Chapter 345: Emblem
By now, Tu Dinggui has already had a relatively complete guess about the Examination Yuan's intention in setting up this assessment.
The purpose of the so-called exam is to test the ability and knowledge of the subjects. In the current practical assessment, it must be to check the magical girls' "practical skills".
The scene that this maze is intended to simulate is now self-evident - it is the lair of the remaining beasts.
Because the lair of the remnant beast will distort the surrounding space to a certain extent, the magical girl must have a strong enough perception ability to find the direction in it. Therefore, this assessment will be in the form of a maze, in order to simulate the state of being in the lair to the greatest extent.
Because there are rules in the lair of the remnant beasts at the half-molt level and above, the magical girl must have a clear enough mind and a calm head to analyze and crack the rules. That's why there are so many puzzles in the maze, just to select talents who can continue to think about more problems during exploration.
And because any nest must have a remnant beast as its owner, similar "enemies" will be set up in the maze. After all, it is not enough for a magical girl to have only perception and thinking abilities, basic combat power, and the ability to adapt to the venue are also things that need to be tested.
By analogy, if she was not mistaken, the "exit" that had not been found by anyone so far should also reveal its true form after she defeated the crippled beast in front of her.
There is no other reason, just because according to the process of "Attacking the Lair of the Beasts", when a magical girl has figured out the route, cracked the rules, and defeated the master of the lair... the next thing to think about is how to leave.
Then, there was only one thing she had to do.
"If we defeat this guy, we should get the answer."
She stretched out her right hand, and the magic wand in her hand instantly turned into dust and reorganized into a new shape in the palm of her hand - a flag.
The background is white, with a blue stripe running through the middle, and flower-shaped emblems painted on the stripes. But if you look closely, you will find that these emblems are actually all made up of Favor runes.
No additional explanation was needed, as everyone present realized at that moment: this was her magic costume.
"Guide the way forward, Emblem."
She whispered, waving the flag violently, fully unfolding it. Then she slammed it heavily to the ground, and with a "dong" sound, the emblem on the flag was imprinted on every member of Team 277 along with the fluctuation of magic power.
At the first moment, Kuei-jae felt an inexplicable magical fluctuation attached to her body. Although she could completely dispel this fluctuation, considering that her teammates were using their abilities, she chose to stand by and watch. This magical fluctuation eventually formed an emblem on the left chest of her clothes, which was basically the same as the emblem on Tu Dinggui's magic suit, except that the details were a little rough.
What followed was a feeling of excitement that made Delphinium feel that her magic power was activated, and her physical and mental states began to become extremely uplifting.
"This is..." The dogtail grass next to him also sensed the changes in his body and couldn't help but exclaimed.
"It is the ability of my magic suit. It can enhance the strength of myself and my teammates in multiple dimensions such as spirit, magic, and body."
After the light waves on the flag dissipated, Tu Dinggui turned back to look at his two teammates: "I will take the lead later, you guys act according to circumstances and pay attention to safety."
"Fight, lead the charge?"
Perhaps he did not expect that the mature and calm Tudinggui would become so passionate, and Dogtail Grass said hesitantly: "There is no need to be so impulsive. I have quite a bit of practical experience. We should first slowly test the ability of this crippled beast and protect Senior Longdan..."
"It's okay."
However, Tu Dinggui gently interrupted her: "There is no need to go to such lengths to deal with a beast of this level. I will be back soon."
After he finished speaking, without even giving Dogtail Grass a chance to say another word, he grabbed the flag in his hand and flew into the air.
Right in front of her, the crippled beast stretched out its body and entered hunting mode. The moment it saw Tudinggui approaching, it displayed its own countermeasures.
Its body, which had been as dry as a dead tree, was changing rapidly. The cracked wood grains closed up and turned into continuous irregular protrusions. The brown-gray color that was originally all over the body gradually faded, and was replaced by black-gray color like rock.
At first glance, it looked as if several huge dead trees had suddenly turned into slender stone pillars.
Combined with its previous behavior of deliberately imitating sounds and even imitating the magical fluctuations of delphinium, the ability it possesses is undoubtedly "camouflage".
Like animals in nature that transform their bodies into protective colors to blend into the environment, it also has the ability to "disguise itself as something else." However, compared to ordinary animals, this remnant beast can undoubtedly go one step further - it can disguise its body strength and even the external fluctuations of magic power into something else.
The examiners of the examination institute chose such a crippled beast as the enemy here, which undoubtedly showed their intention to test the candidates. With its miraculous camouflage ability, coupled with the interference of the environment, it would be difficult for ordinary candidates to discover the existence of this crippled beast. Even if they guessed something, without the comprehensive strength of Team 277, it would be difficult to easily make this crippled beast give up its disguise and show its true form.
Of course, being good at camouflage doesn't mean that this beast is weak. Being able to be an enemy in the "simulated nest", this beast is definitely a real pupa. In fact, being able to change the maze environment around itself from bushes to such a mud passage is undoubtedly proof that it has a lot of magic power.
The Pupa Stage is already at a level where a Leaf Stage leader and a dozen Bud Stage magical girls are required to safely defeat it.
And now, Tu Dinggui, who is strictly speaking still just a newcomer, is facing this cruel beast alone.
The distance between the magical girl and the crippled beast was getting closer and closer, and then, as Tudinggui passed by the crippled beast, the clanging sound of metal and stone colliding resounded throughout the cave.
Crack.
The sound of some kind of stone cracking followed closely.
I saw that one of the legs of the crippled beast had been broken at some point.
"ah--"
The last sound was the shrill howl of the remaining beasts, like the shouts of countless people gathered together, even mixed with the tones of Tudinggui himself and Delphinium.
“It’s so noisy.”
Tu Dinggui turned around and shook the flagpole in his hand slightly. The sharp spear head on the top of the flagpole was emitting a cold light amid the fluttering flag. Judging from the crack on the crippled beast's leg, it was the spear head on the tip of the flagpole that pierced its body.
Without giving the crippled beast any chance to relax, Tudinggui rushed forward again with the flag in his hand. With another "crack", after almost the same action, the other leg of the crippled beast also cracked immediately.
But this time, its legs did not break off immediately.
Under everyone's gaze, its body, which originally had the texture of rock, now began to gleam with a metallic luster. Not only that, the magical fluctuations left by the osmanthus tree were also gradually assimilated from its broken wounds.
The three people, including Dogtail Grass, could sense that it was trying to... integrate the magical fluctuations of Osmanthus fragrans into its own cocoon shell.
For a crippled beast, this is already a terrifying speed of adaptation.
Once it completes this transformation, the magic power of the Tudinggui will be greatly reduced when attacking its pupa shell, and the result will be half the effort with twice the effort. Combined with its physique that can continue to become harder, this battle will definitely turn into an extremely long tug-of-war.
"ah--"
The crippled beast howled once more, but this time, its howl carried a hint of mockery, as if it was saying "it's my turn". As it opened its mouth, several terrifying waves of magic began to gather in its mouth, and then, in just a moment, the waves of magic turned into artillery fire, shooting towards Tu Dinggui.
whoosh.
The overly fierce bombardment brought strong wind pressure, which blew up Tu Dinggui's dress, but she remained calm, muttered something, raised her empty left hand, and pointed lightly forward.
Countless runes suddenly emerged from her cuffs, flowing continuously along a certain range, and then condensed into a wall of magic power in front of her.
Barrier technique.
This is a technique that has enhanced the functionality of the magic shield. As the name implies, this technique can create an extremely thick magic shield that is comparable to a city wall. Correspondingly, whether it is the magic power occupied or the complexity of the runes required, it is far beyond the magic shield. If a normal Leaf-level magic girl wants to use this technique temporarily, it will take at least half a minute to prepare.
And now, Tu Dinggui used this technique in just a few breaths.
Theoretically, this is not an impossible thing, especially for Delphinium who is watching from the sidelines. She knows a variety of advanced spell casting techniques that can help magical girls shorten the preparation time for spells.
However, it was just an advanced technique, and it was absolutely impossible to compress a technique that originally required half a minute to prepare into a few seconds. The fact that Tu Dinggui could do this could only mean one thing: she could already use multiple techniques in combination.
Of course, doing so would inevitably bring her huge pressure on magic output. Judging from the dim runes on her hand when she condensed the barrier spell, she even used the rune polyphony technique - this technique can speed up the spell, but it will greatly reduce her efficiency in using the spell in the next period of time. However, judging from Tu Dinggui's expression, she is no longer prepared to consider what "next" is.
boom--
The fierce magic bombardment hit the barrier she had condensed, and the exploding magic power almost instantly blasted a larger hole in the space behind the barrier. The soft earth walls could not withstand such a powerful attack at all, and in just a moment, the empty space made of earth was expanded by more than 30%.
Dogtail looked anxious and was about to go find Osmanthus fragrans with his wand in hand, but was gently stopped by Delphinium.
"You probably don't need to go." said Delphinium.
"Eh?" Coleus was a little confused. But when she looked at the direction of the osmanthus again, she immediately understood what Delphinium meant.
Behind the barrier, Tu Dinggui stood there, only his hair was a little messy.
"Dang!" She stared at the remains of the beast above her and slammed the flag in her hand to the ground again. This time, the emblems left on the bodies of the Delphinium and the Foxtail Grass disappeared together, and in their place, the emblem on Tudinggui's body became even more gorgeous.
"Ding!" She did not stop, and knocked the flagpole on the ground again. The fluctuation of her own magic power increased by several points at this moment.
And this is still not the end.
"Ding", "ding", "ding", "ding".
The continuous knocking sound rang out densely in the hollow, and after each sound, the light on Tudinggui's body became much stronger. Until finally, her whole body was covered with light, and the flag in her hand had completely turned into a ball of flame wrapped around the flagpole, and the originally brass buttons also shone like molten gold.
She raised the flagpole and pointed the tip of the spear at the crippled beast. The scorching sun-like light had made the entire cave as bright as day, and the gray-haired girl standing in the light was like the sun in the day.
"Disappear."
The god-like sun said so.
Then, the sun brought down punishment.
(End of this chapter)
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