After the feast, night had fallen deep.
Nan Zhiyi, Jin Ruochu, and Jin Yulu, who had fought through consecutive battles, finally couldn't hold on anymore. They lay down in the wooden hut's hay pile and fell into deep sleep. After all, the Island 24 siege had seamlessly connected to the Hermit Island strategy battle—even iron bodies couldn't withstand it. They needed a good sleep to replenish their spirits for the actions ahead.
Except for Hibiscus—she alone remained excited, tossing and turning unable to sleep, lying on the straw mat like pancakes on a griddle.
Looking at her companions all in deep sleep from exhaustion, she couldn't bear to disturb them. She couldn't do sothing like "Huaimin also hasn't slept, so we walk together into the courtyard."
Forget it.
Actually, they had originally planned to take turns keeping watch, with Jin Ruochu first. Everyone hoped to rely on the luck of the strongest Causal magic to safely pass the first night. However, the thick-nerved young lady soon joined the collective dreaming session.
Soone had to keep watch, and in that case, Hibiscus naturally took responsibility.
Beep!
[Completed suggestion "Occupy Hermit Island Series" Stage 1 "Cruise Ship Encounter" reward distributed: Regalia Advancent Stone Fragnt ×1, Exchange Points 50]
[Completed Stage 2 "Island 24 Siege" reward distributed: Free Attribute Points ×20, Deterrence greatly increased]
Because she'd been so busy lately, she'd montarily ignored system notifications. However, these weren't mission-based but suggestions—as long as Hibiscus completed them step by step, rewards would naturally trigger. This was her first ti undertaking a long-form series event. One could imagine Hermit Island was definitely not simple—just the prelude involving fairyland wasn't a good sign. However, this couldn't shake her determination. The more challenging, the more worth completing.
The girl walked out of the wooden hut to the beach, adding firewood to make the campfire burn brighter—steaming hot with crackling sounds.
In the bright environnt, she carefully examined the system interface.
She evenly distributed attribute points across the five-dinsional stats.
Additionally, she materialized all advancent stone fragnts as usual to carry with her—there might be a chance for slight evolution. Currently, telekinesis had reached the level of moving 10-kilogram objects. Compared to Origin and magic it was far inferior, but at least it hadn't fallen behind. Thanks to her ornant amplifying ntal power, she could precisely teleport to Hermit Island.
Hibiscus clenched her five fingers—strength had improved sowhat. Most importantly, despite not eating much food, she was ntally full and couldn't sleep. This was a signal.
The evolution of a Magical Girl's tier reflects not an increase in combat power, but an ascension in her state of being.
For example, Triple Awakening made physical strength, with slight magic enhancent, able to resist light firepower. Moreover, in breath-holding, resistance, endurance and other aspects, it surpassed every native species on Planet Gaia.
By the sa logic, Seedling Stage magical girls reduced their need for food, water, and even oxygen—substances ordinary people considered essential for survival.
No wonder humans didn't treat them as human.
Hibiscus was faintly touching the Seedling Stage. The evidence was that "rest behaviors" in ordinary people's understanding were almost ineffective.
She herself could hardly imagine what a body working 24 hours non-stop would be like.
After witnessing fairy civilization rich in magic power, the girl couldn't help thinking that was indeed a developnt path. Perhaps in the original storyline, the Ti Priestess wanted to achieve this—understandable, but too obsessive. Of course, that power was more exaggerated. After witnessing the World Tree's magnificence, Hibiscus didn't know what level would be enough to invade fairy holand and make countless magic creatures vigilant with fear—and according to netizen intelligence, they did indeed suffer certain losses.
Even the legendary Fairy Queen had to guard against complete magical girls. One could imagine how terrifying Hyacinth would be with magic reaching perfection and unfathomable Origin.
Bold enough, cool enough—definitely .
Splash!
Suddenly a flock of bats startled from the island's dense forest, flapping wings and interrupting Hibiscus's thoughts. Looking closely, each showed Disaster Beast reactions.
Fortunately, their target wasn't the magical girl but capturing ordinary creatures for a snack.
Thanks to the dual effect of magic-devouring worm microorganisms and their own reduced magic reactions, Disaster Beasts found it hard to sense them. Staying on the beach maintained an uneasy peace, but if they entered the island's interior, that might not hold. Better confirm intelligence once more.
Hibiscus updated her status, sending several camping barbecue photos with a note: "Already landed, resolved basic food and shelter, but Disaster Beasts are more nurous than imagined."
She didn't even need to ask specifically—both sides, adapted to their communication thod, would spontaneously reveal intelligence:
【Be very careful of the relic's random teleportation chanism】
【Spatial relic "Thousand-Li Viewing Mirror" is T1 level, but notoriously difficult to use. Especially subduing it is very difficult—that broken mirror has been unstable from age and disrepair for a long ti. OP, prepare ntally】
【No one noticed they're tourism sightseeing? I'm still working overti, so envious. What kind of fairy life is this?】
【Slacking off browsing Zhihu at work, huh】
【Good good good, I love this setup. Magical girls actually turned into a camping show】
【Are you in distress?】
【Back to business, what the OP needs is intelligence: Hermit Island's special Disaster Beast "Evil Eye Spider" can control puppets. Once you step into the forest, you enter its sensing range—be on guard. But I think the most troubleso thing is that this place has permanent effects left by pre-era magic, like Concealing Wind and Tranquil Water】
【Worthy of a dungeon-type that can be developed from mid-term all the way to late-term. Opening it early indeed has challenges—it's difficult precisely because various chanisms stack】
Hibiscus's eyes lit up, catching keywords that sparked her imagination.
Magic permanent effects required at least the Withering Stage, right?
The reason Hermit Island could brazenly remain in the Pacific Fallen Zone without ever being exposed was because miracles maintained continuous operation. Even if there were Disaster Beasts on the island, the spontaneous evolutionary ecology proved long isolation from the world—indeed worthy of magic at the ultimate境界, forcibly hiding an entire island.
The silver-haired girl looked around. The island's surroundings were misty with calm waves—the beach actually had no ocean garbage, truly remote by modern society standards.
Concealing Wind and Tranquil Water? From their nas, they should be elental magic, though that was pre-era business.
Hibiscus suddenly heard the sound of breaking branches. Looking toward the sound, she saw shadows hidden in the dense forest—pair after pair of glowing eyes, wild and vicious. Though anxious, they could wait—prey would eventually enter the trap.
She glared fiercely.
Slightly released magic pressure drove away small Disaster Beasts, but the night was no longer peaceful. If not for the beach harboring large numbers of magic-devouring microorganisms, battle would have already begun.
"Is there any thod to efficiently clear Hermit Island? We can't kill them one by one."
【That works too—learn from European colonizers】
【Magical Girl: The number of Disaster Beasts on the island seems a bit much】
【Capture the king first—just deal with the Evil Eye Spider and the rest won't matter. After all, independently evolved Disaster Beasts on the island are more like localized wild animals compared to mindless bloodthirsty magic creatures. They have so intelligence and can even be tad. If successful, you directly get top-tier labor force】
This was the first ti Hibiscus heard that Disaster Beasts might be tad.
She was indeed interested. Unexpectedly, Hermit Island was more unique than imagined—its natural environnt completely different from the outside world.
Of course, this ant strategy difficulty kept climbing. Much common sense from the outside world was useless. No wonder in the original storyline, human armies paid excessive costs fighting over a single small island—once entering the attrition warfare stage, casualty numbers were beyond your control.
【One more thing, @Hyacinth, after getting the island control core, imdiately activate it then transfer coordinates, because the commotion will be particularly loud and definitely attract the military】
【Most disgusting is the Thousand-Li Viewing Mirror applying unstable island-internal teleportation—too much randomness】
【Actually I think this dungeon has difficulty even for the Galactic Battleship team】
【Worry 1】
【Believe in Hyacinth, also believe in Manjusaka, Dandelion and Protea. We have the strongest magic of 4 major series in a luxurious lineup. This wave is flying dragon riding face—I can't think how to lose. I have 17 cards, can you instant-kill ?】
【Stop setting flags, I'm scared】
【Now it's outsiders confused while those involved see clearly. The just-starting Salvation Church needs a stable rear base—indispensable】
【Supre Leader Hyacinth, we all respect and love you. Believe you can definitely humiliate and scatter those Disaster Beasts】
【Rather die in battle losing the realm than surrender the kingdom with hands bound】
【Why are there always Three Kingdoms Kill lines?】
Seeing no effective information, Hibiscus said goodbye and closed the system interface. The fragntary intelligence revealed in just a few words was plenty—anyway, she could confirm Hermit Island was troubleso enough. However, combined with the deep intelligence obtained in fairyland before, she was completely capable of fighting. Though she couldn't tell companions everything to avoid triggering knowledge poison, acting as guide was more than sufficient. Neither doubtful nor affirmative voices could sway her judgnt.
The silver-haired girl propped her chin with her hand, staying alert to surroundings while adding firewood, until the starry sky fell to the horizon and the east grew white. A warm breeze stirred her long hair, feeling refreshing.
She walked to the wooden hut door and pushed it open: "Girls, ti to get up——"
On the straw mat was Jin Yulu rubbing her sleepy eyes and face, but the space beside the girl was completely empty.
The two made eye contact and suddenly shook off fatigue, both startled and instinctively activating Regalia. Then checking the bedding, they found no warmth, proving departure had been so ti ago. But why hadn't anyone noticed throughout? Even the missing Nan Zhiyi and Jin Ruochu probably hadn't realized.
They were separated.
"...Sorry, it's all my responsibility. I didn't even notice people sleeping beside disappearing." Jin Yulu looked guilty.
"I'm also to bla for neglecting watch duty." Hibiscus comforted.
"We must take action."
No sooner had she spoken than Jin Yulu ran out of the wooden hut. In an instant, her snow-white skin sprouted scales in layers like armor, then steam rose. With a thunderous roar, a huge light sphere floated in the air—thunder and lightning, boiling heat waves. The next mont, a golden World Serpent extended from the light sphere—the dual transformation state of mythical magic.
The massive beast raised its head and climbed into the sky. Golden vertical pupils anxiously swept around the island's periter, but her vision and perception weren't sufficient to completely cover it.
The World Serpent's chest suddenly expanded, then magic carried a roar that exploded: "Manjusaka, Dandelion, where are you?"
She appeared among clouds stirring mist, swept over forests making vegetation bow low and beasts flee. Half the island was shrouded in pressure, and that voice should have been felt by the entire island.
However, Jin Yulu's anxiety received no response.
Sothing was wrong.
Hibiscus had been observing subtle magic fluctuations the World Serpent's perspective might not notice, but still found nothing, proving so kind of concealnt definitely existed.
Looking around, as the strongest mythical magic was unleashed, clouds around the island grew denser and thunder lower, as if brewing anger. As if provoked by the girl, they beca active—obviously a special defense chanism, consistent with intelligence.
"Be careful, don't rise any higher. Those clouds will attack you." Hibiscus quickly warned.
Too late. Thunder imdiately struck pursuing the World Serpent—white-hot light carrying boundless power seed sworn to split the enemy to ash, instantly hitting Jin Yulu's surroundings. Even more unexpected was that she only trembled slightly without showing pain or injury. Perhaps natural lightning would be better—re magic thunder faced full attribute resistance inadequately, greatly reducing effectiveness.
Indeed, Jin Yulu had specifically trained for this, spending those days maintaining electric shock, fire burning, poison gas—experiencing almost every abnormal damage type.
Magical Girl Protea strode boldly toward an inviolable form, her eyes catching faint glimpses of the majestic aura radiating from the supre throne that once dominated the original storyline.
But now she lacked sothing.
Before Hibiscus could advise further, Jin Yulu actively reduced her size.
After all, Triple Awakening strength alone wasn't sufficient to contend with Hermit Island's defense system. One couldn't underestimate magic at the permanent miracle level.
anwhile, roars and hisses ca from deep in the dense forest. Wave after wave of pressure spread—island-native Disaster Beast communities responding to the magical girl's provocation. Both sides in their anger wanted to fight, possibly evolving into large-scale warfare comparable to Island 24.
Splash!
In an instant, Disaster Beast swarms rushed to the forest edge, eager to try. In terms of ferocity, they were stronger than outside varieties.
After all, unlike other Disaster Beasts that had experienced beatings from all sides and learned to advance and retreat, even facing Hibiscus's pressure, they wanted to test the waters first. Moreover, she didn't dare use too intense magic release because there was movent underfoot.
Sand creaked and rubbed as if it had grown legs and moved. The vast beach beca flowing sand finding the wooden hut and beginning to devour it, with whirlpools appearing everywhere.
Hundreds of millions of magic-devouring worms were disturbed—these microorganisms wanted to eat everything.
The pre-era had used every ans to create an isolated magic training holy land—utterly insane.
Hibiscus had no ti to think. Taking three steps in two, she kicked down the wooden hut, trying to salvage collected food, fresh water, and simple processed goods. She couldn't worry about the rest, hoping the ruins of the village had supplies. The urgent priority was withdrawing from the beach—if magic-devouring bugs deployed human wave tactics, there could even be life-threatening danger.
Reckless prolonged fighting would end with everyone buried here.
Crack!
Suddenly white light flashed across the sky. Jin Yulu, bathed in thunder, finally couldn't hold on. The air filled with the sll of burning as the World Serpent vanished from the clouds.
"You really don't save worry." Seeing this, Hibiscus evaluated the landing point while running hard, not even daring to use much magic.
The girl, weak in limbs and nearly unconscious, fell rapidly face-up. She reached out trying to grab sothing but to no avail—too exhausted. Confronting the island's omnipresent permanent magic was very disadvantageous. She smiled bitterly: "Sorry I didn't find you, Jin Ruochu, Nan Zhiyi..."
The next mont her body was about to contact the ground.
At the critical mont, Hibiscus leaped and steadily caught Jin Yulu.
Worthy of an object with gravitational acceleration from a thousand ters high—her arms, unprotected by magic, broke with a sound. That wasn't all—both fell into the sand together, internal organs churning uncomfortably.
"Sorry..."
Hibiscus headbutted the frantically apologizing Jin Yulu to clear her head: "I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious yet."
As they spoke, the sand suddenly collapsed, rising on all sides like an ancient well. This was a trap constructed by countless magic-devouring worms, about to devour the two girls alive.
"Ti stop."
In an instant the world lost color. Against enemies with poor magic strike effectiveness, play chanism cards directly—don't play numbers with you. In just two seconds her fractures healed. Then Hibiscus shouldered the exhausted Jin Yulu, allowing her companion free movent while leaping from the sand well, then with light steps quickly advancing and leaping a hundred ters distance. All this took only 5 seconds, not even using extre pause.
The Sands of Ti disappeared and lifted effects as the sand suddenly closed, grinding even the rocks mixed within to powder.
Rumbling sounds, rising dust—the camp built just the day before completely vanished.
Rather than calling the beach a nest, it was more like a digestive organ. Just as so animals eat stones to help stomach grinding, these microorganisms used fine sand as teeth to gnaw opponents—pervasive, once caught then eternal damnation, not dying but losing a layer of skin.
However, their confident strike ca up empty.
Where was the prey?
At the forest edge, Hibiscus looked back coldly. With microorganism intelligence, they couldn't figure out what had just happened, but it definitely ca from so great power.
Magic-devouring worms had no mory, but fear carved in genes warned of continuous terror. Originally cultivated by magic, they didn't dare act presumptuously toward miracle masters, imdiately shrinking back one by one.
The beach returned to calm, while forest-edge Disaster Beasts also retreated after the magic-devouring worm pressure. The tense atmosphere ca to an end.
Hermit Island seed full of deadly traps but actually various traps balanced each other. The key was observation and thinking.
Hibiscus knew they feared top-level magic, so she showed a little to settle the disturbance. Unfortunately, she hadn't had ti to tell Nan Zhiyi and Jin Ruochu much important intelligence.
This was troubleso...
At this mont, Jin Yulu in her arms blushed and looked away: "Can you put down first?"
After all, Hibiscus still maintained the princess carry posture. For Magical Girl Protea, who had always been strong-willed with strict requirents for others and herself, being protected was unfamiliar. Both novel and uncomfortable, ultimately becoming shy embarrassnt.
She was happy to continue staying in those arms feeling warmth—this sense of security being held was incomparable, not having to protect others but enjoying protection herself.
She actually felt guilty about slacking off.
Jin Yulu shook her head, dispelling various miscellaneous thoughts. She shouldn't have the slightest slack—she should maintain optimal condition at all tis. A mont's negligence could cause great error.
"Anyway, I can recover myself now. Don't worry—if there's a next ti, it won't be this miserable."
Hibiscus nodded and released her companion. Jin Yulu took a deep breath, shook her body, and scattered scales all over the ground. Her skin, charred black from electric shock, returned to normal.
And from now on, Hermit Island's thunder magic would be less effective against her.
"Instructor, what do we do next?"
"Finding people is too inefficient, not to ntion the island has many traps. We must quickly go to the ruins village storing the control core. Once we lift these magic effects, we can easily reunite. Don't worry—they can protect themselves."
"Aren't you concerned?"
"Nan Zhiyi and I are childhood friends, and Jin Ruochu is the one I'm most worried about—of course I'm concerned. But they're already capable of standing alone. Too much worry would actually show distrust. I heard Special Attack Forces always put mission first—we're similar. Everyone was prepared before departure. Worry is worry, but the plan doesn't change. They can understand this choice."
Hibiscus made the final decision as Salvation Church leader—naturally she had to shoulder responsibility at this critical mont.
Saying she didn't care was impossible, but she had to distinguish priorities. If they didn't quickly gain island control, they'd be dragged to death, so they had to hurry.
Honestly, she was the most disappointed. How did the Galactic Battleship disintegrate on its first dungeon run?
Despite gathering ti, domain, causal, and mythical—the four strongest magic users—they had an unfortunate start. Could they even play? They couldn't even maintain basic team integrity. Perhaps the tactics were wrong from the start—magical girls suited two-person team operations, maintaining minimum organizational strength.
Now she could only trust the two protagonist-level magical girls.
Hibiscus decided imdiately: "Cancel the original exploration procedure. We'll fly straight toward the ruins village, aiming to finish before sunset."
"Yes, ma'am."
The two flew rapidly toward their target in full transformation state, leaving silver string and golden cloud trail lines in the air. The pressure from just passing by was enough to make Disaster Beasts retreat—ordinary weak individuals couldn't muster hostility.
Jin Yulu asked curiously: "You seem to have anticipated separation. Do you know the reason?"
"Not anticipated—there's a spatial relic effect randomly activating, so sothing was bound to happen eventually. It's called the Thousand-Li Viewing Mirror, currently in an out-of-control state teleporting throughout the island range. When awake it's easy to resist, but unlucky to be targeted while sleeping in poor condition."
The two looked at each other and sighed.
Causal magic Fortune and Misfortune ca without refusal, taking this hit—no wonder.
Last night Jin Ruochu slept on the edge with Nan Zhiyi in the middle. They teleported away together, leaving only Jin Yulu—was this lucky or unlucky? Anyway, no one understood this thing's chanism.
After a while, the two flew over safe zones, underground city entrances, and other areas with desperate determination, finally reaching the ruins village where Disaster Beasts gathered.
Looking down from high altitude—hundreds and thousands, numbers sufficient to support a war. Even two strongest magic users found it troubleso.
Jin Yulu widened her eyes and pointed:
"Instructor, look at the 11 o'clock direction—those two Disaster Beasts with damaged heads should have been gnawed by magic-devouring worms. Why can they still move? Could it be so special magic?"
"You guessed right—these guys' bodies have long been filled with spider silk. They're just puppets."
"Can I understand this as an undead legion?"
Hibiscus nodded.
"Bad news is they're too close to the house storing spatial relics. Good news is there are fewer puppetized Disaster Beasts than imagined." The silver-haired girl frowned and murmured: "We can indeed try clearing them, but using magic beyond the threshold will trigger defense chanisms."
Jin Yulu sighed: "So we're between a rock and a hard place."
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