And of course, the troops quickly began to rush toward the place where I was.
Smashing something like CCTV cameras is pointless.
The moment I showed up here, the alarm had already gone off, so I was already caught.
It seems like the people here have figured out why I came into this building. After all, James was on my shoulder.
‘You really didn’t have to come, did you!?'”
After taking down a group of heavily armed guards and catching my breath, I spoke, and James, as if mocking me, raised his nose and said,
‘If they know I’m still alive, they’ll be on guard.’
‘The problem is that they are on guard!?’
It’s a pain if we’re being chased!
‘Anyway, the number of people chasing them is enormous. In fact, my importance is far less than yours. So, it shouldn’t be a problem if the enemy gets a little frustrated, right? Plus, even if you came alone, you’d probably get lost.’
The elevator was completely blocked from the floor I was on to the upper floors.
James had already told me shortly after I started running.
Pressing the button wouldn’t do anything; it wouldn’t come.
But the elevator does go up to the floor where the troops are being transported.
They must be controlling it from the central area.
In other words, when I go up one floor, the troops can also ride the elevator one more floor.
Naturally, in such a large building, there’s more than one elevator, so some are probably busy transporting troops to the roof.
Of course, even if I press the button, it won’t stop here.
‘By the way, the doors are as thick as a bomb shelter. It’ll be faster to run than to try to break through them. You haven’t even fully utilized your strength yet…’
As James said, the blade I created didn’t cut through the wall as perfectly as Hayoon’s staff.
Because of that, I had to go up each floor, one by one, as if the path had been deliberately twisted into a maze.
What really pissed me off was that the stairs weren’t neatly placed in one area; instead, they had been scattered around the floors, almost randomly.
According to James, up to a certain floor, it’s just an ordinary building.
This means they’re taking measures to protect important facilities.
‘I clearly cut all the wires that were covering me…!’
‘The government almost never deals with magical girls in the first place.’
Muttering in frustration as I ran, James explained.
‘They’ve captured monsters before, but they’ve never captured magical girls. After all, to become a magical girl, you need that hope circuit.’
‘So, generally, attacks that use the ‘circuit’ are inherently weak. While you or some of the combatants might be able to open the thick doors of the federal facility, once a magical girl shows up, she’ll get caught. So, don’t you think you can understand just how inconvenient your existence is for the Federation?’
Just by existing, you can already disrupt most of the facilities built by the Federation.
‘Then, what about today?’
‘If it’s possible to disrupt their facilities, there’s no need for them to be constantly hostile. Who knows? At some point, they might even extend a hand for cooperation.’
He’s really annoyingly quick-witted when it comes to things like this.
‘There are about three floors left. By the way, don’t you have any weapons? All magical girls carry some sort of weapon.’
‘What are you talking about? You didn’t even make me one.’
‘Magical girls hold their weapons when they transform, don’t they?’
I was left speechless by that comment.
It’s true, after all—unless it’s a weapon designed like Iris, all of their weapons are purely magical in nature.
The magic books, the gauntlets, the staffs… they’re all the same.
The beings I dreamed of as a child…”
It was a webtoon that mocked that setup, but it’s a bit ridiculous that, even to mock it, the basic setup is still kind of followed.
And yet, here I am.
So, what exactly was I thinking to transform into this?
I just vaguely wanted to become a magical girl, and now I’ve ended up like this? It’s absurd.
If that’s the case, at least give me a ‘typical’ magical girl staff or something.
‘Over there!’
This time, the sound came from the front.
I created blades in both my hands.
It looked a little strange.
Before, when I created the blades, they would emerge as if leaking from the wide hole in the sleeve of my suit, but now they were just floating in the air.
It wasn’t as if they were spinning off in some weird direction, though.
The sound of gunfire was loud.
Those people have been firing live rounds since earlier.
They’re probably using special bullets, since after hitting, they bounce off and break apart without leaving any trace.
Maybe they’re worried about accidentally killing each other if the bullets ricochet indoors.
But just because the bullets break doesn’t mean they don’t hurt.
I raised one arm, transforming the blade into a shield-like form, then dashed forward.
Strangely, despite not feeling any air resistance, the bullets flying toward me were definitely blocked, which really felt like magic.
‘Ugh!’
As I charged quickly toward them, the soldier who had been firing accurately at first yanked the trigger hard.
Tat-tat-tat!
The noise that hit my ears was relentless.
A faint ringing started in my ears.
I swung the blade in my right hand roughly.
The gun the soldier was holding, as well as the one the soldier next to him was holding.
The helmet they were wearing, and probably their military-grade headsets.
All of them were neatly sliced in a straight line and fell to the ground.
Bang!
Then, I immediately swung my raised hand down to strike the soldier’s head.
The soldier, hit by my fist, staggered and fell sideways.
A rifle butt came flying toward my face, so I grabbed it with my hand.
I glared at the soldier who had swung the rifle at me, and his face turned pale.
There were no visible injuries on his face.
I had toned down the power of the blade.
It was probably offset by the energy in my suit. It’s the same reason why you don’t die even if you’re cut by Hayoon’s sword.
Since my suit was damaged, it would be hard to exert full force.
No soldier uses their circuits to the point of overflow like I do.
I gave his head another decent thump.
He didn’t lose consciousness, but he cradled his head and fell over.
Before he could get up, I leapt over his body and kept running.
Well, they did shoot at me, but still, these people are combatants, right? They had the same job as I did.
The Earthling isn’t here, but if he were nearby, he might’ve been summoned too.
No, that’s not it.
The people here are above the average combatants.
The Earthling’s outfit was just a tight suit. S
ince he’s not actually from Earth, he doesn’t have circuits, and there’s no point in wearing them.
But everyone here is human.
They wore circuits on their hands and tight-fitting suits, but with leather jackets on top.
It was the same outfit I wore after receiving a new circuit from James.
But none of them wield blades.
Did they think they wouldn’t get hit by them?
I shoved the soldier in front of me aside with all my strength and sprinted forward.
It’s ironic—I’m doing exactly the same thing the magical girls did, yet I’m filled with anger toward them.
If you ask me if there’s any other way, I wouldn’t have an answer.
‘Everyone, get out of the way!’
I shouted.
‘If you try to stop me, this won’t end peacefully! I won’t touch you as long as you don’t block my path!’
Maybe my words had some effect, as some of them startled and stepped aside.
There were still many who kept coming at me, but every time my blade swept over them, slicing through their gear, their will to fight seemed to falter.
That’s probably true.
The battle with the magical girls was the same.
No matter how good the equipment is, no matter how many Earthlings you recruit as combatants, it’s all the same.