As the warm summer approached after a few months, the heat that made commuting to school agonizing covered Korea.
Someone once said on the internet that July to August is not summer but a damn season.
In line with this damn season, the frequency of damn monsters visiting also increased quite a bit.
The media that had made a fuss as soon as the monsters appeared in May grew quiet as the monsters blended into everyday life, as if to say it never happened.
They only sought other gossip to poke around at.
Thus, we returned once again to the routine of monster extermination from first grade.
Of course, there were changes.
First, Shiyeon’s attitude had shifted actively.
“Ah, I dodged it!”
After having defeated monsters alone in May, Shiyeon had recently gained confidence in handling monsters without help, often insisting she would do it herself.
No matter how dim-witted the monsters were, if they returned to Incheon every time with their heads crushed, one would inevitably develop some learning ability.
Nowadays, we were often looking up even before we descended.
At that point where she was already spotted, it was only natural that surprise attacks like ‘Shiyeon’s iceberg dropping’ would no longer work.
“I won’t fall for the same trick every time.”
“I’ll descend first!”
“Ah, wait….”
When the surprise attack didn’t work, Shiyeon lowered her altitude with the words that she would descend first.
Even if I tried to tell her to wait when she was already well below, she wouldn’t hear it.
With no other choice, I just followed her closely, keeping my shoes anchored to the ground.
Shiyeon was already on the ground, cane in hand, facing off against the monster.
In an ordinary magical girl animation, this would be the point where an innocent magical girl would introduce herself and vow not to forgive the monster…
“You’re that magical girl from the rumors…”
“Ice Pierce!”
Before the monster could finish its sentence, an ice spear came flying in from the front.
“Ugh!”
The plump monster, shaped like a fat uncle, screamed as it rolled sideways from the sharp ice projectile that flew in suddenly.
Surprisingly agile for its size.
Its rounded body inflated and deflated like an octopus, emitting strange sounds as if it was struggling to breathe.
Then, pointing at Shiyeon with a trivial triangular appendage, the monster began to furiously yell.
“You! You shouldn’t cut someone off before they finish talking!”
“Ice Pierce!”
However, inheriting the will of Magical Girl Sun, Shiyeon showed no mercy when it came to monsters.
Instead of answering or being surprised, she cast another spell directed at the angry monster.
The monster, which had just dodged with agility moments ago, couldn’t avoid the ice spear flying toward it this time; several stuck into its torso.
“Ahhh! Not again!”
The monster let out a short scream filled with agony, sounding like it was choked with phlegm.
It seemed it had not expected another magic attack without listening to it.
It was only natural; I also never expected such a thing to happen consecutively.
As if it had resolved not to endure any longer, the monster raised its small spikes and shot them outward.
Looking at it this way, it seemed somewhat similar to a porcupine?
“Whoa!”
Shiyeon twisted her body to avoid the flying spikes.
In contrast, I stood lazily against a sturdy ginkgo tree, watching her fight without a care for the spikes coming at her.
My transformation was nearly at a solid state, akin to something out of a martial arts comic, and I hadn’t sustained injuries myself, but…
From what I’d heard, even minor injuries could feel like sharp pain.
Of course, I would only return to my original state once my bones were shattered and I was completely immobilized.
Just like that, even if I reverted after transforming, my original body would come back unharmed, and the transformed body wouldn’t affect my pre-transformed body… it was quite the fortunate story.
How they discovered this was puzzling, but I didn’t want to dig deep into it.
“Oh, a vending machine.”
In the midst of that heated battle, where spikes and ice were flying everywhere, I felt compelled to do something, so I approached the drink vending machine next to the meat restaurant, swiped my card, and pressed the button for the apple juice can.
Clank, the sound of the can dropping.
I bent down, pushed the plastic cover off with the back of my hand, and picked up the can of apple juice.
Without any suspicion, I cracked open the can with a pop and poured its contents down my throat.
“Hm?”
The refreshing feeling was as expected, but the aroma from my mouth and nose felt entirely different.
Not apple, but grape?
Confused by this discrepancy in taste, I pulled the can away and checked the picture on it.
I had definitely pressed the apple juice button, but somehow got grape juice instead.
It happens sometimes, but what rotten luck.
“Cough, um… kill me!”
While I was halfway through my drink, the showdown seemed to have reached a conclusion.
The once rounded monster had shrunk to an oval shape, with ice embedded in various places while transparent fluid oozed from its wounds.
With green blood mixed in, it was a mysterious world of monsters.
Shiyeon aimed her cane at the monster, about to finish it off.
“Cough, I was curious how terrifying the Black Zone is… but it’s nothing special!”
Despite having been defeated by Shiyeon, the monster slurred out unnecessary words with a grin.
Receiving a lesson, Shiyeon clearly ignored the monster’s words.
She intended to finish her spell but…
“Wait a second.”
“Ugh.”
The palm that had reached out as if to stop her gently moved toward Shiyeon’s lips.
Naturally, the spell wasn’t completed, and the ice chunk that was supposed to form in front of her cane fell to the ground.
The comment that the Black Zone was nothing special, as if having fought once and learned of this place’s dangers, was, in a sense, a sore spot for me.
Lately, I had been called out more often to deal with monsters Shiyeon was supposed to handle, and recently, the monsters visiting Incheon had been increasing, not knowing their place.
If the monsters’ perception had generally shifted to such a notion, it wasn’t a story to laugh about.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hasn’t it been a while since I’ve had to step in?”
Retracting my hand that was aimed at Shiyeon’s mouth, I took a step forward toward the monster, cracking my knuckles ominously.
To give a heads-up, I took pride in the fact that I was in charge of areas with lower monster appearance rates.
Since Shiyeon had been so keen on fighting monsters lately, I had left her to handle it alone, right?
Crack, crack. I cracked my right fist once, then my left.
Chilling sounds echoed once, then, with my foot, I pressed against the monster’s body and wedged the ice spear under its armpit…
And then, pulled it out.
“Graaaagh!”
A viscous white fluid gushed out from the spot where the ice spear was pulled.
Gripping the cane that flew into the air, I heated it until it sizzled against flesh, bringing it to the wounds where blood was spurting out.
With the cane glowing as red-hot as a branding iron, I pressed it against the monster’s skin amidst the bubbling sound.
“Cough, urghhh!”
The monster, which had just been slumped, suddenly began to thrash around.
Melting the blood vessels with intense heat, this was an extreme method of forcibly stopping the bleeding.
Anyway, as the bleeding slowed, its dying pace naturally decreased as well.
Unless, of course, it went into shock due to unbearable pain.
The outcome was already decided.
As the seventh ice spear was pulled out, the monster, which was unable to comprehend the agony, watched this all unfold with puzzled eyes filled with pain.
“Why… why!”
“Because you said it was nothing special… I wanted to show you some of the usual nothing.”
An ominous premonition and chilling reality enveloped the monster’s body.
It realized something late.
Why were there two magical girls who had come, yet it only fought with one?
Magical Girl Sun, was the one I was fighting until now really her?
If, by chance…
If the magical girl I had fought all this time wasn’t Sun?
And.
If the one before me, with a brutally cold gaze, was the very being that all monsters feared?
“One, two, three, four….”
Her fingers counted off the ominous numbers one at a time.
From the moment of its birth until this very moment, the monster’s eyes shook more than ever amidst all those moments.
With each flick of her fingers, it felt an empty black hole engraved in its heart, vast like the universe.
“How many can you endure?”
Fear is an emotion that arises from a foreseeable future.
Because it was a fear that could be anticipated, the monster wailed pitifully like a newly born being.
The process of pulling out the ice spears deeply embedded in its wounds and burning its blood vessels was repeating over and over.
While it might sound like a healing process, the pain penetrated deep into the flesh, ravaging the monster’s brain and emotions.
As the seventh ice spear was pulled out, the monster scattered.
In the intensive care unit of the spaceship, one more patient was added.
