Accompanied by a crisp and pleasant female voice from behind, a swift figure flashed past the man’s eyes, flickering above his head.
Within just a few dozen seconds, this enormous Monster’s body was clearly slashed by that figure, and the huge foot that was about to trample the ground was forced to pull back.
Its twisted body retreated several steps.
The Middle-aged Man blinked in disbelief, unable to believe that such a miracle was happening to him, granting him the fortune of escaping death.
“Hey, can you still stand up?”
While the man was still thinking, that swift figure suddenly appeared beside him, extending a hand.
Although the other party was just a red-haired girl barely over 1.5 meters tall, and her outfit didn’t look professional at all,
the confident smile on her face and the giant sword in her hands inexplicably gave the man a profound sense of reassurance.
Without a doubt, she was A City’s Magical Girl Scorching Flame.
“Um… thank you for your help, Miss Zhiyan.”
The man grasped Scorching Flame’s hand and pushed himself up from the ground with effort.
He barely managed a smile toward Scorching Flame, signaling that he was alright.
But his legs kept trembling, making Scorching Flame realize that the man wasn’t as calm as he seemed on the surface—he was still terrified of being killed by the Monster.
“Good that you’re okay. Next, could you call the Monster Response Department of A City to report the situation here? Then please lead the others on site to evacuate, okay?”
Scorching Flame smiled at the Middle-aged Man, then turned to look at the Monster standing still not far off, its movement halted, and spoke calmly.
“I…? Uh… yes. I will help.”
The Middle-aged Man hesitated for a few seconds before slowly nodding, as if summoning considerable courage to agree to Scorching Flame’s request.
“Thank you, sir. I need to continue fighting now.”
After hearing the man’s reply, Scorching Flame exhaled in relief, then bent her knees slightly, eyes fixed intently on the Monster ahead.
The next moment, Scorching Flame’s figure vanished instantly, leaving only streaks of crimson shadows.
“…With a Magical Girl here, what is there to fear?”
After Scorching Flame left, the man gave a bitter smile, feeling some regret at his own cowardice.
But soon he steadied his mood, pulled out his phone, and called the Monster Response Department to explain the situation.
…………
“Scorching Flame! Don’t slash its hands! Go for the Achilles heel or the back of the neck! Those are its weak points! Those areas lack Magic Power protection!” Pandora crouched on Scorching Flame’s shoulder, giving her a warning.
“Got it!”
Hearing Pandora’s voice, Scorching Flame swiftly changed position, appearing like a ghost at the Monster’s Achilles heel, then slashed down with her giant sword.
“Ho!”
The Monster roared in anger, wildly swinging its hands down in an attempt to hit Scorching Flame near its heel.
But Scorching Flame snorted coldly and suddenly retreated, easily dodging the attack, causing the Monster’s strike to miss once again.
“Hmph! Taking on a bulky Shadow Beast is easy! At first, it looked like one of your urban legends’ snowmen, so I thought it’d be tough, but it turns out it’s nothing special.”
Seeing the Monster lose its composure, Pandora shouted excitedly, seemingly already picturing the Monster’s imminent Purification.
“Huff…”
Scorching Flame exhaled heavily and opened a safe distance from the Monster, then glanced at the battery level on her bracelet.
Forty-three percent.
Not much left, but it should be enough to eliminate this snowman-like Monster.
This guy sure was durable, taking so many slashes and still not dying.
But if being tough was its only trait, then there was nothing to really fear.
Let’s go!
After a few mental complaints, Scorching Flame gathered her strength again, sword raised, and lunged upward, aiming straight for the Monster’s neck.
But strangely, as Scorching Flame approached, a faint white reflective glow appeared in the space near the Monster’s neck.
It seemed something had appeared there.
“Scorching Flame! Retreat! Danger!” Pandora’s body trembled suddenly as she looked at the reflection, quickly warning Scorching Flame.
Scorching Flame immediately stopped midair, then forced her body to quickly retreat to avoid the unknown threat.
“Ssss…”
But it was already too late.
The instant a snake-like hiss sounded, a giant black snake appeared in front of Scorching Flame.
A gust of foul wind blew as the giant snake opened its blood-red maw to bite at Scorching Flame, moving at twice her retreating speed!
“Damn it!”
Knowing she couldn’t block it, Scorching Flame cursed silently and swung her giant sword upward, aiming to slash the snake’s mouth to prevent it from swallowing her whole.
But just as her sword was about to strike the snake’s jaws, the snake strangely froze in place, causing her attack to miss.
“Scorching Flame!!!”
After missing, the giant snake lunged forward with a vicious bite aimed at Scorching Flame’s head.
Pandora hurriedly shouted a warning, but the foul-smelling mouth was already too close—there was no time to dodge.
It seemed that in the next moment, Scorching Flame would lose her head, becoming a headless Magical Girl.
“I know!”
Facing near-certain death, Scorching Flame shouted fiercely and instantly dropped her giant sword.
Her hands turned into fiery chains, and with all her strength, she stabbed upward.
At the moment her head was about to be bitten off, the crimson chains and giant sword suddenly appeared between her and the giant snake, briefly blocking the snake’s tearing bite.
“Ssss!”
The snake hissed angrily, restrained by the chains, then abruptly withdrew without hesitation.
“Roar!!!”
During the intense battle between Scorching Flame and the giant snake over these ten-plus seconds, the previously encountered huge Monster approached her side and slammed down its right hand heavily.
Having been focused solely on the giant snake, Scorching Flame only now realized the Monster had silently come beside her and launched an attack.
No matter how fast Scorching Flame was, she couldn’t dodge this incoming strike from the enormous Monster.
“Bang!”
With a loud crash, Scorching Flame was slammed to the ground by the brute Monster’s palm, her weapon flying from her grasp.
“Cough, cough cough… cough cough cough…”
“Ugh… pfft!”
Struggling to stand, Scorching Flame felt dizzy and a sharp pain throb in her head.
The world before her seemed to spin uncontrollably.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, she covered her mouth with her hand, determined to continue fighting.
But when she lowered her right hand, she felt something sticky and slimy on her palm, accompanied by a faint metallic-sweet stench in her mouth.
Scorching Flame froze for a moment, then instinctively glanced at her palm.
She saw her own blood.
It’s Scorching Flame again, please be consistent