“Thud!”
A fist slammed into the ground, sending up clouds of dust and scattered stones, while Jiang Yao just barely dodged, sliding beneath the Aggregation with a sweeping tackle.
“Hum.”
The Aggregation’s strike missed, and it continued moving forward.
Jiang Yao had already noticed that this thing was heading straight toward the commercial street.
If her attacks weren’t very effective or if she didn’t strike, it simply ignored her, showing no reaction and just kept moving forward.
It must have a purpose to act this way.
There was definitely something in the commercial street—or in that direction—that was attracting it.
And that dark fairy…
Driving her magic power, Jiang Yao flew through the air, intercepting the Aggregation once again in the blink of an eye.
Since she blocked its path, the Aggregation naturally raised its hand to strike.
At that moment, Jiang Yao shouted loudly:
“Wait! I want to talk to you!”
“Swish!”
The fist didn’t stop; the Aggregation’s first strike missed, and the next hit followed immediately.
“Fairy An·Sui·Guan! Don’t hit me yet, I have something to say!”
“Hm?”
A puzzled voice came from somewhere inside the Aggregation’s loudspeaker, and the fist that was about to fall stopped.
Just like before, a light screen projection appeared, showing the little black ball An Shui Guan sitting on its throne.
It hid its bag of potato chips behind its back and, hearing Jiang Yao correctly call out its name as an enemy—without emphasizing “dark fairy” but simply saying “fairy”—it was visibly pleased and laughed:
“You, this light—magic—girl, actually understand some manners. I’ll give you at most five minutes. Speak, what do you want to talk about?”
(This guy really sticks to its emphasis principle…)
A bit speechless inside, Jiang Yao faced the little black ball on the light screen and said:
“If it were just an ordinary enemy or beast, I would definitely ignore them and just fight, but since you are a fairy, you must be different from those demon monsters.”
“Those servant trash aren’t worth comparing to me.” An Shui Guan blinked. “So what exactly do you want to say?”
“Right, I only talk to high-level figures, and as a fairy, you’re the high-level figure I want to communicate with.”
Jiang Yao nodded:
“You, this Aggregation, can’t kill me for now, and I can’t deal with you easily either. Why don’t you just tell me what’s the purpose behind this big operation? Maybe we can find a more advanced way to resolve today’s situation?”
“Eh?”
An Shui Guan was somewhat surprised: “You’re a bit different from the magical girls I know. Although essentially a weakling, you are at least intelligent.”
Waving her hand, Jiang Yao laughed repeatedly: “You flatter me, you flatter me.”
“Don’t say useless stuff. Hurry up and tell me, what kind of ‘advanced’ method?”
An Shui Guan was growing impatient. Its magic domain had limits, especially such a large one. It had been excited earlier and offered her five minutes, but now it regretted it a little.
Still, as a noble fairy, it found it hard to break its pride and go back on its word now.
(Forget it, it’s not a big deal, not a big deal.)
Thinking this, An Shui Guan settled its thoughts.
Since it came to invade Mudong City looking for the Ancient Weapon, it had done its homework.
These magical girls usually had no flexibility and were overly naive; the girl surrounded by light magic that made the fairy sick should naturally be the same.
She said she wanted to talk, so she probably didn’t have any other intentions.
These light magic contractors, regardless of personality, were fundamentally this kind of rigid.
Nothing to worry about!
“What I mean is, before fighting, we should at least talk. Why exactly did you come here?”
Landing on a small building, Jiang Yao shrugged:
“Look, I don’t even know what you want to do. How can we talk? You come all this way—surely it’s not just to kill some ordinary people, right?”
“Hmph.”
An Shui Guan snorted coldly:
“Lowly humans are nothing but our food. Even you, if you weren’t tainted by light magic, would just be a steamed bun to me. I don’t have the time to waste on food today.”
(Where did this guy learn that from?)
Jiang Yao’s mouth twitched slightly and she looked up:
“Yeah, yeah, so fairy An·Sui·Guan, what exactly are you after?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you.”
The little black ball pointed a small claw:
“If you’re sensible and hand over the Ancient Weapon to me, I won’t bother looking for it myself—and I’ll spare your life.”
(Ancient Weapon? That again?)
Jiang Yao’s heart tightened. She didn’t know what this so-called “Ancient Weapon” was, nor where it was.
But if the Ancient Weapon was here, right in Mudong City, then peace would never come.
Even if An Shui Guan retreated today, tomorrow someone else like a welder or air-conditioner repairman would show up.
What would her mother do?! How could a kind, weak, gentle ordinary woman live safely in such a perilous city!
She had once thought it was the demon’s own business, but now with this dark fairy backing it up, it was clear they were all here for this weapon.
How many other dark beings knew about this, what the Ancient Weapon was—everything was unknown.
“Ah, the Ancient Weapon, huh…”
Jiang Yao was noncommittal:
“Do you know where that thing is?”
“You don’t know?” The little black ball narrowed its eyes and retorted.
“No.”
Jiang Yao answered honestly.
Now An Shui Guan was even more convinced its judgment was right.
This magical girl, despite her strange aura, was fundamentally unchanged in logic.
These magical girls were all stupid; if it were it, it would never honestly say “I don’t know.” At least it would stall by saying something.
If that’s the case, this magical girl was useless.
An Shui Guan had planned to crush her right away but reconsidered.
Under the cover of its magic domain and the Aggregation’s protection, it could always remain in the dark magic environment, so its strength would still be effective.
Besides, this magical girl, though foolish, was sensible, and the promised five minutes were almost up. As a noble fairy, it might as well keep its word out of kindness.
Only…
An Shui Guan sneered silently to itself, thinking that once the five minutes were up, it would have the Aggregation crush her into mincemeat.
She was hard to fight while jumping around like before, but now it was easier, and it wouldn’t be breaking its promise.
“If you don’t know, what else do you have to say?”
“Although I don’t know, I have clues.”
Jiang Yao nodded calmly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Aggregation’s arm slowly raise; dark magic boiled and surged, sinister and terrifying.
Her heart was pounding nervously.
Again, she thanked her lucky stars her spirit armor was of the armored type—otherwise, her calves might be trembling now.
“Clues?”
Hearing this, An Shui Guan leaned forward.
It didn’t know the exact location of the Ancient Weapon, only that its detector showed it was somewhere ahead.
If there were clues… it might save some effort.
In that case, letting the magical girl live a bit longer was no problem.
“That’s right. Let me ask you first, can this Aggregation fly a helicopter?”
This question puzzled the little black ball.
What did a helicopter have to do with the Ancient Weapon?
“Helicopter? Why are you asking that?”
“Nothing.”
Jiang Yao raised her head; the Holy Knight’s Sword had already appeared in her hand.
The heavy rain was blocked by her light magic, falling to her side.
The girl pointed the sword at An Shui Guan: “I’m just confirming if you’re a durable king.”
“You!”
Just as it was about to angrily retort, the little black ball suddenly realized why the magical girl looked strange.
Why weren’t raindrops falling on her?! She was constantly using magic!
That shouldn’t be possible—she was clearly using magic!
“What have you done!”
An Shui Guan said sharply.
It couldn’t immediately find where Jiang Yao’s magic was being used but didn’t hesitate and threw a punch.
At that moment, something suddenly pushed up from beneath the Aggregation, causing it to tilt backward, almost throwing the little black ball from its throne.
—A huge purple crystal, long condensed, pushed up through the underground pipe, bursting out of the manhole beneath the Aggregation’s feet, destabilizing its center of gravity and forcing it backward.
Watching An Shui Guan fall along with the tilting Aggregation on the light screen above,
Jiang Yao took a step forward.
Her objective had been achieved.
All the clues had been confirmed.
Now, the magical girl [Crystal] knew how to defeat the dark fairy.