Magical Girl? I Got Set Up!

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 sorted through them and left only a sparse few, she could only shake her head helplessly.

Apparently, things that looked delicious 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 without any difference from yesterday. After secretly discussing things with Kajieliena, Ando Meiko stayed awake while sleeping that night and had Ruby keep watch over the surroundings.

When midnight came, a strange sensation suddenly entered her mind. Like ripples spreading across still water after a stone had been thrown into it, it made Ando Meiko shudder. She instantly sprang out of bed and glanced at Ling Ye, who was still asleep beside her.

[Ruby!]

[Yes, Master. Someone is using magic in the direction of the student campsite.]

[So it really is a magical fluctuation.]

She quietly pulled open the tent flap and slipped out, then immediately jogged toward the student campsite without hesitation.

"Meizi."

The voice from behind startled Ando Meiko, but when she turned and saw that it was Kajieliena, she secretly let out a breath of relief.

Clearly, Kajieliena had the same idea as her.

"Kajieliena, you stay outside. I'll go in."

"Got it."

Grasping her necklace and silently reciting the transformation spell, she was enveloped by a burst of dazzling light in the darkness. The small and exquisite Ruby slowly descended to the ground in midair.

"Open, gate to the Void!"

Her wand swept before her. Once the door leading to the other world opened, Ando Meiko accelerated and darted inside.

She shot out from the other end of the rainbow-colored passage. Following her earlier memories, she went straight to the site of the incident in the student camp within the Void World.

However, unlike the real world, there were no tents in the Void World. The surrounding area was completely empty, and she could see everything at a glance.

[Where did all the tents go?]

[To leave behind a magical model in the Void World, an object must remain relatively stationary in the real 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.

There was nothing in such a wide-open area that could conceal the mysterious person's figure. This was undoubtedly wonderful news for Ando Meiko.

[I see.]

She answered casually, then slowly walked to the very center of the student camp and began looking around.

Yet it was not much different from the real world. There were still no traces or clues that Ando Meiko wanted to find in the Void World.

That fleeting, faint magical fluctuation was as though it had never existed at all.

If that sensation had not directly stimulated Ando Meiko's conscious senses, allowing her to be completely certain that the fluctuation had appeared, she would probably have thought it had merely been an illusion.

"If it's not inside, could it be outside?" Ando Meiko said softly.

One thing was certain: this mysterious presence could not be a Void Beast. Otherwise, the moment Demonic Aether appeared, she would have been forcibly dragged 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 notice some extremely faint remnants.]

[But how am I supposed to do that?]

The moment she asked that question, Ando Meiko suddenly thought of something.

[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 gifted magical girls.]

[All right, leave it to me for now.]

Ignoring Ruby's latter half of flattery, she closed her eyes, and the world before them was completely swallowed by darkness.

With her vision deprived, Ando Meiko's other senses improved to a certain degree.

Her perception extended beyond her body, and everything around her 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 realized while spearing fish. Though this ability did not seem useful in actual combat, it could be used without issue to search for hidden energy or substances.

When nearly everything within the three-dimensional image had been stripped away and her mental space returned to a world of darkness, she still failed to find the clue she sought.

[Wait, Master. Take three steps forward, then crouch down and take a look.]

Just as Ando Meiko was about to sink into disappointment, Ruby's voice lifted her spirits slightly. Though she did not know what Ruby intended, she followed its instructions anyway.

[One step, two steps, three steps... then crouch down.]

At first, she saw nothing. But the instant she crouched, a dark-red ribbon of light as thin as a strand of hair, twisted and crystalline, suddenly appeared in her mental space.

[Found it!]

The ribbon was simply too small, and its dark-red color was close enough to darkness that it could blend into it, so she had overlooked it.

If Ruby had not caught that faint glimmer and reminded her, Ando Meiko would have returned empty-handed this time as well.

[The ribbon extends into the forest. It looks like it goes quite a long way... Forget it. Let's follow it.]

She wanted to return to the real world first and switch places with Kajieliena. Though she hated to admit it, Kajieliena's presence gave her quite a bit of security.

However, considering that her current location was unsuitable for opening a gate, and that she might lose track of that nearly imperceptible trace of residual energy, Ando Meiko decided to follow the ribbon alone.

She transformed her wand into a katana, carved an arrow on the ground pointing in the direction the dark-red ribbon extended, then slowly headed deeper into the forest along its guidance.

Volume Two: The Vanished Everyday Life: Ambush

After walking roughly two hundred meters from the student camp into the depths of the forest, the ribbon of light that had continued onward suddenly broke off just as she was about to leave the woods.

She scanned the surroundings, and her gaze finally settled on a stream not far away.

After thinking carefully, Ando Meiko confirmed that this should be upstream from the stream beside their campsite.

But what exactly was it? Why would it absorb ordinary people's magic from the student camp and then head all the way to a place like this?

Could it be a magical girl living in seclusion somewhere on this mountain, or perhaps... a witch?

She crouched down again to inspect where the dark-red ribbon had stopped, reaching out to lightly touch it. Yet she could not feel any magical fluctuations from the hair-thin ribbon.

"No magical fluctuations... Could this red ribbon be Aether residue? No wonder I haven't been able to sense any magic this whole time."

Although Aether and magic shared the same origin, Aether was the collective term for highly condensed magical aggregates. Thus, Aether was also known as solid magic.

Unlike magic, Aether did not dissipate. So long as it was not touched, it did not produce the special fluctuations that used magic did.

It was like water and ice. Nothing unusual happened when ice was placed on the ground, but if water was poured onto the ground, it would instantly flow outward in every direction.

Just as Ando Meiko was feeling puzzled, the crisp rustling of shaking leaves suddenly reached her ears.

Immediately afterward, a fierce gust carrying a trace of chill descended from above her head and dove directly toward her position.

"Master, watch out!" Ruby shouted the warning aloud.

In a truly urgent moment like this, it could no longer afford to speak inside Ando Meiko's mind.

Her wand transformed into a frying pan almost instantly. In her panic, Ando Meiko could only circulate as much magic as possible and pour it into the wand, enlarging the metal pan over her head as much as she could.

The sound of metal colliding suddenly rang through the forest of the Void World. The immense force striking the bottom of the pan drove Ando Meiko downward in an instant, forcing her to barely hold on with one knee on the ground.

Once the force faded, she could still stand, but the arm gripping the handle was numb from the transmitted impact.

"What was that? A Void Beast?" Ando Meiko cried inwardly as she swiftly pulled away the frying pan blocking her view and transformed it into a katana.

As the obstruction disappeared, Ando Meiko finally saw what stood before her.

Dark-red hair hung wildly over most of its face. The half of its face exposed to her view was a sickly pale, while its savage blood-colored eyes flickered with a faint crimson glow.

Though its clothes formed a matching set, they covered only a few vital areas like underwear, keeping its gaunt body from being completely exposed to the air.

Two enormous fangs extended below its lower lip from its slightly open mouth.

Yet the most terrifying things were its two thin, pale hands. The protruding nails at the tips of its fingers were a full ten centimeters long.

Those ten nails were like ten sharp daggers, each reflecting a strange metallic gleam.

It did not look like a Void Beast, a witch, or even a magical girl. This bizarre creature with a human appearance could only be described as a monster.

A vampire...

Ando Meiko frantically 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 really believed vampires existed.

The humanoid monster gave Ando Meiko no time to think or be shocked. After its ambush failed, it immediately released a piercing shriek and charged at Ando Meiko again.

Although the humanoid monster was fast, it was at most comparable to Rin. Compared with speed-type familiars like Marugang and Iris's owl, it was still far inferior.

After her body had endured Rin's torment for a full eight hours, she had begun to adapt somewhat to this level of speed.

She had been flustered during the first ambush, but once she saw what was in front of her clearly, her fear was no longer quite so intense.

Her foot slammed against the ground, and Ando Meiko rapidly retreated. She swung her katana through the air several times, and solid magical light bullets immediately formed around her.

As her control over magic became more skillful, Ruby Splash could now condense magical light bullets several times faster than before. The bullets took shape almost the instant she poured magic into them.

Ruby Splash!

She called out the skill's name in her heart, and countless red light bullets gathered around her body began firing toward the humanoid monster in waves.

Facing the red light bullets streaking toward it, the red glow in the humanoid monster's eyes brightened further. Its sharp nails continuously slashed through the air before it, forming a gray veil of light that instantly blocked every bullet.

"Why can everyone block my Ruby Splash? Is my magic really that weak?" Seeing her light bullets blocked once again, Ando Meiko could not help complaining inwardly.

Every time she used Ruby Splash, it either did nothing or got blocked. Other than wasting magic, this spell could not even buy her time.

The Ruby Splash that had pierced through a Void Dog on its first use looked powerful, but who would have thought that its first battle had been its peak?

What if she increased the magic within each bullet, improving their power, speed, and penetration?

An idea flashed through her mind. She was completely determined to make this spell work now. How could she accept a spell she had imagined herself being so pathetic?

The humanoid monster had not been stopped by the light bullets, and it quickly caught up to Ando Meiko. The moment it entered attack range, it swung its right hand.

The sharp nails came at her with a deadly chill. Ando Meiko's heart jolted as she raised the katana pointing toward the ground from below, meeting its dagger-sharp nails with an upward slash.

A crisp clash rang out, followed by another irresistible force seeping through the katana and numbing Ando Meiko's wrist.

[It's much stronger than I am, and I don't know any swordsmanship. Close combat is far too disadvantageous for me.]

[Master, lure it toward the stream.]

Ando Meiko casually glanced behind her and immediately understood Ruby's meaning.

The stream was relatively open, with fewer trees blocking the way. There would be enough room to evade the monster's attacks, and she could make the most of magic's advantages.

Volume Two: The Vanished Everyday Life: It Can't Be Human, Can It?

[I understand. Let's try it your way.]

She tapped the ground repeatedly with her toes, rapidly retreating while switching her katana to the frying pan she handled most comfortably.

Using the broad pan, she blocked the humanoid monster's attacks one after another, borrowing its force to increase her retreating speed even further.

After Ando Meiko completely broke free from the forest's cover, she leaped from the ground and darted into the air. The magic surging from her once again formed red bullets around her at tremendous speed.

The second Ruby Splash had far fewer bullets than the first. Since she could not fully account for quantity and quality at the same time, Ando Meiko decided to give up the advantage of numbers and improve their quality instead.

After increasing Ruby Splash's magical consumption and reducing the number of red light bullets by nearly half, each unchanged bullet formed a crystal-like shell around its exterior due to the dense, compressed magic.

Ando Meiko had originally imagined this spell as firing bullets, but the original light bullets had merely been little balls of condensed magic.

Only now, with shells of crystallized magic, could these red light bullets truly be called bullets.

"Go!" Landing steadily on the ground, Ando Meiko swung down the wand she had raised above her head.

The red bullets hanging in midair released the magic they had prepared the moment they received their master's command, pushing their own speed to the limit.

They carved more than a dozen lingering red streaks through the air as all the bullets shot at the humanoid monster that had just emerged from the forest.

The sudden magical fluctuation startled the humanoid monster. Its red eyes looking skyward seemed to widen in that instant.