Chapter 37: Is Qisi Actually a Genius?

Kexin remained on high alert, unwilling to miss the slightest disturbance. Centered on herself, she sent out magical detection waves at an extremely high frequency, radiating outward almost continuously. In theory, any magical fluctuation within range would trigger an alarm.

The advantage of this method was that even if someone used a special spell to hide themselves, maintaining such a concealment inevitably required a faint amount of magic, leaving traces that could be used to track them.

Of course, such precise operations placed a significant burden on a magical girl. Even if she had enough magic, her mental energy would be drained—often more severely than from a fierce battle.

This meant there was a time limit. If she couldn’t locate the opponent quickly, things would become problematic. Kexin wasn’t sure if she could continue fighting once her mental energy ran low.

Time was critical.

However, the results from the enhanced detection spell were no different from a normal scan. In Kexin’s view, all she could see were the tangled spider threads scattered through the air.

As she turned her gaze elsewhere, out of the corner of her eye she noticed a strand of thread with only a faint magical residue suddenly light up. This meant a surge of magic had entered the thread.

Before she could even blink, the magic-driven thread lashed at Kexin like a whip. Luckily, she noticed it in time and instinctively raised her shield, simultaneously switching her weapon to close-combat mode.

The rifle in her hand transformed into a one-meter-long military-style sword, composed of light particles, and with a runed edge capable of destroying magic. The moment it touched the spider thread, it severed it, cutting off its magical power supply. At that instant, Kexin sensed the presence of someone manipulating the threads from the shadows.

“There—over there!”

The moment the opponent realized they had been discovered, they stopped hiding. A massive magical surge erupted from beneath the construction site, and almost all the threads in the area lit up, converging on the magical girl.

Soon, they had both girls completely surrounded.

Kexin looked at the writhing, tentacle-like threads and instinctively began counting—but quickly gave up. There were simply too many to count.

Only now did Kexin realize that these threads, which had faint magical traces, were not leftovers from previous use but were deliberately laid out by the opponent from the start.

“What is happening now?” Qisi had thought the enemy had left, and she had just relaxed when she was confronted with this spectacular scene.

“Clearly, we’re in big trouble.”

“I know this much—I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t call you an idiot.”

In her mind, Kexin silently scoffed. Despite being physically strong—Qisi was a key member of multiple sports clubs at school and regularly trained at the gym—her brains were lacking in comparison. Even without transforming, she could punch a Beta-class monster to death barehanded. That was the kind of enemy that even someone armed with a gun might struggle to defeat.

Had Kexin not seen it herself, she wouldn’t have believed it. Yet in other areas, especially intellectual matters, Kexin regretted Qisi’s lack of acumen.

“That must be the main body of the enemy.”

Qisi was pointing at a shadowy figure atop the tallest building of the unfinished construction site. Due to the distance and various obstructions, Kexin couldn’t discern the enemy’s form clearly.

Judging by the magical energy emanating from the figure, the threat level was at least Delta 2—something even a B-class magical girl couldn’t handle alone.

Neither of them reached even B-class ratings. Normally, they shouldn’t be dealing with such threats.

“By the way, has Agent Guan Mengyao’s reinforcements arrived?”

When Kexin first arrived, she had requested backup from Agent Guan, but no word had come yet. Even if they were running, they should have arrived by now.

Her wireless earpiece had been damaged in battle, so she couldn’t contact the command directly. She could only look to Qisi.

“Reinforcements? Oh, right, let me ask,” Qisi paused to adjust the comms channel, then called out, “Magical girl codename Qisi calling—anyone hear me?”

She repeated the call, but received no response. The silence over the comms was unnerving.

Fighting a monster often caused local spikes in ambient magical energy, which could interfere with normal communications, especially those using electromagnetic waves—mobile signals, radio, etc.

Magical girls are equipped with subspace communicators to maintain contact even in strange dimensional barriers.

But this situation exceeded expectations.

The source of interference was clearly the enemy. Unlike low-intelligence monsters, these enemies were much more challenging; just being present was enough to pressure them without direct confrontation.

Enemies also used tactics. Initially, the opponent likely assumed these two girls were insignificant, using only simple measures. But as the situation unfolded, Kexin’s combat prowess exceeded expectations.

“So, what do we do next?”

Kexin’s eyes darted around, searching for a breakthrough, but the enemy’s blockade was tight. Any movement would trigger attacks from multiple directions.

Qisi overheard her musing and asked, “Are you asking me?”

Kexin glanced at Qisi, seemingly ready to share a thought, then shook her head: “Forget I said anything.”

“Actually, I do have an idea.”

“Direct assault?”

That was the only thing Qisi could imagine—charging headfirst was so in line with her personality.

“No way—my magic hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

“Then?”

Qisi opened her mouth to explain her plan, but the enemy struck first.

Magic-controlled threads lashed out like poisonous snakes, moving too fast to react to and in overwhelming numbers. As Kexin cut one down, another would strike from behind.

When these threads collided with her magical shield, they triggered explosions of the magic they carried. Even behind the thick shield, Kexin felt the force of impact.

Qisi remained completely within Kexin’s shield. On her own, she couldn’t survive such a relentless attack.

Kexin focused all her energy on maintaining the shield, careful not to let even the smallest thread slip through.

“I feel like something’s wrong,” Qisi muttered, slapping her left hand against her right fist as a sudden thought struck her.

“I agree—our situation is serious,” Kexin replied.

“No, I mean, if the enemy could just attack us directly, why are they only controlling the threads?”

Qisi reasoned that if she were the enemy with such a huge advantage, she would have charged already. Yet the enemy hadn’t, and even with the attacks clearly wasting time, their approach remained unchanged. This delay might allow reinforcements to arrive before Kexin’s magic ran out.

“Qexin, how long can your magic last?”

“Magic? I’m not sure—maybe four or five hours.” Kexin hadn’t yet exhausted her magic, so she could only estimate. Four to five hours would take them to dawn, which would indeed be problematic.

“Time, time—the enemy is stalling!” Qisi suddenly understood the logic. From luring the Bureau’s attention hundreds of kilometers away to deploying the scorpion in the building and spawning Beta monsters throughout the city—all were delaying tactics for the enemy’s real plan.

Qisi’s loud realization nearly caused Kexin to interrupt her magical shield.

“Why stall?” Kexin analyzed quickly, agreeing with Qisi but unable to deduce the purpose. The only certainty was that the task was important enough for the enemy to risk being swarmed by numerous magical girls.

And it was happening in a sparsely populated area—ruling out a large-scale attack. Mutsushuu City had millions of residents; even a single bomb in the city could kill many, yet the enemy chose this remote location. Why?

As Kexin pondered, she fixed her gaze on the dark figure. This time, her vision pierced the mist, revealing the enemy’s appearance.

A young East Asian woman in her early twenties, attractive and well-proportioned—definitely someone who would be called beautiful if fully human.

But below the human torso was the body of a spider.

“Oh no.”

Spider-women. As an experienced anime fan, Kexin knew about humanoid-monster hybrids, but seeing one in real life—especially with the yellow-black legs and the reddish-orange hourglass marking on the spider abdomen—was shocking.

The enemy noticed Kexin’s gaze, staring with black eyes and a slight smirk, as if savoring the role of the victor. A chill ran down Kexin’s spine. Something even worse was coming.

“We have to do something.”