Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1229: Chapter 1228: Time’s Up

Time passed by second by second.

The battle with the Witch’s Night lasted longer than Fang Zheng had imagined. Calculating by time, they started battling the Witch’s Night around one in the afternoon, but now it’s already eleven at night, and there’s still no sign of the fight stopping.

”I say, can this thing really be killed?”

Anzu stepped back to wipe off her sweat, and Kyoko quickly handed over bread and water. Anzu hurriedly grabbed the bread, quickly ate it in a few bites, then drank a bottle of cola, and stared intently at the shadow in the distance with a serious expression.

”Why do I feel like this thing has an undying body? No matter how we hit it, it just revives. Is there some kind of trick?”

Anzu’s question wasn’t without reason. In fact, until now, they had already eliminated this witch nearly fifteen times, yet it still resurrected.

Even in a game, if a boss dies this many times without progressing, you can be sure there’s a problem.

”Keep holding it off.”

However, Fang Zheng’s expression did not change in the slightest.

”Even if we can’t kill it, we can at least hold it back from advancing into the city. And have you noticed something?”

”What?”

”It’s turning.”

”???”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Anzu curiously glanced at him.

”What do you mean?”

”Watch its body closely.”

Fang Zheng opened his personal terminal, zoomed in on the screen, and showed it to Anzu and the other resting magical girls.

”Previously, when it fought with you, it was fighting while turning its body, just like a clock. Look, its head was initially at the 6 o’clock position, then slowly turned to the 3 o’clock position—if its whole body completes the turn, what do you think will happen?”

”...What will happen?”

”I don’t know either.”

Fang Zheng shut off the personal terminal, once more gazing into the night sky.

”But I guess it won’t be anything good. Each time you eliminate it, it resets to its initial 12 o’clock form, so I think at least we’re preventing it from unleashing its ultimate move... keep going, the witch’s barrier has a time limit, keep at it, and victory will come.”

Admittedly, this was somewhat challenging for the girls.

Fortunately, this time they had enough manpower, and additionally, the Witch’s Night itself wasn’t too strong—of course, not too strong for Illya, Nanoha, and Little Sakura. For this world’s magical girls, dealing with this witch was quite difficult.

If one were to use a game analogy, according to Akemi Homura, Kyoko’s every normal attack could deal 1000 damage, while Little Sakura and Nanoha, the magical girls from another world, could deal about 500 damage. However, the damage magical girls from this world dealt to the Witch’s Night was roughly between 10 and 100.

Perhaps the Witch’s Night really had a ”damage from this world magical girls -90%” debuff.

Well, Kyoko is excluded.

Time continued to pass by second by second.

Illya was the first to withdraw from the frontline, as she was essentially a Heroic Spirit and needed Fang Zheng’s magic power support. Although Illya could generate magic power herself, continuously using the Noble Phantasm excessively consumed magic power. After using the Noble Phantasm several times to eliminate the witch, it placed immense pressure on her, and now, her magic power recovery couldn’t keep up with consumption, forcing her to step down.

Currently, mainly this world’s magical girls were tasked with clearing and blocking the familiar spirits’ attacks, while Little Sakura and other magical girls from another world fought the witch.

After Illya stepped down, Little Sakura immediately engaged the enemy. Due to the Witch’s Night’s repeated cycles of death and revival, they had also learned to conserve power instead of launching into big moves right away.

However, energy is ultimately limited.

Even the magical girls of this world didn’t have experience in continuous combat over several hours. Despite Fang Zheng’s coordination, most of the magical girls were now exhausted.

This can’t go on.

”Little Hei.”

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng turned to look at Little Hei, who was drinking tea on the other side.

”One more time.”

”Eh? Again? But that’s quite tiring.”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s command, Little Hei pursed her lips in dissatisfaction, but then seemed to remember something and cheekily waved her hand at Fang Zheng.

”Five times!”

Five times a day? Even for replenishing magic, that’s too much!

”No way, just once.”

”Once isn’t enough, at least three times.”

”Okay, three times then...”

”YEAH!”

Hearing Fang Zheng reluctantly concede, Little Hei cheered happily, then leaped up, instantly conjuring a black longbow. She then drew the bow and aimed at the witch in the air. Simultaneously, a pitch-black arrow silently appeared in her hand.

Little Hei stared coldly at the witch, a trace of red light flashing across the pitch-black arrow.

The next moment, the arrow was released.

At the same time, the witch seemed to sense some danger. It laughed ”ahahaha” while trying to dodge. In fact, it did successfully evade Little Hei’s arrow trajectory, but...what the witch didn’t anticipate was that as the pitch-black arrow brushed past, it suddenly shattered on its own, and immediately...

”BOOM—————!!”

A massive, dazzling fireball instantly engulfed the witch, completely enveloping it. The heat wave rolled forward, even leaving ripples on the water’s surface.

”Hey, boss.”

At this moment, Fang Zheng noticed Anzu quietly coming over, tugging at his sleeve.

”Is your world particularly dangerous?”

”Hmm? Why do you say that?”

”Because...”

Anzu pointed at Nanoha and Fate, glanced at Little Hei, and then looked at Illya.

Everything was understood without words.

”......”

Speaking of which, the magical girls in this world don’t seem to have anything like a ”Fantasy Collapse” or ”Starlight Burst” type of map-wide attack.

This world is clearly more dangerous, right...?

”Ahhhhh!!”

At that moment, accompanied by a scream, the witch that had been blasted to pieces reappeared from the flames. Its body was shattered, but it still hadn’t died. Not only that, but in just a moment, flames ignited on the witch’s originally tattered body, and soon its body was restored once again.

”Hahaha, hahahahaha...”

The witch’s laughter echoed in the sky once more, and hearing this, the magical girls showed signs of agitation.

”What’s going on?”

”Is it really something that can’t be killed?!”

However, at that moment, a sudden voice arose.

”It’s useless.”

Upon hearing the voice, almost all the magical girls instantly raised their weapons, aiming toward the direction from which the voice came. Surrounded by countless weapons, QB raised its head, looking around.

”It seems I’m quite unwelcome here, huh.”

”Since you know that, why are you here?”

Anzu raised her long spear, glaring fiercely at QB. If she could, she’d really like to skewer this bastard and grill it!

”I’m here to offer you some advice.”

QB scratched its head, putting on a cutesy act.

Of course, none of the magical girls present fell for it.

However, QB didn’t seem embarrassed. It merely turned its head, looking at Akemi Homura.

”Akemi Homura, you’re right, the Witch’s Night indeed started merely as the Witch’s Night, but now it’s different. As I said, your infinite loop has turned the parallel worlds into a spiral, starting with you and ending with Kyoko. However, have you forgotten why you made your wish?”

”..........”

Hearing this, Akemi Homura remained silent.

”That’s right, it’s because of the Witch’s Night, so it has also been drawn into your loop. Because of this, the Witch’s Night that could originally be eliminated has become difficult to eliminate. You’ve destroyed it many times, but it’s far from enough. What you are facing now is not just the Witch’s Night of this world, but countless twisted spirals of Witch’s Night from parallel worlds.”

”......”

”There’s only one way to solve the Witch’s Night.”

Saying this, QB turned its head to look at Kyoko.

”Kyoko, make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl. You have the potential; you are the core of all this. Once you sign the contract, you can eliminate the Witch’s Night.”

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Kyoko. This time, Kyoko’s expression was not as panicked as before. She stood up, calmly staring at QB.

”If I wish to become a Magical Girl, I’d become a witch afterward, right?”

”Correct.”

”Very well, then...”

”That’s enough.”

Just as Kyoko was about to say something, Fang Zheng suddenly interrupted her, causing Kyoko to widen her eyes in surprise, looking at Fang Zheng.

”Mr. Fang Zheng?”

”I know what you’re trying to do, but if you do it, you’ll fall into their trap.”

”Trap? But I...”

”You want to use their system to wish against them, a good idea, but not practical.”

Fang Zheng waved his hand.

”If there’s a system bug, it gets fixed. If not, it gets reformatted and reinstalled. Do you think a virus like you could deal them any damage?”

”......but...”

”Don’t worry.”

Reassuring Kyoko, Fang Zheng turned again to look at QB.

”In fact, I’ve been waiting for you.”

”Waiting for me?”

”Indeed.”

Upon QB’s question, Fang Zheng revealed a confident smile.

”Time’s up.”

Just then, the clock in front of Fang Zheng reached the twelve o’clock position.