Chapter 42 : Where and What to Become

Rattle

Rattle

Ting ting ting ting ting

Whoosh-boom!

All types of anti-aircraft weapons including anti-aircraft guns, anti-aircraft missiles, and Vulcans poured toward the giant cobalt blue airship measuring 200 meters in length.

Its overwhelming size, equivalent to a 50-story building laid horizontally, was so huge that it could be hit even with eyes closed. However, the curtain widely surrounding the airship blocked all projectiles from the weapons.

Boom

Boom

Boom

The moment projectiles touched the curtain, explosions occurred, blowing away warheads and high explosives. Unlike reactive armor that should be disposable, it instantly regenerated and filled its place.

The airship, which should be extremely vulnerable to firearms, was leisurely advancing toward Seoul, wrapped in an explosive curtain that was the epitome of irrationality.

“These bastards must be rolling in money, firing so fucking much.”

[Kihihihi, aren’t you tired of messing up three countries already, Alex?]

“Still, aren’t I like a first night bride waiting for her husband with her skirt up compared to Doctor?”

A voice with such heavy slang that it was confusing whether it was English echoed inside the bridge, and a girl’s voice with a noisy Middle Eastern accent responded through the radio.

Clink

Clink

As the long blonde-haired girl wearing a tank top over cobalt blue military pants shook her head to the sound of explosions, scratches engraved on her side cut were sparsely visible.

All her ears were densely filled with piercings, making clinking sounds every time she shook her head.

[You’re getting close to Beginning’s domain; didn’t you shit yourself from fear?]

Alex understood the advice hidden in Doctor’s joke but ignored it and growled.

“You mother… fucking thing… war is originally about, fuck, going wild until you die with a hard-on…!”

Alex, whose pupils were dilated with excitement and face flushed, muttered toward the air while breathing roughly.

Along with her panting breath, sweat was dripping, and she was twisting her legs while rubbing her whole body with both hands.

Doctor knew about Alex’s seizure symptoms, so she didn’t particularly care.

Bang

Bang

Bang

Endless explosion sounds.

Explosion sounds came to Alex’s ears.

Perhaps there were fewer times in her life when explosion sounds didn’t ring in her ears.

“A-air raid alarm… it’s an air raid alarm…! Explosions! Yesterday was the next village…! Today is our village…!”

[Kihihihi, there’s no one crazier? It’s enough to give me chills on the other side of the earth.]

Alex, who had been muttering, suddenly became serious and returned to her original sneering expression.

“Doctor, more importantly, have you deployed all the puppets?”

[Kihihihi, while you were doing your pole dance, I stuck them under the bridges so the guests can’t escape, Alex.]

“The gift boxes?”

[My intelligence quotient is about 4 times higher than yours.]

“Don’t talk shit, Doctor.”

* * *

Bang

Bang

Bang

Rattle

Rattle

Boom

Endless explosion sounds. And through the thick smoke, the giant cobalt-blue airship could be seen approaching.

The one who brought one of my avatars to the sky over northern Gyeonggi, where the flying vehicle was approaching, was the bloomed 1-star magical girl of [Gliding], who was serving as a platoon leader among the White Wing unit led by Park Saebyeok.

After hearing Kang Dorim’s request, Park Saebyeok ordered her to summon a dark gray hang glider and bring me here.

“Now I’ll leave the operation area!”

“Yes, thank you… and I’m sorry for making you come to such a dangerous place.”

“It’s okay! We became stronger by receiving the power of the stars to do such things!”

“When the domain is completed, make sure to lead your platoon members to escape to the Garden.”

“Haha! If we abandon patients and run away, we’ll be punished for desertion by the company commander!”

“…Are you going to return to Seoul right away?”

“Yes! If patients occur, our White Wing unit must step up!”

The magical girl of [Gliding] saluted me with her sports sunglasses perched on her tied hair glinting, and I nodded in response. The airborne insignia on her military uniform suited her very well.

“White Wing!”

Whoosh!

She let go of the hang glider and went into free fall, then summoned a new hang glider and flew back toward Seoul.

After watching her disappear into a dot in an instant, I looked back at the airship in front.

‘Since I can’t use large-scale barrier-type illusion magic for a while, this time I’ll subdue them at once with perception and illusion.’

Wheeee―

Bang!

Rattle rattle

Bang!

Noise.

Endless noise.

My ears were deafened by the wind sound and explosions continuously hitting my ears.

Fully bloomed 3-star magical girl of [Bombing].

Alex.

The notorious Alex was a Scavenger who appeared in the original work.

Among the Scavengers, [Sword] had relatively clear action goals. [Revenge] never showed her face throughout the story and only showed mysterious appearances before suddenly disappearing. And [Bombing] could only be described as a mad criminal steeped in madness.

I never imagined that villain magical girls who originally came only after [War]’s advent and the trials of demons began would come to Asia this early.

‘Is it because the story has already deviated enough from the original work?’

I don’t know why villains who should appear in volumes 4 or 5 are suddenly having group seizures at a point where even volume 1 hasn’t started yet, or why there’s one more person in the Scavengers, which originally had 3 members.

But what I have to do is clear.

‘Kill her; this time I must kill her.’

The Glass Stars needed for a bloomed 2-star girl to achieve full bloom of struggle: 100.

She has already killed or plundered over 100 magical girls.

Not content with that, she came to kill and plunder even more magical girls.

This is not a world made of a few drops of ink in a light novel.

The smiles and lives she took away are real.

Grip

For a moment, the faces of the girls I rescued from the research facility having a sushi party, the girls coming and going to the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters, and the faces of Dorim, Hana, and Ichika flashed through my mind. I gripped the hang glider handle tightly.

Kill her.

Must kill her.

I accelerated the hang glider I was holding through psychic power toward the airship.

Whoosh

Feeling the wind brushing my ears as I accelerated, the cobalt blue giant body now appeared like a wall in front of my eyes. And the closer I got, the louder the explosion sounds became.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The sound of the curtain activating in response to the anti-aircraft system was so loud it made my skull vibrate, and I activated dozens of layers of psychic curtains in front of the hang glider.

I gripped the handle with all my might, and tremendous vibrations and explosive sounds engulfed me.

Ratatatatatang!

Bang bang bang bang bang bang

Beep―

After the explosive curtain had been activated and regenerated, it exploded again, and through the chain of regeneration, I gradually wedged through the gaps and finally came face to face with the airship.

Due to the continuous explosive sounds, I felt dizzy and had ringing in my ears.

It was fortunate that those explosion sounds were no longer audible.

‘If I didn’t know the method, I would have had to go around for a long time… thank you, Yuki…!’

I followed exactly the method Shikishima Yuki used in the original work, spreading multiple layers of flame curtains to break through, and it worked so easily.

However, at that point, Yuki, who had evolved into a 2-star magical girl, was described as panting after breaking through, but thanks to the difference in specs, I broke through smoothly.

I felt elated, as I seemed to benefit from the original work for almost the first time since the debutante.

Crash!

I fell from the hang glider and rushed toward the bluntly protruding bridge at the bottom of the airship, letting the wind pressure created by the shattered glass window carry me.

The floor and ceiling, in my view, mercilessly flipped, mixing the scenery inside the bridge.

I rolled around chaotically like that and then tried the falling technique Ichika had taught me to correct my posture.

The bridge roared and shook.

Military pants glimpsed far away.

A person startled by my sudden intrusion.

It’s Alex.

[Deception] Magical Girl’s Unique Skill

Dream World

Perception Acceleration

Stand

Alex, who had hurriedly bent down to pick up the tactical bag that had fallen to the floor, stopped due to the extremely extended perception acceleration, and I aimed at her neck with psychic power.

Crack

Alex’s head turned completely around, and our eyes met.

She was smiling.

‘A magical girl’s lifeline is tougher than an ordinary person’s!’

I used psychic power to compress Alex’s chest bones left and right.

Screech

Due to the magical power being drained in real time by the domain declaration, I couldn’t crush her. I engaged in a tense psychic tug-of-war with Alex, but while maintaining a narrowly dominant situation, I gradually pressed down.

Crack

“Guhuk… ughk… Doctor, you fucking bitch! You said it was sturdy!”

Blood came up to Alex’s mouth as her neck dangled.

Crack

Crack

Crunch

I cast Blink toward her, whose upper body was completely crushed and delivered a drop kick imbued with psychic power.

Although the mass contained wasn’t transcendent because I was of average female weight, the physical force imbued with magical power unique to magical girls rushed in and pulverized her body.

Splash!

I shook off my legs in the air to correct my posture and sharply gathered psychic power into a hand blade to strike down with a horizontal slash.

Crunch!

Alex could be seen twitching due to rigor mortis between the completely split flesh pieces.

“…”

I didn’t lower my guard while looking at the flesh pieces twitching due to postmortem rigidity and the vibrations of the bridge.

Sticky blood was clinging to my whole body, giving off a terrible smell.

It was my first murder, but there was no wavering in my heart as I recalled the smiling faces of Dorim, Hana, and Ichika.

“Huff… huff…!”

Still, as it was my first fight imbued with killing intent, I felt my chest pounding and my hands and feet going cold.

“…”

This isn’t a Scavenger who would die obediently like this.

She will surely try something even after death.

I raised my hands and maintained a defensive posture.

[Bombing] is vicious.

Glance

‘The Glass Star isn’t visible…!’

Alex was originally wearing a top with little cloth area to cover, and I checked by stepping on her lower body shaking from the vibrations below, but there was no hard Glass Star visible anywhere.

Whoosh

I opened what was presumed to be Alex’s tactical bag with psychic power without touching it and poured it out.

Roll

Dozens of small bombs flickering with cobalt blue magical power fell down, and I got goosebumps. But there was no Glass Star visible anywhere.

And then I heard a radio sound from behind.

[Kihihihi, after all that fuss, you’ve already crushed the spare.]

[Fuck, that cowardly cow sneak attacked and broke through the explosive armor and cast illusions and suddenly came in and killed me; what do you want me to do!]

[I’ll immediately transmit the illusion countermeasure OS to the main body, so receive it well. Stupid Alex.]

There was a fluorescent green radio attached to what seemed to be the airship’s control lever.

I picked it up and looked at it.

[It was really unexpected that you came out of Japan and became active, magical girl of [Beginning].]

“Doctor?”

[Kihihihi, what are you going to do! You’ve had your name revealed at the first meeting! Foolish Alex!]

[Ah fuck, she died before I could press the airship self-destruct button, how annoying! Fuck!]

[That’s why I told you to prepare instead of playing around in the bridge.]

[Fuck, how would I know! Hey you fucking cow, you just wait! I’m going to the main body to blow up that tiny city!]

As most words started with F, it wasn’t difficult to understand the shitty English sentences full of slang.

Thud

I threw the completely silent radio to the floor and turned the airship’s control lever to the right as much as possible.

The progress route on the monitor showed the airship’s expected route changing toward the West Sea. It seemed better to crash it into the sea rather than clumsily land it in northern Gyeonggi, where there are many civilian houses at this point.

Zzzzt

[Eunbit unnie, how did it go?!]

Dorim’s avatar appeared toward my avatar, where my consciousness was focused.

“…It seems she received help from a magical girl who can create something like spare bodies. I thought I had killed her for sure, but she spoke through radio from somewhere else.”

[Isn’t she bluffing?]

Dorim spoke while trying hard to avert her gaze from the horrible flesh pieces spread below.

“I’m not sure either, but she might really have gone to do something to Seoul or done something while attention was focused on the airship.”

[I see… are you going to let the airship go to the sea like this?]

Dorim glanced at the monitor, which showed the expected flight route while speaking.

“Yeah, just in case, I think I should leave one avatar here.”

[Then let’s go back to Seoul now.]

* * *

In the midst of a chaotic situation where air raid sirens were sounding everywhere and citizens were rushing into designated shelters or subways, Park Saebyeok and White Wing unit members were in a corner of Jongno.

“They succeeded in subduing the airship, but that side seems fake… they’re already in Seoul or coming.”

“I see, so you’re saying they’re coming to Seoul.”

“It seems it will take just under 30 minutes until [Beginning]’s domain is completed.”

“Understood.”

Park Saebyeok, with her pink short hair tied up, listened to Kang Dorim’s avatar’s explanation and gathered the waiting White Wing unit members.

Tap tap tap

Just as Park Saebyeok was about to tell the White Wing unit members gathered by platoon about the current situation, a white girl with a rowdy impression appeared smiling on the large electronic display board at the intersection.

[Wow, fucking live broadcast time!]

[Y’all must be working hard living all crowded together in that tiny city!]

[Thinking of that hard work, I’ve planted a bomb that can clean up about a 5km radius!]

[If you don’t want to see everyone blown up and dying, gather in the square in front of me with your Glass Stars!]

[I’ve brought thousands of muscle guys and bomb chirpers, so you can’t escape on foot, so wake up!]

[I’ll give you 30 minutes.]

[I’m in a bad mood because I lost an airship.]

In the video, the timer on what looked like a 3-meter cobalt blue bomb started moving.

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