Chapter 30: “Sun’s Descent: The Black Nightmare”

The monsters, having finished verifying their strategy, let out triumphant roars and, as if on cue, flocked in droves towards the ‘black zone.’

After a few days of rest, they came at once in a relentless surge, as if to compensate for the lull.

The constant fear that they could strike at any moment had led to a severe lack of sleep.

Even for a robust adult, the relentless cycle was enough to drive someone mad.

Marri sat slumped against the wall, her eyes wild, like a robot running out of battery.

It was the fourth time this had happened, even though she had sworn it wouldn’t happen again. Even the slightest disturbance while she slept would make her snap her eyes open, thinking it was just the mascot nudging her.

“Ugh.”

It had been four days since the monsters’ mass appearance, and it was already her fourth day of rest.

She thought, *They should be showing up soon…* but the mascots were unusually quiet.

Hunched against the wall, she bit at her thumbnail, her eyes darting around as she braced herself for when those unethical bastards would show up.

“Ma, Marri…”

“Why, are they here?” she asked, turning her head quickly, almost relieved to hear the bear-like voice behind her.

But the voice was trembling now. Judging from the expression on their face, it didn’t seem like it was related to the monsters, so she turned her head back again.

“No, I mean… I’ll wake you up if they show up, so why don’t you try to get some sleep?”

“No, I’m taking them down first, and *then* I’ll sleep,” she said firmly, even though the bear was offering rare concern.

She bit down hard on the bits of nail she had chewed off, grinding them between her teeth.

She rubbed her thumb absentmindedly over the ragged edge of her thumbnail. It was just a habit, done unconsciously.

“Those monster bastards… just wait until they show up.”

All of the anger and frustration, built up from sleep deprivation, had only one outlet—one direction it could go.

“Marri, you’re seriously going to get hurt at this rate…” The concerned voice buzzed in her ears again.

She knew without being told that things had already gotten bad.

“That’s why I’m going to take care of it before things get any worse.”

She gave that answer to the bear, sweeping her disheveled long hair behind her.

*How can I stop the monsters from coming out?* She had already found the answer, though it was a bit of a shortcut.

“Got the stuff?”

“I managed to get it, but… this was originally meant as a tool for reformation, you know?”

The bear replied to her blunt question, handing over a toy-sized gemstone about the size of a baseball.

It looked like cheap plastic, but no matter how many times it hit the ground, it wouldn’t break.

The toy was called a Mascot Ball.

Mascots aren’t just something that magically appear out of nowhere.

Even Siyeon’s sea snake and this bear used to be *monsters*.

When a monster with a good heart and a purpose for reform is put into this ball, they’re purified and blah blah blah… I don’t care how mascots are made. That’s not what’s important right now.

What really matters is that this toy-like ball can trap even the biggest monsters by shrinking them down.

It’s basically a portable prison.

“I went around and managed to gather about 10 from the nearby area…”

“Well done.”

Even with an exhausted expression, she looked satisfied, gently caressing the precious portable prisons with her small hands.

Despite this, Gomteng (Bear) scratched his head worriedly with his unyielding paw and voiced his concern.

“But these, they might not be as strong as you think… If the monsters resist, they’ll break out quickly.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Yes…”

When asked if it was from experience, Gomteng dropped his head in a sheepish nod.

So it was personal experience.

Choosing to overlook that part, I spoke with confidence.

“It’ll be fine.”

Gomteng, who had been worried, stared back at me curiously, wondering what I was basing my assurance on.

Before another question could be asked, I explained the reason for my confidence.

“I’ll just make sure they can’t even move.”

That day, the mascot named Gomteng witnessed it.

In the girl’s eyes, he saw an empty universe, not even a single star in sight.

It was a void, deeper than anything he’d seen in the days when he lived as a monster, or even on this day as a mere mascot.

The hollow, seething anger etched into the eyes of the magical girl was unfathomable.

To think that sleep deprivation could break down someone once so strong.

Though his body wasn’t even capable of producing saliva, Gomteng mimicked the act of swallowing and thought to himself.

‘This… will definitely be a disaster for the monsters.’

As Mary had longed for, on the fourth day of her rest, the monsters appeared.

Six monsters came in succession, their aim as usual to torment Sun.

Though they feared visiting the “Black Area,” they were also somewhat curious: just how powerful could the magical girl there be?

They approached with a new strategy, confident there would be no aftereffects. It was as if visiting the “Black Area” was now a mandatory stop on some travel itinerary.

That day marked the end of Sun’s painful cycle of defeating monsters.

The monsters who visited the Black Area that day…

Could they have known that their doom was imminent?

Surely not, even in their wildest dreams.

On that day, Sun was smiling more brightly than ever.

When other mascots later recalled the event, Gomteng would describe it like this:

“It was the scariest version of Sun I had ever seen, in the past or the future.”

“Where are you hiding?”

‘Oh no, oh no…!’

The plant-type monster, Idelti, trembled as he buried himself deep in the apartment garden, desperately trying to calm his shivering body.

I shouldn’t have come here, I shouldn’t have come here!

The craze of visiting the “Black Area” had begun to spread among the monsters.

When the first group of comrades had headed there, he thought they were insane.

When the second companions went, he thought, *”Is this doable?”*

When the third companions went, he thought, *”It seems doable.”*

When even the fourth companions went, he thought, *”The strategy seems to be working.”*

And then, the fifth—his turn came.

Though he had often fought magical girls in other places, this was his first time in the “black region.”

After a brief thought of *”It’s not all that different from other places, huh?”*, it was quickly proven that their strategy had now become meaningless.

The death that should have come in an instant… never came.

*”Please, please, please, please…”*

Idelti—he prayed earnestly.

*”Please don’t find me. Just pass by.”*

Though he knew magical girls had a way to detect monsters, and that this was impossible, he continued his futile muttering.

*”Where could you be~?”*

Hidden deep within the dirt where nothing could be seen, the cold that would usually feel tolerable now enveloped his body like the icy touch of death itself.

He began to feel faint vibrations in the earth.

*Please, let it just be a passing insect.*

Let the subtle tremors be from an earthworm wriggling nearby.

But, as if to negate all of his hopes, the sound directly above him heralded the end.

*”Here you are…”*

*”Ah, no… no!”*

The proud leaf that had emerged from the dirt—

The warmth of a hand that grasped it laid bare his hidden form, rendering his concealment futile.

In front of him appeared the death god in the guise of a child, wearing a mask.

Because of this leaf—just because of this one leaf!

Had he ever imagined there would come a time when he would curse the symbol of pride for his race?

Or, for that matter, had he ever thought he would struggle so pathetically and miserably today, at this very moment?

Futile struggling.

But even that thrashing did not last long… before he could do no more.

*”Guh… uh…”*

*”One.”*

One.

With the girl’s voice echoing in his ears, his consciousness faded away.

*Am I dead? Is this comfort the recovery room?*

It wasn’t as painful as he had expected.

*Was this all it took to make those in the recovery room unable to rise again?*

*Have the quality of monsters really deteriorated this much?* he thought as he opened his eyes.

*…Hmm?*

But the space he opened his eyes to was strange.

It wasn’t the recovery room of the ship but a bizarre view, looking down at Earth like a tiny insect.

In a dreamlike space where he couldn’t even wriggle, with no physical body left to move, he saw the Earth.

It was clear he was trapped somewhere.

*Could this be… just the beginning?*

Before he could even fully process his ominous thoughts, he found himself seeing the outside of the confined space through the eyes of the magical girl.

The other fellow monster, who had been in the transport device heading toward Earth together, was running with all its might, as if sensing the shadow of death approaching it.

However, judging by the outside scenery, it had already drawn near—so close that if it still had hands, it could almost reach out and touch it.

The creature’s reproductive organ, which had grown like a small bump on its backside, was slowly being torn off.

“Kraaaghhh-!”

“Ah, ah… aaahh!”

At the sound of that voice, carved with overwhelming fear and pain, I screamed in denial of the situation.

I wanted to shut my ears to the horrible scream that was hard to even listen to, but I no longer had such a body part. All I could do was cry out like a sobbing beast with the mouth I had left.

“Stop it! You wicked, monstrous creature!”

But that cry, too, was drowned in the surreal surroundings and never reached the outside.

All I could do was stare blankly at the horrific sight of my fellow monster collapsing in utter exhaustion, trembling with fear at how such cruelty was even possible.

“Two.”

Two.

Her ominous voice echoed softly.

As I watched my remaining four comrades being ravaged one by one, I couldn’t hold onto my crumbling mind any longer.

After the remaining comrades were also brutally taken down, the girl headed somewhere.

It was a desolate, barren lot with not a single human in sight.

“This should be enough, right?”

Sun started pulling out the monsters that had been inside the mascot ball, one by one.

In the empty construction site where the work was finished, no matter how much the monsters screamed, there wasn’t a single soul to listen.

Probably, no one other than Sun had expected things to turn out this way.

At that time, Medic Tentacle, who was in the recovery room of the ship, tilted its head curiously.

“Why… why isn’t anyone coming back?”

It was only later that Medic Tentacle realized that behind the delayed return of the six monsters lay Sun’s full-course torture.

On that day, a new chapter was written in the history of monsters, known as “The Black Nightmare.”

The first was eight, they returned with a shout of joy.

The second was eight, they too shouted in joy.

The third was seven, and they were relieved.

The fourth was nine, and they were certain of their safety.

The fifth were six monsters.

They did not know the festering rage behind the sun.

The rage became fear and pain like the scorching sun, engulfing them.

Their noble sacrifice will be remembered and feared….

“Cancel that operation, got it?”

“04…”

After that day, it became a rule on the ship, following Medic Tentacle’s stern order, that no group of combatants would head to Earth all at once.

It was a reasonable response to the permanent mental damage and power loss of the six combatants who had been hit by simultaneous incidents.

See the next episode