Public Enemy (8)

Public Enemy (8)

“E-everyone freeze! Don’t move… Aaargh! Officer Park!”

“You bastard, did you enjoy your pointless power trips all this time?”

The police who rushed in urgently tried to subdue the rampaging people, but it wasn’t much help. I smirked as I watched a middle-aged policeman get caught by a young officer who came with him and get beaten bloody.

“A-are you okay…?”

Park Tae-jun, who was hiding with me, noticed my smile and looked at me nervously. I clicked my tongue and just nodded vaguely.

“How can you be so calm? I feel like my heart’s about to burst…”

“Do you find the scene unfolding now that strange? I don’t think so. You’ve just been living too comfortably until now.”

I answered Park Tae-jun’s words nonchalantly. Of course, this level was a bit excessive, but in reality, even without Mammoth’s power, there are many places in the world that are this dangerous.

Places where if you act recklessly, you’ll get shot or punched right away.

“But that kind of behavior is uncivilized.”

“That’s right too. But what we need to remember is that humans can become uncivilized at any time.”

As if fascinated by my perspective as a Demon Lord, the guy opened his eyes wide and shut his mouth.

Meanwhile, the manager who had been guarding the door returned.

“For now, it seems we should stay here.”

This place was a warehouse used by a nearby shopping center. We had just entered as the door happened to be open.

It seemed he had heard what I was saying, as I could feel a strange gaze even through his sunglasses. I just gave a slight smile.

“The police keep fighting among themselves. How can we handle this?”

“If it’s really related to the mysterious person, it’s obvious.”

Speak of the devil. Just as I muttered, someone appeared in the middle of the scene, cutting through the sky.

A magical girl in a cute pink dress raised the wand in her hand and called down lightning, striking the people who were running amok.

They collapsed after being hit by the thunderbolt, seemingly unconscious. They couldn’t be dead. Magical girls can’t kill innocent people.

“It’s not just one or two! Look over there. It’s Aria!”

Park Tae-jun pointed to a building in the distance through the window.

She was there. Magical Girl Aria was seen falling from the roof of a 6-story building and then delivering punches to the victims with incredible movement.

Her martial arts skills were certainly admirable.

[But why is she just knocking them out? If she leaves the inner evil spirits as they are, it’s meaningless, isn’t it?]

“Ah, she probably doesn’t have that ability.”

When I asked about one point of doubt I had discovered, Ren, hanging from the window, watched the scene and replied.

[…What?]

For a moment, I couldn’t understand. Why couldn’t she remove those pathetic evil spirits?

“We need someone with special abilities or a psychic. The magic of magical girls is focused solely on fighting enemies.”

[I don’t understand. How can you handle magical power without knowing what it is?]

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ren’s reaction was the same as before. I was a bit taken aback by the response that they handle magical power without knowing what it is, but thinking about how Yggdrasil gives power to magical girls, it made sense.

[Yggdrasil gives power equal to one’s potential in an instant. But that way, you can’t surpass your own limits. You don’t even know what power you’re handling. It’s like pulling a trigger without knowing what a bullet or gunpowder is]

“…What we want are talented warriors who can be immediately deployed, not transcendent powerhouses.”

I pointed out that the magical girls’ power was incomplete, but Ren’s attitude was ‘what’s the problem with that?’ Of course, I didn’t feel like making a big deal out of it. It wasn’t my business anyway.

“It seems to be suppressed smoothly.”

I spoke out loud. As I said, the streets were quickly being cleaned up with the deployment of magical girls.

“What a shame.”

“What is?”

“Taquilas, I thought it might come.”

Just as I was starting to feel somewhat relieved, I flinched at Park Tae-jun’s sudden comment.

“…Are you interested in Taquilas?”

“Honestly, isn’t it harder not to be interested these days?”

As I tried to respond calmly, Park Tae-jun answered with a face that said ‘isn’t it obvious?’ He’s not wrong. It has been heating up the news lately.

“They were estimating it to be incredibly strong. If it appears, wouldn’t it be helpful? We could also feast our eyes… never mind.”

“Well, I think if something simply strong shows up here, things might get more complicated.”

I smirked. For one, Aria would immediately come at me.

“…Oh, my.”

“This is.”

But at that very moment. Just as the situation was almost resolved with the appearance of the magical girls.

I could feel it. So could Ren. A magical energy more intense and destructive than any we had felt before.

Its source was in the middle of the distant street.

“Ma, ma, Mamut…! He’s finally appeared!”

Ren, visibly pale despite being a doll, shouted in a trembling voice that was close to a scream.

*

“Ah…”

“Ugh, my body, my body won’t move…”

The street center, which had been bustling with possessed people and the magical girls subduing them.

But at this moment, the street fell into a chillingly cold silence.

The cause was simply a 3-meter tall man in a black suit who suddenly appeared and stood still. He was extremely thin, and on his face with pale white skin, there was only a large mouth with sharp teeth.

“Disappointing, these, magical girls, of this land.”

He flicked his long, large red tongue and smirked as he took off his fedora.

Just by his descent, the magical girls’ energy was suppressed, and they couldn’t move.

“Not even, a scream, of joy, let alone, a meal, worth having.”

He clicked his teeth and shook his head.

His specialty was capturing magical girls, torturing them to make them scream, and ultimately eating the writhing flesh of the magical girls alive.

He had eaten over dozens of magical girls as he traversed various worlds.

The thick killing intent and terror engraved in his body had the worst compatibility with magical girls.

“Not all, of them, are here?”

“Ugh… Mammoth!”

Meanwhile, there were magical girls struggling to move their bodies.

Aria was one of them. Gritting her teeth so hard that blood came out, Aria shattered the ground she was standing on and shot out like a shell, slamming her clenched fist into his abdomen.

“Kuhahaha!”

A shockwave erupted, shattering and scattering the asphalt. Mammoth stuck out his tongue and started laughing.

Aria was taken aback when her attack was blocked by a translucent barrier, and she was then hit in the stomach by a tentacle attack, sending her flying.

The flying Aria crashed through the wall of a commercial building and tumbled inside.

“Chaos, despair, fear! Foolish humans… you too, accept them.”

While Aria was sent flying.

Mammoth moved his magical power. Those who had been possessed by evil spirits and then subdued by the magical girls all twisted their bodies and stood up.

“Shoot! Shoot him!”

The police forces that rushed in urgently pulled their triggers at Mammoth.

However, the barrier that had blocked even Aria’s punch deflected all the bullets.

“Ah, ahhh! The people!”

Moreover, when the possessed people openly rushed at them, the police couldn’t bring themselves to shoot.

“No, no! Let go! This…”

While the magical girls were neutralized and the police were in disarray.

Mammoth used his tentacle-like transformed fingers to wrap around one of the magical girls who had been frozen and unable to move, dragging her along.

“Cry, cry more.”

“Huaaagh!”

Her eyes wide open, she shed tears and desperately scratched the ground with her hands, trying not to be dragged away.

Even though her nails broke and blood flowed profusely, she was ultimately picked up upside down and delivered to the mammoth.

“Ah… Aah… Aaargh!!!”

The mammoth twisted her arms and legs backwards, breaking them all. It was to make her body soft.

And then, it began to open its large mouth even wider than its own face. As if trying to swallow her whole.

At the moment when despair filled the eyes of the magical girl who sensed her death.

“Kuk.”

Something burning, leaving a tail of flames, rushed in and struck the mammoth.

The captured magical girl fell to the ground, and the struck mammoth flew and crashed into the asphalt.

“Hu, huhaha! Aria!”

“Don’t call my name, you disgusting bastard!”

Aria’s fist, powered up to the maximum, struck the mammoth’s body once again.

In a split second, dozens of strikes were unleashed.

As the mammoth’s barrier shattered, shockwaves burst from its entire body.

“You… know how to, control fear.”

“Because I’ve seen something more terrifying than you, you son of a bitch.”

Gritting her teeth at the mammoth’s words, Aria recalled the past. The fear and helplessness she felt from the magic of the earth dragon summoned by Takilas.

Based on the memory of that day, Aria succeeded in overcoming the fear emitted by the mammoth.

“Then, you must be very delicious.”

“Ah…”

However, that answer was exactly what Mammoth wanted.

Aria, who had been swinging her fist, looked down at her legs in disbelief.

Mammoth’s tentacle had already pierced through her thigh.