Mr. Magical Girl

Chapter 34. 11:59:15 (2)

“Damn it.”

In this world covered in gray, I muttered that.

If my brain or eyes had been damaged, I wouldn’t have said such things.

Then, I could have at least laughed at it like I used to.

In this endlessly continuing world, everything had been dyed gray.

They swallowed the colors and devoured the senses. And only gray remained.

The shells of those creatures weren’t originally gray. It must have been the result of being caught up in their own power.

The gray sea rolled.

The gray sky shone.

In this colorless space where gray flesh spread through the air, I could see colors.

Myself and the lava-colored tentacles.

In the vast, endless gray space, only those colors proved their existence.

Only I bled red.

Only I sprinkled red flesh.

In this monotonous world, beings from the otherworld constantly rushed at me.

By scattering gray flesh into the air, they made the monotonous world even more monotonous.

At some point, even those gray pieces of flesh became invisible.

The boundaries of individual entities collapsed, and the gray shells became one with the world. The blood that burst from their bodies turned into seawater, and the flesh they scattered became the clouds in the sky.

Not that they were invaders from another world, but they had unique qualities as living beings.

Once again, I heard the sound of the leading entity’s belly rumbling.

Their language was monotonous to the extreme.

They didn’t rush. They didn’t gamble. Even if there was a gap, they ignored it and attacked stubbornly.

It was the ultimate of simplicity and tedium.

For this reason, their nature was quickly understood.

An entity and a swarm. Everything unified into the peak of simplicity.

Something that was everything in one world as a biological species.

Swallowing colors was merely a byproduct of trying to dye this world with themselves.

How could I know such things? Perhaps it’s because I was becoming one with them.

At some point, my senses had dulled.

The sound of flesh bursting turned gradually into some strange sounds like an oom or yeong, and the salty taste of blood and flesh that I inhaled transformed into a stinging pain on my tongue.

The gray seemed to try to dominate all thoughts, and even my attacks became simple.

The rotation that displayed a glamorous trajectory had now turned into a simple circle.

Even with just my power, it was enough to smash the enemy’s shell, but this wouldn’t continue forever.

I couldn’t understand them with my common sense, but they were such beings.

Not trying to mix themselves into the world, but beings trying to mix themselves with the world.

True invaders, qualitatively different from the monsters wearing puppet masks who left graffiti on the world.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ahhh.”

Only when the world became a clownish one did the true invader appear.

I should have moved faster. Before these monsters came out, I should have established the definition of a hero.

A moment’s regret. Was it because the enemy had sensed my weak thoughts?

Countless eyes turned toward me.

The commander-level entity, who had entrusted me to its subordinates and was watching the world.

It had been hit countless times by my hammer, but it sparkled with a shell completely unscathed, and its gaze was fixed on me.

A colossal monster stared at me as if to end everything.

Just receiving its gaze made my right hand suddenly hard to move.

The movements of my whole body stopped.

Had it penetrated the gaps in my heart?

Was my will this weak? To be defeated by such weak enemies?

They weren’t that strong.

Was it perhaps because their biology was simple?

Their attacks weren’t threatening at all.

Their speed wasn’t that fast either.

There was no trick or technique.

While their strength was quite intimidating, it wasn’t enough compared to me.

If we spoke of strength, the vanguard from ten years ago, with their emotion-sucking tentacles, would be stronger.

Yet, what was the reason they could achieve victory over me?

What was the reason I couldn’t defeat them and became a public designation?

If I wanted to win in this war, I had to win in terms of sheer numbers.

I couldn’t quite recall who said it, but he would be glad. A being faithfully implementing that theory had appeared to destroy humanity.

The commander entity diverted all damage to its lower entities and survived, while the lower entities poured out an infinite number to cover.

Even if they gathered their strength to destroy everyone around them, they would redirect all damage to some entities, and the swarm would remain alive.

The implementation of violence by numbers that every military strategist had hoped for. No matter how overwhelming the power was or what strategies were employed, they would never be individually defeated.

The only way to defeat them is through the same number of violent means.

I never thought I’d lose to simple numbers.

I always argued that quantity was better than quality, but this time I must break that opinion.

“Yeah, I lost. You damn shellfish. You got one match won.”

I raised my remaining hand that held the hammer.

To keep holding the hammer until the end, I’d have to lift it with my right hand.

I wanted to express my surrender by while raising my already disappeared left hand, but they wouldn’t complain about something physically impossible.

Click click click.

Had they understood that action? For the first time, the shellfish expressed emotion.

Clawing and clicking, they gradually gathered around me, as if to annihilate the adversary and move forward.

I slowly lowered my raised hand and looked at the stopwatch hanging in the middle of the hammer handle.

26 hours 23 minutes since the battle began.

I had held on long enough.

“I said I lost; nothing more than that.”

My defeat wasn’t humanity’s defeat.

I can’t offer my life yet.

In this monotonous gray world, a non-monotonous sound reached my ears.

A familiar tone, the sound of a projectile spewing flames as it moved forward.

And then the ensuing explosion sounds.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom boom. Boom. Boom.

Numerous war machines’ support bombardments rained down endlessly.

Personally, I despised the sound, but there was no sound more satisfying for me now.

“Sorry for being late.”

“Damn it. That’s 4 hours and 23 minutes late. I told you to hold out for just 22 hours.”

The unique mechanical voice blended into the speech.

A giant clad in colossal gray armor.

An S-Rank hero protecting the Association.

The Librarian.

Cradled in his mechanical arms, I asked for the information necessary for a counterattack.

“What about the battle records?”

“All recorded.”

“What about the defense line?”

“The area touching the Pacific Ocean has been set.”

“How many gathered?”

“All present.”

“Good.”

A lightsaber held in the gray knight’s right hand, and seemingly to protect me, he pushed my body into his left side.

My small body became round, wedged into the giant’s form.

Like a football player handling an oval ball.

But still, this doesn’t seem quite right.

“Don’t you have a protective portal or a transport brigade coming separately?”

Specifically, other figures who could somehow manage this strange situation.

“The senses of those who came into contact with the gray space were distorted. Very few can fight on this battlefield.”

Ah, is that so?

Given that I couldn’t hold up, it would indeed be difficult for ordinary soldiers to endure as well.

“Hold tight. I’ll break through.”

The senses distorted. A vague and dreamy feeling enveloped me.

The Librarian’s reality manipulation.

As a strange sensation akin to a filter spread around, the sky and sea regained their colors, and the sensations I felt returned to normal.

Although only a narrow range regained color, it was enough for me to find mental stability.

Looking down, I could see gray flesh floating in the sea.

“Experiment complete. Confirmed that I can restore it through my power.”

“That’s good news.”

The Atlantic side still hadn’t launched any aircraft, so this was something to be thankful for.

As I thought this, the Librarian began to accelerate.

He turned on the jetpack attached to the back of the armor and charged toward the gray shellfish blocking our path.

I was a bit worried whether the attack of the Librarian, who was specialized for support, would work, but it was an unnecessary anxiety.

Every time his massive right hand swung, purple flashes erupted, and the gray beings in front of us were sliced as shells.

Well… the quality isn’t that high… if only I could do something about those thousands…

My mind relaxed, and drowsiness washed over me.

It’s been years since I’ve felt this tired?

I should have tried to rest my eyes as much as possible before the battle…

Now that a comrade has arrived… let’s take a moment to rest.

With that thought, I closed my eyes in my comrade’s embrace.

A woman caught me as I burst out of the infirmary.

Soft gray techwear.

Countless syringes stuck in her pockets.

The healing hero who had treated me.

“You’re still not fully healed. You need to rest a bit more…”

“My body knows best.”

The age-old argument I had with her, unchanged to the very last detail.

I know she’s passionate about healing, but I’d like her to give up on saying the same thing each time.

“By the way, why are you here and not at the meeting? It was a total summon.”

“Because I’m a non-combatant. I hardly understand what anyone’s saying…”

You’re a non-combatant?

The monsters that had their necks ripped out and died would wail if they heard that.

I agree that it’s an issue with the nature of the Oxymoron and her knowledge biases that she can’t understand the meeting contents.

But I only thought it in my head and didn’t speak it out. I wouldn’t want further injuries to happen to me either.

“Just come with me. They’d probably be rambling about nonsense without even knowing what they were saying.”

“If my condition worsens, no matter what you say, I’ll forcibly drag you there.”

Yeah, like I’ll put you to sleep with a punch first.

Walking with her down the corridor, we arrived at a certain door.

The place where everything was decided 15 years ago.

The place where the Association began.

The conference room of those who established the Association.

Clunk.

As the old door creaked open, gazes shot toward me.

The gazes of veterans who had been heroes for at least over 10 years.

Madmen who had abandoned themselves for the preservation of humanity, whether by choice or force, forgetting their retirements.

“Look there. The loser has arrived.”

“Shut up, Infinite Architect.”

“Now I’m not even called an old man. Kids these days.”

Passing through the empty chairs, I sat down in the central chair.

“Why the hell are you sitting there?”

Ah, it seems there’s a lot of complaints today.

“If you have complaints, then either rise above my rank or stay quiet for 26 years, Infinite Architect.”

“You little punk.”

I ignored the grumpy old man.

“What’s the situation?”

“What’s there to say? What are you even doing here, having arrived late?”

“Go out and take a beating for me instead, Cheonha Ilgyeom.”

“I don’t fight by getting beaten like you? How embarrassing it is to be an alumni of the same school. If you’re a martial artist, dodge the attacks and—”

Ignoring that idiot Cheonha Ilgyeom, I tapped on the tablet containing the data.

Civilian evacuation routes, locations for erecting barriers after the current field boundary, number of heroes who responded to the mobilization order.

Huh? The number of heroes responding to the mobilization order exceeds 90%?

“The number of heroes responding to the mobilization order is strangely high? Does 90% even make sense?”

“Huh? That’s nonsense. There’s no way it could exceed 90%. Your eyes finally… huh?”

“Ninety percent? Crimson Hammer, you’re also good at making jokes, huh?”

As if it couldn’t be true, the sounds of tapping on tablets began to overflow in the inner conference room.

Those damn fools. Did they just nag me without even checking the data themselves?

“I manipulated information about the enemy on my side. If these kids saw that data, they’d all run away.”

The Infinite Architect tapped the table with his staff and spoke.

“If you spread the information you brought as it is, the outcome is as clear as daylight, just like during the regular mobilization order; they’ll all flee.”

The laughter of the old man resonated quietly within the conference room, and most of the participants nodded in agreement.

“How much did you manipulate it?”

“The details of the commander-level beings and their ranks, and also details related to the strange gray world you experienced.”

“What about the analysis of the gray world?”

“The Librarian said it’s similar to her reality manipulation. The research and command departments are fully deployed and currently investigating.”

So that’s why I hadn’t seen the Librarian. If the research and command departments were absent… it was just a bunch of useless fools left here.

I could understand the noise.

“So, has the operation been decided?”

“Actually, I was about to say that, but you came at the right time. It saved me having to repeat myself.”

Beep.

When the Infinite Architect tapped the tablet, the giant screen at the front of the conference room changed.

A satellite image of the battle scene where I was fighting the gray shells.

Overall, it looked like a regular satellite image, but there was something striking in the middle of the sea.

A wide expanse of gray sea.

“Rather than heading straight to nearby land, are they prioritizing securing as much land as possible?”

If so, it would take longer than expected to reach the defense line. At that speed, two to three days.

“They prioritize increasing their own territory over advancing.”

An excited voice flowed from the Infinite Architect.

“What’s that supposed to mean? No matter how rampantly they act, they’re still mere beasts.”

That cursed old man’s treacherous laugh.

“Then, the operation should be obvious. I’ll build barriers with my power and reduce the number of enemies. That’s all there is to it.”

“That’s nothing new, is it?”

“That’s a good thing, damn it.”

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