Chapter 333: Shira Toad

"The monitoring protocol has been destroyed." The girl's voice was sandpaper‑like hoarse, "Last week a half‑body thief did this, and then he was completely annihilated by the golem squad that chased him."

"Who are you?" Naimi Xisi frowned and asked. No wonder it's a seal spell set by a deity; the generated world still contains intelligent beings.

"I am Ai Ma·Chenxing." Naimi Xisi noticed a callus on her palm from long‑term sword‑gripping, and a scholar's Ring on her right middle finger, "Like you, I was dragged to this hell by that damned purple die."

"Three years ago, I was sorting my graduation thesis in the library when I suddenly arrived here." Emma traced a rune on the ground with the tip of her dagger; the pattern matched exactly the warning symbol on Naimi Xisi's system interface.

"You saw that too, right? That voice that calls itself the game system." Emma asked.

Naimi Xisi nodded lightly.

Emma stood, patted her own hands, "What class did you pick? You killed that automaton, you should have leveled up by now, right?"

"Level‑2 Mage, what about you?" Naimi Xisi asked.

"Level‑5 Sword‑Singer."

Naimi Xisi glanced at his panel; experience had gone from 0/5 to now 0/15. Killing a robot like that grants five experience points, yet the other has been here three years and is only a level‑5 Sword‑Singer? He didn't believe it.

He looked at Emma's legs; her seven‑inch shorts revealed a translucent white calf, but oddly the legs were not pixelated—they were rendered in a delicate, realistic style.

"Your legs?" Naimi Xisi asked, puzzled.

Emma glanced around, whispered, "Come with me first; I'll tell you later."

Naimi Xisi squinted, as if assessing whether the person before him was trustworthy. Emma also knew how scarce trust was in this cruel world, so she didn't press, just waited quietly for his decision.

"Let's go."

Naimi Xisi finally decided to go with her to see.

The two skirted around the goddess statue, took a side path toward an abandoned building; Naimi Xisi saw a tattered sign over the doorway that read —【City Hall】.

Emma slipped into the City Hall, arrived at a rusted iron gate, and with her sword tip drew some kind of rune on the lock; the corroded hinge rang like a wind‑chime.

When warm candlelight seeped through the crack, Naimi Xisi finally noticed a peculiar ear stud on her left ear—a miniature hourglass whose interior flowed not with sand but with flickering binary digits.

"Happy 1095th sunrise," she said to the empty room; the phonograph in the corner suddenly spun on its own, emitting a distorted rendition of "Für Elise."

The shelter, converted from an archive room, seemed ancient; a yellowed map of the Gray Eagle world was nailed to the wall; oak shelves held glass jars labeled "Sample No. 3" and "Anomalous Data Entity," each containing still‑wiggling pixel tissue.

Most striking was the bronze astrolabe at the center, now projecting a hologram: countless green data streams coiling around a skull‑shaped nebula.

"Ai Ma·Chenxing, Sword‑Singer and unlucky Oxford University programming master," she snapped her fingers, lighting the wall lantern, "Drink this; it will help you purge the data assimilation symptoms."

When he took the offered vial, Naimi Xisi deliberately sniffed it, detecting a foul stench. He hesitated, then swallowed the ink‑green liquid, surprised to find it tasted of mint mixed with Tie Xiu, and his feet tingled oddly.

He slipped off his shoes and saw his toes had returned to a normal appearance.

"What is this?" Naimi Xisi asked curiously.

"It's concocted from the slime of a data slug—gross but effective," Emma explained. A muffled thunder rolled from below, and the skull nebula projected by the astrolabe began oozing blood. Emma instantly entered combat stance, the inscriptions on her thin sword lighting up one by one.

"The data tide has accelerated," she said, tossing Naimi Xisi a dagger bound with crystal, "Record the escape route quickly, rookie. Keep up with my sword light later—"

Before she finished speaking, the entire east wall thundered and collapsed. Through the swirling dust, he saw the street above sinking into a pixel abyss, while countless crimson eyes opened in the void below.

Emma's sword light cleaved a rift within the data storm.

They sprinted over the asphalt that kept collapsing, the paving stones disintegrating into a binary waterfall of 0s and 1s as they fell. Behind them came a viscous gulping sound; some massive creature was devouring the data stream.

"Don't look back"—Emma warned Naimi Xisi.

"Turn left! Wrap foil around your mouth and nose!" she suddenly shoved Naimi Xisi into a corner café. The mannequins in the window cycled a smile‑to‑cry expression at 24 frames per second, while the coffee cups on the bar kept re‑forming chemical formulas.

Beyond the glass curtain wall, hill‑sized shadows swept by; neon signs glided over its skin, a red that lay between magma and blood. When it passed the third time, Naimi Xisi finally saw the whole: a tadpole‑shaped creature the size of a double‑decker bus, its skin covered with hexagonal data cells, each gaping maw churning with prime numbers.

"Data‑fied Shira Toad." Emma's complexion darkened.

The huge monster spewed a deluge of acid, and Emma's thin sword sliced through the pixelated acid rain, the yellow‑green slime corroding the asphalt into a honeycomb mosaic.

!

Naimi Xisi gripped his scorching oak staff, his retina seeing the system‑simulated trajectory of a Flame Arrow.

The Flame Arrow struck the Shira Toad; the monster let out a cry of pain, and masses of tadpole fragments burst from its body.

"Third grid on the left!" the Sword‑Singer shouted. Three glowing Magic Missiles erupted from Naimi Xisi's staff tip, crimson pixel spheres striking the ambushing Shira Toad hatchlings with precision. The monster shattered into green fragments, only to re‑coalesce into smaller units before hitting the ground.

"How many Spell Slots do you have left?" Emma asked loudly.

Naimi Xisi launched another Magic Missile, crushing three Shira Toad hatchlings, then smiled, "More than enough."

Emma's mithril boots produced scale‑like electronic tones across the buildings, her blade leaving a silvery trail. The primary Shira Toad swelled dramatically, its acid gland pulsing a dangerous red glow—an omen of Acid Spit.

"Maintain suppression!" she spun, unleashing a sword‑dance shield; the pixelated Force Wall collided with the acid, spawning violet specks. Naimi Xisi instantly chanted the Magic Missile incantation, successive light bolts detonating in the monster's mouth, forcibly interrupting its charge.

When the Shira Toad spawned its eighth batch of hatchlings, Naimi Xisi's robe was soaked with square‑shaped beads of sweat.

Emma's sword‑dance entered cooldown; she thrust her thin sword into the ground, triggering a Thunder Wave, and the knocked‑back monsters happened to fall within the area Naimi Xisi had pre‑read for Burning Hand.

"Now!" he shouted, activating a Spell Slot and seamlessly chaining a second Burning Hand; the pixelated flames surged into a red‑white super‑Mario‑pipe fire. Over‑splitting Shira Toad hatchlings melted into primal data streams in the blaze, the main body showing a core fissure.

The climax arrived with a high‑pitched, crystal‑tone sword resonance. When the primary Shira Toad froze from over‑splitting, Naimi Xisi released a burst of Oil Spell at its feet.

Emma seized the chance, loudly chanting a spell, unleashing her only Third-circle Spell slot.

Fireball Technique!

"Boom!!"

The earth‑shaking blast devoured everything within twenty meters of the Shira Toad, and under the Oil Spell the raging flames burned ever more wildly.

(End of Chapter)