“What are you thinking?”
Rose asked, her tone tinged with worry.
Considering our current situation, it wasn’t exactly the right time for a relaxed conversation.
So, our exchanges were necessarily brief, scattered between attacks.
I focused on breaking the restraints on the joints, but they didn’t give way easily.
The armor was much sturdier this time, perhaps because they remembered how the magical girls had dealt with their forces last time.
I managed to break the elbow joint, but the legs were significantly tougher.
It made sense.
If you were to ask which had a wider range of motion, arms or legs, the latter would obviously win.
I struck the robot’s right leg with my hammer, dodged an incoming attack with a roll, and smashed its back with my hammer again.
Rose, beside me, dodged an attack aimed at her, rolled under its arm, and ended up at my side.
“To show them they can’t control us.”
“Us? Or the monster?”
“Both.”
I responded curtly and thrust my hammer between the monster’s legs.
Turning the hammer head horizontally, I unleashed the boosters to maximum on both sides.
Naturally, the stronger thrust came from the rear booster, causing the monster’s right leg to stretch outward.
That wasn’t my intention—I was merely trying to use the heat from the boosters to damage the mechanism.
The intense heat likely affected the opposing side as well.
However, what made the difference was the forward momentum from the hammer, splitting the leg apart at the joint.
A painful-sounding crack echoed, though it wasn’t the sound of the monster’s leg breaking entirely.
The ‘joint’ wasn’t just in the legs; there were control mechanisms near the pelvis as well.
With a sharp hiss, dark liquid sprayed from a damaged tube, possibly a vital energy line.
It wasn’t ordinary oil—likely pure energy coursing through the circuits.
Though its legs were torn apart, the monster’s sturdy body and armor prevented a complete dismemberment.
Instead, the monster toppled to its right side, slamming its head against the ground with a resounding crash.
“Thud!”
“Roarrr!”
The monster howled, clawing at the ground with its talons, digging deep furrows.
If a person had been in its path, even a magical girl wouldn’t have emerged unscathed.
I felt a shiver of fear.
But magical girls are magical girls for a reason.
No matter how grotesque the enemy, they face it with courage, without giving up.
Not me—someone like Hayoon.
As Rose and I rolled away, Hayoon stood her ground in front of the monster.
And the moment I brought it down, she lunged at it.
“The shoulder! There’s a control mechanism on the shoulder!”
I shouted, and Hayoon charged straight for it.
Though the monster quickly tried to rise, Hayoon’s blade reached its left shoulder first.
It reminded me of watching metal bars being cut at a hardware store.
Sparks flew violently as her blade struck, and even as pink sparks scattered across her body and face, she didn’t flinch.
She pushed her blade further in.
I joined the attack, slamming my hammer into the monster’s back and activating the boosters again.
The strain on the monster’s arms became evident, giving Hayoon enough time to push her blade deeper.
Through the shower of sparks, Hayoon looked at me.
Her eyes met mine over the monster’s back, and she smiled faintly.
I averted my gaze.
The pink sparks turned murky, then black.
A loud metallic crash sounded from within, like something jamming a fan.
And then—
A massive explosion.
“Hayoon!”
I yelled instinctively, running toward her as she was blown backward.
“Jieun?”
As I helped her up, Hayoon looked at me, wide-eyed.
Realizing my impulsive act, I quickly let go of her hand.
Still surprised, she glanced at the hand I had grabbed.
Fortunately, we had no time to dwell on the rare physical contact.
A furious roar erupted behind us.
Until now, its growls had resembled those of a bear.
But this was different—
Perhaps even its growls had been ‘controlled.’
I hated to admit it, but I had to acknowledge it.
Whether human or inhuman, it was for others to decide.
But one thing was clear: this company’s technology was frighteningly advanced, capable of weaponizing monsters.
Of course, no one in their right mind would ever support such a thing.
Thunk, thunk.
Perhaps due to one of the circuits on both shoulders exploding, the monster’s left shoulder was blown away.
The arm wasn’t entirely detached, but the shoulder was critically damaged, with some bones exposed.
The creature’s fur, soaked in blood, made the wound appear even more severe.
Around the tattered arm, components and parts were scattered haphazardly.
Some dangled loosely, held in place by wires or other internal connections.
This… this is dangerous.
We needed to subdue the monster, but killing it wasn’t an option.
Even if the government and the Federation were on the opposing side, the person turned into this monster was likely innocent.
In fact, they might not be so different from me, taken by the company and weaponized.
Had I failed to escape and been sent to another facility, I might have ended up like this—or worse, reduced to some generator-like component.
If the monster were officially subdued and processed, it would undoubtedly be classified as a “monster.”
Any resulting documents would likely be deemed classified information.
Looking at the police officers, they seemed utterly bewildered.
The corporation wouldn’t have sent such a creature without considering the consequences.
They probably assumed they could suppress any evidence.
Glancing upward, I noticed the observers had vanished.
No helicopters circled above—only a few drones, emblazoned with the Noir Corporation logo.
“They never stop, do they?”
Clumsy but powerful, driven by brute force rather than careful planning.
That summed up how I felt about those who had sent this creature.
“Can it be treated?”
“It’s already starting to heal a little.”
Delphinium, who had approached unnoticed, pointed her staff at the monster’s shoulder.
Sure enough, the exposed bone was slowly being covered.
Not with flesh, but with a black liquid seeping over the wound.
“Looks like a self-repair function,” Iris commented, loading a fuse into her rifle.
“It won’t fully heal the injury but should stop the bleeding and cover the exposed areas of the armor.”
“They’ve really thought of everything, haven’t they?”
I sighed, gripping my hammer tightly.
“Still, we need to bring it down now that we’ve come this far.”
“Yeah,” Hayoon agreed.
“Let’s finish this quickly and leave,” I said.
“There’s nothing to gain from this fight anyway.”
No reward, just exhausting combat.
Smoke began to stream from my hammer, as if it were burning fuel to launch a rocket.
It might have just been an effect, a manifestation of my imagination.
Still, it worked—police officers recoiled at the sight.
Good.
The monster would thrash even more violently now, so they’d better keep their distance.
I’d try to contain it, but I couldn’t guarantee their safety.
If they pushed their stubbornness to the limit, so would I.
I’d make sure they’d never want to face us here again.
Even if it meant becoming public enemies.
Not that it mattered.
If they’d called for us, someone on their side clearly thought we were necessary.
Hope? I never had any hope for this world to begin with.
But if they wanted me to wallow in despair, I’d make sure they joined me in the abyss.
The sound of air being sliced reached my ears as black smoke began leaking from the auxiliary thruster on my hammer.
The smoke thickened and solidified into a liquid-like substance.
Bang!
Almost simultaneously, it struck the monster’s crown.
Crack.
The sound could have come from the armor on its head or the hardened magic coating my hammer.
Fragments of the shattered helmet adhered to the monster’s body.
“Grrh?”
The monster raised its head and looked at me.
My magic seeped into the cracks of the broken helmet.
“…!”
The monster clutched its face with its hands.
Well, that’s how it goes.
While fighting alongside other magical girls, I couldn’t recklessly spread sticky magic on the ground.
But pouring it over the monster’s body? That was manageable.
Even if it couldn’t fully immobilize it, the hardened magic entering its eyes and ears was enough to do its job.
The monster flailed its arms wildly, letting out an eerie wail.
It was threatening, yes, but its blind, aimless thrashing made its movements harder to predict.
However, it also increased its blind spots.
With its vision and hearing blocked, its range of awareness narrowed.
The magic spreading inside the helmet hardened further, likely restricting its breathing if it reached the nose.
Bang, bang, bang.
My hammer and Rose’s gauntlets repeatedly struck the monster’s body.
Unable to see or hear, it was now being attacked from all sides.
Even Iris shifted her focus, targeting its limbs instead of its head, realizing I’d already done something to the helmet.
Hayoon joined the fray, while Dahlia launched aerial bombardments at the monster from above.
“…!”
The monster let out a deafening roar, shards of its broken helmet flying out.
For a moment, an ear-splitting noise rang out, nearly paralyzing me.
In that instant, the monster’s arm struck, pushing me aside.
I barely stopped myself from rolling over, digging my heels into the ground for balance.
But the monster had already charged forward.
“Ahh!”
The troops stationed near its path panicked.
Some couldn’t retreat properly due to those behind them, while others raised shields in a desperate attempt to block its advance.
But no shield, not even one reinforced for monsters, could withstand its attack for long.
After all, shields had to be light enough for humans to carry.
Gunfire rained down on the monster, but it only fueled its aggression.
Even wires aimed to restrain it were torn apart by its unnaturally strong claws.
“Delphinium!”
Hayoon shouted.
Delphinium, who had already been preparing her spell, conjured a thick wall in front of the monster.
It was similar to the one we’d seen earlier, but this time it was so thick that the other side was barely visible.
“Grrr!?”
The monster charged at the magic wall with full force—only to recoil in fear and retreat to the opposite side.
The thinner wall from before had terrified the flat monster we encountered, and this wall was far thicker, making its reaction unsurprising.
As the monster stumbled back, Rose was already rushing toward it.
“Take this!”
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