Bai Yu kited the monster for a while longer, finally waiting until Su Keke appeared.
The Blonde Girl arrived behind the Stitch Monster and raised her right hand.
A dazzling golden light emerged from her palm and fell upon the Stitch Monster’s body.
**[Reset to Zero]**
Under the influence of Su Keke’s ability, the Kitchenware Stitch Monster, which had been swinging its arms in preparation for its next attack on Bai Yu, suddenly looked as if someone had pressed a rewind button the moment the golden light hit its massive frame.
*Clang!*
A sharp metallic sound followed as the kitchenware that had formed its armor and weapons fell from the giant body one after another.
They reverted to ordinary kitchen utensils, clattering all over the ground.
As for the core, the dark red chunk of meat, it rapidly shrank under the baptism of the golden light. Finally, with a soft *splat*, it landed on the scattered kitchenware.
Bai Yu stared intently at the fallen meat.
‘What? It was just a piece of pork belly.’
This unremarkable piece of pork belly had really put her through the wringer after being corrupted and mutated by Star Eclipse Energy.
Fortunately, Su Keke had finally returned and successfully used her Esper Ability to deal with the Stitch Monster made of kitchenware.
Su Keke’s ability was not actually that complex; she could revert things to their original form.
If she wanted to, she could even revert all the kitchenware on the ground back into iron ore.
When used on an Abnormal Entity, it naturally reverted them to their state before being corrupted by Star Eclipse Energy, which was equivalent to an instant kill.
One could say her mechanics were completely maxed out.
However, her ability had its limits; using it consumed her mental strength.
Furthermore, the stronger the target was, the more mental strength she would consume.
Once her mental strength was exhausted, she would, at best, collapse into a coma from exhaustion, or at worst, face a life-threatening situation.
Of course, in the later stages of the Original Work, once Su Keke had fully matured, there were almost no targets left that required her to completely drain her mental strength.
Even when facing the Final Boss, Su Keke was the one who took the initiative, greatly weakening the Final Boss’s abilities and giving the Protagonist Party the hope needed to achieve victory.
At the moment, Bai Yu was unclear about Su Keke’s true power level.
Since Su Keke was an A-rank from her first appearance in the Original Work, she decided to treat her as an A-rank for now.
However, as an A-rank Esper, what exactly could have delayed her for so long that she had to leave Bai Yu to stall that Stitch Monster?
Su Keke did not notice what Bai Yu was thinking.
The girl clapped her hands, then her lips curled into her signature smile as she gave Bai Yu a victory sign.
“Easy peasy, hehe~ Also, Bai Yu, you did a great job.”
She indeed did a great job.
She had stalled for such a long time and finally waited for Su Keke to show up.
But the problem was, did Bai Yu really need to stall for that long?
‘So, where exactly did Su Keke go during this time? What could possibly stall an A-rank Esper like her? If Su Keke had arrived a bit earlier, I wouldn’t have had to struggle here for so long.’
Of course, Bai Yu was only throwing a fit in her heart; her face still maintained a gentle expression.
“Um, I didn’t actually do much. I just tried my best to hold it back. I’m just glad you arrived in time, Miss Su. If you hadn’t stepped in to help, I wouldn’t have been able to last much longer.”
“Oh dear… that’s a bit embarrassing. Actually, you weren’t supposed to be the one holding it back, Bai Yu.”
‘So, what exactly happened to this girl?’
Hearing Su Keke say that, it seemed like she could have settled it perfectly from the start.
But because of some accident, she failed to handle the Stitch Monster, which led to Bai Yu needing to stall it.
“Did you encounter some dangerous situation over there, Miss Su?”
Bai Yu immediately put on a worried expression.
“Was it because you had to deal with something dangerous that you arrived late?”
“Ahaha… about that…”
Su Keke suddenly became a bit bashful.
She rubbed the back of her head, seemingly hesitating over whether she should reveal what had happened earlier.
Seeing her like this, Bai Yu already had a guess in her mind.
‘She probably underestimated her enemy and got blindsided.’
“Um, if it’s inconvenient, it’s fine if you don’t say it, Miss Su.”
No matter how much she complained internally, she had to continue playing her role as a gentle and considerate person on the surface.
Hearing her say that, Su Keke laughed awkwardly.
“Actually… well, it’s nothing much. I just didn’t pay attention and got ambushed. I was knocked out for a short while.”
“Eh? Is that so? Are you okay then, Miss Su? Should you go for a physical checkup? It wouldn’t be good if you were injured somewhere.”
“I’m fine. It didn’t even hurt, really. It just made me feel a bit dizzy for a moment.”
Looking at the smile on Su Keke’s face, Bai Yu said it was good that she was okay, but deep down, she was fuming.
‘Was it really just for a moment?’
‘If it was just a moment, would it really justify leaving me to stall for such a long time?’
Of course, if it was just about stalling for a bit, Bai Yu could accept it since she wasn’t hurt.
However, the problem was that Loweia had been frightened.
That was the most fatal part.
Originally, Bai Yu had been working hard to avoid letting Loweia come into contact with Abnormal Entities.
Whenever she noticed one nearby, she would always lead Loweia away and deal with it in secret.
But now, Loweia had seen an Abnormal Entity with her own eyes.
If she had known, she would have covered Loweia’s eyes beforehand to prevent her from seeing any of this.
Now, she could only hope that Loweia was just a little startled and that her memories wouldn’t awaken because of this.
That way, Bai Yu’s plan could still proceed.
While she was nursing a headache, Bai Yu suddenly heard a scream.
The voice was very familiar, and the moment she heard it, Bai Yu’s body froze.
“Wei Ya?”
‘No way… Is it one thing after another?’
Without having the time to explain the situation to Su Keke, Bai Yu gripped the broken broom handle in her hand and rushed toward the alley where Loweia had previously hidden.
She saw Loweia sitting helplessly on the cold ground, her hands braced against the floor as she continuously backed away.
Her once-clean black skirt was now stained with a bit of dust.
The girl’s face was deathly pale.
On the ground about 0.5 meters in front of her, a mass of twisted shadow was writhing, crawling toward Loweia.
‘Damn it…’
‘I already killed so many of them earlier. How did another Shadow Lurker pop up?’
At this moment, the Shadow Lurker’s eyes, which glowed with an eerie green light, were locked onto the white-haired girl who seemed to have no way to fight back.
It manifested a black spike and aimed it at Loweia.
Before it could act, Bai Yu charged forward and slammed the broken broom handle into its body.
“Die!”
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