[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl":3,"chapter-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-28":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Off the Clock, Then a Magical Girl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2349948,4594,"Chapter 28: The Choir and the Dancer","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-28",28,"\u003Cp>\"Thump—splash!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A violent sound erupted within the underground cavern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strands of fleshy whiskers rained down from above, slamming heavily into the water and blasting up columns of water several meters high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fish-shaped Remnant at the center writhed, opening and closing its mouthparts as if performing a bizarre and ominous dance, while using its impassioned singing to direct the surrounding flesh to attack Cuique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cuique hugged the surface of the water, flying at a low altitude in circles along the edge of the cavern to dodge the whiskers that lunged over from time to time, raising her magic wand to tentatively fire several magic beams at the Remnant in the center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, when the magic beams struck the Remnant, they vanished without a trace like a stone dropped into the sea, failing to provoke any reaction or cause any damage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From Cuique’s perspective, she could see the magic beams simply disintegrating and dissipating silently the moment they touched the surface of the Remnant’s body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It really has a pupa shell?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the first time she had shown an expression of surprise since stepping into this place: \"It has already evolved to this stage?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A pupa shell is a physical ability that develops as a Pupa-level Remnant continues to hoard nutrients and evolve toward a higher level; it grants the Remnant the ability to disintegrate and defend against pure magic attacks within a certain limit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remnants are already extremely difficult to damage physically, so once they evolve a pupa shell, it means they have virtually no blind spots in their defense and are very hard to injure. Just hearing about this is enough to make an ordinary person feel helpless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the name \"pupa shell\" indicates its nature—for Magical Girls, it can actually be broken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To bypass a pupa shell and harm a Remnant, there are generally only two methods: first, use magic power exceeding its tolerance to attack continuously, breaking the shell by sheer force; second, use abilities that are neither physical nor pure magic damage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first method corresponds to a siege, which is also the least demanding approach; it only requires a sufficient number of Magical Girls, even if they are all Seed-level newcomers. A group of Magical Girls swarming together and attacking with magic can use the sheer volume of magic power to break through the pupa shell and strike the Remnant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, if an extremely powerful Magical Girl arrives, it is not impossible for her to use magic power that completely overwhelms the Pupa-level Remnant to crush it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are more approaches corresponding to the second method, but the requirements are relatively higher; the most common is a Magic Construct. The power of a Magic Construct comes from the Magical Girl’s true form; it is the product of the soul and magic power combined, and it naturally has a certain restraining effect on a Remnant’s pupa shell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, when numbers are insufficient, it is required that all Magical Girls participating in the subjugation be at least Bud-level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Turning her head while flying at high speed to look at the Remnant in the center, Cuique calmed her mood again: although the fact that it had a pupa shell surprised her, it was not entirely unexpected, as this was precisely the reason she had come alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To this day, there are only three Magical Girls in Fang Ting City, and this number is certainly not enough to break a pupa shell. Considering that the other two had not mastered Magic Constructs, they wouldn't be able to cause effective damage even if they came, so Cuique decided not to let them participate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And right now, perhaps because it knew there was only one enemy, the fish-shaped Remnant was exceptionally unscrupulous; after receiving Cuique’s counterattack, it danced even more wantonly, summoning more tentacles to reach toward Cuique from all directions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cuique’s expression was calm, her clothes rustled in the wind, her hair danced in the air, and she parted her lips slightly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Magic Construct, precipitate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She murmured, and the magic wand in her hand dissolved into magic power, spreading out as dense threads of magic that shimmered and connected the entire space of the cavern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fleshy limbs were blocked, the tentacles were severed, and the Remnant’s blood splattered everywhere, yet not a single drop touched the hem of her clothes. She continued to fly, and the surroundings suddenly became empty, with no trace of the enemy left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this grand choral symphony performance was far from over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The huge cavern was the stage, the Remnant at the center of the stage was the conductor of this concert, and also its own choir; the fleshy limbs hanging in the cavern were the members of its symphony orchestra and its backup dancers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as its performance did not stop, the attacks would not end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As one wave of attacks was dismantled and tentacles lay broken on the ground, its singing shifted, the style changing into a dirge completely different from before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amidst the singing, as if responding to some kind of summons, the murky water pool below the cavern suddenly bubbled, and countless objects suddenly emerged from beneath the surface, tossing high into the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cuique had not yet seen clearly what had emerged from under the water, but her inner vigilance caused her flight trajectory to change abruptly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thump!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The very moment she changed course, a cannonball made of sewage grazed past her original trajectory, slamming straight into the inner wall of the cavern with a thunderous sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a water cannon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cuique understood, and as her thoughts raced, she realized what was in the water pool below. Looking down from the air, those dense objects had also revealed their true form: they were all heads of Remnants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—The heads of Cavity-type Remnants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The choral singing was mournful and sorrowful, yet the vocal parts grew higher, the rhythm intensified, and as the high notes rose and fell, the dominant chords pushed the emotion of the music to its peak, as if entering the climax.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Boom, boom, boom!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One water cannon after another fired in time with the beat, shooting from the water pool below toward Cuique’s position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Swish, swish, swish!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tentacles that sounded like whip blades lashed down from high above, whistling through the air toward the figure in the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cuique twisted her body like a bullet while in flight, accelerating once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such dense and dangerous attacks would be difficult for any Leaf-level Magical Girl to escape unscathed, but that was not the case for her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cuique was like a solo dancer who had broken into a symphony orchestra pit, moving nimbly between the various sections; her light dance steps and intense movements were unconventional yet not discordant, as if she too had become part of the performance. Constantly avoiding attacks and using her Magic Construct to counterattack, the solo dancer leaped continuously from the edge of the orchestra pit, charging toward the conductor’s podium at the center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She easily bypassed the brass section, the woodwind section could not hinder her pace, the cellists were blocked to the side by her threads, and the music could not hold back her leaping figure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The singer on the conductor’s podium felt it had been provoked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a singer, and also a conductor; this concert should not be out of its control. An outsider should be quietly appreciating it from under the stage, not breaking into it and disturbing its performance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The grand welcome party ended here; what needed to be done next was to drive away the rowdy audience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, it closed its mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the fish-shaped Remnant at the center closed its giant maw, the previously thunderous song also stopped abruptly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those strings of fleshy streamers hanging in the air writhed and swelled; the chunks of meat hanging above split open one after another, mouthparts full of sharp teeth opened from within, and tongues extended; the Egg-level Remnants below also retracted their cavities, stopped their continuous water cannon bombardment, and bared the mouths that should have been their weak points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cuique’s pupils contracted slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She raised her hand abruptly and made a less-than-common gesture toward the threads densely packed in the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately following, a sonic boom from all directions erupted violently, piercing the inner walls of the cavern, blasting away the accumulated water pool, and nearly shattering every foreign object in the entire space.\u003C\u002Fp>",1402,"2026-06-21T02:45:47.620Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","0ff7c58a834fac48e132d0c4c99013a33deb64ab12e064009e2c10c696078e5d","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-29","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-27",364,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foff-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-cover.jpg"]