“Kuha-ha! Is the Magical Girl a joke?”
Self-proclaimed Squid Baron.
The fellow monsters called him just Squid.
For some reason, he was filled with a confidence that had him shouting repeatedly.
Unbeknownst to him, his gurgling voice, submerged in water, was annoying the beings up in the sky.
What could be the reason behind his overflowing confidence?
To explain that, one had to go back to the story before the monster was transported to Earth.
“Hey, you alright?”
“…Gah!”
Startled by another monster’s voice, the squid opened his eyes wide.
An undetectable recovery device of the starship roaming through the universe.
To the monsters, it was like another heart that never stopped.
In that place, he was, tension and stress causing a sticky liquid to ooze from his body.
He looked at the jet-black ink spilling from his mouth and soaking his clothes.
In the foggy memory, only the vague thought of ‘something has happened’ remained.
Could it be that going to Earth was all just a long dream?
“Now, fellow monsters. How many do you see?”
Medic Tentacle, the chief in charge of the recovery room.
With his coiling and twisting tentacles mimicking a human, he waved a hand toward the Squid to count the numbers.
It was hard to accurately count the number of sharply jutting tentacles, so the Squid rolled his eyes around.
“U-uh, eight?”
“Hmm, ocular function seems fine. Language function is also normal, so that’s rare!”
Immediately upon hearing the squid’s answer, the wriggling tentacles dove into his face.
Like a human’s mouth underneath the jaw, they plunged in, came out smudged with black ink, and started recording something.
The squid felt a sense of unease.
The recovery device assigned to the invasion ship was nothing short of perfect.
A fragment of the lost technology of the ancestors.
Wasn’t it like saying that there’s a defect in that machine that can even revive the dead?
“Rare, huh? Is there a problem with it?”
He became anxious.
A prosperous planet, Earth.
Being deployed to that planet, which hadn’t been conquered for a long time, he had the opportunity to ultimately conquer Earth by overcoming the Magical Girl.
The reason he could support such a mission without hesitation was that with that recovery device, there wouldn’t be a true death.
However, if there was something wrong with that recovery device, he wouldn’t be able to go to Earth with the same senses as before.
That’s what he thought.
Medic Tentacle, hearing the potentially fatal question for monsters, quickly dangled that ink-stained hand… manifesting as a tentacle mass, waved it around.
“No, no, the recovery device itself is fine.”
“Really, what a relief?”
A strong negation to the point of raising suspicion.
Soon after that denial, he added words to explain why it was rare.
“However, the area you went to… that area is the problem.”
Medic Tentacle, with arms crossed, manipulated something in the recovery room.
Not long after that behavior, a transparent panel appeared directly in front of the Squid.
It was evidence supporting the strong denial that there was a problem.
On the wide flat map of Earth, various places were colored green, blue, and colorless.
In addition, there were areas marked in orange and bright red.
Colorless, green, blue, orange, red.
The squid, knowing those colors represented danger levels, was unable to even appreciate them before Medic Tentacle selected a small piece of land and pressed that part consecutively.
“Now, do you see it? This is the area you went to.”
“Black…?”
Under magnification, there was an eerie deep black color that could not even be seen beyond the transparent panel.
An abnormal color wedged between areas of orange, blue, and green.
A color looking deeper than his own ink, with no shining star to be found, appeared.
“Indeed, and those monster fellows who went to this area… roughly 97 percent of them, after the first mission, complained of extreme mental stress and immediately left the ship.”
“Ninety-seven…?!”
“Normally we wouldn’t provide this much information, but as a fellow monster from a similar origin, I’m advising you, is there anything strange with your body?”
“Yes. What about the… remaining 3 percent?”
The remaining 3 percent.
Immediately after that question, Medic Tentacle inadvertently glanced at the door behind him.
[No entry outside of recovery room officials and administrators.]
The squid also knew of that door, adorned with a warning sign.
It was said to be the place where sounds of crazed laughter and constant groans of agony could often be heard.
A room that among monsters was joked about as the torture chamber.
In that very brief moment.
Medic Tentacle turned his gaze back to the front from that door.
“Just say they’re receiving intensive treatment…”
He realized that the place beyond that door was not a torture chamber but an intensive care unit.
Everyone beyond that door, were they victims of a Magical Girl?
He staggered out of the recovery device and walked down the long corridor of the ship.
His first mission was a complete failure; he didn’t even know exactly what had happened to him.
“Hey, you there!”
While walking down the corridor, dripping ink due to his despondency, a strange voice called the Squid.
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you the one who just went to the ‘Black Area’?!”
Magical Girl Sun was always the center of attention even among the monsters.
Please, let it not be his turn this time.
He wished upon everything in the world… no, in the entire universe, that it wouldn’t be him going to the Black Area!
Even monsters who didn’t believe in gods found themselves energetically praying to the goddess of luck.
For them, returning to their room just a day after visiting the Black Area was…
Truly akin to something heroic!
“This guy was a big deal, wasn’t he?!”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, it is! I heard that crazy girl captures monsters alive, toys with them, and then kills them after inflicting maximum pain!”
“If you went back so quickly after getting killed by such a monster, it means you’ve got to be something incredible too, right?!”
“Next time, you’re going to that crazy masked lady’s area, got it?!”
Magic? Masked lady?
The squid didn’t fully understand the words of the fellow monsters who were speaking to him.
A glorified sacrificial lamb.
The squid, whose spirit had weakened, was easily swayed by the cheers and acclaim around him.
Unceasing praise pouring from everyone surrounding him.
The overwhelming cheers and attention he had never experienced before.
Emboldened by the sweet poison of atmosphere.
“I, maybe I’m actually strong?”
He even started to think such presumptuous thoughts.
Thus, the story returned to the present….
The moment the squid let out a roaring bellow.
Sun, seeing the squid overflowing with confidence, tilted her head at his baseless confidence.
“What’s with that idiot?”
Internally muttering in confusion, Sun thought.
Had the paralysis from last time killed his memory entirely?
Or was he a different monster that merely resembled the last one?
Even if they were called monsters, it seemed like there were species, possibly.
In any case, there was no need to fight him head-on.
The squid monster, intoxicated in his own confidence and spirit.
Had completely forgotten about being ambushed from the sky last time.
“Let’s go around back and freeze it.”
“Okay, got it.”
Unaware that his red nightmare, like his future, was softly flying toward him from behind.
“Shh.”
Making a ‘shh’ signal while bringing his index finger to his lips, descending slowly from the sky, signaling Siyeon to be quiet.
An index finger at his mouth, along with a sound of “shh.”
A universal signal that even kindergarteners could understand.
The best strategy is surprise and assassination.
Regardless of whether the opponent is stronger or weaker than me, it’s the best means to efficiently deal with them.
Slowing his speed from the sky, he spoke to Siyeon, who still felt like the monster was distant.
“Just stay quiet, and when I send a signal with my face like this, you should use it then. Got it?”
“Yeah…!”
Siyeon, understanding the signal of nodding her chin.
One of the convenient ways to conduct torture is to first take away one’s freedom of movement.
Although there are many situations where it can be done alone….
Having Siyeon help freeze a few spots ensures comfort, even when the monster struggles.
Looking at Siyeon, he nodded his chin toward the monster a couple of times.
Siyeon’s magic wand, cautiously aiming toward the monster, unleashed a spell.
“Moon Shower—!”
“Uuuuah?!”
As the chilling hand of death heralding the beginning of torture descended upon the squid.
With a mechanical clank, the door of the recovery room swung open.
Entering that place was none other than the eight-armed monster often seen in the conference room.
“Medic Tentacle, are you there?”
“Oh, Asura! You’ve come. Are you injured somewhere?”
Turning at the familiar voice, Medic Tentacle was surprised to see an unexpected monster, warmly welcoming him as he spread his tentacles wide.
“…Has the Squid not come yet?”
“Yes, is there a problem?”
Medic Tentacle never expected to hear the name of such a low-ranked monster come from his mouth, his eyes widening in astonishment.
Had he managed to climb the social ladder? Medic Tentacle thought of the fellow monster’s success but quickly dismissed that thought.
“Because he volunteered to go to that second Black Area…”
“Oh, dear.”
A short exclamation of surprise slipped from his lips.
It was a known fact among the upper ranks.
Among the monsters who ventured to the Black Area, the first visit might be manageable.
Even if it was a cold statistic of a 3 percent probability, there’s a chance.
But the second time.
A monster who visited that place once, going a second time to the Black Area where Sun resides?
There would be no exceptions or mercy.
Asura’s words, devoid of any joking manner, instilled certainty in doubt, creating a somber atmosphere.
Sufficient time had already passed since the squid was dispatched.
“It’s been five minutes since the dispatch.”
Asura spoke with a grave expression, indicating the time elapsed.
Medic Tentacle understood the implication behind Asura’s words.
“I will check if there’s any vacancy in the intensive care unit…”
“Yes, please do.”
Magical Girl Sun.
In the ship’s recovery room, the name used to call her was…
The magical girl who truly meant death upon seeing her twice.
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