Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

"Did you just notice something so obvious now?"

Just as Lin Xiaolu finished speaking, Arrowroot's voice immediately reached everyone's ears.

Unexpectedly, this voice didn't come from the position she was in just seconds ago, but from between the three people.

At some point, Arrowroot had already bypassed Lin Xiaolu's wire blockade and appeared behind her.

"When did——"

Lin Xiaolu's eyes widened, and she almost instinctively tried to turn the spear in her hand. However, Arrowroot's reaction was quicker, and before Lin Xiaolu could finish her sentence, Arrowroot had already placed her hand on her back.

Six Favo Runes, glowing in black and red, began spiraling up her wrist.

"Magic Technique! Dodge quickly!"

Mint shouted loudly from several meters away, while a glow of Favo Runes lit up in her hand, rushing toward Arrowroot: "Attack her now, Bo Xue!"

"Got it!" The situation was urgent, so Bai Jingxuan didn't question anything. The tune of Heavenly Sound suddenly shifted, and a storm of Magic Bullets shot towards Arrowroot.

From Mint's perspective, it was obvious that Arrowroot's Magic Technique was already prepared and about to be successfully cast, too late to interrupt. Whether or not she could hit Lin Xiaolu, Mint and Bai Jingxuan had to seize this opportunity to see if they could heavily damage her—the opponent was not only maintaining Magic Armor but also using a six-rune Magic Technique, so the Magic Power Consumption must be very high. Even with the Beast Child's Magic Power Output, there couldn't possibly be much room left to defend against both their attacks.

Even if the opponent abandons the attack on Lin Xiaolu for defense, it wouldn't be a loss, at least defusing this wave of offense.

In the face of Mint and Bai Jingxuan's rush, Arrowroot merely glanced at them with the corner of her eye and casually injected magic power into the runes already gathered in her hand:

——"Stasis Magic."

The black-red glow transformed into chains in an instant, binding Arrowroot and Lin Xiaolu, one end piercing into their bodies.

"Ugh!" Unable to dodge, Lin Xiaolu felt the piercing and couldn't help but cry out in pain, and at that moment, Mint and Bai Jingxuan's attacks finally arrived.

Due to the relatively close distance and brief time, Mint opted for a magic power-attached technique to enhance the effect by applying magic to her hands. While basic, it only required a model of two Favo Runes, making it the most efficient attack she could use in this brief period. If they could wound Arrowroot, this attack might at least change the tide by exchanging injury for injury.

Sadly, when Mint's magic-enhanced fist hit the opponent, she realized something was amiss.

The hand Arrowroot had placed on Lin Xiaolu's back kept its runes even after successfully casting the technique; however, three of these runes dimmed when Mint's fist struck.

A concept instantly popped into Mint's mind: Rune Reuse.

Different Magic Technique models require different Favo Rune sequences, but foundational runes do overlap. Take the Shaping Energy System, for instance: Fireball and Water Ball. The symbol chains for granting properties like "fire" or "water" differ, but those for shaping and constraint, effectively forming a "ball," overlap extensively.

In other words, a proficient Magical Girl who knows both Fireball and Water Ball techniques could cast a Water Ball immediately after a five-rune Fireball by swapping just one rune.

This technique isn't cost-free; ordinarily, a finished technique model won't need re-condensing as long as it holds its runes, only repeated magic infusion. However, reused runes overload and collapse due to the brief dual-model wielding, forcing the Magical Girl to re-condense these runes from scratch in further battles.

The collapse manifests in Arrowroot's appearance now—her runes dim on her hand, eventually extinguishing.

About the six-rune "Stasis Magic," even though it's an obscure technique, Mint knows it has three reusable runes suitable for countering her attack specifically…

"Bang!"

Mint's fist finally struck only a shield.

Indeed, Mint had already figured it out in the blink of an eye: the shield, a basic technique, happened to share three runes with Stasis Magic.

"Bo Xue!"

Realizing this, she immediately shouted Bai Jingxuan's code name, knowing the sole chance now hinges on the final attack. One shield's capacity is limited, and Arrowroot's runes are already collapsing, meaning this shield can only block Mint's attack for this crucial moment; Bai Jingxuan's hit still has a chance.

"Your thinking and habits are still the same, as unchanged as ever," Arrowroot suddenly stated.

The words startled Mint.

Though she and Arrowroot share a tangled history, familiar knowledge isn't one-sided—Arrowroot knows her just as well, a fact she has always acknowledged.

However, as the reactive party, she lacked time to implement any countermeasure she had against Arrowroot, hoping for a chance to covertly coordinate with Lin Xiaolu later, but Arrowroot's newfound ability had thwarted her setup.

Even now, she doesn't know how Arrowroot appeared in the midst of the three.

This new ability yielded surprising results, yet if Mint and her allies recover from this attack, they would surely regroup and prepare better regarding warnings—Arrowroot must know this as well.

Thus, with Arrowroot's sidestep into this position, she likely planned to exploit Mint's habitual thinking, leading to——

——"Great Imprisonment Technique."

As Arrowroot spoke once again, her last three runes also dimmed.

The black-red light enveloped this airspace in an instant.

The Great Imprisonment Technique, a seven-rune Magic Technique, works rather simply: it ceases all materialized magic power entities within a range. These entities include Bai Jingxuan's Magic Bullets as well as the three Magical Girls. With three reusable runes, Arrowroot only needed to add four more runes to cast it again. For Stasis Magic, Shields, and the Great Imprisonment Technique, the total rune count post-reuse was eleven.

Exerting effort to maintain this number of runes is feasible, even for a newly Leaf Level Magical Girl striving hard, not to mention Arrowroot with her Beast Child's power output and simultaneous Magic Armor use.

Coincidentally, Arrowroot's Magic Armor had transformed into the Blood Bat's intangible state of black mist, unaffected by the Imprisonment Technique.

Witnessing the dissipating black mist, Mint finally understood, seeing that indeed, Arrowroot was who she knew.

Outwardly overconfident, but never underestimating an opponent in battle; no matter the adversary, they always employ every technique, playing it safe to ensure victory.

Damn it, caught off guard in such a situation.

Mint thought regretfully, but her body remained immobile, watching the Blood Bat slowly close in.

And then, the black mist engulfed everyone present.