Chapter 70: Fired

Through her scope, Kexin also noticed the strange figure staring directly at her and immediately judged that the opponent intended to strike first.

She glanced at the countdown and estimated the enemy’s attack timing—this was cutting it extremely close.

Her gaze shifted to Luo Anying, who had been standing nearby since the beginning.

“Focus on your own task,” Luo Anying said softly.

Although she didn’t speak much, Kexin still felt a strong sense of reassurance. She could now fully concentrate on controlling the accumulation of her magic, ignoring the monster’s steadily increasing magical fluctuations in the distance.

The giant’s body also changed: a sudden layer of crystalline armor covered most of its body. The magical girls immediately launched an attack, but the crystals were able to withstand almost all of their strikes, showing just how terrifying the monster’s defense had become.

“We can’t let it interfere with Kexin,” Qisi judged and joined in channeling magic into the magic artillery, preparing the second magic shell.

The skeletal necromancer quickly located the source of the attack. Its skull turned toward a hill about two kilometers away, raising its bone staff again. In front of it, a bluish magic circle composed of skulls and bone fragments slowly unfolded, the runes flashing with ominous light, and the air was thick with the scent of death.

This circle was a reinforced shield barrier. When the shell struck it, it still caused a violent explosion, but the monster remained unmoved.

“Everyone, focus fire on the monster’s main body immediately!” Yan Luofei also understood Qisi’s intention. She gave the order in place of Kexin, who could no longer be distracted, her voice unusually urgent.

Her fingers maintained precise control over the magical crossbow, though sweat trickled down her temple. Even though her body was built from magic, it still simulated human physiological reactions.

As soon as she finished speaking, Yan Luofei swiftly dashed out from cover created by a previous explosion. Her speed was so fast that all one could see was her side ponytail whipping in the wind.

The magical crossbow in her hands fired continuously. Crimson magical arrows rained on the necromancer atop the giant’s shoulder, each one precisely aimed at key points of the staff and spellcasting motions.

However, all were blocked by the bluish shield. Meanwhile, the skeletal monster began constructing a new spell, and all the magical girls present could feel the dangerous aura emanating from it.

“Let’s see how long you can block this!” Yan Luofei gritted her teeth, keeping up the high-frequency suppression fire.

With the magic artillery shells slowly wearing down the shield, and the concentrated attacks from the magical girls, cracks began to appear. At this point, the necromancer calmly directed the giant to raise its arm in defense.

The giant’s crystalline armor reflected an eerie light under the gloomy sky.

Yan Luofei’s full-strength strike barely produced sparks, unable to inflict real damage.

“This is way too tough,” she muttered in frustration, but didn’t slow her attacks.

At that moment, Yuan Lingfeng took a deep breath, a bluish aura surrounding her. She suddenly accelerated, charging like lightning with her long-handled battle axe, leaving faint light trails on the shattered ground with her boots.

Her target was the giant’s ankle, which wasn’t covered by crystal armor. Highly compressed airflow gathered on her battle axe, each swing producing a sharp tearing sound.

“Take this!” Yuan Lingfeng shouted. The wind pressure from her axe whipped up the surrounding dust.

Although she couldn’t directly sever the giant’s ankle, each attack caused visible deep damage. Repeated strikes successfully cut off the giant’s right foot, briefly throwing it off balance. It staggered backward.

“Alchemist, what are you waiting for?”

“This is the timing,” Gu Yanhang said. Based on prior experience, the giant’s limbs could quickly regenerate, so she had prepared a new potion while riding her flying broom. As the giant was about to fall, she dived, aiming for the exposed ankle, and threw a vial of purple liquid.

The transparent vial automatically shattered just before hitting the giant, spraying purple fluid that spread wherever it touched.

The necromancer immediately noticed—the giant’s regenerative ability was gone. It locked its furious gaze on Gu Yanhang streaking across the sky along a golden path but could do nothing.

Maintaining the shield while constructing a high-damage spell pushed it to its limit.

Feigning indifference to the giant’s situation, it allowed the giant to fall while floating in midair to continue casting.

Without the giant as cover, it was fully exposed. Yan Luofei and others intensified their attacks, but the barrier absorbed all the magic, not just neutralizing it but actually consuming their magical power.

“Stop attacking, it seems the monster is absorbing our magic!”

“What?”

“Is this kind of magic even possible?”

Seeing the magical girls halt their attacks, the necromancer smirked, thinking humans were naïve to compete in magic usage.

But the magical girls weren’t idle. Bai Xihan seized the opportunity, aiming carefully with her launcher and firing a special reinforced adhesive. It appeared to miss, but the next moment it exploded midair like a giant web, trapping the downed giant. With its leg unable to regenerate quickly, every struggle only tightened the binding.

“Let’s see how you dodge this!” Bai Xihan grinned.

The skeletal necromancer ignored this, focusing entirely on constructing its spell.

It was remarkably patient.

“Kexin, what do we do? Its spell is nearly complete,” Yan Luofei asked.

“I’m almost ready too. I’m not afraid of magical resonance,” Kexin said, glancing at the countdown, her preset magic accumulation almost reached.

Meanwhile, on the mountaintop, Qisi began preparations for the third artillery shot after the second one underperformed, requiring more complex spell engravings.

But she wasn’t good at this.

Hasegawa Kana focused on adjusting the artillery angle. Her gray-purple hair blew in the wind, but she remained unaffected, her fuzzy ears twitching slightly.

Kana’s clear voice rang out: “Target locked, ready to fire.”

Takashi Riko’s fingers flew over a virtual keyboard. Unlike magical girls casting spells, this process of constructing artillery spells felt more like programming.

“Leader Lu, with this adjustment to the explosive ratio, magic consumption rises by 20%. Our reserves may not be enough.”

“Don’t worry, she’s here,” Qisi said calmly, holding up a shield with intricate runes glowing faintly gold.

She smiled serenely. At the same time, Ye Ziyue had moved her spellbook in front of her and opened it.

“This is…?”

“In terms of spellcasting ability, a Puppeteer is fully A-rank—or even far beyond. Only in other areas—”

Qisi didn’t continue. Even with Kana’s expectant gaze, it wasn’t appropriate to say more.

The battlefield grew tense, magical fluctuations almost suffocating. Everyone knew the next clash would decide the outcome.

As the countdown neared its end, the magical circle under Kexin’s feet glowed dazzlingly, enveloping her entirely in pink light. Her hair floated in the powerful energy field.

The magic artillery was nearly fully charged, the barrel humming deeply.

Channeling such a huge amount of magic in a short time caused physical strain and fatigue, but she had to persist.

The necromancer raised its bone staff, ancient, obscure words echoing around it, as if countless beings were chanting, voices dry and icy, genderless, age-less, like whispers from the abyss or calls from hell.

The skull atop the staff emitted a harsh green light. Cold, deathly energy gathered, forming a swirling dark energy sphere.

“All units, note: interceptor cannon charge countdown—ten seconds,” Kexin reported, calculating trajectory and blast radius for everyone. “Maintain a safe distance immediately.”

Seeing the projected safe zone, everyone moved accordingly. Yan Luofei and Yuan Lingfeng covered each other while retreating. Bai Xihan burrowed underground for rapid repositioning.

The necromancer noticed, but all its focus was on completing the spell.

It also noticed the artillery atop the mountain was charging, but dismissed it as a mere human toy. The pink magical girl was different; her magic output pressured it and felt oddly familiar.

“Foolish humans, witness the power of a god!” The necromancer’s chant peaked, green light nearly devouring all, and the dark energy sphere ionized the surrounding air.

At the same time, the third artillery shot was fully ready.

“Ten, nine, eight…” Kexin began the countdown, her finger on the trigger, fully focused, heart racing.

“Three, two, one!”

Before Kexin finished counting, Qisi fired the artillery. As expected, it struck the shield, only causing slight ripples.

“Magic artillery still didn’t work?”

Just as Yan Luofei sighed, another shot traveled at over ten times the speed of sound, halted at the shield—but the bullet’s rotation remained. It pierced through the barrier and struck the necromancer’s staff.

At the moment the spell completed, the black energy sphere shot toward Kexin, but Luo Anying’s shot slightly deflected it.

Simultaneously, Kexin fired the cannon, magical energy surging like a high-pressure water jet, obliterating everything in front. The monster’s shield momentarily resisted, but even fully replenishing its magic couldn’t save it.

“Witness the power of magical girls!”

As Kexin released the cannon, the weapon automatically retracted. She surveyed her attack path, which had barely missed a hill.

Recovering from the shock, the group in the battlefield’s core activated detection spells, confirming one fact: the skeletal necromancer was completely eliminated.

The giant zombie also turned into a mass of sludge.

“So tired… I’m going to sleep.”

Kexin lay back, looking up. The storm clouds were dissipating, revealing a patch of blue sky.