Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Page 129

Lania said, “Why don’t you go to your long river… ah, in your words, it should be called a ‘spiritual vein,’ right? You should go and take a look.”

She had noticed the special features of the spiritual vein last time.

Unlike their world, the spiritual veins in this world are not simply long rivers; they are like the veins of a leaf, supplying nutrients to both sides equally.

If this side of the spiritual vein is the surface world, then the other side is the inner world, which contains things that cannot appear in the surface world.

The outer world and the inner world are connected by the same spiritual vein, which supplies them with nourishment together.

Did the person who disappeared just happen to walk into the intersection of the two worlds?

No, it's not that coincidental.

The two sides won't meet so easily unless a hole is burned through them.

If that's the case, it does resemble a certain form of witchcraft that Lania remembers... but this is just speculation.

She proposed a more feasible plan for Terasaki Ayasa and Tono Hitomi: during the period when she was unable to move freely, she could only entrust information to magic users.

The inability to resurrect is too restrictive, but the limitations imposed on human transmutation by this outer world are simply too great...

Forget it, let's get that guy, Mayumi Haga, back first.

"It would be best to investigate the spiritual vein as soon as possible." Lania thought a lot, but in the end she still urged, "Get that idiot Mayumi Haga back quickly."

That guy has fallen behind in his creation magic course by half a month! If she had a choice, she would have rushed over and dragged the idiot back to catch up on his lessons!

That fool has no talent to begin with. If he doesn't hurry, he won't be able to teach her before his soul power is exhausted and completely dissipates.

.................................................. ................

After obtaining information from Rania, the three magic users discussed the matter and decided to have Sugiyama Rika take Tono Hitomi to the spiritual vein to find the "cave" Rania had mentioned.

Lania's theory is that since the inner and outer worlds were pierced, causing people to fall in, a deep hole must appear in the spiritual veins near the pierced area.

Once you find the right spot, you can easily access the other world and bring the people from there back.

However, so far, the only person in Miracle City qualified to enter and exit the Spirit Vein is Sugiyama Rika.

Without her guidance, Hitomi Tono wouldn't have been able to get in by herself.

Ayasa Terasaki, however, decided to stay behind.

On the one hand, we can't let the remaining three magic users all perish in this operation; leaving her alone is safer.

On the other hand, keeping her behind is better than having Hitomi Tono or Rika Sugiyama; at least she's smarter.

Aya Terasaki has already established a basic communication channel with Lania, leaving her with a magical item that allows for telepathic communication. This way, if Lania suddenly remembers something, she can contact them.

Once they were ready, Hitomi Tono and Rika Sugiyama didn't want to waste a second and took the train from the mortal world to the spiritual vein where they had fought before.

The spiritual veins have a strong ability to self-repair. Last time it looked like a mess, but now it has recovered to about 70-80%, only the flowing river of magical light is a little dimmer than before.

Sugiyama Rika couldn't help but mutter, "I was wondering why I've been feeling a bit sluggish when using magic lately..."

The spiritual veins are also related to the daily use of magic by magic users. In this respect, they are somewhat like a huge server, helping magic users to perform calculations and serving as a savior for instinct-based magical girls.

As luck would have it, both Sugiyama Rika and Tono Hitomi are actually instinctive users. They don't use magic with many techniques; they just rely on their instincts and sheer force.

The fact that the spiritual veins have recovered so well is a great thing for them.

However, now is not the time to think about such things.

The two had more pressing matters to attend to, so after briefly marveling at the power of the spiritual veins' self-repairing abilities, they used flight magic to elevate their vision and find the deep cave that Lania had mentioned.

Deep within this spiritual vein, filled with the light of miracles, finding a dark cave entrance is actually quite simple.

With just a slight opening of the eyes, one can see the dark stream of magic swirling in the distance.

Because a gap has appeared between the two worlds, the pressure on the other side has become unbalanced, causing the surrounding magic to begin to flow.

The flow here is different from the flow guided by the spiritual veins. The spiritual energy of the spiritual veins will flow in a predetermined direction, but the magical energy that appears there is chaotic and disordered, forming a tornado-like shape.

Danger visible to the naked eye.

However, just as the two reinforced their magical shields and prepared to go over and investigate, they felt the surroundings begin to tremble.

If they were standing on solid ground, they could feel the vibrations beneath their feet as if something enormous had struck them. The noise, like trying to break down a door with an axe through a door panel, grew louder and louder, from a faint sound at first to something that even the two flying in the air could feel.

Everything was vibrating violently, in waves, and the sound of the impact was getting closer and closer.

Then, from the deep hole over there, the two saw a crack.

The crack didn't appear on a physical object, but rather resembled a barrier between worlds. Although the barrier between the inner and outer worlds wasn't that thick, it was indeed a thin layer that ordinary people couldn't break through.

All that could be seen was a black dragon covered in blood, its horn half severed, repeatedly ramming its head against its weakest point.

He looked utterly miserable; his flesh and blood were beginning to melt, and the intense pain he was in was so visible that he nearly lost his mind during the impact.

But finally, after a dull thud, came the sound of shattering.

The black dragon smashed the barrier with its head, half of its head caved in, but it still struggled to climb back up, having no strength left to fly.

Before the astonished eyes of the two magic users, the black dragon's flesh began to melt, quickly turning into a puddle of mud.

Main Text: Chapter 204 Weakness After Dragon Transformation

“That is…” Sugiyama Rika just realized that she had seen the black dragon in front of her before. It was the giant dragon that Haga Mayumi had transformed into. Meanwhile, Tono Hitomi, who was next to her, had already flown over with her body faster than her brain.

"Mayumi woof woof woof—" It made an excited sound like a dog waiting for its owner to come home from get off work. The deep red figure almost couldn't stop and rushed into the pile of flesh... Of course, it is now gradually turning into a more harmonious and healthy orange color.

However, Hitomi Tono had experienced something like "Mayumi Haga being smashed into pieces right in front of her," so she had developed some immunity to Mayumi Haga's passive ability to deal with the mental attacks of childlike magical girls.

Therefore, with her concern for Mayumi Haga outweighing the suspicious heat emanating from the objects in front of her, Hitomi Tono ignored how hellish the scene was and only wanted to find Mayumi Haga, whom she hadn't seen for a long time.

She had completely forgotten about Mayumi... If she hadn't forgotten, Mayumi wouldn't have had to struggle so hard to break free from underneath.

Just hearing that sound makes me feel so bad.

Tono Hitomi hurriedly searched for Haga Mayumi's figure.

She first flew to the head and painstakingly crawled into the dragon's skull, only to find that it was also covered in dark red flesh, making it impossible to tell which was which.

She used magic to conjure a shovel and immediately began digging.

Behind her, Sugiyama Rika saw that she had originally intended to use observation magic to find life signs inside the dragon's corpse, but the black dragon's resistance to magic extended to the corpse, and her magic could not penetrate the huge body.

Since there's no way to save energy with magic, we might as well just go down and dig with a shovel.

Sugiyama Rika's mind was filled with questions.

We don't know if Mayumi came out with anyone else, or if she encountered danger in the Otherworld... but we'll have to wait until we find Mayumi to find the answers to these questions.

She had just shoveled twice when she suddenly felt something at her feet.

It was a hand. Because it was completely submerged and covered in minced meat, it was really hard to spot at first glance.

If that hand hadn't suddenly moved, she probably would have stepped on it.

Sugiyama Rika was somewhat startled, but then realized that she had found the person buried inside.

However, the owner of the hand climbed out on her own before she could help.

It is 3904.

As the person with the best physical abilities besides Mayumi Haga, it's not surprising that she was able to save herself. Moreover, she was only buried for a short time, and within this spiritual vein, her physical strength became even greater, allowing her to easily extricate herself.

She spat out the foreign object from her mouth twice, wiped the fleshy mess off her face, ignored Sugiyama Rika's concern, and after a brief moment of stunned silence, immediately stood up, excitedly going to find the others.

Meanwhile, Hitomi Tono found Arisu Akari and Takajo Yuri, who were not in good condition. The two seemed to have suffered a great mental shock—actually, she felt that being buried in a pile of flesh was too terrifying—and did not have time to transform into magical girls to protect themselves, so they were buried there.

The two of them were not strong enough to be like 3904, who could dig himself out while being buried alive.

Therefore, he was dug out by Hitomi Tono in a rather disheveled state.

Fortunately, the two of them didn't ingest too much foreign matter. After a little cleaning with a cleansing spell, the surrounding minced meat had already turned into flowing orange juice, so they were only slightly damp.

but……

"Where's Mayumi?" Tono Hitomi dug for a while longer, but still couldn't find Haga Mayumi, and couldn't help but panic.

The black dragon was simply too large. Even if it were dissolved by the orange juice rules of the children's world, it wouldn't turn into orange juice in a single breath like Mayumi Haga did before.

The enormous corpse melted from the surface first, like melting ice. It was so large that even at the ley line leading to the world, it didn't immediately turn into a pool of orange, unidentified liquid.

But this also brings problems.

Judging from the situation, Mayumi Haga's core is not on the surface like the three rescued people, but is located deep inside her body.

The black dragon's shell is already dead, which is why it has begun to dissolve. The guardian core should have already begun to regenerate the humanoid shell of Haga Mayumi.

However, the current situation is that Mayumi Haga will probably be resurrected inside the brain or heart of this behemoth, but she should be in a weakened state now and cannot run out on her own like 3904... She will suffocate inside the black dragon's body.

We must find the real bow quickly.

Hitomi Tono and Sataka Sugiyama were both quite worried.

Although Mayumi Haga won't die, the feeling of suffocation is still unpleasant.

It was at this moment that they suddenly felt a chill on the top of their heads.

Looking up, I saw a transparent hand, faintly glowing, emerging from the flesh above my head.

They were standing inside the black dragon's mouth, with the ceiling naturally forming the palate.

In other words, a hand reached out from above?

Hitomi Tono immediately recognized that the style of these gloves was similar to the gloves on Mayumi Haga's Guardian Set.

Could it be a real bow?

Thinking this, she subconsciously grasped the outstretched hand.

Then, the hand gripped her hand tightly and suddenly pulled hard!

Tono Hitomi only had time to let out a scream before she was pulled into the flesh wall by the unknown ghost lady!

Startled, she instinctively held her breath as she walked through the gradually cooling dragon corpse.

Finally, when she opened her eyes again, she was taken to the heart of the black dragon.

The black dragon's body was enormous, and its heart was as tall as a three-story building. If this massive mass of flesh were still moving, it would surely be pounding like thunder.

Unfortunately, it has now lost all its vitality.

An unknown ghost led Hitomi Tono deep into her heart.

The blood, not yet completely cold, soaked through her calves, and just standing there, Hitomi Tono could feel goosebumps creeping up her skin.

Then, she saw Mayumi Haga.

To be precise, it was Haga Mayumi, wrapped in a thick layer of blood and mud, like a dead cocoon.

The cocoon remained motionless and appeared lifeless.

This is……

"Save her," said the ghostly woman beside her. "She's too weak to struggle free and needs a helping hand."

Upon hearing this, Tono Hitomi immediately stepped forward, inserted her arm into the hole, and groped for Haga Mayumi, who was buried inside.

She touched Mayumi Haga's hot, smooth arm and was overjoyed, gripping it tightly.

Mayumi Haga, who was trapped inside, seemed to have also woken up. Sensing the force of the rescue from the outside, she used her last strength to struggle free.

Finally, after using enhancement magic, Hitomi Tono dragged Mayumi Haga out.

Mayumi Haga finally made contact with the outside world. She collapsed to her knees, her eyes closed, clutching her neck. Her face flushed red as she managed to cough up a mouthful of blood that had been blocking her trachea. Her entire body was covered in blood and chunks of flesh, sticky and sliding down her body.

Suddenly, Hitomi Tono noticed something unusual about Mayumi Haga.

It's not that she's completely naked, but rather... there's still a horn left on her forehead from her dragon transformation, and a tail with scales on her back.

Mayumi Haga's eyes were covered and she couldn't open them, but she could feel Hitomi Tono's presence. After relaxing, she felt safe and was hugged by Hitomi Tono, since she didn't have the strength to move on her own.

The side effects of dragonification far exceeded Mayumi Haga's imagination... If her magic power is not replenished in time, she will enter a period of weakness lasting up to twenty-four hours.

"……real……"

"...Mahim!...Mahim! I can hear you..."

--……who?

Mayumi Haga struggled to sit up, but she had no strength left in her body. The chaotic memories caused by her dragon transformation finally began to clear after she returned to human form, and she remembered why she was sitting there in such a disheveled state.

...Have they already left that other world...?

Originally, Hitomi Tono was supposed to open the magic replenishment and feed it to Mayumi Haga, but at this moment, she realized that something was wrong with her.