Clash at Danae's Castle (2)
“Kei unnieeeeeeeeeee!!!”
In the banquet hall of Danae’s Castle.
Bursting through the ceiling of the hall prepared to ship goods to Mekrak was a massive, fluffy cat monster I had seen before, with a blue magical girl dangling from it like a lapis lazuli stem.
At the sight of the familiar magical girl, my eyes flew wide in shock.
That blue dress…!
“Blue Sapphire?! What are you doing here?!”
“What do you think?! I came to rescue you! If I save a magical girl this big, the points would be… ehehehehe…!”
Ah, that greed-driven expression.
Utterly reliable.
“Go! Grab that woman!”
“N-no… That’s…! That person is…!”
“Not a chance, nyaaaong!”
“Kyaahhh!”
At the tattooed man’s quick command the monsters tried to move, only to be savagely raked by Monster Cat’s claws as he plummeted with Blue and sent sprawling.
『I-it’s Cat-sama…! We can’t beat him…!』
『Last time we caught him right after he woke up because he’s nocturnal, and now there aren’t even any elite monsters left…!』
“To betray the trust I once gave you! Shameful kin! You won’t have any excuses even if you die, nyaaaong!”
Monster Cat rampaged with terrifying force, sending the monsters flying like scraps of paper.
“Enough! Everyone get back! I’ll handle this!”
“Nyaong?”
Just as the phrase “overwhelming force” suggested, a giant nearly the size of Monster Cat stepped forward amid the monsters collapsing like felled bamboo.
The monster, cracking its gloved knuckles, radiated an ominous pressure even in the face of Monster Cat’s fearsome aura.
“This is why pathetic low-class monsters are so useless… This elite body will stop him! You lot keep the magical girls from escaping—”
“Out of the way, nyaaaong! You small fry!!!!”
Monster Cat’s outstretched hand seized the self-proclaimed elite’s head and slammed it straight into the floor.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
“……Guh……kkk……”
The floor caved in and collapsed. The fallen monster lay with its head buried, hips twitching, unable to rise again. From the side it looked like some bizarre floor ornament.
『H-he took it in one hit…!』
『An elite-class monster in a single blow… How do we even fight that?!』
Clara had warned me never to fight him… He really was that strong…
“Il-mun-nim!”
A monster that had opened a transfer gate urgently called Il-mun’s name.
“A-at this rate we’ll be wiped out! Hurry and send the magical girls through the gate… Kyaahhh?!”
“Huh……?”
But the monster that had tried to speak up suddenly had a hole punched clean through its chest and was sent flying.
Il-mun stared blankly at the airborne monster, then raised his hands in surprise.
A high-pitched peeeeeeeng tore through the air. Something landed in Il-mun’s hands. The impact felt like it would rip his arms off, yet he held on.
What he caught was a massive bullet.
“……Sniper?!”
The tattooed man shouted in shock.
* * *
Clang—!
The heavy bolt handle was pulled back with a cold metallic sound.
“No way… Catching a bullet fired from this distance with your bare hands?”
“Missed, nyang?”
“Didn’t miss, though….”
Atop a distant building.
Alpha lay prone at the rooftop edge, aiming a sniper rifle as tall as she was toward Danae’s Castle far away.
The costume she wore was the Sniper Costume numbered 7.
A deep navy jumper reminiscent of special forces, short shorts that left her dazzling thighs completely exposed, and a skintight nylon mask covering everything below her eyes made quite an impression.
“What about the Explosive Round? Charged yet? Without it, that tattooed bastard probably won’t even feel it.”
A magical bullet that triggered an enormous explosion on impact, just as the name implied. The blast that had shaken the banquet hall of Danae’s Castle had also been caused by this round.
Cookie, holding the Explosive Round with its strange flickering flame inside, wore a miserable expression.
“Uuuuugh… This thing sucks up way too much magic power, nyang….”
“Then don’t waste all your magic power on useless crap!”
“U-useless…? Just wait a bit, nyang.”
“Hurry up!”
“I’m reporting you to the labor board, nyang… I was supposed to be resting for at least another month surrounded by sweet desserts, nyang….”
Floating right beside her was the cat-plush-shaped fairy, Cookie.
He had been restrained by Danae and Peanut’s scheme, but Alpha had successfully rescued him.
Things would have been much harder if Peanut had still been around.
‘Peanut disappeared halfway through, nyang… Whether it was dragged back to Magic Land or something else, I can’t tell, nyang.’
Since it seemed to have a special relationship with Danae, it didn’t look like the kind of creature that would do nothing now that she was captured.
The only thing that came to mind was that it had been hauled away after getting caught on something in Magic Land.
“For now, hold off on the Explosive Round. Use regular rounds to take out the others first, nyang.”
“Guess so….”
Alpha poured magic power into the reloaded bullet. The distance was several kilometers. The marksmanship she had learned in the military wouldn’t help here.
“Eye of Horus.”
The moment she muttered it, a strange mark appeared in Alpha’s golden eyes as they glowed.
At the same time, a panoramic view centered on Blue Sapphire far away unfolded directly in Alpha’s vision.
Even though the distance was several kilometers and obstacles like building walls blocked the line of sight, everything appeared in Alpha’s eyes and mind as if viewed through multiple camera feeds.
The main magic of the Sniper costume, Eye of Horus—its ability was clairvoyance.
Centered on the person designated by points, everything became visible to Alpha regardless of obstacles.
‘Dozens of monsters in the banquet hall… The dangerous ones… five, six… seven maybe.’
She steadied her breathing and pulled the trigger.
Bang—!
A heavy recoil traveled through the thin shoulder supporting the stock, but her magically enhanced strength absorbed it without shaking.
“Did it hit, nyang?”
“It will soon.”
Skill: Deadeye.
The magic-infused bullet would neither stop nor miss until it reached its designated target.
The magic within adjusted its angle and trajectory on its own, reinforced its power, pierced everything in its way, and struck the intended target.
“It hit.”
Clang—!
Watching through Eye of Horus as a monster’s head burst like a red flower, Alpha reloaded another round with a blank expression.
Bang—! Clang—! Bang—! Clang—!
Shoot, reload. Shoot again, reload again.
‘There’s only so much one person can do alone.’
The modified Earthlings called Level Overs were specialized in “magical girl hunting.”
They were stronger than average monsters, and on top of that, they had bad compatibility for magical girls to face directly.
‘They all know they can’t win, so there’s no way they’d fight head-on.’
Alpha aimed her muzzle beyond her vision and smirked.
You could tell a lot about someone’s personality from which character they liked in Witch Girl Rubii.
Rubii, whom Kei liked, was the type to smash everything head-on with straightforward honesty. Even in situations where defeat seemed certain, she became a ray of light through the power of her mysterious heart and struck down her enemies.
People who liked Rubii were captivated by that simple, refreshing image, while those who disliked her mocked her for being unrealistic.
“Arguing about realism in a ridiculous fictional story like magical girls… This is why otaku are scary, nyang.”
She ignored Cookie’s muttering beside her.
On the other hand, Blue Moon, whom Alpha worshipped, was a cold and realistic magical girl.
If something was impossible, she acknowledged it. Then she used the tools and wisdom she possessed to find a way to strike at the enemy’s weakness.
As underhandedly as possible, toying with the opponent.
That was both Blue Moon’s charm and her appeal.
Of course, the idiots who were obsessed with that simple-minded Rubii called Blue Moon “unbefitting of a magical girl,” but those were just brain-melted fools, so she paid them no mind.
Bang—! Clang—!
‘But sniping alone still lacks finishing power.’
She had taken out all the monsters that looked dangerous. The ones she hadn’t shot yet were being handled by the chubby cat monster who had charged in with Blue Sapphire.
Still, the Level Overs like the tattooed man and the reggae-haired guy remained.
There were too many weak monsters as well. Using Eye of Horus and Deadeye to snipe them all would consume far too much magic power… She would run out of magic before she could finish them off.
The rest would have to be handled by the magical girls on site.
‘Well, they’re not kids. No need to spoon-feed them every single step.’
“Ready, nyang. Explosive Round.”
“Hand it over.”
Clang—!
She loaded the bullet she received from Cookie, its strange flame flickering inside.
The rest was now up to the magical girls on the field.
“This is payback for all the people you’ve been screwing over, you bastards.”
BOOOOOOOM—!
With a thunderous roar, the Explosive Round—fueled by every last drop of Alpha’s remaining magic power—flew straight toward Danae’s Castle.
* * *
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
“Sun-jae?!”
The monsters, thrown into panic by the sudden sniping and unable to act, had the reggae-haired man become the next target of the continuing shots.
The first few rounds were simply high-powered bullets that the Level Over’s enhanced strength could barely block, but the latest bullet triggered an enormous explosion, leaving him unable to properly block or dodge. Nearby monsters were caught in the blast and torn to pieces.
When the flames and smoke cleared, the blood-soaked reggae-haired man sat slumped on the half-collapsed floor.
“Uh…… kuh……!”
He didn’t seem dead, but the way he was coughing up blood made recovery look unlikely.
『S-S-Sun-jae-nim too…?』
『W-we have to run… We have to get out of here…! All the reliable elite monsters got headshotted and died!!!!』
Once the reggae-haired man who had been barely maintaining command in this panicked state fell, the scene completely collapsed.
“You worthless trash! What are you monsters who can’t even die afraid of?!”
Il-mun shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing every monster’s attention to himself.
“If you die, I’ll bring you back somehow! I’ll revive you with way more magic power than you lost! So fight with your lives on the line!”
“B-but Il-mun-nim…!”
“But nothing! If you run from here, I’ll kill you with my own hands! I’ll remember every single one of you and completely corrupt your data so you can never revive again! We just need to deal with those two! Grab the cat monster! Grab the blue magical girl! Grab the magical girls trying to escape!!!!”
At his fierce command, the monsters reluctantly charged forward.
Even the powerful Monster Cat seemed to be struggling as a considerable number of monsters swarmed him.
“Damn it… While they’re tying him down…!”
“Ugh…! Let go…!”
“Move it, you bitch!”
While the monsters drew attention, the tattooed man kept trying to shove me through the transfer gate.
Other small-fry monsters not participating in the fight could be seen forcibly dragging magical girls along.
If I crossed that gate now, I clearly wouldn’t be able to return.
A near-certain intuition flashed through me.
“Ugh… No… I can’t gooooo…!”
I rolled and thrashed on the floor in an unsightly manner, desperately trying to get away from the gate. Naturally, this turned into a struggle of strength against the tattooed man trying to drag me.
The collar choked me until I could barely breathe, but it couldn’t be helped… I had to endure…!
“This damn bitch!”
Smack!
“Ahh!”
When he struck my rear hard, a jolt like electricity ran through my body and my strength drained away in an instant. The habits drilled into me as a bitch took over.
“Ugh… Nooo….”
Though I muttered the words, my body had lost the will to resist and was dragged along as the tattooed man led.
The transfer gate was already right in front of me again.
At this rate, I’d be taken through…!
“Oh for— Move! Kei unnie! I’m coming now!”
Weaving through the chaotic monsters, I saw Blue Sapphire rolling across the floor and rushing toward me in a frenzy. But the monsters charging without regard for front or back made it difficult for her to approach.
She looked at me with pity, yet the distance between us was still too great.
At this rate, I’d be dragged through the gate…!
‘If I go through, I don’t know what’ll happen… And right now I’m right in front of the gate….’
I squeezed my eyes shut and made my decision.
Rather than going quietly…
“Blueeeeeeeee! Freeze meeeeeeeee!!!”
“Wh-what…?”
The tattooed man holding me looked flustered. I could feel his panic through the collar.
“It’s fine! Freeze me whole! Maximum power!”
“No, you— Shut up already…?!”
As if trying to silence me in a hurry, the tattooed man kicked my face hard. My face burned. It felt like my nose was bleeding.
“……Yes, Kei unnie…!”
“Haa… I’m counting on you, Blue….”
I created the Freeform Staff in my hand, changed it into a large awl shape, and drove it into the ground. Gripping the protruding tip, I held on to keep from being dragged away.
And from far away.
Along with Blue’s responding voice came a clear chanting sound.
“…O Queen of the White Plains and the Shadow Realm, bring forth the judgment of the Ice Kingdom here!!”
Il-mun seemed to notice that Blue Sapphire was about to do something and looked at her with anxious eyes.
“……! Th-that’s…!”
Whether to drag me away or stop Blue Sapphire—the tattooed man’s response came a moment too late as he hesitated.
In that gap, Blue finished her chant and reached her hand toward me without hesitation.
“I’m sorry, unnie… Freeze everything, Winter Tempest!!”
And the pure white storm of ice pouring from Blue swallowed both me and the tattooed man, along with the transfer gate right behind us.
