Chapter 79 : The Final Blow

“Siyeon.”

“Hm?”

“Someday, you’ll be hunting monsters on your own too, right?”

“Yup!”

Since that promise we made with that weird octopus-like monster — whose name I don’t even remember

— there hadn’t been many chances for us to transform.

And now, a monster suddenly appeared, and Siyeon said she was coming along.

It might be a little too early for her to start feeling a sense of responsibility, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt if she developed that kind of feeling sooner.

After all, as long as we carried the title of ‘magical girls’, it was something bound to follow.

I looked at Siyeon, who answered so cheerfully, and spoke in a tone a little lower than usual.

“Today, you’ve gotta watch carefully how to take down a monster, okay?”

“Okay!”

Under a clouded winter sky, guided by our two mascots, we arrived at a deserted street.

A monster had suddenly appeared right at the start of the holiday. I had no idea what was going on, so I lowered our altitude little by little to get a better look.

From what I could see from up high, it was kind of long.

At least it wasn’t a face I recognized.

“Hold up.”

“Huh? Why?”

As Siyeon started to descend further, I placed the back of my hand between her stomach and chest to stop her.

The first lesson for a magical girl — teaching her how to ambush.

“From here, you can just fire off a spell and kill….”

I almost blurted out the rough word “kill” as it was, but quickly softened my tone and spun my brain to find a more appropriate word.

“I mean, take it down.”

“From here?”

“Yup, from here. Wanna practice together?”

While hovering in the sky, I held Siyeon’s magic staff together with her and aimed it at the monster on the ground.

Even a pebble, if thrown from a 20-story apartment building, wouldn’t be something to laugh off if it hit someone.

Height and gravity — they’re a magical girl’s weapons.

Especially for monsters like that one, crawling on the ground, distracted by the glittering things in front of them, they rarely think to look up at the sky.

It’s like in a game — bonus damage for a stealth attack.

“Carefully aim….”

Helping her steady her aim toward the monster, the tip of her moon-shaped magic staff began to glow with a faint, bluish light, forming a sharp ice spike.

Suddenly curious about the name of the technique, I asked while adjusting Siyeon’s stance.

“What’s this technique called?”

“Ice Pierce!”

And with that answer, shooom — the ice spike at the tip of the staff shot forward.

“Ah.”

Because I casually asked for the name, the spike ended up flying off before we properly aimed.

There was no way it was going to hit the monster’s head.

The monster, already trashing around in an empty street stall where no one was around, naturally turned its attention to the sky where we were, as the ice spike struck the ground right beside it and shattered.

“Get… ready… to… run!”

A monster yelling at us for floating in the sky.

Since the ambush had failed, the logical next step would’ve been to head down to the ground and settle this directly.

That should’ve been the obvious move, but…

‘Do we really have to?’

After giving it some thought, I reached a perfectly reasonable conclusion.

Judging by the situation, the other side had no means of long-range attack — and we did.

So in that case, was there any reason for us to go down there?

Feeling unusually calm for once, even with a monster on the loose, I crossed my legs as if sitting in midair and spoke.

“Siyeon, let’s practice some more.”

“Huh? We can?!”

“I think it’s fine. Let’s just land one hit.”

And just like that, an impromptu game of dodge the falling ice spears began in the sky.

“Ice Pierce! Ice Pierce!”

The monster, trying to put up some resistance, began throwing whatever junk it could find nearby.

But no matter how hard it hurled street trash, unless it was something small and aerodynamic, it wasn’t even getting close to our altitude.

The monster, glancing around desperately, eventually found what it probably thought was the perfect solution: a paving stone.

Clutching it like a precious treasure — so even we could tell from way up here — it tossed it at us with all its might, but…

“Eek?!”

Of course, the paving stone had slowed enough before reaching Siyeon for me to easily snatch it out of the air.

Any debris that didn’t miss became ammo in my hand.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Keep going.”

While reassuring Siyeon, I used the momentum from my shoulder and wrist to hurl the stone straight toward the monster.

A thunderous crash like a bomb dropping followed, and the paving stone shattered into dust without a trace.

Even though none of Siyeon’s ice spears hit, they kept falling, and the paving stones the monster threw ended up being returned as explosive projectiles.

After a few minutes of this, not a single hit had landed.

In fact, the longer it went on, the worse the monster’s aim became.

The moment we missed our chance for a surprise attack, it was already over for them.

“Okay, that’s enough. Let’s head down.”

“Huh? But I haven’t landed a single hit yet…”

“It’s fine. If you hit on your first try, you’d be a prodigy.”

I’d never expected her to actually hit — this was just target practice from the start.

Apparently, Siyeon didn’t realize that, and followed me down looking a little glum.

The monster, who hadn’t even thought to hide inside a building, had gotten worn out from the constant barrage of ice spears and paving stone bombardments.

Now gasping for breath, it was visibly exhausted.

“Huff… Huff… Y-You little cowards…”

Coming in for a closer look, it turned out that aside from standing on two legs and wearing clothes, it was basically a giant crocodile.

Hmm, crocodile leather’s supposed to be pretty valuable, isn’t it?

Anyway, it looked like its strength was nearly gone, which meant taking it down would be even easier now.

I cracked my knuckles with my other hand as the crocodile monster, baring its jaws, charged in.

I casually called out to Siyeon:

“Get ready!”

At that moment — for reasons it would never understand — Evil Croker still believed it had won.

Yes, up until the instant it lunged forward with its jaws wide open toward the masked kid, it was certain of its victory.

Dodging all the attacks had been a struggle, but in the end, those inferior species who couldn’t even step onto the grand stage of the universe.

No matter how great they might be — could they possibly be stronger than a captain commanding a battleship?

A certainty born from decades of accumulated arrogance and baseless confidence.

Yet for that certainty to shatter…

It happened with an unfairness so sudden, it hardly compared to the long years it had taken to build up.

He sank his jaws into the creature’s flesh.

Normally, that alone would end a fight with most lifeforms.

Yes — that was why Evil Croaker had never even imagined a scenario where it wouldn’t.

“Kuhk?!”

An impossible hardness for something meant to be flesh.

A solid shock that reverberated in his mouth, as if biting down on unbreakable metal.

Evil Croaker immediately pulled his trembling jaw away from the brat’s skin, the lingering vibration in his maw gnawing at him.

He instinctively brought a hand — that could never quite reach the tip of his snout — to his mouth, hoping to ease the pain even a little.

And then came an ominous premonition.

Evil Croaker recalled the words of a tentacled officer, who had once offered a rare, earnest warning.

[“You really shouldn’t underestimate them too much.”]

But there was no time to dwell on the past, as brutal reality came crashing down.

“Hey — is that all you’ve got?”

Once again came that clear, chillingly distinct youthful voice, radiating an overwhelming presence.

“Gyaaaaah…!”

The moment his first attack proved completely ineffective, he’d already lost his fighting spirit.

What more was there to say? His most reliable, strongest offensive weapon had done nothing.

From that moment on, the outcome was sealed.

Evil Croaker screamed a miserable, desperate cry, as his jaws were forced open.

Terror branded itself onto his body.

Even as his maw opened, he pathetically prostrated himself, begging for mercy.

“P-please…!”

Fear born from the unknown — the terror of not knowing what might be done to him.

Evil Croaker was not a monster accustomed to fear and pain.

His biological father had always dealt with petty disputes, and his proud great jaws had taken care of every battle.

He might have been used to inflicting pain — but receiving it was a wholly foreign experience.

Sun had seen countless monsters change their tune before.

Sometimes, on busy or irritating days, she’d even grant them a painless death out of mercy.

But this one…

“I don’t know who you are, but wasn’t it you guys from Twenty Setle or Twenty Sete or whatever, who promised not to show up today?”

“…!”

“And on top of that, during the holiday bonus period…”

His last escape route — a ceasefire agreement.

And yet, to trample not one but two landmines, by showing up during a holiday period no less.

For someone like him, there could be no mercy.

Sun recalled a monster she once tortured, whose weak constitution had sent it scurrying back to its ship before the real torment even began.

That monster had never returned to her territory again, but the experience it left behind fueled her resolve.

This time, she would thoroughly teach Evil Croaker the true meaning of hell.

“P-please… show me mercy…!”

“Denied.”

The staff, burning brighter than ever before, quietly edged toward his gaping mouth.

On that overcast winter day, the sun blazed not in the distant heavens, but inside Evil Croaker’s very jaws.