READ NOVEL ONLINE The monsters, having finished verifying their strategy, let out triumphant roars and, as if on cue, flocked in droves towards the ‘black zone.’
After a few days of rest, they charged forward in one go, as if to recompense for the break.
The lack of sleep stemming from the anxiety of when they might strike again created a cycle that could drive any sane adult mad, leaving Mari sitting against the wall with her eyes wide like a dead battery-operated robot.
The phenomenon that I thought wouldn’t happen again was now repeating for the fourth time.
Even the slightest stimulus while sleeping made her jerk awake, mistakenly thinking it was the mascot nudging her.
“Ugh, uhh….”
It was the fourth day of rest, right after a horde of monsters had appeared.
It was about time for them to show up… but the mascots were still quiet.
Sitting crouched against the wall, biting her thumbnail, she rolled her eyes here and there, waiting tensely for these unprincipled scum to make an appearance.
“M-Mari!”
“What? Why are you awake?”
I quickly turned my head at the voice of the worried Gomteng.
Now it trembled, as if it was worried to the core.
Looking at the expression on its face, it seemed like it wasn’t summoned for monster-related business, so I turned my head back to where it was.
“No, I mean… when they come out, I’ll wake you up, so you should get some sleep.”
“No, I’m definitely going to beat the crap out of these bastards and then sleep.”
Even in a rare situation where Gomteng was worried about me, I answered firmly, chewing on the splintered nail fragments from my thumb.
I fiddled with the rough edge of my torn thumb with my index finger.
It was just an unconscious action.
‘You monsters, just try and show your faces.’
The pent-up rage from sleep deprivation had one sole destination.
Only one place.
“Mari, this really is going to be a big deal…”
Another worried voice buzzed in my ear.
I knew that a big deal had already happened without needing to be told.
“So I’m trying to cause a big deal before something really serious happens.”
I answered Gomteng that way and tossed my messy long hair behind me.
What could I do to keep the monsters from coming out?
I had already found a solution, albeit a roundabout one.
“What about the item?”
“I somehow brought it, but… it’s originally a tool for reformation, you know?”
In response to my casual question, Gomteng presented a jewel-shaped toy the size of a baseball.
It looked like cheap plastic but didn’t break easily even if dropped.
This item was called a mascot ball.
It wasn’t that mascots could just pop into existence.
Siyeon’s sea snake and this Gomteng were originally monsters.
Monsters with good hearts that were reformed inside this ball, and something-something…
How mascots were made wasn’t my concern.
That wasn’t important right now.
What truly mattered was that this toy-like ball could shrink and contain those huge monsters.
In simple terms, it was a portable prison.
“I managed to gather about ten of these from the local allies…”
“Very well done.”
With a tired expression but a satisfied smile, I gently caressed the precious portable prisons with my small hands.
Gomteng, still worried, scratched its head in a nonchalant manner and murmured its concerns.
“But this might not be as sturdy as you think… If the monsters resist, they will break out quickly.”
“Is that from experience?”
“Y-yes…”
When I asked if that was from experience, Gomteng nodded, bowing its head low.
So it was indeed from experience.
I decided to overlook that part and voiced my confidence.
“It’ll be fine.”
Seeing the concerned expression on Gomteng, wondering what I was so confident about, I even explained the reason for my assurance before another question could fly my way.
“All I need to do is make them immobile.”
That day, Gomteng, the mascot, saw it.
The emptiness of the universe where not a single star lingered, deeply etched in the girl’s eyes.
The past days of living as a monster, and this day, having become a mascot, never experiencing such turmoil before.
It couldn’t fathom the hollow and pent-up rage carved into the eyes of the magical girl.
Sleep deprivation could force even the strongest of people into such a corner.
Despite having a body that felt as dry as a desert, Gomteng thought, mimicking swallowing something.
‘This could be a big deal for the monsters in many ways…’
As wished by Mari, on the fourth day of rest, the monsters appeared.
Six monsters appeared sequentially, intending to torment Sun once again.
While they feared visiting the ‘black zone,’ they were also curious about how strong the magical girl could be.
With the conviction that their new strategy wouldn’t fail, they came to the ‘black zone’ as if visiting a mandatory travel destination.
The cycle of Sun being tormented by the monsters came to an end that day.
The monsters that visited the ‘black zone’ that day.
Did they know that such a calamity awaited them in their turn?
Surely, they had no inkling.
Without a doubt, Sun was laughing more joyfully than ever.
Often recalling that day, when another mascot asked, Gomteng replied that it had been the most terrifying sight he’d ever seen of Sun, past or future.
“Where are you hiding—?”
‘Crazy, crazy…!’
The plant-type monster, Idelti.
He was hiding deep within the apartment garden, trembling violently while trying to calm his quaking body.
I wasn’t supposed to come here, I wasn’t supposed to come here!
The trend among the monsters of exploring the ‘black zone’ had begun.
When the first companions left for it, I thought they were insane.
When the second companions headed there, I wondered if it was doable.
When the third companions went, I thought perhaps it was manageable.
When the fourth companions set out, I thought the strategy was indeed working.
And then, it was his turn, the fifth.
He had occasionally fought magical girls in other parts of the world but this was his first time in the ‘black zone.’
After the brief reflection that it wasn’t markedly different from other places.
The strategy quickly proved meaningless.
Death that arrived in an instant was nowhere to be found.
‘Please, please, please, please…’
Idelti earnestly prayed.
Please don’t find me.
Just pass by.
Though he knew the magical girl had means to track monsters, he endlessly muttered that futile plea.
“Where could they be—?”
In the ground that hid nothing. That chill that usually sufficed now felt like the touch of cold death.
He began to sense the faint vibrations of the earth.
Please, be a small passing bug.
Let it be the tiny vibrations of a writhing worm.
However, the sound directly above him declared the end, outright contradicting all his thoughts.
“Oh, there you are…”
“Ah, no!”
The proud little leaves that had popped out above the soil.
The warm hand that grasped it exposed him, hiding beneath the earth, starkly and futilely.
A figure of death, wearing a mask, appeared before him looking like a child.
Because of this leaf, because of this one leaf!
Did he even imagine the time would come when he would resent the symbol of his own kind that he had been so proud of?
Before that, today. At this hour.
Did he think that he would squirm so pitifully and shamefully?
A futile struggle.
However, that struggle could not last long… it became impossible.
“Gah, uhh…”
“One.”
One.
As the girl’s voice echoed, his consciousness faded away.
Did I just die? Is this the recovery room?
It wasn’t as painful as I expected.
Was it that the beings in the recovery room couldn’t get back up from such trivialities?
Had the quality of monsters really dropped so much? I opened my eyes.
‘…Huh?’
However, the space I opened my eyes in felt strange.
Not the recovery room of the ship, but a curious perspective, looking at Earth as a tiny bug.
Without any bodily organs left to move, trapped in a dreamlike space, observing Earth.
He was evidently trapped somewhere.
Could it be, could it be just the beginning?
A sinister thought crossed his mind, and before he could catch his breath, he could see outside the confines he was trapped in through the eyes of the magical girl.
A fellow monster from the transport device heading to Earth.
That fellow fled with all its might as if sensing the shadow of death coming for it.
However, from the landscape visible outside, that fellow had already gotten incredibly close.
They looked to be within arm’s reach from where he could have extended a hand.
His fellow’s reproductive organ, sprouting like a small boil on its rear, was slowly being torn away.
“GRAAAAH-!”
“Ah, aah… AAAAAAH!”
The voice, marked with overwhelming fear and agony, caused him to deny the current state.
He didn’t have any body parts left to close his ears to that horrid cry.
With what little mouth he had left, he could only scream helplessly.
“Stop! You wicked monster!”
Yet, that scream was buried in the dreamy surroundings and didn’t resonate outside.
Faced with the tragic sight of his fallen companion monster, he could only watch in horror, unable to fathom how such a cruel act was possible.
“Two.”
Two.
That ominous voice echoed softly.
As he watched the remaining four companions fall prey in turn, ultimately, he couldn’t preserve his crumbling sanity.
Even the remaining companions met their brutal fates, and the girl headed somewhere.
A desolate open space devoid of any human presence.
“Isn’t this enough?”
One by one, Sun took out the monsters trapped in the mascot balls.
In the now-empty construction site, no one would listen, no matter how loud the monsters screamed.
Certainly, no one other than Sun would have foreseen such an ending.
Meanwhile, in the recovery room of the ship, Medic Tentacle tilted its head in confusion.
“Why… is no one coming?”
Medic Tentacle realized late that behind the delay of the six monsters, there was a thorough torment prepared by Sun.
That day. A history was inscribed in the monster’s legacy as the ‘Black Nightmare.’
The first group was eight, returning with cries of joy.
The second was also eight, echoing cheers of happiness.
The third was seven, and they felt relief.
The fourth was nine, filled with certainty of safety.
The fifth was six monsters.
They were oblivious to the pent-up rage behind the sun.
The rage transformed into fears and pains like rays of light, engulfing them.
May they remember and fear the noble sacrifices of their own…
“Let’s scrap that operation, got it?”
“Yes…”
Since that day, under Medic Tentacle’s command, it became a rule within the ship that multiple combatants could not head to Earth at once.
It was a reasonable measure in response to the permanent mental damage inflicted upon the six combatants along with their power losses.