As Semi unfolded its own den, Lin Xiaolu suddenly realized that at some point, she was left all alone.
The reason she quickly noticed was because Mu Baihe, who had just been talking about irrelevant things, had fallen silent as the rise of the Blue Moon matched with the disappearance of his voice.
Unconsciously, companions who had stood by her just a few seconds ago had vanished without a trace, leaving only the lonely sound of rustling tree shadows.
This snap realization made Lin Xiaolu, who had been shocked by the "Fairy transformed into Remnant Beasts" fact, become alert and stopped thinking about those trivial matters, instead starting to carefully observe her surroundings.
Her experience in combat with Remnant Beasts of egg rank or higher wasn't plentiful, and she had seen very few "dens." If Semi hadn't actually mentioned the word "den," she probably wouldn't even realize what she was facing now.
Concerning the disappearance of her companions, she also had some conjectures, with the first thing coming to mind being the rules.
She didn't believe that the enemy had eliminated her companions, because if the enemy had that kind of power, the person hindering Emerald Sparrow and the others on the road earlier wouldn't have been that woman, but rather the Remnant Beast in front of her now.
But if the current phenomenon really was related to the rules, that offered no comfort—it meant she was now facing a Remnant Beast equivalent to an "Inchworm" phase. The last time she encountered an enemy of this level or above was that guy named Mosi.
Could the current her survive an encounter with Mosi from that time?
Lin Xiaolu didn't want to think about this question; she didn't even have the time to think.
Because although her companions had disappeared, the enemy was still there.
Having turned into a Remnant Beast, Semi sat on the sand dune, its huge single eye staring at her.
Night, forest, facing the enemy alone; for Lin Xiaolu this was a scene too unforgettable, as she still remembered the night when she met Emerald Sparrow. Now and then, the situations unexpectedly felt similar.
And that evening, if Emerald Sparrow had not reached out to help, she probably would have already died under the claws of that Inchworm phase Remnant Beast.
Even now, remembering that feeling of facing death still made Lin Xiaolu's back bristle; and if not for the fact that a Magical Girl's body didn't need a heart to pump blood, her heart rate would probably be off the charts by now.
"Your scent is very similar to Cornflower's,"
Semi, despite having become a Remnant Beast, hadn't lost all reason. Its giant eye, although brimming with ferocity, still retained a hint of lucidity: "What is your relationship with her?"
"...Nothing special."
Lin Xiaolu had gotten used to these enemies always referring to Emerald Sparrow as "Cornflower," but that didn't mean she would reveal anything related to her: "Just teammates in a squad, nothing more."
"Teammates, huh... Heh, what a convenient and handy term."
Semi laughed for some unknown reason but didn't seem to intend to probe deeper. It just slowly hunched its body and raised its head: "If you don't want to talk, then die with your answer."
With that movement, dark Magic Power instantly gathered around its body, and its massive form lunged at Lin Xiaolu like an arrow released from its bow.
Lin Xiaolu had been prepared for this, though the opponent's movements were faster than she expected, it didn't prevent her from leaping along a flight trajectory she had already planned, dodging Semi's pounce while taking cover behind a relatively stout tree.
However, when she turned her head to confirm Semi's next move, what she saw caused her pupils to shrink.
She saw all the trees that Semi had charged through, trampled down at waist height, leaving only half-cut stumps still standing on the ground, while the parts of the trees had all shattered into countless splinters, scattered all around.
She reached out a hand and caught a piece of wood chip falling from the sky. The edges of this wood chip were smooth cuts, as if they had been sliced by a machine. Not only that, but the color at the cut was slightly whitened, as though it had been withering for a while.
And such a wood chip was but a byproduct of Semi's path, and the whole process hadn't made much noise, proving that the trees weren't smashed by brute force but were directly sliced by some invisible power.
Among the severed trees, Semi propped itself up on its front legs, turned its head, with no action taken to find the target, as if it already knew where Lin Xiaolu was and pinpointed her location.
A strong premonition of danger rose in Lin Xiaolu's heart.
Without any hesitation, she utilized the technique of Turbidity, rapidly turning her Magic Power into a white blaze of light, and following her instincts, solidified the white flame into a throwing weapon and hurled it forward.
And at that same instant she began to act, Semi not far away leapt into the air.
After Lin Xiaolu threw her spear made of light, she instinctively began to move to the side. But in her line of sight, Semi, already in the midst of a pounce, seemed to defy the laws of physics as it, without any apparent leverage, suddenly twisted back towards Lin Xiaolu's direction.
This time, Lin Xiaolu had no room to dodge. She was acutely aware of this, so without any hesitation, she steeled her heart, clenched her teeth, and called upon all her Magic Power, meeting the oncoming Semi head-on with full force.