Ch. 19 - Magical★Bloodbath (2)

Monsters appeared in Hongdae as soon as the appointed time arrived. They burst through the asphalt, covering the entire street in less than a minute. Despite their numbers, they didn't feel threatening at all."Get ready for battle!"

"Wipe out all the monsters!"

"Let's go!!!"

As soon as the monsters appeared, the Heroes drew their weapons and immediately started fighting. Kim Min-Seok, who was next to me, charged toward the monsters.

"I'm going to kill those bastards right away. Be careful, noonim."

Before I knew it, Kim Min-Seok had started calling me noonim. It was a strange title, but I let him call me whatever he wanted.

"Yeah, you must be careful too. Don't get hurt."

Kim Min-Seok nodded and immediately sliced the monster running towards him with his greatsword. As an S-ranked hero, he had no hesitation in fighting monsters.

I needed to make a move as well.

I immediately jumped into the middle of the group of monsters.

-Kkuaaaa!!!

-Kraaaah!!!

The monsters lunged at me as I jumped in front of them. The aggro was working. Twenty of the monsters were all aiming for me.

"It's been a while since I've faced a monster."

When I was new to this world and wandering around, I hunted monsters and sold their carcasses to make money.

At first, I was scared. I was fighting for survival for the first time in my life and had to deal with monsters many times bigger than me.

But humans are also creatures of adaptation. I kept killing monsters to survive, and eventually, I became accustomed to it.

Thud.

I grabbed the arm of a monster wielding a scythe-like arm and ripped it off.

Crack!!

With a cracking sound, the monster's arm separated from its body. With that, I drove my fist into the monster's face, killing it, and then threw a spinning kick at the monster charging at me from behind.

-Kueeeeeeek!!

Its head flew off from my kick and fell to the ground.

I took down the others in turn. The hard-skinned ones were killed by breaking their skin with my fists and ripping out their hearts. Against those that moved quickly and lunged at me, I outspeeded them.

It's not a magical girl's way of fighting, but this fits me.

[Team Leader, do you copy?]

When I had killed about 50 monsters, I heard Park Oh-Jin's voice in my earpiece.

"Yeah, what?"

-Keeeeeee!!

I replied as I stomped on the head of a monster that had fallen to the ground. The monster's blood splattered on my legs, which was unpleasant.

[The Great Park side is already being finished up. Hero Lee Shi-Hwan has already captured the Monster Association's executive.]

You've already captured an executive of the Monster Association. As expected of an S-rank hero, he's fast.

"What about the situation at the amusement park?"

[There's no problem here either.]

This time, Shin Yu-Sung answered. He's probably working at the amusement park just as hard as I am right now.

[There are still a lot of monsters left, but I don't think they'll be able to do much damage. The Heroes and our respective divisions are doing a good job of stopping them.]

"Okay, there's no problem here either. The citizens are all at Alice's concert, and the streets of Hongdae are filled with only Heroes. We just need to take care of the monsters."

-Kkuaaaa!!!

While we're on the call, the monsters continue their attack. This time, it's an orc-like creature, but it's different. Much bigger than the others, it swings a club as large as its body at me.

Crash!!

I quickly fling myself to the side, dodging the club. A huge crater forms where I stood moments before.

A blow so powerful it could turn a man into minced meat. This is the monster I saw in the manga, the one modified by the Monster Association.

The one in front of me is much stronger than the others.

[Team Leader, are you okay?!]

[I think I heard the sound of a monster?]

Park Oh-Jin and Shin Yu-Sung ask urgently as I remain silent after the sudden noise.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing happened."

I immediately reassured them.

Your team leader isn't someone who would die so easily. There's no way I'd be defeated by a mere artificial monster.

I kick off the ground and leap up, landing on the orc's shoulders.

-Kururuk?!

I grab the orc's head with both arms; it's too big to grasp with one hand. With all the strength I can muster, I twist the orc's head 180 degrees.

Creak!!

With a bone-crunching crack, the orc's head snaps back, and it falls to the ground, instantly dead.

Thud!!!

The sound of the monster hitting the ground is loud, befitting its size. Brushing off the dust, I immediately radioed Lee So-Young.

"So-Young, are the preparations done?"

[Yes! I'm ready!]

Lee So-Young, who had been silent the whole time, replies cheerfully, making me grin. She has been preparing well, too.

The Monster Association, I'll nip you in the bud today.

"What the... what the hell is going on?!"

The rat-headed monster howled, clutching its head. The plan to wreak havoc on Hongdae had failed spectacularly.

Seeing the heroes disguised as citizens as soon as the monster appeared made it nervous, but it thought it was still okay.

They had monsters enhanced by the Monster Association's experiments—ones that couldn't be easily defeated, even by A-ranked heroes. They had released them, among other monsters, in various locations.

Even though their original goal had failed, it thought it could use this opportunity to kill a lot of heroes.

But who was that woman?

"Killing that orc in seconds...?"

It wasn't just any orc. This orc had been modified to amplify its strength dozens of times. Even a physical enhancer would struggle to wound it, let alone kill it.

That's what it thought until Shin Hye-Rim snapped the orc's neck and killed it.

"That's the Awakened Crime Division's Team Leader 5, huh?"

It remembered the words of the snake-headed monster, saying there was an Awakened in the Awakened Crime Division stronger than anyone could imagine.

Their plans had never envisioned a terrorist plot being revealed like this or going up against a monster like her. Even now, she's running into the middle of the monsters, punching dozens of them to death with her bare hands in an instant.

Maybe she's the real monster.

"Dammit, this can't be happening."

It hadn't heard from the executives who were supposed to be attacking other locations.

Something must have happened there, too.

The rat-headed monster racked its brain for a solution.

"...Come to think of it, most of the people on this street have gone somewhere this morning."

If it wasn't mistaken, the people who suddenly exited Hongdae just before the terrorist attack said something like,

"Alice is giving a free concert at Jamsil!"

Alice. Even the rat-headed monster knew her. Is the most famous idol in the world giving a free concert?

"If that's the case, there must be a whole bunch of people at Jamsil."

The rat-headed monster's rotten-looking face twitched into a wicked grin.

Right now, Jamsil would be filled with people from Hongdae, from all over Seoul, and even from other parts of the country.

Why not use it as a terrorist location?

As they were taking down all the monsters, even the modified and enhanced ones, something strange happened.

"What's going on? The monsters are suddenly backing off."

"Where are they going after coming at us with so much bloodthirst?"

"Aren't they running away?"

Suddenly, the monsters that had been charging at the humans with the intention of killing them all fled. The heroes were puzzled by the sudden retreat.

Kim Min-Seok laughed heartily at the sight.

"Hahahaha! The monsters are finally running away because they're scared of us!"

The heroes shouted that they had done it.

But I knew they weren't running away. Why were the monsters, which act on instinct, backing away at the same time?

"It must be that rat bastard's doing."

It's because they're moving under someone's orders. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴøvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

These monsters, prepared by the Monster Association, have a special device implanted in their bodies. Using these devices, the rat-headed monster can control them.

So, where is the rat bastard taking these monsters?

"It's so obvious."

Alice's concert venue in Jamsil is where the largest concentration of people in Seoul is right now. There's no better place for an attack.

Of course, I knew this was coming from the beginning. I can see right through the rat's head.

I flew straight up and headed for Jamsil. It would be good for me if they gathered all the monsters spread throughout Hongdae and moved them to one place. That way, I wouldn't have to go and kill them one by one.

I flew at top speed to Alice's concert venue. The venue was already packed, with people filling the streets nearby. They had come to hear Alice sing and see her, if only for a moment. I waited near the concert venue for the monsters to arrive.

"Here they come."

After a few minutes of waiting, I saw a horde of monsters rushing toward the concert venue. They filled the wide road. From the looks of it, there were about a thousand of them. They must have gathered all the monsters they could find.

"What an effort."

It's clear they're determined to pull off the attack, no matter what. The desperation of their ugly purpose to kill as many people as possible, no matter what it takes, is disgusting.

"A hard worker should be rewarded."

Let's reward them with death, so they don't have to live so hard anymore.

I walked slowly toward the horde of running monsters, reaching out one hand to channel my magic.

Magical girls have a special weapon called a magical staff. It's a unique weapon that only magical girls can wield. The form and effect of the staff vary from magical girl to magical girl.

Of course, being a magical girl, I have a magical 'staff.' I don't usually use it because I don't need to, but I'm just like any other magical girl.

But there's a difference: my magical staff looks different from the others. To be precise, it doesn't look like the kind of staff that wizards use.

"It's been a while."

Before I knew it, I had my own weapon in my hand. I never thought I'd hold it again.

The handle is an exquisite mix of white and gold with a long, pure white blade. My signature weapon is a sword.

"This chilling sensation... It's been four years."

It's time to return as Swordmaster Shin Hye-Rim.