Get off work and become a magical girl

Chapter 355 Discord
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 nodes, it actually went quite smoothly.

It was more accurate to say that things went too smoothly.

She believed she possessed the ability to sense the entire situation, and Bai Jingxuan was in some ways no weaker than her. Although the remnant beast at this node was indeed very large, and although there were countless low-level remnant beasts 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 "Potato Arrowroot" took the lead and charged into the battlefield, the situation evolved much faster than she had imagined.

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

Those low-level crippled beasts 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 dealt with so quickly. However, 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, crippled beasts that leaped down from the walls could be crushed by it. It seemed oblivious to this; it had its sights set on Lin Xiaolu and her group as the "culprits," believing its suffering stemmed from these uninvited guests. Therefore, it used every means at its disposal 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 cave, 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 beasts 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 little beasts and come looking for me! If that happens, I’ll have to deal with those small fish 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.

“It’s not difficult to hold out for a while…” Lin Xiaolu glanced at the movements of the remaining beast in the distance, assessed its potential destructive power, and made her own judgment: “But is it really only two minutes?”

"Three minutes at most!"

“Okay.” Lin Xiaolu immediately drew her magic armor and turned around to use 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!”

"Ah."

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 beasts, 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 Potato had said.

Before its body dissipated and turned into an echo, Lin Xiaolu saw what the giant beast looked like—like those low-level beasts that were killed by Arrowroot along the way, its body was haggard and shriveled.

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

Legend has it that 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. Furthermore, it is said that when they attack their prey, they can drain all the blood from its body, causing it to bleed to death. The arrowroot is like a "vampire" that feeds on mutilated animals. While not all mutilated animals possess blood, whatever it absorbs, it undeniably takes something from the mutilated animal's body. Rather than fighting, its behavior is more accurately described as "feeding."

A magical girl who devours the remains of beasts? Or perhaps, she can absorb more than just remains of beasts?
Watching Arrowroot fly out of the mangled 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 Bohe had mentioned—she was confident that she could fight this crippled beast alone—on the other hand, the participation of Arrowroot Potato did make their process of conquering this node much smoother.

After the giant beast was defeated, the remaining low-level beasts were no match for Lin Xiaolu and her group. They swept away the remaining beasts like a whirlwind, turning them into echoes 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 the arrowroot are arguing again.

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

"Speaking of which, didn't you post a 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 Kapok 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 the battle suddenly plummeted to freezing point.

"I'm sorry, but how to rank the lists 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 also 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 magical costume and walked silently to Mint's side, adopting a "come and fight" posture, and looked 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. When she saw Bai Jingxuan strike this pose, her smile turned somewhat 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 Jian Genshu in order to protect Bai Jingxuan.

However, while still in the midst of exams, Lin Xiaolu realized something: if she were to fight with the other party here, it would 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 Cui Que 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 Cuique was the one who smoothed things over. And from Cuique'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 a larkspur do?
　Some settings in the previous text have been modified; the Drunken Fish Grass has been moved to fourth place on the thigh ranking.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)