Chapter 12: Only One-Tenth of One Percent Is Enough

“Are there really scorpions that big?”

“Is this anomaly really a scorpion?”

Ke Xin sighed, then sprang into action, taking several backward leaps to put dozens of meters between herself and the creature. Having witnessed the previous electromagnetic cannon-like attack, she had no intention of getting into close combat with it.

Even though a magical girl’s body has a protective shield, getting hit by something akin to a tank’s main cannon still hurts. The pain is unavoidable.

Moreover, the attacks from anomalies often have unexpected aftereffects. Some anomalies’ attacks can bypass magical shields entirely, and trying to tank those without knowing the truth would have serious consequences.

In the blink of an eye, the giant scorpion’s body slammed down from above, smashing through the reinforced concrete floors as if they were made of paper. Then, it vanished inside the building, unseen for a long while.

“I think so,” Ke Xin said, looking at the hole on the rooftop. For a moment, she wondered if her detection spell had failed. In her vision, the marker indicating the giant scorpion stayed still. The anomaly, which had just launched an unexpected sneak attack, probably wasn’t waiting for her to get ready again before resuming its assault.

Such anomalies, even if not classified as monsters, are rated at Delta level or even the highest Epsilon level in threat rankings. According to related analyses, even the strongest known magical girls combined with other magic users worldwide would find them hard to handle.

They could justifiably be called natural disasters.

But all these anomalies share a characteristic: they have no brains. Their primary goal is to obtain more magical energy. The amount they absorb from the real world isn’t enough, so they often attack those who produce magical fluctuations within their bodies.

This conclusion came from years of investigating countless attack cases. Before transferring to New Moon Academy, Ke Xin spent over a month in intensive training at the Special Investigation Bureau headquarters, one part of which involved reading archived cases collected over the years.

When dealing with anomalies, even brainless ones, you must never underestimate them. But at this moment, Ke Xin didn’t understand what was going on. It’s unlikely the anomaly got stuck underground after smashing through, right?

That thought flashed through her mind, but she didn’t dwell on it. After all, even a brainless anomaly wouldn’t be stopped by a few walls; it could just break through.

Yet, looking around, she found no sign of it.

“Where did it go?”

Ke Xin quickly enhanced her detection vision, allowing her to more keenly sense magical fluctuations in the environment. But the anomaly’s marker was still clearly inside the building below.

Could it really be stuck or trapped somehow?

Though a bit far-fetched, it was actually quite possible.

She couldn’t just fly to the rooftop to look down or shout at it—there was no guarantee the anomaly understood human speech.

With that, Ke Xin thought of a good plan, though deep down she didn’t want to do it. If the anomaly was truly trapped for a while, she’d have plenty of time to prepare.

She hastily injected several times her usual magical energy into her large sniper rifle.

This was a skill she had discovered herself. Since she hadn’t named it yet, she temporarily called it “Explosive Magic Bullet.”

On the scope, there was a charge bar divided into ten small segments, showing the bullet’s magic charge progress. When full, it meant 1000%—not just 100%.

After testing several anomalies, Ke Xin concluded that normally, 100% charge is enough to kill a Beta-level anomaly in one shot. In fact, it’s sometimes overkill, leaving only the anomaly’s core, which is unusually resistant to magical attacks.

But that initial attack from the giant scorpion had already raised its danger level several notches. Against such an enemy, Ke Xin had to give her all.

When the magic charge passed 500%, the energy in the sniper continued increasing. The large-scale magic use was so intense that Qi Si in the neighboring building could sense it.

“Are you okay, Little Pink? Sounds like a lot’s happening over there.”

“Still fine for now, but things might get rough soon. How’s your side?”

While talking, Ke Xin’s charging continued, and the anomaly below seemed to sense the danger hanging over it and began to stir.

Ke Xin saw the anomaly’s marker shaking rapidly, with increasing frequency.

It seemed ready to break free, and she estimated that she wouldn’t have time to fully charge the shot.

At 800% charge, she stopped pumping energy and rested her finger on the trigger.

One thing she never liked was insects, even though she grew up in the countryside. She didn’t like those armored creatures, and this one was bigger than a dump truck.

“I’ve encountered the four of them, but they can’t recognize me yet. From now on, let’s call each other by codenames.”

Because she had already activated magic to blur her presence, even when standing right in front of them, it was hard to tell it was Qi Si. At most, they might think the figure looked somewhat familiar.

But with just that, it’s impossible to identify who exactly it was.

“Little Pink” was Ke Xin’s codename. The reason was obvious—her pink hair. She didn’t like the nickname herself, but everyone else thought it was perfect, so it stuck.

After all, a codename is what others use to call you. Even if she picked one she liked, it wouldn’t matter if no one used it.

“Four?”

The detection spell had only picked up three magical fluctuations. Ke Xin thought there were only three people, and though she had seen all four leave school together, it wasn’t unusual for someone to leave midway. Maybe one of them didn’t have the talent to use magic.

No idea which one it was, and it was better not to mention it to them.

“By the way, you’re not going to use that, are you?”

“Almost. This time the power will be much lower, but I still suggest you activate your shield.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!”

Ke Xin aimed carefully at the anomaly, repeatedly confirming there were no obstacles in the line of fire. At the moment the anomaly jumped, she pulled the trigger.

A thick pink beam of energy shot out of the large sniper rifle, ionizing the air and crackling loudly.

No matter how thick the concrete walls, they were like paper before this high-energy beam. The anomaly’s eyes were instantly overwhelmed and whitened by the beam’s glow.

The enormous energy blast pushed Ke Xin’s body back hundreds of meters—this was even with recoil suppression magic active, or else who knew where she’d have flown.

“You always say I’m too rough, but you’re the one who’s the most excessive,” she muttered.

On Qi Si’s side, she immediately pressed the disc on her left wrist, and a giant shield appeared, enveloping the five of them.

Ke Xin’s attack’s residual energy spread out in a shockwave, mercilessly smashing objects along the way, carrying building debris that slammed into Qi Si’s shield.

If ordinary people were standing here, even this peripheral damage could be fatal.

“Ah, damn.”

Looking at the collapsed building and the surrounding rubble, Ke Xin was speechless.

Unlike some veterans who could precisely control magic and use fancy spells, Ke Xin only knew some simple beginner magic.

So she had no choice but to continuously increase one-time magic output. If an anomaly couldn’t be killed in one shot, it meant she hadn’t poured enough magic into the attack.

After confirming there were no more magical fluctuations under the rubble, Ke Xin landed and walked toward Qi Si and the others coming out from the only relatively intact building nearby.

Ruolin led the group, closely following Qi Si. They looked completely drained, nothing like their usual selves when chatting about anomalies. They glanced at the pink-haired magical girl briefly, a flicker of fear crossing their faces before they sank back into gloom.

Ke Xin’s enhanced vision caught all of this, and she smiled quietly. This kind of reaction was normal when facing an anomaly for real; she herself used to be even more embarrassed.

Before they got close enough to see each other’s faces or wave hello, the ground suddenly began to shake.

“What’s happening?” came Qi Si’s puzzled voice over the comms.

“I don’t know.” Ke Xin glanced back at where the anomaly had been. There was still no sign of movement.

“Two of you, the barrier is becoming unstable. You need to evacuate immediately.”

“Understood.”

If the barrier collapsed, no one knew what might happen. Without hesitation, Ke Xin blinked behind Ruolin, grabbing her waist with one hand and lifting Liu Yumeng with the other.

“Hey?” Ruolin exclaimed at the sudden contact but relaxed when she felt Ke Xin’s warmth.

“Hey, why are you carrying me?”

Yumeng protested from her shoulder.

“Sorry, this will be over soon.”

Qi Si took charge of the other two. Once ready, they all jumped and flew straight toward the anomaly’s source.