novelraw Chapter 27 The Insect Magical Girl
Chapter 27 The Insect Magical Girl
No sooner had he finished speaking than a strange thing happened.
The flowers that had just bloomed have withered away.
The first to wither was the one closest to the skeleton; its petals closed up, the white edges began to turn yellow and wrinkle, curling from the tip towards the center of the flower.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth...
From full bloom to withering, it all happened in the blink of an eye; throughout the entire process, all the two could hear was the sound of raindrops falling.
hum...
Then, a very fine, high-frequency wing-like sound came up from the underground layer.
"teacher."
Tao Zhuo's voice was very low. Her perception magic was already fully deployed, and when she transmitted what she had read back, even she herself was unsure whether it was some kind of misreading:
"Magic is gathering on this corpse, and a massive amount of living things are now gushing out from underground!"
The heat at the bottom of the valley suddenly surged at that moment.
The heat, both in terms of physical temperature and magical energy, rose from the ground, making the air thick and viscous. This forced Tao Zhuo to withdraw her perception magic and instead increase the output of her barrier magic, and the star marks on her five fingers began to flicker noticeably.
Gu Bai did not reply. His gaze remained fixed on the skeleton, and he seemed somewhat dazed.
Ignoring the danger, she stepped out from the magical barrier set up by Tao Zhuo. Could the skeleton before her be her?
"Could it be you—"
"Teacher, don't come any closer! It's dangerous!"
Tao Zhuo gripped Gu Bai's hand tightly, but even with all her strength, she was still being dragged forward by him.
"Click-clack".
Suddenly, a chilling sound rang out, and the skeleton's joints began to bend; it moved!
Then, a chilling opening scene unfolds—
Countless tiny flying insects, emitting a faint glow, surged out of the soil like a tide, densely clinging to the stark white skeleton.
Millions of insects, like tireless worker bees, filled the gaps between the bones with their own bodies, intertwining, stacking, and squeezing, trying to forcibly weave together the flesh and skin of that skeleton.
The extremely thin body shape rapidly took shape under the wriggling of the swarm of insects, the spine straightened, the ribs expanded, the chest bulged, and the faint sign of life that could barely be detected before began to climb upwards at a visible speed.
Gradually and rapidly, the skeleton seemed to transform into a 'person' with a complete outline after tens of seconds.
Then, it tried to slowly lift its head out of the soil.
I saw the soil sliding down her growing blue-green hair and the raindrops flowing down her soft cheeks.
Finally, what was presented to Gu Bai and Tao Zhuo was that closed-eyed face, a neck that had turned blood red, and a smooth body woven from the insect swarm.
She stood in front of the two of them.
In the rain, she slowly opened her cloudy, dark blue eyes, and magic began to flow naturally.
A combat suit woven from dark gold glass wings quickly took shape, with the distinctive diagonal stripe outlined by a dazzling gold thread on her chest being particularly eye-catching.
Undoubtedly, she is a magical girl from the Ximing Cult.
Her lower body skirt resembled a withered and broken cicada wing, appearing as a translucent ash color, emitting a faint humming sound as magic flowed.
Her gaze passed over Tao Zhuo first, and when it swept over Gu Bai, she stopped. On Gu Bai's face, she seemed to be identifying something, confirming the answer in her mind.
For a moment, only the sound of rain could be heard at the bottom of the valley.
"wrong."
It wasn't the person he was looking for. Gu Bai's heart sank. The blow from shattered hope was far greater than the blow from fighting the alien beasts earlier.
Having quickly adjusted my mindset, I must now consider another question—who is she?
Tao Zhuo, standing to the side, boldly placed her perception magic on the girl in front of her to sense the terrifying amount of magic power she possessed, while simultaneously searching her mind rapidly using the diagonal symbols.
Soon, something sank down inside him, revealing the answer:
"The Dawn Cult, the Insect Magical Girl... How strange! The Insect Magical Girl is definitely over 24 years old now, how could she still wield such immense magical power!"
The moment Tao Zhuo gave her answer, the insect magical girl moved.
Perhaps it was a test. A faint gray light emanated from the tip of her right finger, like a prelude to some kind of magic, spreading towards Gu Bai silently, like mist or gas. But Tao Zhuo's perception magic clearly detected it.
"Teacher, they're all flying insects!"
Gu Bai stepped to the side to create space, and the ink sword appeared in his hand. He then drew a sword aura and aimed straight at the opponent's face.
Like a hot knife or butter, the magical screen erected by the insect magical girl was completely unable to withstand Gu Bai's attack. Unexpectedly, at the last moment, she twisted her body dramatically, sacrificing her right arm to avoid this fatal attack.
It wasn't over yet; hundreds of thin threads crawled out from her shoulder, extending to the ground and reconnecting her arm.
As for the gray fog that Gu Bai was facing, it had not completely dissipated.
Fortunately, it didn't fall on him or Tao Zhuo; the few remaining bits landed on the soil nearby.
A buzzing sound emanated from the object being frantically devoured by the thousands of insects in the fog; moments later, a large crack appeared.
Tao Zhuo only glanced at it, and cold sweat instantly soaked her back.
If you only scratch half of it, your magic barrier will surely be riddled with holes.
However, look at the insect magical girl standing on the other side.
Yes, the teacher is very powerful, but the one standing opposite is a Seven Star Magical Girl. What should we do now?!
However, there was no fighting.
Having failed to land a single blow, the insect-magical girl remained still, her dark blue eyes fixed on Gu Bai, as if her previous attack was more of a probe than an attack.
Gu Bai's eyes were sharp; he sensed that the opponent's previous attack hadn't been aimed accurately.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The rain in the valley did not lessen, pelting the withered night-blooming cereus and the shoulders of her, surrounded by swarms of insects.
The insect-magical girl didn't speak, her gaze returning to Gu Bai's face before she lowered her eyelids.
"Buzz..."
The swarm of ferocious insects instantly became docile, transforming back into harmless glimmers of light, and burrowed back into her body, disappearing completely.
Tao Zhuo paced back to Gu Bai's side, clutching his sleeve tightly. She cast her perception magic on the insect magical girl's front, then brought her mouth close to Gu Bai's ear, her voice extremely low:
"Teacher, her magic has stopped flowing; we can't detect any aggressive tendencies at the moment."
After a pause, Tao Zhuo finished her sentence, seemingly catching her breath: "They must have decided we're friendly units?"
There was no echo at the bottom of the valley, because the sound of the heavy rain drowned out Tao Zhuo's words.
It was pressed into the withered clumps of night-blooming cereus, into the mud, and into the long silence that had always enveloped this little valley.
The insect-magical girl who had "come back to life" was still standing there, no longer speaking.
Gu Bai looked down at the withered white figure beside the insect magical girl, his mind filled with complex emotions.