LIGHTNOVELSTORY After the school field trip ended in a chaos with the giant hornets…
What was quietly bothering Mari in her heart was…
The monster alert that hadn’t rung from Sunday to Monday.
As if keeping an eye on the atmosphere between the two.
Still, not showing up is for the best, she shrugged it off as an insignificant day.
Of course, there are no strange occurrences without reasons.
Let’s take a moment to shift the story to the monster’s ship.
Inside a room of the ship, where no bright colors were visible at all.
There, numerous monsters of various sizes and unique appearances were gathered, sitting in a dismal circle, exuding a gloomy atmosphere.
“Alright then, the 142nd meeting…”
What could these always aggressive beings, who rank themselves through battles, possibly discuss so seriously?
The 142nd meeting, relatively recent by the standards of monsters.
The reason for the gathering’s establishment and its ultimate goal.
The main topic of conversation, and the core subject of the meeting was…
“Living wisely while avoiding Sun.”
To live wisely while avoiding Sun.
More precisely, it meant dying comfortably without pain.
In either case, it held the same meaning for the monsters.
In a giant room with around three hundred monsters gathered.
The tired roars of the monsters echoed just like in a school classroom.
“Uooh…”
“Where did @#%& and &&■* go?”
A monster resembling a snail, who was in charge of the proceedings, extended one of its apricot-colored tentacles to indicate an empty spot.
Unlike last time, it pointed out the vacant spot during the personnel check.
The monster sitting next to it drooped its three heads.
The central head seemed reluctant to speak but the left head gossiped the truth in a thin voice.
“That guy got taken by Sun…”
“No way…!”
At the shocking statement from the left head, all three hundred monsters in the room suddenly began to stir.
That formerly brave fist and beautifully shining hard shell were examples for everyone there.
Yet, it had become an old monster that could never return to that place again.
From the body of the snail-like host, another tentacle emerged and clapped its hands together.
“Let’s take a moment of silence to wish for his peace and recovering, who was the shield and sword of monsters with his heavy fist and shell…”
Following the host’s words, all the monsters stayed put and either bowed, knelt, or stood with their heads lowered in accordance with the etiquette of their home planets.
The empty seat could be theirs at any moment, so they sincerely intended to pay their respects.
“Right then…”
The late echo of the host’s short voice made the monsters lift their heads again.
“Now, we will shortly view the intelligence transmitted from Earth…”
Following the host’s words and actions, a mechanical sound ‘beep beep’ echoed through the spacious room.
One side of the wall began to engrave in their language, transmitting news from Earth to the monsters as well.
Of course, the main content was concerning the magical girls.
Among those, fitting the theme of the meeting, were news about Sun.
The monsters closely engraved the newly inscribed news into their eyes.
“There’s a monster that held out for 27 minutes against her…?!”
“Not wearing a mask, but her bare face!”
“I can’t believe it, doing such horrible and ruthless things with that face!”
The uproar about Sun’s bare face, which was also uproarious on Earth.
And recently, monsters couldn’t contain their shock regarding the 27-minute battle against her.
After a short commotion,
They began to exchange opinions they had brought or brainstorm together, voicing their respective theories to prepare countermeasures.
“What about preparing a means of self-detonation?”
“End it before we suffer? Hmm… that might not be a bad idea.”
“Who’s going to prepare that many bombs and detonators?”
“Couldn’t that also expose our weaknesses to other magical girls…?”
“That would only be given to those heading to the ‘Black Area.’”
“I think it’s worth considering positively. Let’s hold that one and gather the next opinions as well.”
Following the smooth facilitation of the host, the exchange of opinions among the monsters flourished.
Unlike the forced meetings held at school, the monsters talked actively.
It was understandable, given the anxiety that they could be the ones heading to the ‘Black Area’ at any time.
Therefore, before it was their turn to head there,
They had to come up with at least one useful idea.
For their own sake, too.
“Well then, how about this?”
Amidst this, a monster with coral-like arms reached up to the sky.
Known among the monsters as the dimmest species.
Thus, the host didn’t expect much, but considered it a precious opinion before giving permission after a moment of silence.
“… Go ahead and speak.”
“Let’s save up the transmission energy. Seven or eight of us go at once to the Black Area!”
With the coral-like palms clenched, the audacious suggestion was presented.
As soon as those words ended, the monsters began to bombard insults as if they had been waiting for the nonsense to cease.
“You’d all die as a group, you idiot!”
“Do you want to become a monster combo?!”
“Seriously, the Heth species… think seriously! You still want to try and defeat that crazy girl?!”
“Alright, everyone calm down.”
As jeers flew in, the host managed to pacify the heated mood along with the monsters.
“That was merely the best effort of thought. If we just criticize each other’s opinions, no good ideas will emerge.”
In the now calmer room, one monster paid close attention to the words of the Heth species.
The Brain species.
He thought the words from the Heth species weren’t half bad and began to visualize how that monster would go to the Black Area.
Why do humans focus on the time it takes to defeat a monster?
The news coming from Earth reflected that as well.
With each charge of the transmission energy, a monster is sent to Earth.
Was that truly necessary?
Surely, they knew it took a lot of energy to send organic substances.
Yet, surely, they could charge up enough energy to send two or three at once.
He completed his thoughts and stretched out his azure spine toward the sky.
“Well then, how about sending this opinion to the transmission room?”
The Brain species, known for its intelligence, presented an opinion.
The host also showed a glimmer of interest at the sky-reaching spine, urging him to speak quickly.
“Oh, go ahead.”
“Instead of sending them all at once, we send them sequentially to different locations in the Black Area.”
According to him, for some reason, the populous crowds on Earth focus on the time that it takes to handle a monster.
When he articulated this point, those monsters who had jeered at the Heth species suddenly found themselves persuaded rather than ready to jeer again.
The monsters would head to the Black Area sequentially.
The magical girls would handle the appearing monsters and hasten to the next one.
If this repeated five or six times, there’d be no telling when the next monster would appear, allowing even the last monster to also die without torture and pain.
The more one listened, the more plausible it sounded.
‘This might actually be possible?’
The monsters present in that space began to hope for a death filled with promise.
Hopeful death, even a foolish monster cannot miss the unnaturalness of those two words together.
Nevertheless, when limited to the Black Area, death without torture and pain seemed like a promise.
“Uooh! Let’s go with this!”
“Let’s hurry to tell the transmission room!”
The 142nd meeting, living wisely while avoiding Sun.
Starting from the words of one foolish monster, it ultimately led to meaningful ideas like a drought-breaking rain.
At the end, would the promised hopeful death await them as expected by the monsters?
Or would it be the bottled-up anger of a magical girl sharpening her blade for vengeance?
That was something to be seen a little longer.
The story returns to Sun.
“Yawn…”
It had already been several days without the monster alert.
By this point, no news was worrisome, but my body was enjoying a state of comfort, contrary to my mind.
I yawned widely, sprawled out on the bed.
Had they finally given up on sending monsters to this area?
‘It makes sense.’
While nodded in agreement, I attempted to organize my thoughts.
The monsters that had been sent and roasted by this hand and staff could be estimated in the hundreds.
‘If there were any thoughts, they wouldn’t come here.’
“… Mari?”
I shouldn’t have even thought that.
Slowly raising my upper body to the sound of a voice that seemed to want something, I could tell something was different that day.
“Uh, huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
The panicking voice of Gomteng.
While I was packing my mask, I thought, it can’t be anything serious. I asked for the reason.
But the words that followed from Gomteng indicated that it was indeed something of concern.
“One, two, three… It’s not just one reaction, is it?”
“What the hell?”