Chương 89: Attack

In the night sky, a streak of pinkish-gold light, like a burning arrow, streaked across the horizon at an astonishing speed, heading straight for the abandoned industrial park on the northern outskirts of the city.

Starfrost raised her magic to its limit, the cold night wind whistling past her ears, and the city lights receding rapidly below, turning into blurry patches of light.

With her head slightly lowered, her gaze occasionally swept over the silver pocket watch in her hand, which was shimmering with a red light. The signal receiver from the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Intelligence was currently guiding her to the core area where the infiltration of the virtual world was taking place.

Her gaze was unusually focused, not only paying attention to the guidance of the badge, but also seemingly focusing on something else. Her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her face carried a seriousness rarely seen on her usual face.

But that focus was soon drawn to the area ahead that was gradually becoming clearer and exuding an ominous aura.

The massive industrial park resembled a crouching beast in the night, its dark factory outlines appearing somewhat menacing under the moonlight.

At this moment, a visible, distorted dark bubble is enveloping part of the park.

Unlike the ethereal bubble encountered in the storage area last time, this bubble appeared more solid and enormous, and the energy fluctuations it emitted were more oppressive, as if a huge, twisted black tumor was attached to the edge of the city.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xing Shuang's figure drew a precise arc in the air and rushed straight into the illusory bubble that exuded an ominous aura.

The scene before my eyes instantly distorted, and a familiar sense of oppression and a faint fishy stench rushed towards me. Everything inside the bubble took on a bizarre and unreal form under the influence of the illusory energy.

An unsettling silence hung in the air, and the massive metal pipes and rusty machinery cast menacing shadows under the distorted light, as if they might come to life at any moment.

Xingshuang hovered in mid-air, her sharp gaze sweeping over the intricate factory buildings and pipes below. She could clearly sense that this illusory bubble was filled with rich illusory energy, as well as... a large number of nascent illusory beasts.

"hiss--!"

A dozen or so dark shadows suddenly shot out from the rusted cracks in the pipes below, shooting towards Xing Shuang like arrows released from a bow. They were several illusory beasts, about half the height of a person, and resembling giant locusts.

They are covered in dark green carapaces, their compound eyes gleam with scarlet light, their six long, arthropod-like legs end in sharp barbs, and two fangs as sharp as sickles protrude from their mouthparts.

Faced with such a large number of Void Beasts attacking her, Xing Shuang's expression did not change at all, and she did not even move her body. She simply raised her magic wand casually, and a pinkish-gold light flashed at the tip of the wand.

"Miscellaneous fish."

She uttered those two words softly, then tapped her wand lightly, and beams of highly refined pink-gold magic power poured out like a sudden rain.

Those beams of light were not the "Star Strings" she had just mastered, nor were they any complicated spells; they were simply the most basic and purest release of magic, but their power was not to be underestimated.

The beam of light pierced the bodies of one virtual beast after another with precision, each hit accompanied by the beast's mournful howl and the sound of its shell shattering.

Their proud, hard shells are as fragile as paper in the face of these seemingly ordinary beams of light.

The battle quickly turned into a one-sided affair. Starfrost nimbly weaved through the horde of void beasts, her wand flashing with pink-gold light like the scythe of death, efficiently and precisely reaping these otherworldly lives.

She didn't use any fancy techniques, nor did she display any overwhelming power that could instantly change the course of the battle. She simply used the simplest and most direct method to wipe one Void Beast after another from this world.

It was as if... she was just doing a very basic, textbook-style cleaning job.

After clearing away all the Void Beasts in front of her, Xing Shuang's gaze did not linger on the remains of these juvenile-level creatures for a moment, but instead turned to the depths of the factory area.

There, an even stronger, more nauseating odor was slowly emerging.

She took a deep breath, and her figure transformed into a stream of light once more, flying towards the source of that aura.

After passing through several towering factory buildings, a huge open-air waste dump suddenly appeared before us, with all kinds of discarded metals and building materials piled up like mountains, forming a natural maze.

In the very center of this wasteland, a colossal ethereal beast was coiled up.

It was a grotesque monster, its body resembling a centipede magnified dozens of times. Its dark red carapace was covered with sharp bone spikes, and several pairs of razor-sharp limbs extended from each side of its torso, carving deep trenches in the ground as it swayed.

Its head appears to have no eyes, but instead a gaping maw filled with sharp teeth from which thick, highly corrosive saliva drips, corroding the ground into small, steaming pits.

"roar--!"

Sensing the arrival of the magical girl, the Void Beast let out a deafening roar, locking onto Starfrost, who was suspended in mid-air. Its massive body arched sharply, and dozens of pairs of sharp limbs exerted force simultaneously, rushing forward at a speed completely disproportionate to its enormous size.

Facing this enemy, whose size and aura far surpassed those of the previous Void Beasts, Starfrost's eyes remained calm, but the hand gripping her wand tightened slightly.

Instead of confronting the enemy head-on, she nimbly dodged their first attack with a sway of her body.

The massive body swept past where she had just been standing, slamming heavily into a pile of discarded steel bars with a deafening roar.

Having missed its target, the Void Beast seemed to become even more agitated. It opened its massive maw, filled with sharp teeth, and a dark purple beam of energy shot out from it at an astonishing speed.

Starfrost neither dodged nor evaded; with a light tap of her wand, a thick magical barrier instantly unfolded before her.

"boom!"

The dark purple beam of light slammed into the barrier, bursting out with dazzling light. Ripples spread across the surface of the magic barrier, but it did not shake at all, steadily blocking the attack.

Seeing that the ranged attack was ineffective, the Void Beast roared again and charged forward like a battering ram. This time, it was faster and its attack was more ferocious.

Xingshuang's eyes narrowed, knowing that she could no longer simply dodge and defend. Her petite figure drew a graceful arc in the air, skillfully avoiding the impact, while her wand swung repeatedly.

Dozens of condensed magical beams poured down like a torrential rain, precisely striking its seemingly indestructible dark red carapace.

"Bang bang bang bang—!"

A series of explosions rang out, each beam of magic exploding into a pinkish-gold flame on the scarlet carapace. The hard carapace was bombarded, sparks flying everywhere, and a teeth-grinding cracking sound was heard.

The battle lasted for several minutes. The massive body of the Void Beast was covered with charred marks from the magic beams, and fine cracks appeared on its dark red carapace. Its movements became sluggish, and its roars were no longer powerful.

Starfrost seized the opportunity, raising her wand high, the tip of which gathered a light more dazzling than ever before.

"It's over," she whispered.

A torrent of pinkish-gold magic power, several times thicker than any of the previous beams, pierced the heavens and earth like a divine spear of punishment, carrying the momentum to destroy everything, and slammed into the head of the erosion-level void beast.

"Awooo—!!!!"

The beast let out a final, mournful howl of despair, its massive head exploding instantly under the impact of magic, dark purple blood splattering everywhere.

Its massive body convulsed violently a few times before collapsing with a crash, kicking up clouds of dust.

As the dust settled, only a huge crater remained in the center of the waste dump, along with a basketball-sized energy core emitting a faint purple glow.

Xing Shuang slowly landed on the ground, a few fine beads of sweat seeping from her forehead. Although the battle was intense, it had not taken a heavy toll on her.

She stepped forward, bent down and picked up the erosion-level energy core, along with the cores left behind by the juvenile-level void beasts, and put them into her "Tears of the Star".

As the illusory bubble burst, the surrounding scenery quickly returned to normal. The cold moonlight shone on the factory building again, and the evening breeze blew, stirring up a few withered leaves on the ground. Everything seemed to have returned to its previous quiet state.

Starfrost slowly descended onto the gravel-strewn ground, exhaled softly, and the pink-gold wand in her hand gradually lost its light.

The battle is over.

She planned to leave quietly before the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs arrived, as usual.

However, the moment she took that first step— An indescribable chill suddenly swept over her from behind.

It was an extreme, pure malice, without any energy fluctuations, and it didn't even alter the flow of air. Like the silent scythe of death, it approached without a sound.

Starfrost's pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size, just as she tried to turn around and gather her magic power— puff.

A barely perceptible sound, like a sharp blade piercing rotten leather, rang out in the deathly silent open space.

Xing Shuang's petite body stiffened abruptly, frozen in place as she was about to turn around. Her deep purple eyes were quickly filled with a mixture of shock and pain.

A touch of crimson, like an eerie flower suddenly blooming on a snow-white canvas, silently spread from the back of her combat suit...