets around her.
The second Ruby Splash had far fewer bullets than the first. Unable to account for both quantity and quality, Ando Meiko decided to abandon the advantage of numbers and improve their quality instead.
After increasing Ruby Splash's magic consumption and reducing the number of red bullets by nearly half, each unchanged bullet developed a crystal-like outer shell from the dense compressed magic surrounding it.
Ando Meiko had originally imagined this spell as a way of firing bullets, but the previous light bullets had merely been small balls of condensed magic.
At this moment, the red bullets with crystallized magical shells could finally truly be called bullets.
"Go!" Landing steadily on the ground, Ando Meiko swung the magic wand raised above her head downward.
The red bullets hovering in midair released the magic they had prepared the instant they received their master's command, pushing their speed to the limit.
Drawing more than a dozen lingering red trails through the air, all the bullets shot at high speed toward the humanoid monster that had just emerged from the forest.
The sudden magical fluctuation startled the humanoid monster. Even her red eyes, raised toward the sky, seemed to widen in that instant.
Before you continue