Chapter 734

〈 Chapter 734 〉 Part 2, Chapter 5, Section 27

WHOOSH!

Every single monster was engulfed in flames. Su Ri’s wide-area attack burned so fiercely that it melted every remaining piece of debris at Incheon Airport.

“Keh… killing civilians…”

“You’re no civilian, you’re a mint-flavored monster.”

PUFF!

Su Ri kicked away a man with green-tinted hair who tried to grab her ankle. The Xroid dissolved like a summer mint chocolate ice cream under her fiery assault.

“This is Justice Su Ri reporting. I’ve incinerated all the monsters, including the civilians who turned into mint chocolates.”

“Su Ri, I’m only 50 meters away from you…”

“Just talking out loud. Damn, everything’s burning except this.”

Su Ri picked up a luminous mint-colored core shimmering amidst the flames. Though filled with the damp aura unique to monsters, its intense mint hue seemed to assert the identity of the creatures more strongly.

“Yuna, any monster reactions left?”

“All gone. Good job, sis, and Nuri.”

The magical girls, led by Yuna, let out deep sighs of relief.

Thanks to Gaon and Gaeul’s dual torch formation, the citizens were safely evacuated. Those already transformed into mint chocolates had lost all hope of rescue, becoming full-fledged monsters.

Thus, the people inside the torch perimeter were the remaining citizens in the airport. Everyone who could be saved had been.

Though it was just a drill, nobody expected real monsters to appear. And even less did they anticipate the citizens would troll them.

BZZZT, CHUNK.

Xian Kun and Xian Zhang, who were acting as terrified citizens, stood up robotically.

“We will now commence core recovery.”

“Core recovery, core recovery, core recovery.”

It wasn’t that they moved like machines – actual machines were moving. All automatons, except for the Xroids that got completely wrecked, were busy with their core recovery mission.

“Huh…”

“It’s weird seeing our boss like this.”

Yu Sung’s Xroids are utilized in various fields, but they also frequently handle core collection.

Robots generally take over tasks that are difficult or dangerous for humans. Core recovery falls under both categories.

GLUG, GLUG.

The Xroids began swallowing cores, storing them internally.

“Packaging, packaging, packaging…”

Each time they swallowed, a coating process occurred within their bodies to sort and prevent the cores from sticking together.

“Machines really are convenient.”

“Indeed. Back then, we had to wrap each one in aluminum foil to coat them.”

“Big sister Raon, not again with the latte…”

BEEP.

[Great work, everyone.]

The mastermind behind the situation, Baek Cheonghwa, appeared on the magical girls’ devices.

[There were many unreasonable scenarios, but you all handled them well. Especially the three C+ ranked members who managed to eliminate B-rank monsters despite having core weapons and suits. That was definitely an achievement. Your coordination was excellent too.]

Yuna, Nuri, and Ha Yu-eun.

Though it’s somewhat strange to see magical girls wielding guns, what matters most is that they gave their all as “heroes.”

[I deliberately spread them out locally, but I didn’t expect you to find the countermeasure so quickly. You’re impressive, Yuna.]

“I realized your plan too late.”

[Hehe, lucky thing. If you’d noticed from the start, the citizen rescue would have been over before the monsters even showed up.]

In Baek Cheonghwa’s scenario for the anti-monster battle at Incheon Airport, there was only one winning formula:

Evacuate the citizens to safety using any means necessary, then exterminate everything with Su Ri’s firepower.

Mostly B-rank monsters, but with the average power level of the magical girls being quite high, Su Ri couldn’t unleash her full potential due to concerns about friendly fire and collateral damage among allies, buildings, and citizens.

Yuna gathered her allies in one spot. Quickly joining forces with Nuri, Raon, and Ha Yu-eun, they moved the citizens to safety and merged with Gaon’s defensive position.

Gaon and Gaeul simultaneously deployed their defenses to ensure Su Ri’s attacks wouldn’t cause friendly fire.

Then they “locked down” all the citizens in the safe zone.

Finally, those already affected by the monsters were cut loose.

[It’s not easy to decisively abandon those affected by monsters. Good job holding back. If someone had rushed in trying to save them, things would’ve gotten very complicated.]

“…Did you increase the difficulty, boss?”

[Hehe, indeed. And I still have some ‘real ones’ set aside.]

SWOOSH!

Suddenly, spider silk flew toward the magical girls. Their resting bodies started getting tangled in the sticky threads, startling them.

“What…?!”

[A+ rank monster, Tarantula. You can consider her close to S-rank.]

Before they knew it, the area where the magical girls stood was completely wrapped in mint-green spider silk. A female monster descended from the ceiling on silk strands, sneering at the magical girls.

KEE HEHEHE…

“Eh… Big sister Raon?!”

The female monster’s silk had already tightly bound Raon. Showing incredible speed that made defense impossible, Tarantula instantly disappeared into the basement of the airport building.

“Boss!”

[Don’t worry. Raon won’t die. This is more like an event. She’s being transported ‘to my side’.]

The magical girls sighed in relief.

“Phew, I thought an SS-rank monster would pop out.”

“Could this be Fenril’s doing?”

“Seems likely? Given that the commander deliberately kidnapped Raon…”

Even three A+ ranks failed to notice. There’s no way they all missed Tarantula kidnapping Raon, meaning this act was performed by an SS+ rank hero secretly abducting Raon.

[Occasionally, fellow heroes get kidnapped by monsters. There should be a spider den underground created by the monster. How about thinking of it as a dungeon crawl centered around Yuna and exploring the underground?]

“Boss, your command?”

[I need to ‘command here’.]

Behind her, a white-haired magical girl dressed in a sailor outfit carefully selected her weapon, her face hidden in her hands.

“Are we…”

“Being excluded to the extent that we can’t even spectate?”

The magical girls realized why they had to head underground. It was because they would be ‘hindrances’ during the genuine SS+ rank duel.

[Sorry about that. I’ll make it up to you later. Once we capture Tarantula, I’ll generously fill up your quest points starting from near zero.]

“Ha! Is sex all that matters?!”

Spitting on the ground, Su Ri shouted.

“Commander! Thinking you can resolve everything with sex is a mistake! Am I someone who’d say ‘yes’ just because you offer to ‘pound me’?!”

“Eh?!”

Without waiting for a response, Su Ri dashed alone toward the spider den.

“…Don’t people usually say they’re not like that when someone acts like this?”

“True Korean language requires listening until the end. Sisters, big sister Su Ri’s already that far ahead. What do we do?”

“There’s nothing to do but chase!”

Surprisingly defying everyone’s expectations, the magical girls urgently ran after Su Ri following her unilateral action.

“…Boss.”

[Yup.]

Taking a deep breath, Yuna, the last one remaining, said,

“We’ll definitely become stronger to at least watch.”

[Of course.]

The moment Yuna entered the underground,

CHING!

The entire Incheon Airport site froze.

* * *

“Hmph, hmpf, hmpf.”

Tarantula, the monster who kidnapped Raon, felt her saliva thicken at the sight of her master casually humming nearby.

“Mint and chocolate, best combo ever! Mint and chocolate, best combo ever! Commander, yummy treat, gonna devour! Devour~”

“What kind of song is that?”

“Dunno. Just something that popped up while passing through the algorithm?”

The captured hero remained calm, chatting with the master despite being in such a situation. The wind-born monster felt jealousy towards this human who seemed closer to the master than herself.

“…Huh? Your eyes are getting arrogant?”

The master immediately sensed the monster’s hostility and extended her claws. Sensing danger, the monster closed all her eyes and bowed deeply.

“Fenril, the other side’s preparations are complete. Shall we get ready?”

“Understood. Haha hmpf, my mint-filled body is brimming with magic power…”

POOF!

Fenril leaped toward Raon. As if aligning bellies, Fenril wrapped around Raon’s legs and grabbed her face with both hands.

“Transformation!”

“…Transformation.”

Fenril and Raon kissed. Stunned by the shocking scene, Tarantula was speechless.

WHOOSH!!

A powerful storm surged, dyeing Raon’s hair with Fenril’s color.

“…Commander, yummiest treat ever… Commander, yummiest treat ever…”

POOF!

Raon vanished in an instant.

The distant sound sent shivers down Tarantula’s spine.

“From Seok Harang… Commander’s gonna eat him… Eat him…”

“Damn.”

Under the barrier.

At the exact center of the Incheon Airport grounds.

“Commander’s mine to eat.”

“Is that so? Hmmph, whoever wins this battle gets to eat the commander for a day. How’s that? The loser has to watch without interfering.”

“Deal, dog-cat hybrid.”

Tarantula pitied the person called “commander.”

“Commander, yummiest treat ever…”

The incomprehensible song kept echoing in Tarantula’s ears.