Chapter 28 – Public Enemy (8)
“Everyone, freeze! Don’t move… Aaaah! Officer Park!”
“You bastard, did you enjoy throwing your weight around all this time?”
The police rushed in to subdue the panicking crowd, but it hardly helped. I chuckled at the sight of a flustered middle-aged officer getting pounded by a young cop.
“Are you, are you okay…?”
Noticing my smile, Park Tae-jun looked concerned from his hiding spot. I just shrugged and nodded.
“How can you be so calm? My heart feels like it’s about to explode…”
“Is what’s happening really that strange? I don’t think so. We’ve just been living too comfortably until now.”
I answered Park Tae-jun nonchalantly. Sure, things were a bit over the top, but honestly, even without Mamute’s power, there are plenty of dangerous places in this world.
If you act carelessly, you can get shot or punched in the face anytime.
“But that’s a primitive way to act.”
“That’s true. But you have to remember, humanity can revert to being primitive at any moment.”
Was my perspective as a Demon King that fascinating? Park Tae-jun’s eyes widened, and he fell silent.
Just then, the director guarding the door returned.
“It seems we can stay here for now.”
This place was a former storage area from a nearby shop, and luckily, the door was open.
I sensed a strange gaze coming from behind the sunglasses, probably because they’d overheard our conversation. I simply smiled back.
“The police keep fighting among themselves. How do we handle this?”
“If it’s related to monsters, we know what happens next.”
As they say, speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Just as I mumbled that, someone burst into the scene, pointing to the sky.
A cute magical girl in a pink dress raised her staff and summoned lightning to strike down the rampaging people.
They were knocked out by the lightning, and it seemed they had fainted. They couldn’t have died. Magical girls can’t kill innocent people.
“There’s more than one! Look over there, it’s Aria!”
Park Tae-jun pointed through the window at a distant building.
There she was, Magical Girl Aria, dropping from the roof of a six-story building and unleashing punches on her prey with immense force.
For sure, that martial skill was impressive.
[But why just knock them out? Leaving the spirits inside them is pointless, right?]
“Ah, maybe she doesn’t have the ability to do so,” Ren chimed in, hanging off the windowsill watching the scene.
[…What?]
I suddenly didn’t understand why she couldn’t get rid of those pathetic spirits.
“They need to have special abilities or be a psychic. A magical girl’s magic is solely focused on fighting enemies.”
[That makes no sense. You’re manipulating magical energy, but you don’t even know what it is?]
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
Ren’s reaction was the same as before. I was a bit amused by the idea that one could manipulate magical energy without knowing what it was. But considering how Yggdrasil empowers the magical girls, it made some sense.
[Yggdrasil gives power proportional to potential in an instant. But in doing so, they can’t exceed their limits. They don’t even know what power they wield. It’s like pulling a trigger without knowing what a bullet or gunpowder is.]
“…What we want is talented warriors who can be operational immediately, not transcendent powerful beings.”
I pointed out that the magical girls had half-baked power, but Ren shrugged it off, acting as if it was no big deal. I didn’t particularly want to argue; it wasn’t my problem.
“It looks like things are getting suppressed without issues.”
I said aloud. As I predicted, the streets were quickly being cleared thanks to the magical girls’ deployment.
“Such a shame.”
“What is?”
“I thought Takilas might show up.”
At that moment of mild relief, I jumped at Park Tae-jun’s sudden remark.
“…Are you interested in Takilas?”
“Honestly, these days, it’s harder to not be interested.”
Trying to stay calm, I was met with Park Tae-jun’s look as if it was only natural. He wasn’t wrong; the news had been buzzing about it lately.
“They’re predicting he’s incredibly strong. If he shows up, wouldn’t it help? Eye candy too… No, wait.”
“Well, if he just shows up because he’s strong, it might complicate things.”
I chuckled. Aria would probably charge at me immediately.
“Oh, look.”
“This is…”
But just then, at that very moment, when things were nearly settled due to the magical girls’ appearance.
I could feel it. So could Ren. A more intense and destructive aura than anything we encountered before.
The source was right in the center of the street.
“M-Mamute…! He’s finally showing himself!”
Ren trembled, almost screaming, clearly horrified despite being a puppet.
*
“Ah…”
“Ugh, I can’t move…”
The street was in chaos with possessed people and battling magical girls, but at this very moment, an icy silence fell over the street.
The only cause was the sudden appearance of a man in a black suit, standing still at 3 meters tall. He was extremely thin, with pale skin and a massive mouth filled with sharp teeth.
“Disappointing, these magical girls of this land.”
He licked his long red tongue and grinned, taking off his top hat.
With his mere presence, the magical girls’ spirits were crushed, and they couldn’t move.
“Without any delightful screams, I can’t even have a meal.”
He shook his head with an unsettling smile.
His specialty was capturing magical girls, torturing them for screams, and ultimately turning them into squirming meat and devouring them alive.
He had devoured dozens of magical girls across many worlds.
The aura of profound malice and fear emanating from him was the worst possible match for the magical girls.
“Not all, right?”
“Ugh… Mamute!”
Amidst all this, there were a few magical girls struggling to move.
Aria was one of them. Gritting her teeth so hard she could bleed, she blasted the ground beneath her and shot forward, slamming her fist into his abdomen.
“Ha ha ha!”
A shockwave erupted as the pavement shattered. Mamute started laughing, tongue out.
Aria was caught off guard when her attack hit a semi-transparent barrier.
She got struck by the following tentacle attack and was sent flying away.
Aria crashed through the wall of a building and fell inside.
“Chaos, despair, fear! Foolish humans… accept these!”
While Aria was sent flying, Mamute began to manipulate his magical energy. The possessed people who had been subdued by the magical girls started to twist and rise again.
“Fire! Shoot them down!”
The panicked police, rushing over, pulled their triggers at Mamute.
But the barriers that blocked Aria’s fist deflected all the gunfire.
“Ugh, aah! People!”
As the possessed people charged at them, the police hesitated to open fire.
“I don’t want this! Let go! This…”
As the magical girls were being neutralized, the police were falling apart.
Mamute transformed his fingers into tentacles, wrapping one around a magical girl who had been rendered immobile and dragging her away.
“Kirara, cry some more.”
“Ahhh!”
With wide eyes, she desperately clawed at the ground to resist, her nails breaking and blood flowing, but she was ultimately lifted and delivered right to Mamute.
“A… Aah… Aaaah!!!”
Mamute twisted and broke her limbs, preparing her body for a more tender treatment.
He opened his great mouth wider than his face, preparing to swallow her whole.
Just as despair filled the eyes of the magical girl sensing her impending death.
“Guah!”
Something ignited, leaving a blazing tail in its wake, crashing into Mamute.
The captured magical girl fell to the ground, while Mamute was sent flying to smash into the asphalt.
“Hah, ha ha! Aria!”
“Don’t call my name, you disgusting bastard!”
Aria unleashed another punch, infused with her full power, into Mamute’s body.
In a split second, dozens of strikes rained down.
Mamute’s barrier shattered, and shockwaves erupted from his entire body.
“You girls… know how to conquer fear.”
“I’ve seen something far worse than you, you bastard.”
At Mamute’s words, Aria recalled the terrifying experience from her past. The fear and helplessness she felt when Takilas summoned the dragon.
Using her memories from that day, Aria managed to overcome the fear emanating from Mamute.
“Then, it will be extremely tasty.”
“Ah…”
But that was the very answer Mamute longed to hear.
As Aria swung her fist, she glanced down at her legs in disbelief.
Mamute’s tentacle had already pierced through her thigh.
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