Mr. Magical Girl

Chapter 47. The Forest That Won’t Fall After One Hit

Nothing (3)

Looking down from the top of the barrier,

I was able to spot my students among the crowd.

Even though numerous heroes, each flaunting their individuality, were densely packed, I could quickly find the two students.

Baek Sihyeon, joyfully swinging her hammer and babbling to whoever she could grab.

Han Abin, slowly turning her head, taking in the sight of countless people.

Why is that?

These two students, whom I haven’t known for long, stand out so much to me?

“Are you watching the students again?”

“They’re over there, eagerly challenging someone to a fight.”

“They’re lively.”

Oxymoron also started searching for the two students, looking down from below the barrier, but seemed unable to find them, shaking her head left and right instead.

“There they are.”

When I pointed with my finger, she finally found them and looked down joyfully.

“With her swinging that hammer, no one’s getting hit.”

“She does have talent. They call her an emotional type.”

Is she amplifying that?

“Is that your student? Looks just as skinny as you.”

Cheonha Ilgyeom suddenly chimed in, making a circle with her fingers like a pair of binoculars and peering through her right eye.

“Despite how she looks, she’s within the top 100 talents since the establishment of the Association. Not that she’s better than me.”

The Librarian, adjusting her helmet, added a strange statement.

“What do you mean by not better?”

“I finished my doctoral studies at that age. I’m superior.”

“Adults flaunting their intelligence against children; what a brag!”

Was that the reason for her bragging about her intelligence over the past few days?

“What good is being smart? For a hero, combat power is much more important.”

Saying that, Cheonha Ilgyeom released her gray scimitar into the air and performed sorcery.

Is that the Wigiyeom?

“Didn’t the Thunder God say if he had time to do that, he should just swing his sword properly?”

Seeing my student’s showing off, he probably would have slapped her back of the head.

“My students prefer the flashy stuff. It can’t be helped; they’ve gotten used to it.”

The gray scimitar soared through the air, creating clones or sword energies, performing an acrobatic flight.

Young people are bound to like that kind of spectacle.

“When you teach them techniques, they ask if there’s a fancier one. Back in my day, I couldn’t even step on my master’s shadow.”

“Seriously? If the old man saw this, he’d tell you to stop lying and bury yourself.”

The shadow of a master? I was beaten to a pulp for causing a scene.

That aside, were the narrow defensive spaces turning crowded? It’s been a while since the old heroes of youth gathered like this.

Though, technically, everyone here is in their 40s except for Oxymoron.

Unlike the first defense line, S-Ranks and A-Ranks have been given orders to make their own judgments and hold the barricade.

“Where are the others?”

“If it’s Commander Macbeth, he’s at the command center, and Prohibition is probably holed up in a tavern.”

Cheonha Ilgyeom, with her intelligence, remarked about something so obvious it was almost annoying.

Misi, Misa, Calavera, and Hwangwang are pointless to look for; they don’t mesh well with others anyway.

“What about the Infinite Architect? I had something to ask.”

“If it’s the deputy commander, they’re inspecting the barriers. They need to strengthen them until the very end.”

It can’t be helped; I’ll ask after everything’s over.

As our brief chatter ended, everyone fell silent.

As the conversation died down, we slowly turned our heads toward the sea.

Beyond the distant horizon where enemies still aren’t visible. Now starting to take a grayish hue.

“I heard that 1.1% died yesterday.”

“That’s a lot of casualties.”

“Though there are many casualties, not everybody is dead… right?”

“At this point, about 40% are confirmed deceased.”

Leaving behind the two unfunny appendages, I continued.

“My students were weeping about three of their friends being dead. Shouldn’t we save all of them then?”

“What are you trying to say?”

That impatient guy is the head of China’s largest martial arts association? Surely there’s someone more useful than him.

“Let’s ignore the collateral damage as long as we can take that damn leader down with a single blow.”

WHAM.

I swung my hammer down against the barrier.

BAM.

The ground shook with a short impact.

“I’ll make sure it’s done.”

The eyes of the three heroes focused on me.

Wow Cheonha Ilgyeom looked at me with a strange face.

The Librarian polished her face with a giant metallic glove.

I couldn’t tell exactly due to the gas mask, but Oxymoron seemed to be breathing a little heavily, letting out more air than necessary.

“I thought you were a corpse after not moving for years, but it seems you’ve hidden quite a bit of emotion in you.”

Cheonha Ilgyeom smiled, looking at my face. As she flicked the sleeves of her robe, she began to walk slowly around me.

“The vision bestowed upon you by the sky alters due to the earth. But if your heart has changed once due to the earth, it has changed again. Whose strength could it be? Is it that young student’s?”

The sly smile on her face scratched at my patience.

Does she only act like a martial artist at times like this?

“Clang”

I swung the hammer swiftly.

A short attack without any rotation.

I expected her to dodge, so I swung it shortly.

But the golden hammer connected squarely with her sly face.

What should I even say? The sensation of executing an attack I never anticipated was baffling.

Cheonha Ilgyeom, perhaps not expecting the attack either, stumbled backward, unable to keep her balance and fell beneath the barrier.

…She won’t die, right?

I would soon learn what had happened.

She couldn’t possibly be taken down by that level of attack.

…Did you guys do that?

“Her cheeky face annoyed me.”

“Same here.”

Oxymoron pulled out a syringe.

The Librarian was holding an unknown weapon.

Whatever technique was used, they must have briefly incapacitated or disrupted Cheonha Ilgyeom’s concentration.

Given their age, to mess around like this is laughable. I sighed at the level of my comrades, yet because I acted similarly, I refrained from voicing it.

THUMP THUMP.

Even sitting on the barrier, I could feel the vibrations.

The sound of a massive entity walking.

If the small entity’s walk were described as a scene painted in gray paint, what should I call this?

A massive building marching while earth shifts beneath it.

The Infinite Architect, is this no longer the meaning of a barrier?

Even if the currently installed barriers are taller than those from the sea, they become meaningless in comparison.

At best, it might reach their waist.

It seems sufficient to prevent them from jumping over, but the height does not allow most to attack.

Just their size alone felt oppressive, yet their shapes seemed quite capable of gnawing at the psyche.

Crawling into view, the most visible and seemingly intact was a grotesque skin riddled with boils.

Among them were those whose insides appeared damaged, continuously spewing gray foam from their mouths, along with others whose bodies were half-crushed, oozing undetectable gray fluids that polluted the ground.

With such bizarre hordes obscuring the vision, an indescribable pressure infiltrated the air.

“Though they look like that, if you say they’re weak just because they’re big, would they understand?”

“Pfft. I doubt anyone would believe that.”

The lucky fellow, who had regained his original body in just one day, belched high above.

Is this guy really okay?

Though a white balloon distant from trust, those words seemed somewhat valid.

Even now, they were slowly advancing while under bombardment from numerous weapons.

The monstrous shells, walking as though these explosions couldn’t pierce their armor, oozing vile fluids and foam.

And the crescendo of pressure was marked by the sound of a kettle drum.

DUM DUM.

Wherever it is, it may still not be visible, but the slowly growing sound of crying held enough pressure on the mind.

Without a strong mental fortitude, everyone else likely lost their fighting spirit.

“If those fools had a son that could block attacks, they would just be scarecrows.”

As long as there are heroes to counter the heavy pincers, the remaining task is merely to continue attacking.

It’s impossible for them to deflect attacks like me, but those of the upper echelon of physical attributes could certainly manage to withstand the might.

That fact had reached the heroes, but with the current morale, it seems the Danking Rotation won’t run perfectly.

First, they needed to recognize that those weren’t immortal beings. And that wasn’t my job to do.

BAM.

From the barrier on my right, a bright flash erupted.

A silver armor shot up, spraying flames from the jetpack attached to its back.

The Librarian.

Surrounding the armor, numerous additional gears materialized from the air. Then, those gears attached to the armor, increasing its size.

From humanoid armor to a grotesque giant robot with excessively large limbs.

The silver armor, once a symbol of the Librarian, darkened and became matte, no longer reflecting light, descending toward the ground.

The silver giant armor descended toward the approaching horde.

THUD.

The armor crashed into the ground, plowing through and blocking the gray horde.

Was it accelerating with boosters, making the metal heat up? The scenery around the armor twisted, and dirt and stones scattered into the air, which somehow felt spectacular.

But that was all. While the appearance may have been flashy, a 15-meter giant armor, when compared to the massive gray crustaceans, seemed significantly small.

It looks utterly outmatched against those huge beings.

“Who’s that?”

“Looks like a transformation hero or someone from the past; is this a suicide mission?”

“Is she crazy?”

The heroes and soldiers huddled inside the barrier sighed, and even I could hear it.

If the Librarian inside the armor heard that, I wonder what she would think.

Those sighs were drowned out by the huge engine sounds resonating from the armor.

A small anchor shot from the black armor.

An object fixed to the ground, and the black armor spread its arms wide.

From the arms of the armor, a peculiar aura began to radiate.

Something that only the higher-tier mages or advanced martial artists sensitive to mana could perceive.

“Manipulating reality right from the start? When I asked for grand moves, they really delivered!”

In an instant, the undetermined energy from the Librarian extended, enveloping the vast frontline.

CRASH.

Numerous crustaceans lost balance and toppled over.

Without any warning, what had previously been a plain field morphed into a vast swamp, and at the same time, someone dashed from the left barricade.

A man with a ponytail wearing purple martial attire, holding a gray scimitar.

“Hey, you squids! I’ll unleash one trick you’ve all been nagging for!”

He roared across the battlefield.

Is he out of his mind?

Thanks to not anticipating such bizarre antics, I felt a faint pain in my ears.

“I feel like throwing up after hearing such nonsense.”

“If you do, every day will be ramen for Sihyeon.”

After throwing a warning at the white fluffball that covered my mouth, I fixed my gaze on Cheonha Ilgyeom dashing forward.

He plunged into the quagmire without any hindrance, racing forward like a gust of wind.

Simultaneously, I felt a massive energy being gathered within the giant scimitar.

“…Is that an S-Rank technique?”

Did I misperceive it? I tried to sense the energy again, but no matter how I thought about it, it felt like a half-year’s worth of energy had been amassed.

Is he out of his mind?

Cheonha Ilgyeom’s energy showed no signs of wavering.

It was an unwavering vigor, as if she was ready to unleash all her might through her sword.

As she reached the enemy lines, Cheonha Ilgyeom swung her scimitar.

The purple robe fluttered in the wind, and the sword swung at a speed unrecognizable even to me.

In one instant of acceleration, wielding her weapon as if it were a brush, a unique technique only known to martial artists began unfolding.

The closest thing in resemblance would be a wizard’s magic.

However, the essence of martial artists diverges at the most crucial point. While magic seeks efficiency, ending with a syllable, martial art forms are the pinnacle of inefficiency.

The trajectory drawn by her sword becomes the magic circle of spells, and the sound of slicing air serves as the invocation’s voice.

The most primitive manifestation of magic then morphs into the most powerful physical force, impacting the world.

As her technique neared its end, Cheonha Ilgyeom uttered its name.

“Moon Shape Dance!”

Numerous slices of pressure skimmed past the legs of the crustaceans.

The seemingly pointless trajectory of her sword intermingled unpredictably, producing immense pressure, reaching even those spots deemed untouchable.

SQUICK.

The gleaming light of her scimitar enveloped the entire battlefield, and when the flash faded away, a moment later, numerous slicing sounds flooded into my ears.

What she cut became quickly apparent. It was the legs of those crustaceans that had toppled into the muck.

Many of the crustaceans, who were attempting to rise, lost their legs and fell over, desperately writhing just to move.

Certainly, an almost divine technique.

If she displayed her form during peace to flaunt its elegance and stability, even the meticulous Thunder God would surely give her praise.

One regrettable point, however.

“Did that fool just cut legs?”

“Uh… I don’t really know martial arts, but what I roughly read about the technique suggested it’s only supposed to cut legs…”

Ah, so that’s why it’s called Moon Shape (刖刑)?

The mistake was on our part for expecting something more from that weirdo.

Afterward, the Librarian, having charged all her energy, unleashed a massive laser cannon.

But I felt little emotion toward that, as I was busy tracking Cheonha Ilgyeom’s confidently striding figure.

---