Cozy Family Haven unfolded.
As always, Su Xiaowei was the first to grant protective buffs to everyone.
[Melody: Fire]
A blazing fireball traced a graceful arc as it hurtled toward the statue.
The statue raised its shield to block, but right before the fireball struck the bronze shield, its trajectory suddenly curved in a perfect loop, bypassing the shield entirely.
The scorching flames exploded across the statue’s body, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
When the dust settled, the statue stood completely unharmed. Magic power flowed along the patterns on its armor, emitting a faint glow.
“Her armor seems to greatly reduce magic damage,” Lu Yinxi said with a frown.
In her perception, the moment the fireball exploded, a protective layer had formed on the armor, seemingly capable of nullifying magic power.
“Really? Let me try.” Su Xiaocheng fired a Magic Beam.
Without the dust cloud blocking their view this time, everyone saw it clearly.
The Magic Beam was stopped by an invisible layer of magic power before it could even touch the armor.
The magic composing the beam was disrupted and disintegrated on its own, causing the entire spell to fail.
The statue’s attention remained fixed on Lu Yinxi, completely ignoring Su Xiaocheng’s attack.
“Does she look down on me or something?” Su Xiaocheng felt a bit annoyed.
“Xiaocheng, you should focus on support. Your Purification attribute is completely ineffective against her,” Lu Yinxi pointed out.
“Alright…”
Su Xiaocheng retreated a few steps in resignation. Purification was extremely powerful against Witches, but rather weak in other situations.
“Let this young lady handle it.” Lu Shiyuan immediately unfolded her inherent domain.
[Garden of Splendid Dreams]
Colorful meteors swirled around Lu Shiyuan. Upon closer inspection, each meteor contained a small silhouette of Lu Shiyuan inside.
One meteor broke away from the cluster and smashed down with powerful magic fluctuations.
Boom!
The meteor impact sent dust billowing across half the square.
The entire underground space trembled slightly.
“You call this Overflow? Isn’t it just having a ridiculous amount of magic power?”
Su Xiaocheng thought as she watched the numerous meteors orbiting Lu Shiyuan. Her own magic reserves felt like a mere fraction of the girl’s.
“That’s right! Now you know this young lady’s power!” Lu Shiyuan said proudly.
Li Yanyan shook her head. Seeing the cyan light barrier around Lu Shiyuan, she gave up on the idea of intervening.
Whoosh!
Using the dust as cover, the statue had already closed in on Lu Shiyuan. Its massive sword came crashing down.
A brilliant cyan light flared up, clashing with the giant sword and holding it suspended in mid-air.
[Melody: Wind]
Gentle winds wrapped around Lu Shiyuan’s waist and pulled the dazed girl out of the statue’s attack range.
“How is this possible?” Lu Shiyuan stared at the undamaged bronze statue.
“Magic attacks have almost no effect on her. There’s something wrong with that armor,” Lu Yinxi identified the issue.
“If magic doesn’t work, then how are we supposed to fight it?”
Lu Shiyuan felt at a loss. She had always relied on the absolute magic power advantage from Overflow to brute-force her way through Witches.
The statue didn’t give them much time to think. Its massive body displayed surprising agility as it swung its giant sword at the group.
Since magic was ineffective, everyone could only buff themselves and focus on dodging. Any attacks they couldn’t avoid were left to Su Xiaowei to block.
Although the statue’s attack power wasn’t particularly high, constantly being on the defensive would eventually drain all their magic power.
Watching the group jumping and dodging all over the place, Li Yanyan thought, They’re still too young and lack experience.
“Are all its attacks purely physical with no magic fluctuations at all?” Lu Yinxi narrowed her eyes slightly.
“First, let’s take to the air. It doesn’t seem to use magic.” Lu Yinxi took flight first.
The others followed, rising into the air and creating distance from the statue.
Although they were underground and flight height was limited, and the statue could still jump to attack, dodging was still much easier than on the ground.
“Magic nullification must have a limit, right?” Lu Shiyuan’s little face was flushed red, which said more than any words could.
She had taken the worst of the beating earlier. The giant sword kept swinging at her, taking full advantage of her short legs and slower running speed.
Several meteors lined up and aimed straight at the statue.
The statue stopped attacking and solemnly raised its shield.
“Wait!” Su Xiaocheng hurriedly stopped her.
Generally speaking, no ability was truly absolute. Magic nullification must have its limits too, and the statue’s serious defensive stance proved it.
However, if Lu Shiyuan’s string of meteors slammed down, no one knew whether the statue would crack, but the underground palace would likely collapse first.
“If it nullifies magic, what about physical attacks?”
Lu Yinxi did not unfold her domain. Instead, she infused her magic power into the surrounding air.
Through reverse assimilation, she stirred the airflow around them.
Unlike wind formed purely from magic power, the magic here only served to guide the existing air currents.
High-speed airflow swept toward the statue. Its power was negligible compared to magic attacks—even weaker than Su Xiaocheng’s Magic Beam by a noticeable margin.
The statue did not ignore this weak attack. Its bronze shield moved to block the airflow.
“It seems to work,” Su Xiaocheng’s eyes lit up.
“Not completely inexperienced after all.” Watching from the sidelines, Li Yanyan breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed her half-clenched fist.
[Melody: Earth]
Thump!
A deep, muffled drumbeat sounded.
The ground of the underground palace trembled slightly.
Sensing danger, the statue leaped into the air.
Rocks burst from the ground, guided by magic power.
They chased the statue into the air and precisely formed a stone cage, trapping it inside.
The statue slashed at the cage with its sword. The bronze blade grated harshly against the rock.
A corner of the stone cage shattered, but more rocks quickly filled the gap. The statue was helplessly encased and immobilized.
“This armor is quite valuable,” Lu Yinxi said. “The patterns on it are likely the key to the magic nullification.”
“But wouldn’t it be dangerous to keep her? She won’t cooperate with research, will she?” Su Xiaocheng asked curiously.
“It’s fine. Since physical methods work on her, there’s nothing to worry about. There are plenty of ways to make her behave.”
Lu Yinxi turned to Li Yanyan. “Can I take her? I want the Lu Corporation’s lab to study her.”
“Go ahead,” Li Yanyan replied indifferently. After all, the Magical Girl Alliance itself lacked scientific research capabilities; they had to rely on private forces for this.
With the guardian statue dealt with, the group approached the bronze door.
Li Yanyan took out the six-pointed star gem they had obtained from the robbers the previous day.
By the way, although the treasure map and gem were items a certain collector had temporarily stored in the bank, Li Yanyan had requisitioned them in the name of the Magical Girl Alliance.
The six-pointed star gem slowly floated into the groove on the bronze door, fitting perfectly.
Boom!
Accompanied by a thunderous rumble, the bronze door—which had been sealed for who knows how many years—slowly opened.