Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Magical Reporting Ceremony (4)
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Kim Siyul was a strange person.
At least, that's how Sora saw it.
Just looking at the Magical info related to him was enough to make anyone think so.
A Magical deserter who hadn't been caught even during a Monster invasion.
A Magical concept enthusiast who claimed to have been to another world.
A Magical lunatic who called himself the Hero of the Moon.
He wasn't just ordinarily strange.
Of course, Sora didn't judge him based on that kind of talk. She was the type who only trusted what she saw with her own eyes, no matter what others said.
But even so, her short time around him was more than enough to conclude he was strange.
He pulled daring stunts on Monsters.
He wiped Monster corpses on other people's clothes.
He brushed off near-death experiences with perfect calm.
And now...
'That, that, that crazy bastard.'
He was even picking fights with a Monster.
Kim Siyul taunted the Monster—who couldn't even understand words—just by talking to every one he saw, scraping at their tempers.
This went beyond Magical bravado. There was no way to describe it other than straight-up insane.
Was he really not right in the head?
Or was his sense of fear just broken?
Either way, Kim Siyul was far too strange. At least, in Sora's eyes.
But the even stranger part was something else.
'What the hell...'
As a regular civilian—not a Magical Girl—he was effortlessly dodging the Monster's assaults.
With the absolute minimum movements required.
Two steps, maybe three.
One deflection, or two at most.
That was the extent of his actions every time an attack came.
Of course, when multiple Monsters targeted him at once, his movements got a bit more varied.
But.
Even then, he never moved excessively. Not even once.
Ruthlessly efficient motions that minimized energy expenditure to the extreme.
Honestly, if it had only happened once or twice, even Sora wouldn't have thought it was that strange.
First time: a fluke.
Second: coincidence.
Third: luck.
She would've brushed it off like that.
But.
'How many times has it been now?'
Could you really write off this level of repeated feats as mere luck or fortune?
At least Sora couldn't.
'I don't get it...'
Lost in complicated thoughts, Sora shook her head and tapped Ray's shoulder.
"Sis."
"Yeah? What's up, Sora? Why?"
"Don't you think what senior's doing is way too weird? How is that even possible?"
"Dunno."
Ray nodded a couple times, then shrugged as she looked back at Sora.
"But thanks to him, this is a total breeze, right?"
"Well..."
True enough. Sora nodded quietly.
Aside from a few exceptional Magical Girls, most operated in groups. Usually with their dorm mates.
There were various reasons, but the core purpose was simple: to cover each other's gaps, big or small.
The problem was.
'We only have two people right now.'
They were short-handed.
One was away on Magical business.
The other was on Magical vacation.
'We should have one more normally.'
But even that one had retired. Which was how Kim Siyul ended up here.
But he was just a civilian.
He couldn't count as effective combat power.
In a situation like this—where Monsters kept pouring in endlessly—even five Magical Girls would struggle to handle it fully.
Even if she and her sister meshed well enough to cover each other's weaknesses, they were still just two.
Against a horde like this, they were short on firepower.
Eventually, their gaps would overlap.
'No, but seriously, there are way too many.'
Sora had no idea why there were so many Monsters.
Over there, spells were firing into the sky and ground at the horde, so the Magical Girls clearly hadn't been wiped out.
These were low-level Monsters anyway—it didn't make sense for all those Magical Girls to get annihilated.
'Did the front line really break? Or is someone directing them all here on purpose?'
She mulled over a few questions, but none had easy answers.
But there was one she could answer for sure.
If things kept going like this, could they safely regroup?
'No way.'
Honestly, the outlook was grim.
A done deal, even. The situation here was too stacked against them to turn around.
But.
'Thinking that way, he's actually a godsend right now.'
One Magical wildcard—Kim Siyul—had shaken up the board.
For whatever reason, even though he shouldn't have gotten under their skin, the Monsters were obsessively targeting only him.
Of course, thanks to his constant evasion, not a single hit had landed.
As a result, things had gotten way easier for everyone else.
With him drawing all the attention, she and Ray could focus purely on attacking.
At this point, it wasn't even a fight. It was a one-sided Magical hunt. Basically target practice.
The Magical targets: Monsters.
The Magical ammo: spells.
And even as Sora and Ray blatantly cast spells right in front of them, the Monsters didn't spare them a glance.
They just kept charging straight at Kim Siyul, over and over.
So his presence was helpful. Undeniably so, at least for the two of them here.
'Results-wise, I'm seriously grateful.'
Still, she couldn't fully shake the feeling that he was strange.
At that moment, she caught sight of Kim Siyul picking a fight with yet another Monster.
"Oh, you play mobile games?"
He said it to a Monster with a flowerpot for a head.
"You a casual?"
A chill raced sharply up Sora's spine. She'd let her guard down a bit, but now she had to snap back to full alert.
'What the hell are you doing?!'
Despite its ridiculous appearance, this Monster was extremely dangerous.
On a whole different level from the ones before.
The reason was simple but certain: the flower in the pot at head level unleashed spells without warning.
Not the weak spells some Monsters used—these were strong enough to seriously injure any Magical Girl who wasn't specialized in Magical defense.
Like right now.
"Senior! Wa—!"
Sora barely got a few syllables out before the Monster unleashed a barrage of spells in that split second.
Countless Magical beams pierced the air.
'No!'
This was bad.
Even knowing about this Monster's spells, they were too fast to spot and react to.
And they weren't few in number or weak in power.
Even for a Magical Girl, unless she was exceptionally strong, you needed a proper team to take it down.
At least three.
Two to block spells.
One to tank up front, another to escort the one targeting its weak spot—the back of the head.
Magical textbook stuff. And the only reliable way to beat it.
But could one civilian handle that?
Impossible.
He'd get hit directly by the spells.
And die.
"Judging by your moves, you're no whale anyway."
Or so it should have gone.
But Kim Siyul handled the Monster's spells with ridiculous ease, making Sora's worry look foolish.
He dodged everything he could, deflected the rest with his magic wand.
"GG."
And it kept repeating.
'What the...'
Sora was genuinely dumbfounded.
It was impossible for a civilian to react to attacks even Magical Girls struggled to track.
This was way past "impressive reflexes."
It bordered on a Magical miracle—a display of inhuman skill.
'How the hell is he doing it?'
She racked her brain for explanations, but only absurd possibilities came up.
He knew the Monster's info inside out. Or had near-prophetic prediction.
Or.
This was familiar enough to be routine.
'How?'
She couldn't even imagine.
For a fleeting moment, she even wondered if he really had lived in another world.
'No way.'
Of course, she immediately shook her head and dismissed it.
Either way, by Sora's Magical standards, Kim Siyul was insanely strange.
'Seriously, what kind of guy is he?'
Witnessing the impossible, Sora froze in place.
Meanwhile, Ray didn't stand still like Sora.
"Nice one! Darkie!"
While Kim Siyul held the Monster's attention, Ray circled behind and stomped its ankle.
-Krrunch!
With a sound like Magical steel crumpling, the Monster's body spun exactly half a turn in place.
Head to the ground.
Legs to the sky.
Ray immediately stomped its head.
-Boom!
Before the impact faded, she aimed her magic wand at the Monster's skull, now smashed into the Magical ground.
"Gotcha, pothead Monster."
Ray caught her breath, then grinned innocently at Kim Siyul.
"Darkie! You're friggin' amazing!"
"Told you, not Darkie. Hero."
Unable to argue with her beaming smile, even Kim Siyul cracked a grin.
For the first time between these two—who'd been growling at each other—there was a harmonious vibe.
"Hero my ass. Darkie, you really got ice in those veins, huh."
"Hey, you're dead."
Well, the harmony didn't last long.
Anyway.
Sora let out a silent sigh in her mind.
'Ah, they really click.'
In her eyes, they were the perfect Magical duo.
They even bantered on the right wavelength, and complemented each other perfectly in combat.
Of course, the age gap was decent.
Ray was 26, Kim Siyul 33.
'Still.'
Looks-wise, they seemed the same age bracket. If anything, Kim Siyul looked a tad younger.
'Not like my ten-year gap with her.'
Of course, he was still plenty strange. Sora wouldn't deny that. He was just too different from normal people.
But.
He wasn't a bad guy.
Far from someone she disliked.
'Actually.'
If anything, she leaned toward liking him.
Sure, he had plenty of "issues" still.
But deep down, she hoped they'd develop a deeper Magical bond.
Bickering like this wasn't bad, but something stickier.
Like, special Magical lovers or whatever.
"What Hero? No such thing exists. You read too much Magical manga."
"No, fuck, I told you I'm the Hero of the Moon."
"Bullshit."
"Seriously, please—can I just sock you in the solar plexus once? Lightly."
Well, it looked tough for now.
'Can't be helped.'
It might be impossible right now, but someday they'd get there. Even if it took effort, Sora would make sure of it.
That was her earnest Magical wish.
And a step toward her dream.
Meanwhile, separate from Sora's musings, the area around them had mostly cleared up. No more Monsters approaching her.
Just the one under Ray's foot left.
Which meant.
Take it down, and they were done.
"One left. Sis, finish it."
The words had barely left her mouth when Ray pulled the trigger to fire her Magical Superconductor.
"Die."
But she couldn't.
"Hey."
A voice that grated on her Magical nerves.
And.
"Move."
A casual kick that swatted Ray's magic wand aside.
"Everything else is fine."
Wondering what was up, Sora turned. Where the voice came from stood some Magical Girls.
Familiar ones, as always.
And.
"Hand that one over to us."
The Magical Girls she really didn't want to see.