Squill, the squid monster, male, 35 years old.
His hobby is drawing manga.
Even though he has quite a few tentacles growing from his body—the kind you often see in those risqué comics—he has absolutely no interest in that sort of genre himself.
A monster drawing hero-themed manga, but because he’s a monster, he always ends up making the heroes look like violent villains, so he can’t even get serialized, and his submissions are constantly rejected.
He belongs to the large criminal organization “Nightmare,” which aims for world domination and is ranked among the top three evil groups worldwide.
Even though the organization is powerful and he looks like the legendary Mind Flayer, Squill is just the bottom of the barrel among the lower-ranked monsters.
He fights using his squid tentacles, with abilities like blending into water to change his skin color and become invisible, or using his slippery body fluids to deflect opponents’ attacks.
He has some regenerative ability, but is afraid of salt.
When he goes to a ramen shop for Jirō Ramen, he even has to ask the owner to go easy on the salt.
His savings are pitifully low.
Despite looking like a Mind Flayer, he obviously has no psychic powers of any kind.
Just hearing the description, you can tell he’s weak.
As a monster, he’s only marginally stronger than the regular combatants and has no ability to commit crimes on his own. In the eyes of professional heroes, he’s just cannon fodder; in the eyes of citizens, he’s a dangerous and evil monster. Usually, he just tags along behind higher-ranked monsters to make up the numbers, getting beaten up by heroes while scraping together a meager salary.
He’s stuck in this awkward, nowhere position.
Stuck.
He even thinks that if his life is going to be like this, he might as well have just become a dispatched combatant. The pay would be even less, but at least he’d look more human.
No one thinks a squid head is cute or handsome, so he can’t even find a girlfriend. Female monsters look down on his abilities, and the company’s modification department would never waste precious funding on someone at the bottom like him. If he wants any upgrades, he’ll have to show some results…
And now, in the middle of a mission, Squill is hiding in the filthy sewers of Central City, clutching a silver suitcase, forcing himself not to gag as he slips beneath the surging sewage.
“Damn it, did that slippery weakling really have to run into a place like this? I can’t believe I have to crawl around in here… Ugh, just smelling this should count as an occupational hazard!”
The voice of a female hero, grumbling and cursing, is very close—almost right above his head. Even underwater, he can hear her clearly.
Squill doesn’t dare move a muscle, barely even breathes (he’s using his gills), relying on his color-changing ability to blend in with the underwater environment. But if he moves, he’ll be discovered, and then there’ll be no chance of escape.
After all, his mimicry is only “to that extent.”
“It seems the stolen item is a new-type driver from ‘World Tree Technology’? If ‘Nightmare’ reverse engineers that, who knows what could happen…”
“Huh? ‘Nightmare’ is behind this again?”
“At least the monster we caught above is part of ‘Nightmare.’ The one who escaped should be from the same group, right?”
The one speaking to the Magic Girl is a male hero. Even underwater, Squill can see his sky-blue armor.
Their conversation makes the hiding Squill nervous. This suitcase contains a cutting-edge product from “World Tree Technology.” No wonder the higher-up monster he was supposed to meet was already badly injured when he showed up, and now he’s being chased by so many heroes—this is a first for him.
But looking at it another way…
If he can bring this thing back to Headquarters, maybe he’ll finally get a chance for an upgrade. If he gains the power to defeat heroes, he can finally break out of this stuck-in-the-middle situation, get promoted, get a raise…
He might even have more confidence at matchmaking events.
Disgusting, endure, cold, endure some more.
He waits until the Magic Girl and the male hero walk away before cautiously surfacing. Even a squid monster wouldn’t want to stay in a filthy, freezing sewer for long.
After all, this is Central City’s sewer—who knows what weird substances are in this water? Mutation is rare, but he doesn’t want to gamble his life on it.
Damn it, what kind of situation is this?
Squill spits, picks up the suitcase, and heads the opposite way from the heroes. The signal is terrible down here; he can’t even contact Headquarters and can only think about getting out for now.
But he quickly discovers things are even worse than he thought. Every exit of the sewer is blocked by heroes and World Tree Technology personnel. With just his slippery, limp tentacles, there’s no way he can break through their defenses…
That’s not courage—that’s just asking to get caught.
They’ll probably start a thorough sweep soon, right?
Squill’s situation is near hopeless, but he still has one last hope.
“That’s right, the new-type driver.”
Since it’s cutting-edge tech, maybe it has the power to break him out of here.
He finds a secluded Maintenance Room in the sewers, gently locks the door, and sits on the floor to study his “lifeline.”
On the silver password-protected suitcase, someone has written some information with a marker.
“NIX-1, World Tree Technology Asset, Defective Experimental Product, Password: 123456.”
A defective experiment?
No name, just a code.
Definitely looks like something from a lab.
But Squill is surprised that a careless researcher wrote the password right on the case. He enters the password and opens the suitcase. The contents are simple: just a sleek, silver belt with a black screen on the front, the protective film still unpeeled—brand new from the factory.
“This is… a driver like the ones Kamen Heroes use?”
There’s no manual in the case. He has no idea how to use it.
No, actually, he doesn’t even know if he can use it at all—it’s “defective,” after all.
“Hurry! The footprints are this way!!”
Just then, he hears movement outside the Maintenance Room, along with barking dogs.
Squill has no time to hesitate. He grabs the belt and fastens it around his waist.
“Development code is NIX, so let’s call it NIX-Driver!”
He’s still wondering how to use it when the belt activates on its own. Two syringes shoot out from the back and stab into his soft skin, immediately followed by a wave of excruciating pain, so intense he can’t help but let out a scream.
The driver just skewered him like grilled squid.
“Aaaah—!”
Is this why it was labeled “defective”!?
[Neural link… analysis… complete.]
Suddenly, a cold, emotionless female system voice echoes in his mind.
[Registration… unknown subject… new profile created.]
At the same time, the Maintenance Room door is kicked open with tremendous force. A Magic Girl in a red dress barges in, moving violently.
[Generating combat suit… no data… creating blank combat suit… complete.]
Almost instantly, a white bodysuit forms and materializes on the surface of his body.
Pure white, with no patterns, wrapping tightly around Squill’s body. His soft, limp squid form now shows defined abs, and even his massive squid head is tucked neatly into a normal-sized helmet…
Logically, his head should be crushed, but he feels no discomfort at all, not even the sensation of wearing anything.
Instead, he feels an unprecedented sense of refreshment. As expected of “World Tree Technology’s” cutting-edge tech—the adaptive combat suit is unbelievably comfortable.
“Thief! Prepare to die!”
But before Squill can recover, the Magic Girl—whose hero name he doesn’t even know—throws a punch at his face. The punch is so powerful it doesn’t seem like something a Magic Girl should have, and it sends Squill flying backward in an instant.
Yet, he doesn’t feel like he’s wearing any armor at all. The punch really feels like it landed directly on his face, leaving him dizzy and seeing stars…
If he were his usual self, his mucus would have let the punch slip right off.
Why doesn’t this driver make me any stronger?
Is this the extent of “cutting-edge” technology?
And what’s with the kicking down doors and throwing punches—is this really a Magic Girl? Are you a Pretty Cure or something!?
Squill gets back up, clutching his aching cheek. When he touches the helmet, he even gets tactile feedback, as if he’s touching his own face and bald head.
Of course, his real face is always slimy and slippery—never this dry.
“Oh? Not bad for a cutting-edge driver. You can still stand after taking a punch from me?”
The Magic Girl shakes her wrist like a delinquent. Squill ignores her and asks:
“NIX, don’t you have any weapons or something?”
[Generating… D.M Extractor… complete.]
His right forearm transforms into a syringe-shaped weapon, sleek and white.
“Extractor… extract what?” Squill is still confused.
[Extraction target: please aim at the hostile individual in front of you.]
That “hostile individual” leaps up and kicks at him, not caring at all that her safety shorts are exposed under her skirt. But this time, Squill is ready—he dodges to the side and jabs the syringe at the Magic Girl, pressing it against her stomach.
[Data extraction… Magic Girl… analysis… complete.]
The light strip on the syringe suddenly surges, as if it’s drawn something from the Magic Girl. She nervously jumps back, checking herself for any changes…
But she doesn’t notice anything strange.
“Uh, it… didn’t do anything?”
Squill is just as baffled.
“Oh, right, that thing’s a defective product, isn’t it? A small fry in a defective suit thinks he can beat me? Don’t underestimate me!”
The petite Magic Girl taps the magic gem on the back of her hand. Amid a dazzling display of light, she summons a spiked iron club about as tall as she is…
“Hey! What kind of Magic Girl are you?!”
A Magic Girl wielding a spiked club—this is way too brutal!
“Ha! Of course I’m a Magic Girl! When I smash this club over your head, it even bursts out heart-shaped effects!”
Speaking in a cutesy tone, she raises the terrifying weapon high. The red Magic Girl charges at him, roaring like a barbarian.
[Data loading… Magic Girl Kamui… complete.]
And just then, Squill’s body begins to change once again.
Never thought i would see this novel translated ever, thanks for the hard work!!!!!