Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: The Magical Cliché That Always Appears in Magical Girl Stories
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Right after passing through the gate, a Magical Girl came out to greet us.
After a brief exchange of greetings, we quickly started talking to her to get a grasp of the situation.
Sora took charge of this part.
"There are only three Monsters left?"
"Yes. We've been busy too, you know. We've killed or captured the rest."
"You've worked hard."
"The problem is that too many Magical Girls are out of commission from the fighting, and there are still Magical hostages trapped inside the Magical building, so we can't make any more progress."
For now, only three Monsters remained.
This was definitely good news.
"What do the remaining Monsters look like?"
"Two are just your standard Monsters, but the other one's a bit unusual. It's hard to even get close enough to scout it properly."
Two out of the three were ordinary Monsters.
But one was special.
"Hard to get close to?"
"When it raises its hands, a gray Magical mist spreads out in a certain radius, and any Magical Girl who gets caught in that mist falls under a Magical curse. It flies around in the sky too."
It was a Monster that inflicted curses.
Flying was just an added bonus.
This was definitely a tricky opponent.
The sky was inherently Magical Girl territory. But now a Monster was boldly invading that domain.
In other words, one of the Magical Girls' advantages had been nullified.
Meanwhile, Taishi and Whitey seemed shocked to see a flying Monster for the first time, clutching their heads and expressing their alarm without restraint.
"Oh my god! Now there are flying ones!"
"It's a flying Monster!!!"
On the other hand, Sora focused on a different detail.
"A Magical curse?"
"That's what it looks like from the circumstances. The silver lining is that once it casts one Magical curse, there's a long cooldown before the next one."
"What kind of Magical curses are they?"
"There are tons of different kinds. And the curse you get is completely random too. Oh, and the timing when the curse manifests varies as well."
The Monster's curses came in all varieties.
Leg cramps at regular intervals, constant foreign body sensations in your shoes and clothes, the endless feeling that a sneeze is coming but never quite arriving.
"All the Magical Girls holding out here have a few Magical curses on them. Take me—I can't properly gauge distances with my eyes, and there's this itchy spot on my back that's constantly moving around."
To prove she was really cursed, the Magical Girl kept twitching as she explained.
"But that doesn't sound so bad."
"Of course there are way worse ones."
Constant kidney stone pain, or horrific curses where the rough edges on your nails and toenails get ripped off in long strips.
"Some Magical Girls are constantly feeling the pain of Magical Day, while others experience Magical childbirth agony even though they're still Magical virgins."
"Oh my god..."
Sora covered her mouth, her face full of pity.
But personally, I didn't think the curses were that vicious. Compared to the suffering I endured in that other world, this was nothing.
Honestly, everyone was overreacting.
"Oh, right. There was a 'petrification' curse too."
Correction.
The Monster's curses really were vicious.
This was no ordinary tricky Monster. The Magical Girls who had held out this long were the impressive ones.
How do you even endure curses like that?
"Aren't those curses basically impossible to deal with? What the hell are we supposed to do?"
"It's fine. A Monster's Magical curse can be cleared with a Magical atropine injection."
"If the Magical mist inflicts the curse, then a Magical gas mask should be enough. They probably just didn't bring any."
Yeah, curses my ass. It was just a chemical, biological, or radiological attack.
A pretty serious one at that.
Just then, Sora pointed it out too.
"No Magical gas masks, I take it? Any more Magical atropine injections left?"
"We used them all up ages ago. Some were past their Magical expiration date anyway and didn't work."
"Tch. That's not good."
"Well, a strong mental shock can break the curse too, but that's no easy feat, so it's basically impossible."
This only deepened my resentment toward the battalion commander Magical Girl. If she'd at least warned us about the curses, we could've prepared something.
This fucking bitch is dead meat.
"In that case, we'll go rescue the Magical hostages. That should make it easier for you to fight."
"Please do. Honestly, if this drags on, I think we're the ones who'll get pushed back. The Magical main force has their hands full too, so no Magical reinforcements are coming."
"Got it."
With that intel, we attempted to infiltrate the abandoned building where the hostages were held.
I naturally took the lead.
"Follow close. One timing slip-up and we're busted."
"You sure you're okay, senpai? The other Magical Girls tried and all failed."
"Doesn't matter. Infiltration's all pretty much the same."
Of course, sneaking into a modern building was a first for me.
But it wasn't impossible.
I'd done plenty of infiltrating unfamiliar structures back in the other world—enough to get sick of it. This wouldn't be much different.
"From here, we go straight up. If you're really worried, we can have the Magical Girls draw some attention with magic."
And just like that, we infiltrated the building without much trouble.
"Where'd you learn this stuff? Another Magical manga binge?"
"Obviously the other world."
"Just say it was from a Magical manga. Your image can't sink any lower here anyway."
"You fucking bitch."
Of course, it wasn't entirely trouble-free. The issue wasn't the infiltration itself, but the objective.
Pinning down the hostages' location.
"We gotta keep wandering around searching like this? I just wanna collapse the whole place."
"I wanna do that too."
But there was no helping it.
Magical Girls killed Monsters, but they also protected humans.
Abandon civilians? A Magical Girl who did that wouldn't deserve the name.
In the end, we kept searching, moving, and searching again.
How much time passed like that?
"Everyone stop. They're in that room."
We finally found the hostages.
With the Monsters.
"Two normal Monsters."
"Sis, no sign of the other one?"
"Nothing."
The absence of the tricky one nagged at me, but it wasn't all bad.
The two Monsters hadn't noticed us.
Perfect chance for a preemptive strike.
This called for me to step up.
But before I could move, Taishi beat me to it.
"This time, the girl will handle it."
Honestly, I was uneasy.
Was she blowing a golden opportunity?
"Don't worry and leave it to me. The girl is an SS-rank Arhat, after all."
Her weird phrasing only made me more anxious.
Why say SS-rank instead of S or SSS? This fucking octopus bitch.
But.
"Sleep in the lotus."
⟨ Lotus Sleep ⟩
The moment Taishi slammed her staff-shaped magic wand into the ground, my worries vanished.
- Ssssss...
Taishi's magic conjured a lotus flower. From it came a faint scuttling sound, and pure white smoke began to spread chillingly.
From the floor up to the ceiling.
Slowly, densely.
Only then did the Monsters sense something wrong and whip their heads around frantically, but the smoke had already filled the room to the ceiling.
In the end.
- Thud.
- Thud.
Two shadows collapsed limply.
Yes. The Monsters had fallen to Taishi's magic without any resistance.
Taishi smiled in relief at the neutralized Monsters.
"This is too easy for an Arhat."
Her magic targeted only the Monsters with exquisite precision, leaving the hostages completely unaffected.
No wonder she was so confident. Her pinpoint accuracy on specific targets surpassed even mine.
Of course, I could do it too.
It would just end up messier.
Meanwhile, Sora and Whitey nodded approvingly at Taishi's handiwork.
"Taishi's a bit weird, but no one's better than her in an enclosed space."
"I don't get along with her either, but this time I agree. Made it easy."
But I couldn't just be happy about it.
The scene of gassing Monsters in a closed room looked too much like a certain country's historical 'processing' methods.
Especially since it selectively 'processed' only the Monsters.
"This is a gas chamber, you crazy octopus bitch."
"What are you talking about? It's an efficient way to 'dispose' of kidnapped Monsters."
Whatever. Taishi didn't care.
Soon, she hurried over to the baffled hostage with an inexplicable expression.
"SS-rank Magical Girl Black Kitty has arrived! Hurry and escape with m—!"
"Not going."
"Pardon?"
Taishi let out a hollow question.
The hostage turned her head sharply.
"I said not going!"
A hostage flat-out refusing rescue.
Not surprising. It was one of those clichés that popped up all the time in Magical Girl stories.
Taishi, unfamiliar with the trope, looked flustered and turned to us.
"Wh-what do we do?"
"It's fine, Taishi. I'll handle it."
Sora stepped forward, gently pushing Taishi aside.
"Mind if I ask why you're refusing? This place is super dangerous because of the Monsters."
"Bullshit. People are more dangerous than Monsters. At least the Monsters treat me nice."
"That's just because you're a Magical hostage."
"Who cares! Leave me alone!"
Despite Sora's calm words, the hostage snapped back sharply. Sora's face filled with embarrassment.
"This is tough..."
In that case, time for the cliché expert to shine.
"Good work, Sora. I'll take it from here."
"You sure, senpai?"
Sora looked worried.
"Obviously. I know women's hearts way better than you do."
"Huh? How would you know that?"
No sooner had she spoken than Sora narrowed her eyes.
Her amber gaze glared fiercely, radiating the intent to not let empty words slide.
"How do you know women's hearts so~ well? Huh? Met that many women?"
"You can tell right away you hate me."
"Oh... um... sorry..."
Well, that didn't last long.
I had met plenty of women, sure. Back in the other world, of course. Each time confirming firsthand how much they hated me.
Suddenly felt shitty. Fuck.
Just then, the quiet Whitey quickly approached and spoke up.
"Hey, isn't that one under a Magical curse?"
"Oh, could be."
Plausible.
No, it was definite.
Acting that hostile even to someone showing goodwill? Had to be the curse.
Probably one that made her hate people.
So, the solution was simple.
Deliver a mental shock to break the curse.
But blindly shocking her wasn't good. It could backfire.
Best to use something opposite to hatred.
Yes.
The opposite of hatred is pure love.
In other words, hit her with pure affection.
Direction set, no more hesitation. I approached the hostage.
"Hey."
"Who the hell are you? Judging by the Magical uniform, you another Magical Girl?"
"Eh, for now."
"Ha, even a retard like you gets to be a Magical Girl. Get lost while I'm being nice, fucker."
She spat thorns with every word.
But I smiled anyway.
A fresh, pure-love smile.
"Wanna go out with me?"
- Crunch!
The hostage bit her tongue.
- Crunch!!
Twice.
Harder this time.