Chapter 67: The Skeleton Soldier Is Quite Tough

“It’s you guys again…” The skeletal monster continued in its dry, hoarse voice. “But this time, you’ve actually learned a bit.”

The eerie blue flames in its eye sockets flickered, as if sizing up the magical girls before it.

Ke Xin was about to speak when she was interrupted by the gaze the creature directed at her. In that instant, a chill crawled up her spine—even though, in her transformed state, she shouldn’t have been experiencing any physiological reaction.

“No matter how many of you come, it won’t help. I’d actually enjoy seeing the look of despair on your faces,” the skeletal monster said in that lifeless tone, its words dripping with clear disdain.

Ke Xin stood on the rooftop, her pink hair fluttering gently in the breeze, her eyes locked tightly on the skeletal monster. Suddenly, she noticed a subtle detail in its words.

“Again…”

This seemed to suggest that it wasn’t the first time encountering magical girls, and that their previous encounter had been unpleasant.

However, this didn’t match the Special Investigation Bureau’s records. Ke Xin furrowed her brows as her mind raced.

Since the Bureau had established the Magical Girl Unit, all encountered monsters had been recorded. Yet querying their database using the magical signature of this skeletal monster yielded no matches.

Had the monster learned to bluff?

And without a face, it didn’t even have to worry about getting slapped.

Ke Xin sneered but kept her fingers tightly on her magical weapon. If the monster made a move, she was ready to retaliate immediately.

“You skeleton, who asked you to talk? Acting like you’re so great,” Yan Luofi’s voice suddenly rang out. She was about ten meters to Ke Xin’s right.

Standing atop a broken wall, her long pink hair glowed faintly with magical energy, making her stand out in the gloomy surroundings.

Unlike Ke Xin, who could calmly analyze the monster’s words, Yan Luofi had already placed her fingers on the crossbow’s trigger, her gaze as sharp as a blade.

The ghostly flames in the skeletal monster’s eye sockets flared violently, nearly spilling over, clearly enraged by Yan Luofi’s words.

“You insolent fool! You will pay for insulting a genius magician!”

A staff made of bones suddenly appeared in its hand, topped with a skull wreathed in blue-green flames.

Raising the staff, it waved lightly, and several blue fireballs shot at Yan Luofi at incredible speed.

Yan Luofi, of course, wasn’t defenseless. She leapt backward gracefully, a pink glow bursting beneath her feet as she formed a temporary platform in midair with magic, performing a second jump. Despite her somewhat hotheaded temperament, her movements were elegant.

Almost simultaneously, the fireballs struck the building she had been standing on.

The strange blue flames rapidly engulfed the house, but no smoke was produced. The burned wood didn’t turn to charcoal but decayed into some unknown matter.

Ke Xin observed the attack closely. The spellwork confirmed that the monster’s claim of having fought magical girls before wasn’t entirely bluffing.

“Let’s see what your skeleton’s really made of,” Yan Luofi said midair, adjusting her stance, aiming at the monster, and pulling the trigger. The magical arrow transformed into a fiery bird with a long tail as it soared toward the enemy.

The skeletal monster calmly tapped the giant’s shoulder with its bone staff. Surprisingly, the enormous creature followed the command with uncharacteristic agility, raising its arm to block the attack.

The flames charred its grayish-white skin but were immediately regenerated by new tissue.

“Tch,” Yan Luofi muttered, quickly loading a second arrow. Magical energy flowed from her fingertips into the weapon, causing the arrow to glow red.

“So, you magical girls…” The skeletal monster spoke slowly, rhythmically tapping the giant’s shoulder with the staff. The giant moved accordingly, attacking the magical girls and forcing them to continuously shift positions.

“Everyone, fire freely!” Ke Xin commanded, squeezing the trigger. A dazzling barrage of magical attacks rained down on the giant.

Such a large target didn’t even require careful aiming—any shot would hit.

“You’ve always been so reckless,” it said, suddenly halting the giant’s control, pointing its staff at the ground. “Frankly, you magical girls are just a bunch of immature kids.”

The giant swung its massive fist toward Bai Xihan’s group, shaking the ground violently. The shockwave kicked up dust, forming a hazy curtain.

Ke Xin instinctively raised her hand to shield herself from flying debris. Through her fingers, she saw a blue figure dart through the dust.

Yuan Lingfeng’s speed was so fast that Ke Xin couldn’t follow it with her eyes. In an instant, she appeared right in front of the skeletal monster, swinging her long-handled battle axe in a cold flash. “You arrogant bonehead!”

She roared, aiming to cleave the monster in half.

But just an inch from the target, an invisible force stopped the attack. Lingfeng’s arm tensed to the limit, yet the axe seemed embedded in solidified air, motionless.

“What!?” Yuan Lingfeng’s eyes widened in shock.

Ke Xin was also slightly stunned but quickly sensed danger. The tactical visor showed that the monster’s magical fluctuations were spiking wildly.

“Blue Star, retreat immediately!” Ke Xin shouted at Lingfeng. Her voice cracked under urgency, forgetting she even had a communicator.

Almost simultaneously, Lingfeng sensed the danger and instinctively condensed magic, generating a strong gust that propelled her backward.

As she left the original spot, the space around the skeletal mage warped, exploding in a visible shockwave. Even the aftershock alone could have thrown Lingfeng across the area.

Fortunately, she had activated a shield in time but was still pushed back.

Bai Xihan had just climbed out of the collapsed rubble, dusting herself off.

The giant hadn’t struck her directly, but the shockwave destroyed the building she had been standing on. A moment’s inattention and she would have been buried.

Looking up, she saw Lingfeng’s back rapidly growing in her vision.

“Wait—” she barely managed half a syllable before being knocked down. They rolled across the ground for quite a distance, finally stopping at a half-height dirt wall.

“Cough, cough,” Bai Xihan struggled out from under Lingfeng, spitting out dirt. “Why am I always so unlucky?”

“You two okay?” Ke Xin’s voice came through the communicator, filled with concern.

Bai Xihan adjusted her glasses, wiped the dirt off her uniform, and replied immediately: “We’re fine… Ke Xin, focus on the monster yourself.”

Lingfeng got up too, brushing off dust, muttering angrily: “Delta2’s monster is stronger than I expected. I underestimated it.”

Hearing their energetic responses, Ke Xin’s tense nerves relaxed slightly. She glanced at Luo Anying nearby, formulating a plan—but she wasn’t sure if it would work.

Despite the magical girls’ relentless attacks, the giant monster showed no signs of serious damage. According to the tactical support system, its regenerative ability exceeded the damage inflicted by all conventional attacks.

Even Yan Luofi’s strikes were rapidly healed.

To defeat this thing, excessive damage had to be inflicted instantly—but that required magical power beyond what any other magical girl could provide.

Only Ke Xin could manage it.

Yet she didn’t want to use that attack immediately. Beyond risking mental strain from overusing magic, her annihilation cannon could easily obliterate the entire village if slightly misaligned.

That was unacceptable.

The blue-haired girl maintained a standard firing stance, motionless, as if the chaos around her was irrelevant.

As if sensing Ke Xin’s gaze, Luo Anying turned to meet her eyes.

“This is all you’ve got? Not bad as a fireworks display,” the skeletal monster said, standing atop the giant, its skeletal hands clapping with an irritating clatter. “Clearly, you haven’t realized the gap between us…”

The monster deliberately dragged out the words, sounding sarcastic.

“Humans should at least know their limits.”

“Yeah, right,” Ke Xin muttered, biting her lip. If not for concern over the village’s historical buildings and cultural hall, she could have immediately unleashed the annihilation cannon.

But now… surveying the surroundings, few buildings remained intact.

Static crackled through the communicator, then came the faint, intermittent voice of Agent Guan: “Ke Xin… can you hear… headquarters…”

“Signal’s being interfered with. Repeat?” Ke Xin struggled to make out the garbled message.

Soon, the voice became clearer: “Can you hear me now?”

“Much better.”

“I’ll repeat. The Special Investigation Bureau has just assigned a code name to the monster you’re fighting: Necromancer, threat level D2, must be eliminated as a priority.”

The Bureau’s tech staff had adjusted things, reducing communication noise caused by magical interference. Hearing this, Ke Xin frowned.

She fired a series of reinforced anti-magic rounds at the skeletal monster while reloading, continuing to speak with Agent Guan: “So this confirms it’s not the Corpse Mother, and it wasn’t recorded in the files before?”

Guan confirmed her suspicion and added a worse possibility: “Analysis suggests the Corpse Mother likely left unnoticed. The Necromancer was probably left behind as a decoy to distract us, so we can’t waste time here. We need a quick and decisive strike.”

“Understood.”

Ke Xin responded concisely, scanning the open field outside the village. To fight freely, she needed to lure the monster there—but the question was how.