“Siyeon-a.”
“Uhm?”
“Someday, you’ll be able to defeat monsters on your own, right?”
“Uhm!”
Ever since the promise made with a strange octopus monster whose name I couldn’t even remember, we had hardly transformed.
Suddenly, a monster appeared, and Siyeon declared she would follow it.
Even though I thought it was still too early for her to feel a sense of responsibility, I believed such feelings usually develop early.
Being a Magical Girl comes with the expectation of such responsibilities.
Looking at Siyeon, who responded enthusiastically, I spoke in a slightly lower tone than usual.
“You need to watch carefully how to eliminate monsters today.”
“Uhm!”
Under the cloudy winter sky, guided by two mascots, we arrived at a barren street in the city.
With the start of the holiday season, a monster had appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t know what was going on, but I slowly lowered my altitude to confirm its identity.
From up high, it looked like a slightly elongated dot.
At the very least, it wasn’t a face I recognized from anywhere.
“Wait a sec.”
“Uhm? Why?”
I kept my distance from the sky while placing the back of my hand between Siyeon’s belly and chest, stopping her.
The first lesson for a Magical Girl, a training exercise in ambush.
“Here, just shoot magic and kill….”
I almost used the rough unrefined expression but quickly switched to a more polite phrasing as my brain worked in a panic.
“No, you can just defeat it.”
“Here?”
“Yep, here. Want to practice together?”
Grabbing Siyeon’s magic wand as we hovered in place, I aimed it at the monster on the ground.
No matter how small the stone, if it’s thrown from over twenty stories up, it becomes a matter worth laughing about for the person it hits.
Height and gravity are the weapons of a Magical Girl.
Especially since that monster crawling on the ground doesn’t look up as it gets distracted by the fancy items around it.
If I were to put it in game terms, it’s a bonus damage from an ambush attack.
“Just aim well….”
I adjusted the stance from above, pointing the wand toward the monster below.
At the tip of the Moon shard magic wand, a pointed ice spear glimmered with a bluish hue.
Curious about the skill’s name as I helped Siyeon with her stance, I asked her.
“What’s the name of this skill?”
“Ice Pierce!”
And with her answer, the ice spear that had been at the tip of her wand shot off with a whoosh.
“Ah.”
The name of the technique I had asked casually caused the spear to fly through the air and embed itself in the ground.
Before it could aim for the monster’s head, it had flown away, so of course, it missed.
The monster was already creating havoc by smashing up a vacant stall with no people around.
Upon seeing the ice spear lodged right next to it, the monster naturally turned its gaze toward us in the sky.
“Y-you…!!”
The monster was angry as it looked at us floating above.
Since the ambush attempt had failed, it would have made sense to land and negotiate directly.
That was the way it should have been, but…
‘Do we really have to?’
After some careful consideration, I arrived at a logical conclusion.
From the looks of it, they lacked ranged attacks while we had them.
In such a situation, was there any need for us to come down?
Calmly fascinated by the new monster news, I crossed my legs as if sitting in mid-air and said,
“Siyeon, let’s practice some more.”
“Uh? Is that okay?”
“I think it’s fine, let’s try hitting it once.”
Thus began the ice spear dodging game from the sky out of the blue.
“Ice Pierce! Ice Pierce!”
Of course, the monster attempted to throw nearby objects at us in a futile show of resistance.
Yet no matter how hard it threw trash scattered across the street, unless it was a significantly large item, it didn’t reach us at our height.
The monster, scanning the area, found its solution in a piece of sidewalk block.
As if it had discovered treasure, it clutched the block tightly in its hands so even those at this height could see and hurled it at us…
“Eek?!”
Naturally, I caught the sidewalk block before it could reach Siyeon, as it slowed to a crawl.
The debris that didn’t stray ended up back in my hands to be thrown again.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, keep going.”
While reassuring Siyeon, I used the rotation power of my shoulders and wrists to throw forcefully near the monster.
With a sound astoundingly like a bomb dropping, the sidewalk block shattered into pieces without a trace.
As Siyeon’s ice spear continued to fly, no matter the miss, the sidewalk block she threw returned as a barrage.
Minutes passed, yet Siyeon’s attacks showed no signs of hitting.
As expected, once a chance to ambush was missed, the odds were really slim.
“That’s enough, let’s come down now.”
“Uh? But I haven’t hit even once yet…”
“It’s fine; if you hit from the start, you’d be a genius.”
With the mindset that she wouldn’t hit anything from the beginning, I had her sniper.
She seemed oblivious to that fact as she followed me down with a sulky expression.
The monster, not even thinking to seek refuge inside a building, appeared to be tired, panting heavily from the continued spear assaults and sidewalk block bombardments.
“Cough, huff… you… cowardly, brats….”
After coming close to confirm, it resembled a crocodile completely, except for walking on two legs and wearing clothes.
Hmm, isn’t crocodile skin pretty expensive?
In any case, it seemed to be out of power, making it easier to subdue.
As I pressed my fist with my opposite hand until it made a crunching sound, I walked over to the gaping crocodile monster and said to Siyeon.
“Moon, watch carefully.”
“Prepare yourself!”
I didn’t know why those wretched brats had dared to come down to the ground, but the Evil Croaker had until then been confident of victory.
Yes, as much as that moment before it charged at me, the masked brat with its mouth wide open.
Dodging all attacks had been tough, but ultimately, they were nothing but lowly beings that couldn’t step onto the stage of the universe.
No matter how formidable they were, could they be stronger than someone in command of a ship?
The certainty born of years of accumulated arrogance and unfounded self-confidence.
But that certainty was shattered far too abruptly by an unreasonable experience compared to the time built up.
Its jaws attempted to bite down on the skin of a living thing.
For the most part, fights against living beings ended that way.
Yes.
Therefore, the Evil Croaker had never once imagined a scenario outside of ‘most’ cases.
“Gack?!”
An impenetrable toughness, which he couldn’t even fathom could belong to a living creature.
It felt like it had bitten down on indestructible metal, and a solid impact reverberated in its jaws.
Immediately, the Evil Croaker detached its mouth from the tiny one and desperately tried to shake off the pain.
That impending dread, the Evil Croaker recalled.
[Don’t underestimate them too much.]
The voice of the tentacled official, who had given serious advice like no one else.
Yet, without any time to dwell in the past, the Evil Croaker returned harshly to reality.
“Hey, is it all over?”
Once again, a youthful voice resonated with a fearsome yet distinct presence.
“Gyaaa…!”
At the moment when the first attack had missed entirely, he was already losing the will to fight.
What use was there in lengthy explanations? His most potent weapon had completely missed.
At that moment, victory or defeat had already been determined.
The Evil Croaker let out a pitiful scream filled with resistance as its jaws were forced open.
As fear carved its being, it grovelled for mercy, even with its mouth wide open.
“W-wait!”
In the face of the unknown, a fear born from what might happen.
The Evil Croaker was not a monster accustomed to fear and pain.
Minor disputes were resolved by its biological father, and its impressive jaw took care of battle matters.
Accustomed to inflicting pain, it was entirely inexperienced in enduring it.
Seeing a monster’s attitude flip was nothing new for Sun.
Though she’d occasionally grant a monster a peaceful death due to a busy day or frustrating weather…
“You don’t know who I am, but I’m pretty sure you were meant to leave after the 20th set, right?”
“…!”
“Especially with the holiday bonus….”
It had been the last escape route, the ceasefire agreement.
Now, compounded by the holiday period, the Evil Croaker stood on two fatal mines that should not have been stepped on.
For that reason, no mercy could be granted.
Sun recalled a certain monster that had retreated back to its ship, weakened before any true torture could begin.
That monster would never return to her territory, but she was determined to show the Evil Croaker exactly what hell was.
“Now, now, mercy…!”
“Impossible.”
The staff that burned with unprecedented brightness slowly directed itself into its maw.
Shining brightly in the cloudy winter day, that sun was, at that moment, not anywhere in the universe but rather inside the very mouth of the Evil Croaker.
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