Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

"The guy hiding in the shadows." She sneered, taking a step closer to the trash can where the orange juice monster was hiding. "Looks like a weak monster. Why are you so determined to be my enemy here?"

The orange juice weirdo was a little flustered. He had never really fought before. He moved his body, causing something next to the trash can to make a clattering sound.

If he had any body hair, it would be standing on end right now.

The magician's aura suddenly appeared in front of him. Before the orange juice monster could react, he saw the white-robed magician standing in front of him, raising his hand.

--babble!

The orange juice monster was so frightened inside its spacesuit-like body that it exploded into a puddle. At the same time, it instinctively unleashed its only threatening skill at the magician in front of it, attempting to use orange jelly to block the magician even for a moment so that it could escape into the sewers.

The Abyss Gentleman... I should have known better than to agree to something like that!

We can't beat them, we simply can't beat them!

The other party didn't even move, yet the orange jelly turned into mist just one centimeter away from him. During this process, the Orange Juice Monster didn't even sense the slightest bit of the other party's magic.

Actually, if it were just a normal opponent, the Orange Juice Monster wouldn't be this afraid. Like with Megaranel last time, he wasn't afraid of being killed by his opponent, even though the opponent was quite terrifying... but that was just normal cowardice.

But now, the magician is really going to seal him away.

He had heard that the magicians of the Star Tower were extremely cruel, still retaining the old-school magicians' ways from countless centuries ago. They would show no mercy to monsters who begged for mercy, and would even hang their cores on the wall of their homes to display them... just like the fur that humans obtained from hunting!

If he's sealed away, how will his underlings eat? How will he continue his pursuit of the perfect orange juice?

So we can't end here... Ee-ah?!

The orange juice monster let out a terrified scream just as the magician was about to touch its face.

However, the magician suddenly stopped moving.

She twitched her nose and suddenly began to inhale: "Strange, strange..."

My face started to turn red, and I don't know why my eyes kept blinking; tears even came out.

Orange Juice Freak: "...?"

This seems to be...

The magician sneezed loudly: "Achoo!"

She covered her nose and backed away, sneezing uncontrollably, and even had some difficulty breathing.

Orange Juice Freak: "...Huh?"

"You..." the magician said with difficulty, his voice muffled, "How come there really is orange in your jelly?"

She is allergic to oranges.

The magician hadn't expected the orange juice monster's jelly to be made with such high-quality ingredients; he'd only assumed the smell was from food additives. After all, there's a saying that modern food contains many food additives, and some foods listed with ingredients don't actually contain those things at all.

She has a senior colleague who is lactose intolerant but can still drink milk tea.

The Orange Juice Monster felt insulted by this: "Mine is made with the real deal!"

The magician now knew the real deal, since she had been enveloped in a large amount of allergens earlier. Even after becoming a magic sprite, she still felt uncomfortable and not quite right.

If a person with a truly severe allergy were to inhale such a large amount, it might already be quite dangerous.

Fortunately, she was a magic elf, so she could hold on for a while longer.

The magic shield was temporarily rewritten to filter out allergens, and the magician was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Her face was covered in snot and tears, making it impossible to see anything clearly. With this delay, there wasn't much time left.

Now is not the time to waste time with this weirdo.

The magician decided to ignore the orange juice monster, this walking allergen, since the guy could actually pose a certain threat to her life... She turned around and tried to fly away.

At that moment, she realized that something was wrong with the scenery blurred by her tears.

As her vision cleared, the magician saw a huge canvas overhead. The scenery painted on it was exactly the same as the sky she could see, except that when she got really close, the moon would magnify in her eyes at an unusual speed.

The clouds didn't move, and the sky lost its texture, like a delicate but rigid piece of glass.

"Giggle..." A little girl's silvery laughter came from the rooftop not far away.

The magician looked up and saw a beautiful girl with puppet joints standing there, holding a teddy bear in her arms.

The girl gave the magician a strange smile.

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave, come and play games with me, big sister?" The mischievous monster tilted her head slightly, her eyes reflecting the image of the magician.

She maintained this game space, forcibly drawing magicians into her game rules.

At the same time, I was unusually in sync with the orange juice weirdo, internally cursing him in a panic:

Jack the Gentleman of the Abyss, it's really too much trouble for me to get a few meals at your house!

The teddy bear she was holding had violet light shining in its small, round, dark eyes.

Main text: Chapter 140 The Last Five Hours

The mischievous eccentric was also entrusted by the Gentleman of the Abyss to try to delay the magician's progress as much as possible.

Her magical domain is powerful enough to create a game space with strict rules, trapping enemies inside. Generally, one must complete the game she sets up to escape, making it a powerful tool for stalling for time.

However, there is also a problem.

The game space alone requires a lot of magic power, and this also involves trapping an enemy whose magic level is far, far greater than hers. The Prankster is not really confident.

But after all, I've been eating for free at the Abyss Gentleman's house for so many days, and I'm bound to feel indebted to him... It's better to help him if I can.

Even after imprisoning the magician in the conjured, dark green spherical game space, the prankster remained on edge. She didn't immediately enter the space, but stood warily outside.

The orange juice monster below breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the prankster appear. He stood up unsteadily from the ground and shouted to his temporary ally on the roof: "You'd better lock her up properly... Can you do it in thirty minutes?"

The Prankster had never gotten along with this guy. Normally, she would have said something like, "Who do you think I am? I'm not some low-level weirdo like you." But at this moment, she really didn't have time to argue with the Orange Juice Monster.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her already pale face turned bluish-purple in waves, a truly fascinating sight.

The prankster gritted his teeth and said, "...Don't make it sound so easy...It's not like you can just lock someone up anywhere."

With the magician's abilities, she could have easily ignored the rules and taken the initiative, just like the little bear did before, releasing her own domain to cover up her mischievous space.

The magical girls or ordinary people who are imprisoned are just ordinary game players who need to follow her rules to reach the end and clear the game.

However, beings like Little Bear or Magician, who also possess manufacturing abilities, could easily hack into her system like a hacker and forcibly shut down or change the game rules.

The Prankster is only able to use the Domain ability at her current level due to her innate advantage, which can be considered her special talent as a monster. But when facing a truly overpowered magician, it's hard to say how long she can hold out.

The Orange Juice Man knew this too, and was quite anxious: "There are still more than six hours until dawn... Oh dear! When will the Dream-Eating Clown finally finish preparing?"

"...Soon." The mischievous woman replied absentmindedly, but in reality, she was also anxiously waiting for the Dream-Eating Clown to come and take over her hot potato during the peak of her dream activity.

And the anger, shouldn't it be coming over by now?

The Abyss Gentleman did not initially tell Angry about the magician, not only because he wanted to keep it from him under these circumstances, but also to protect his sister's safety.

He knew that anger could actually be a help.

The premise is that this strange person, who is used to suppressing his temper, is emotionally agitated enough.

The eccentric characters with negative emotions have many flaws, but these can also become their unique buffs.

He deliberately kept the family situation from her, then lured her home at the right time, igniting her anger at that unexpected moment... This was the plan the Abyss Gentleman had devised from the beginning.

Eccentrics all have a special period of heightened magical activity, during which their abilities will reach their current peak, or even 120% of their full potential.

For the Orange Juice Monster and the Prankster, it's probably a matter of home-field advantage. The Orange Juice Monster's home turf is his own juice processing plant, while the Prankster's home turf is the game space.

The Dream-Eating Clown is active between 2 and 3 a.m., the time when people begin to dream. Nightmares created during this time are often more difficult to deal with, so he only comes to take over at that time.

For those who exhibit negative emotions, it means that the level of negative emotions they represent reaches a certain point.

For example, being in a state of anger, sadness, despair, or fear.

The personality of a person with negative emotions is mostly related to the emotion they represent. Being irritable, sentimental, or even timid makes it easier for them to enter their period of heightened magical activity.

The Gentleman of the Abyss was well aware of this.

While the prankster and the orange juice monster helped stall the magician, he was also making all the preparations he could.

He tried to calm his breathing, and as he entered the passageway of the Spirit Vein Platform with his cane, his hand trembled slightly as he tapped the ground.

His breathing became rapid and erratic, and all the facial expressions disappeared, leaving only a dark face.

The Gentleman of the Abyss clearly felt the panic within him.

This plan is truly audacious, considering that modifying the rules of the spiritual veins is no easy task for someone with his current abilities.

After his previous attempt to destroy the spiritual veins failed, he also realized the limits of his abilities.

At least for now, he has to complete the next part of the plan, which is so risky that it's almost unbearable... but he has no choice but to do it.

There are too many uncertainties in the plan.

What if he fails to buy time? What if the guardian fails and hands over Little Sorrow? What if the spiritual vein rejects him at the crucial moment? What if his plan is fundamentally impossible?

The Abyss Gentleman cannot bear failure, but the probability of failure far outweighs the probability of success.

Every step is like walking on a tightrope; one wrong move and you're plunged into an abyss.

But it can't be said that there is no hope at all.

After all, the spiritual vein of this city is a [miracle].

As long as there's even the slightest chance of success, coupled with immense effort, we'll give it our all...

...The gods will surely respond.

Despite his panic, the Gentleman of the Abyss remained remarkably clear-headed. He took deep breaths to suppress his unease, and his magic surged violently under this extreme state of anxiety.

The pain in his arm was soothed by magic, and his tattered formal attire was slowly repaired. His magic entered an unprecedented period of activity, and the pounding of his heart almost drowned out all other sounds he could hear.

He glanced at the time; there were less than five hours left.

Finally, looking back in the direction he came from, the Gentleman of the Abyss raised his hand and threw a locator beacon outwards, making it easier for Mayumi Haga to find the entrance.

The freak representing fear descended the stairs, dressed in his most impeccably tailored and spotless formal attire. He straightened his hat, and his gleaming shoes made a crisp sound as they stepped on the floor.

Main Text: Chapter 141 A Hundred Martial Arts, This is the Shield Counter

The noise around Mayumi Haga was deafening.

At first glance, it sounded as if many people were speaking to her. The voices she had heard in the past converged into a tidal wave that flooded her brain, making it impossible for her to distinguish them.

But if you listen carefully, there is no sound at all.

The voices that surrounded her, whether scolding or praising, all left her the moment she focused her attention, leaving only the pounding of her heart and rapid breathing. When she came to her senses, the darkness in front of her gradually eased, and colors filled her vision again. Her limbs were still cold, but they seemed to be starting to warm up.

"...!...Mayumi?" In front of her was a large pink block of color. The voice came from a distance and was not clear. It wasn't until Mayumi opened her eyes and thought for a long time that she realized that it was Hitomi Tono speaking to her. The little bear next to her, with a worried look on its face, also squeezed its face in.

Tono Hitomi and the teddy bear were very close, their faces squeezed together, and she looked somewhat panicked: "What happened to you just now?"

What just happened?

Mayumi Haga thought for a while, and her brain slowly began to work.

...She was sitting here just now, intending to close her eyes and rest.

The white-haired guardian's expression was completely unguarded. Even Hitomi Tono, who had known her for a long time, had never seen her with that sleepy look on her face.

But Mayumi Haga, after opening her eyes, stared blankly into the air for a long time. She didn't respond to being called, and her pupils seemed unfocused, as if she were staring in some direction.

It's like a corpse with its eyes open; it takes a long time for the soul to resonate with the body and allow it to begin moving.

Hitomi Tono felt like there was something she hadn't noticed... Was Mayumi really just lacking in magic power?

She grabbed Mayumi Haga's hand, and its icy touch startled her. But she held on tightly to her unharmed right arm, channeling her magic into Mayumi Haga.

The little bear next to him also crept over and grabbed Mayumi Haga's other hand.

She said timidly, "I'll help too."

Hitomi Tono was taken aback.

After Mayumi Haga told her about the Despair Monster, at her insistence, this Despair Monster, whom she had never seen before, finally showed his face.

Hitomi Tono then realized that the real Despair Monster was actually the Sad Bear Doll.

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since she had seen such a sad, eccentric person appear in public. In Hitomi Tohno's memory, this eccentric person was childish and not very threatening, and was actually quite popular with children. She didn't dislike such an eccentric person who could coexist with humans to a certain extent.

I don't know how this little guy got together with Mamiya... Now it seems that the little bear is much smarter than before.

Before Mayumi Haga woke up, Hitomi Tono and Kuma actually had a brief conversation.

Tono Hitomi was curious about why the little bear would ask Haga Mayumi for help: "Sad little bear, you seem to know Mayumi very well... When did you meet?"